Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Betrayal

...... happens in various scenarios, in various ways, and all it takes is a wrong decision made within a split second.

One after another ... and another .... and another ..........

I don't know how much more I can take ......

Do I really have to detach myself emotionally from everyone I care about ... in order to avoid such pain ...... ?

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The Daily Grind

Having heard tons of people rave about the yumminess of the burgers at The Daily Grind, it would be a sin to not give it a shot. Of course, that wouldn't be feasible either without my partner-in-eating-crime, Val.


The layout was so retro-ish and inviting !! Absolutely loved it ! Snapped some pictures of the displays on the wall, and you'll see what I mean. 







The cosy lil' corner we were tucked in for the next two hours ....


The Daily Grind also has its own home-made (or cafe brand) chilli and tomato sauce! Believe it or not, Val and I finished at least half the bottle of ketchup between the two of us. It is THAT good.  =_=''



Our orders for the afternoon.

Coke light

Cafe Latte

The cafe latte had the perfect proportion of coffee and milk, by my standards.  =)

Classic chicken burger
- RM23

According to Val, the burger was fantastic as the chicken patty was still very juicy despite it being uber thick. I didn't try it as it was layered with mustard (which I absolutely detest).

Classic cheese burger
- RM27

Yummy! Thats all I have to say. The salad was fresh. The beef patty was superb as it was tender and cooked to perfection (i.e. medium rare, with blood still oozing out of the patty when you dig your knife in). Apart from that, the fries were crunchy and remained so even after an hour of me trying to finish it off.

Yes, I did polish off the whole plate. So did Val. *feels guilty now*

Definitely a place I'd highly recommend to satisfy one's burger cravings. *slurpppzzz*

Address:
LG8, Lower Ground Floor
Bangsar Village, 1 Jalan Telawi
1, Bangsar Baru
Kuala Lumpur

Contact number:
03 2287 6708
a

Monday, June 28, 2010

Friendships

It is common knowledge, that as time passes by, everyone grows up, characters and personalities change, priorities differ, and people drift apart, whether consciously or subconsciously.

Yet despite having encountered this situation countless times, sometimes willingly, and sometimes unwillingly, I have yet to learn to accept it and not let it hurt me emotionally.

Today, was a day it has hit me again how loosely the term "friendship" is used. How people have changed. How I have changed - judgmental and cynical I have become, over the course of years.

Hurt I am, as friendships really do mean a lot to me. Possibly so, because I am the only child.
a

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Green Hunt - Many Species. One Planet. One Future.

Date: 5th June 2010

Entry fee: RM200
Team members: Aik, Ming, Wern & Foo Kwern


A very controversial hunt this was. But we shall get into that later.

The day started off with my phone ringing:

Foo:
Eh we're outside your house already

*I jumped up and looked at the time indicated on my phone*

Wern:
Dun bluff la .... so early ... its not even 7 !!!

Foo:
What .. its 7 already larh !! We're outside your house di !!

Wern:
What .. its not laa ... dun bluff la ....

Foo:
Bluff you at this kind of timing for what !

*jumps up and looks at the alarm clock ... screams "OH SHITTTTT !!!!"  *

*screams at Ming as well .... "WHY U NEVER WAKE UP !!!" *

*Ming looks over and replies indignantly "your alarm didn't go off also!!" *

With that, both of us rushed to get ready whilst Aik and Foo waited patiently outside my house. As it turns out, I had accidentally dropped my phone the day before, causing all the parts to "fall out", and upon piecing everything back together, I had forgotten to set the time again. So, it didn't matter the fact that I had set the correct timing for my alarm, because the actual time was already "off off dei" to begin with. *epic phaillllll*

After all the hustle bustle, we rushed off to Shah Alam and walaaaaaaaaaa  ..... amazingly, we were one of the first few teams to arrive. Several teams arrived soon after and surprised we were, that there were only a total of 30 teams who participated in the hunt.


Breakfast was also provided for our consumption, perhaps to prepare us for the range of physical activities ahead!


As it was drizzling, we were briefed shortly before being flagged off. Caps were provided to to us ... so pro lor ... its as if the organizers knew it was gonna rain!  :p


Format of the hunt was as follows:

Cryptic hunt questions (130 points)
Hunt questions can be found here.

Treasures (6 points)
Treasure question is as follows:

0 34000 02540 (barcode)
Barcode dah di beri,
Carilah sendiri, hey jangan lupa aku nak satu,
40g any flavor aku sapu.

Answer:  Hershey's 40g.

