PIGGIN OUT @ RESTORAN VISHAL FOOD & CATERING

A  taste of heavenly briyani.

I was on Jalan Scott the other week to look for a Jeepa for my best friend’s wedding when I chanced upon this shop. Walked passed it the first time to use the toilet and decided to stop by later for lunch after running my errands. We really didn’t think much about this place as we normally patronize another Sikh restaurant but on that day, the jams were so massive and we were so tired driving around Brickfields looking for a parking that we just decided to eat here. Just to eat to fill our stomachs.

Sat down, super tired, and the waiter asked, “Briyani” and we just nod, too tired to say anything else. We normally take white rice if it’s banana leaf but we were really too tired to say anything else and just relented to any suggestions the waiter had.

The usual banana leaf laid on the table and 3 different vegetables were placed on top of the leaf. Waited a while more and the briyani came. Dug one spoon into it and WAAAALLAAABBBAANNNGGGAAA!!!! It was really really good. Not only was the rice in edible pieces, the spice and especially the ghee made the smell and taste so awesomely fragrant. It was by far the best briyani I have tasted. The taste of a spoon of briyani on my tongue, slowly emitting its fragrance with every bite I took made you immediately feel like you’re on cloud 9.

Then the curry came, and I totally regretted pouring the curry on my rice. The fragrance was then drown in the steady flow of curry, destroying all smell of heaven in its path of destruction as it flowed all over my briyani. Gone was the smell. Gone was the taste. Oh my briyani…. Where have thou gone?

The briyani was so good that immediately after our lunch, we made plans for them to cater for our daughter’s upcoming birthday party. I just need another dose of Vishal’s briyani. So good, you can eat it by its own. Forget about the curry, forget about the egg, forget about the vegetable, forget about the papadam, forget about the chicken, just dig into the briyani!

Location:

Restoran Vishal Food & Catering,

22, Jalan Scott, Brickfileds,

Kuala Lumpur.

Contact: 012-2871995

MY BIGGEST FEAR

So I am afraid of lizards, frogs and height. I cannot stand the thought of touching a lizard/frog and if I ever did accidentally touch one, an unbearable squirmish feeling would engulf my entire body and I would fall numb and crumble as if the bones in my body just suddenly disappeared. It doesn’t help that when you try to kill a lizard with Ridsect spray…. IT DOESN’T WORK!!! I’ve tried spraying half a can of Ridsect at a lizard trapped in a hole and the pesky disgusting thing just looked back as if I was spraying air cond at him… enjoying the gush of cool air that is emitted from the spray. Giving up, I sprayed serai at it and it was my turn to grin for it struggle so hard to get out of the hole as if it was burning in hell.

Frogs… I have no idea how to get rid of it and I’m just glad that when I reach Form 5, they decided to do away with slicing open a frog for biology studies. I would have probably skipped the entire class. Imagine me having touch a frog what more to slice it open. What if I accidentally cut it’s main artery and it’s blood spurts into my mouth? What if it peed on my hand? Imagine the innerts of the frog spilling all over the lab table!!! Uuuurrggghhhhh!!! SCREW YOU FROG!!!

Heights… that’s pretty okay even though I can truly understand what it means for a men to jump into a pool of ice naked. The immediate instantaneous shrinking of your balls. Exactly what happens everytime I look over. But for height, I am able to man up, suck up and push myself to the limit. So not much a problem. Just hope that I don’t push myself over only to find missing parts in the future.

Anyways, in recent times, I have just come to the realization that my biggest fear is HAIR LOSS!!! I had my first encounter with hair loss when my wife was pregnant with our first daughter. Didn’t think much about it when I saw strands of my hair on our bed, on my hand everytime I swap my hair when I was bathing but when I looked into the mirror and saw my hair thinning away and I could see parts of my scalp shinning, I was devastated. My hair has truly been my crown. Ever since I was a kid, I always had thick wavy dark hair and was proud at the fact that every month, I MUST visit my barber to chop away my overgrown hair. Once my mum brought me to some aunty saloon and despite the aunty’s warning that she’s never cut a male’s hair before, I became her first. Like a virgin on his first time, tears stream down my eyes when I saw my hair being pulverized by her. Snip after snip, my crown turn from a glorious magnificent symbol of wealth, power and handsomeness to an uneven, scruffy symbol of poverty, emptiness and somewhere along the line of Gollum. I remember being so mad with my mum for destroying my magnificent kingdom to some Cina aunty. I was doing fine with my Indian barber!

Now that my wife is pregnant with our second, my hair has begun thinning once again. I am beginning to wonder is my hair loss is a direct correlation with my wife getting pregnant. On top of that, I have also been visiting my barber a lot less frequent. I only get my hair cut now like once every 2 months. Not very good news.