Crossword (14 points)
The exact same puzzle was actually provided to teams who had attended the briefing. However, with no indication that the puzzle had to be solved before the hunt (to benefit those who had attended the briefing), it all boiled down to the hardworking-ness of each individual team to complete the puzzle before the hunt itself.

Green hunt questions (15 points)
Teams were supposed to extract the answers from the information provided in the various booklets and brochures on the environment.

Collection of magazines (5 points)
Each team had to bring in 10kg worth of old magazines, supposedly in five bundles of 2kg each. As I only had a human weighing scale (which can only detect a minimum weight of 2.1kg), we came up with the "brilliant" idea of making Ming stand on the weighing scale, taking down his original weight, and then weighing himself again holding the magazines to ensure that we could get the accurate weight of 2kg in each bundle.

Rock climbing (6 points)
Both Ming and Aik attempted this activity, only to find it tougher than expected. Do believe that it was extremely tiring for them as well although each team was only given 3 attempts.

Archery (4 points)
Aik represented our team! Look at him in action!


Fear factor (10 points)
Foo and Ming were our heroes for this event, sticking their hands into two tanks filled with worms and frogs respectively to collect 5 cent coins. LoL ... gross !!

Paintball (10 points)
Foo managed to obtain precious points for us by hitting the provided target accurately 8 times!


And by the end of the hunt, all of us were drained, both physically and mentally. Yes, including me although I was technically useless throughout the hunt.  >.<

Now, when the results were announced, controversial it was, as the top three teams were allegedly sponsors of the hunt. And had seemingly beat masters and regular hunt teams who had participated in the hunt. Logical? I don't think so. *gives sour grapes look*

Lesson learnt .... in the future, only go for hunts organised by well-known and regular COCs. Personally do believe that transparency in terms of points awarded for winning teams are essential in the organization of a hunt.
a

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Cafe Barbera

We've heard a lot about this cafe. Attempted to visit this cafe countless times. And failed miserably every single time.

Sometime last week, Val and I finally found the time to do so. =)



The layout of the cafe provides a very warm and cosy-feely ambience. Perfect for a quiet meal, a long afternoon of catching up with friends or even business talks.


They sell coffee machines too. Very expensive ones.  =_=''


The display of coffee-based drinks served.


Our orders for the afternoon.

Cappuccino Shakerato
- RM10

Personally, I'm not a cappuccino drinker and would usually opt for mocha or latte. However, the cappuccino shakerato was very well prepared, with a tinge of bitterish taste (which was just perfect for me), providing me the coffee kick I needed for a lazy afternoon.

Iced chocolate
- RM11

A rather standard cup of iced chocolate. Deng, I miss Max Brenner ... >.<

Chocolate croissant
- RM8

Not only was the croissant filled chocolate, it came with yet another serving of hot melted chocolate. The melted chocolate absolutely rawked despite the croissant being so-so only.

And yes, both the chocolate-ey orders were Val's. Chocolate overdose!!

Scones
- RM7

Yummy scones served with yummilicious jam. Thumbs up for the presentation too! However, got really "jelak" after eating two of the scones, and forced the third one down Val's throat.  :p

The cafe also serves other types of non tea-time food such as pasta and pizza!  Will definitely revisit this place soon, despite the lack of parking spaces available at the vicinity.

Address:
18, Lorong Maarof
Bangsar Park
59000, Kuala Lumpur

Contact number:
03 2287 3628
a

Monday, June 21, 2010

Ugly

Today was enlightening. A day I saw, just how "ugly" human beings can be.

Am very disappointed.
a

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Gift from the U.S.

Received a message from Ai Lin to meet up for a spontaneous dinner and this was what she brought along for myself, Val and Debb as gifts from the U.S. ......


Anyone who doesn't know what this is ...... don't bother guessing ... or googling for that matter ...... like seriously !!

Thank you Ai Lin !!!  *muacksssssss!!*  <3 <3 <3
a

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Bak Zhang ~~


The Dragon Boat Festival has arrived again ... and this time around, Corrie brought these "bak zhang" (i.e. rice dumplings) for me on the night before her ACCA exam !! Apparently, she had specifically requested for her aunt to prepare additional servings for me!! Felt so loved  ~~  *smiles till all my gigi buruk can be seen*

Undoubtedly, these "bak zhang" were very generously filled with all the essential items, specifically glutinous rice, Chinese mushroom, duck's egg yolk, 3-layered pork (yes, the fats are important), dried prawns, chestnuts etc .... which made it sinfully yummilicious. *slurpsssssss*

This picture does not do the "bak zhang" justice

Corrie Lee, I wanna place additional orders for next year. Plzzzzzzzzz ...... *shows Darlie smile*

On a separate note, someone insisted that these sort of savoury "bak zhang" can be eaten with sugar. Anyone who concurs, please post a comment. Otherwise .... Mr. Ahemmm (u-know-who-u-are), please admit defeat.  =)

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Robin Hood


Yeps, yet another super duper belated post. Watched this movie a week after Iron Man 2.