I know that some people can bald gracefully looking better when they bald. But looking at myself, I know I am not going to be in that same category. If people bald and look like Bruce Willis, I’ll probably bald and become a natural character for Gollum in Lord of The Rings, no make-up needed.

I really cannot bear the thought of losing hair. Thankfully though I live in the 20^th century where remedies for hair loss are readily available and no I am not talking about some half-baked hair treatment centre like Yunn Nam or 101 Hair Care… I am talking about genuine professional skin specialist like Ranjit Skin Specialist in Subang Jaya. Saw him the last time and his medication worked (just that I stop after I saw improvement) and now had to visit him yet again to resume his medication. Medication that works on the top and doesn’t compromise the bottom. Thank God.

To help you understand my fear better, this is what I fear most if I bald. So I pray dear God that if I should bald, solutions come as fast as my hair falls. Amen.

TESTING TIMES

<NOTE: THIS POST WAS WRITTEN ON 8 AUG 2012 BUT DUE TO THE INTERNATIONAL PREGNANCY EMBARGO OF 3 MONTHS, IT IS ONLY NOW THAT I AM PUBLISHING THIS>

I am now sitting, unable to focus on anything but the fact that we have received another ambiguous news.

My wife and I have been trying to have another baby and due to a fibroid, it’s not as easy. Even with our 1^st one, we took awhile conceive. This month (August), her period came late and lo and behold, she’s pregnant.

There has continuously been so many ambiguity and worries for the last 6 months and even up to now. Firstly, she was supposed to go for an operation tomorrow (9 Aug) but thankfully that didn’t happen that now she is pregnant. Next up, was the pregnancy test. After missing the exact date of her period, we tested. Nothing at first. Then we tested the next day again. Nothing. And then on the 3^rd day when she tested in the morning, there was a very very very faint line. We were left to wonder if she was really pregnant. She did 2 test the next day, one came out with a line and the other without, what could this mean? One of our biggest concern was an ectopic pregnancy and my wife was at a higher risk for this due to her medical condition.

 Visited the gynae to do a scan and of course she couldn’t see anything – too early. Not much of a confirmation there except that the gynae said just as long as there is a line, she’s pregnant. However, she suggested a blood test to confirm the pregnancy and to test for the HCG level. Again ectopic pregnancy was brought up as a risk.

Today, we got the results and even though the blood result showed positive for being pregnant, the HCG level was supposedly at a lower level (50 IU/L). Again a wave of worries and uncertainty flooded us.

We have been praying really hard for a baby and up until the pregnancy, we were all about ready for the operation. In the days pass her period, we were left ambiguous not knowing what is going on. Imagine you put a bet down for RM1m and the banker refuses to open the card way past the time he should have and you are not allowed to scold the banker. That was exactly how we felt. Helpless, not knowing what to think about it, and not daring to put our hopes too high just in case her period was to come the very next minute. Not here, not there, not anywhere. Even after doing the home pregnancy test, we continued to be very cautious with our hopes as the line that appeared was a very faint one. What were we to make of it? Hope started building as the days pass with no sign of her period and the line grew on the home pregnancy test grew slightly darker (but at times never appeared).

And now, just as our hope was building up that this really must be it, we received the ambiguous news. What am I to make of it? What does it mean? What are the chances like? Is there anything that I should be worried about? What if it ends up with a miscarriage or worst still and ectopic pregnancy?

As much as I have faith that God can do anything and that nothing is impossible for Him, my humanly mind cannot help but to try to make sense of all that is going on. I believe that God has got great plans for us, plans not to harm but to benefit us but I also know that there might come a time that I would find it hard to comprehend the plans He has for us. I know he has allowed for people to die, people to go through miscarriages no matter how hard they prayed and all sorts of sickness to befall upon his children. He has allowed for a pastor to wait 8 years before He gave them another child, strong Christians with miscarriages, a pastor’s wife with Parkinson etc. I know he is the master of my plans and He has the better view of what is best for us. But it’s really, really hard to submit to His plans especially if it ends bad (from our view). I do not think I can make it. Why would he give us hope only to crush it later? Why does he allows us to go through so much ambiguity and worries... He could have just given us an outright yes or no. I need hard confirmations oh my feeble mind. It’s really not funny…. Aaaaarrrgggghhhh….!

Entrusting God with our plans and submitting to His is really tough. While waiting for the gynae to come and scan, my heart was beating crazy and I was praying over and over again that at least the gynae would come out with some confirmation. So yea… she confirmed that she’s pregnant…. But...  Siiiggghhh… more waiting and more trusting until the next check-up next week. It feels like my brains are being torn apart… on one hand, “God I trust in your plans no matter what it is” and on the other, “You raise Lazarus right… you can work miracles… please work this one”.