Russell Crowe is SoOoooOOoO man !!! I don't care what you think !! *blushes*

MUST WATCH OK! Its no longer screened in the cinemas now. Go grab the DVD if you haven't watched it !

Friday, June 11, 2010

Bak Kut Teh

Yes! My first attempt at cooking bak kut teh. However, what should've been an easy peasy 1, 2, 3 task became extremely troublesome!!  >.<

In my quest to purchase the most important ingredient (duhh ... obviously the "BKT" herbs), Val and I headed off to a medicine shop near Atria over the weekend (which Val highly recommended), only to find the owner pulling down the grill of  the shop. Five minutes too late! Bahhhh ........

So I headed off to Carrefour on Monday night, instead of my usual shopping spot at Cold Storage @ Subang Parade, hoping to "giam" on the ingredients. As luck has it, the herbs were sold out !!!!! *GrrRrrR ..... * Reluctantly, I headed off to Cold Storage and eventually managed to grab everything there instead.

Wednesday came, and I woke up earlier so that I'd have enough time to dump everything into the slow cooker, hoping to come back to a hearty meal at night. Rushed I was ... and U know la what happens when people do things in a rush .... I read the instructions wrongly, and dumped in 2 freaking TABLESPOONS of dark soy sauce, instead of TEASPOONS. Wern ah Wern .. u so dum dum laaa ... *smacks head*  Instantaneously threw away half the "soup" and replaced it with plain water in hopes of diluting the "saltiness". 

I then resorted to returning home during lunch time, only to find the soup really bland. BAHHH ... threw in 2 more packets of herbs and just crossed my fingers, hoping that I'd manage to salvage the soup and make it at least edible when I returned home.

And walaaaaaaa !! Yummehhh ...!!! It actually turned out well !!!  *gives smug look*  

Want recipe? Just buy "Claypot" brand BKT herbs and read the instructions behind. LoL .... add in whatever additional ingredients you want !!  :p

Banyak isi ... like me !!

Anyone wanna be my guinea pig second time around?

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Lucky

Was watching the latest season of The Celebrity Apprentice, when the words of a kid, who was part of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, just absolutely stunned me.

Celebrity:
What do you wanna be when you grow up?

Kid:
Don't know. I haven't thought about it.

For those who are unaware of this organization, it is basically a network of volunteers who serve children with life-threatening medical conditions, may it be in the form of granting wishes, fund raising etc. 

At that spur of a moment, the words felt so heart-wrenching. And it just hit me once again, how lucky I am. How lucky the majority of us are. And more so, how ungrateful most of us are, by ranting and whining about the little-est bit of uneasiness and bumps we encounter in our life, when there are people out there ... kids out there .... who don't even know if they will live to see tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

DaoRae - Korean BBQ Restaurant


So after a very tiring day treasure hunting at Cyberjaya, the four of us headed off to DaoRae @ Kota Damansara for Ai Lin and Kai Xin's veryy veryyyyyy belated birthday. *shy*

As arrangements had been made a week earlier, we managed to secure ourselves a room in the restaurant. *hooorayyyyy ~~*

Us in our lil' cosy room

Side dishes
(the pink-coloured dish tasted like bubble gum!)

Dips n' wraps for our BBQ dishes

Variety of BBQ meat
(i.e. pork, chicken n' squid)

Kimchi soup

Seafood soup

Bibimbap
(supposedly the best ala-carte dish)

Having been to other branches of DaoRae, the food and service in this outlet was a definite let down. Not only was the taste of the food mediocre, the portions served were miserable and totally unjustifiable given the price we had to pay. Apart from that, the service was also superbly slow. Granted, the restaurant was packed and we did witness the waiters running about serving customers. But, to make us wait an hour plus for plain ol' rice? I personally don't think thats excusable ...... and despite several reminders, our rice never came ......

However, my personal belief is that its always the company that matters, to make a night enjoyable. Here are some random shots taken throughout the night ......





And of course ... how can we not have a cake when its a birthday celebration ? However ... the effort one had to put in to get to the cake ........ worth it .... ?? 


Ai Lin's facial expression says it all !

The birthday girls


All da girls!

All da boys!
(with the b'day girls)

Hmm .. next birthday's in July ... where shall we go nom nom nom then .... ?   =p