I know the one thing I need to do is to place my plans, my trust and my faith all in God’s palm (as difficult it is). As much as I would like to rely on my understanding and logic, I would never fully be able to comprehend the magnitude and complexity of the plans He has for us. He created the heavens and earth and He created each one of us. Regardless of whatever that happens, I know that He has been good in both our life and He has continuously blessed us beyond what we could have ever expected.

“Oh Lord, you know our desires and our wants. You know our weaknesses. You know how much we want this to work. You know how difficult these times can be. You know. Help us Lord to trust in you and the plans you have for us regardless what it might be. We hold on to your word that you have great plans for us at the end of the day. Help us Lord to submit 100% to you no matter how hard it might be.”

“Errrr….. Lazarus….”

Through these testing times, I have been continuously comforted by the song below.

He Knows My Name

I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands

I have a Father
He calls me His own
He'll never leave me
No matter where I go

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call

PIGGIN OUT @ THOMAS WESTERN, OUG

How this jewel missed my eyes I really do not know. I have been passing this place countless times and never did it ever occur to me that they serve good chap-chap style western food until I read about it from another blog.

Thomas Western is a chap-chap stall located in Restoran Ong Lay beside the OUG market and behind OUG Public Bank. A small, unassuming stall until you sit down and you realize, that every table has at least an order from this stall and because the stall is located at the side of the road, cars drive pass to make their orders and drive back again to collect.

 Thomas Western not only offers good and reasonably priced food but also an option for an al-fresco dining experience in the most naturalistic environment under the shades of trees that birds nest upon (so pray no one honks while passing by or you might find added ingredients in your food) and the intermittent smell from the wet market just beside it. 

We love this place so much that within a 2 weeks period, we’ve already dined here twice. Food here is priced as low as RM9 for a Chicken Chop to RM18 for a NZ Rib Eye Steak. For the price and the quality of the food, this place is really worth coming to.

The food served here comes with their standard brown sauce, unique potato salad and boiled vegetables.

The Pork Chop… Yummy…

The Lamb Chop… Yummy…

The Chicken Cordon Bleu… Yummy… But a bit small to feed my tummy…

The Potato Salad… Comes with pieces of fresh mushrooms and white sauce… Yummy… Note: Please make sure you eat the skin too cause if you don’t and Thomas sees it, he’ll come over and tell you… “The skin also can eat wan”. So if you don’t wanna eat the skin... make sure you hide it real well.

Location:

Thomas Western @ Restoran Ong Lay
Overseas Union Garden,
Medan Hujan Rahmat,
Taman Overseas Union,
58200 Kuala Lumpur.

GPS: N3.073457, E101.673081

PIGGING OUT @ LAS VACAS, YAP KWAN SENG

MINIMALIST at its BEST.

Las Vacas use to operate from two rather small meat shop cum restaurant at Mont Kiara and Kelana Jaya. Just about a month ago, it opened its third new outlet at Jalan Yap Kwan Seng. Visibly very different from the two outlets, outlet at Yap Kwan Seng (previously Tony Roma’s) spots a huge spacious dining area with ample of tables to hold about 50+ cow lovers. Nothing really elaborate about the decorations, just simple and comfy.

Las Vacas serves a variety of cow meat, ranging from the premium Wagyu to the rump to the mutated version of the cow called the lamb and the cow that swims known as the salmon. All of which are prepared in the simplest form ever – salt and pepper but because the meat here is so fresh (I cannot vouch for the salmon as we didn’t order it), you really do not need any extra sauce on it. Plain, sweet and juicy.

We ordered ourselves an asparagus soup which was pretty watered down.

Next up was my 180 days grain fed Angus Ribeye (RM30/100g). I made an order for 300g (I absolutely love it when I can dictate the size of my meat as I feel most places serve underweight beef with an exorbitant charge). If you’re expecting for any side sauces to follow – don’t. Apart from the ignorable sides, the only other thing on the table is mustard. With this meat, you really would not need any sauce to go with it. Forget about the sauces and concentrate on how juicy and sweet the meat is when that fraction of the meat lands itself in your mouth. With that one bite, your meat melts and you know, even when you’re 70 years old with dentures, this place is still gonna have food catered to you.

 Rare – just the way I love it

My wife ordered the Lamb Shoulder (RM6/100g). We didn’t really know how much (g) to order so when we asked the waiter, how heave does one piece weighs and he confidently told us, “Each piece is about 100g”. In my head, I was like “My God…. 3 pieces would be about 300g and we would only be paying RM18!!! That’s so cheap!!!” So… I told the waiter, “3 pieces please”… <Rub hands…> When the 3 pieces came, it was 3 HUMONGOUS  pieces (which we found out later weighed 700 GRAMS!!! EACH PIECE WAS LIKE 200 OVER GRAMS!!! ) That scare aside, the lamb was really good as well. It of course had the lamb smell (which I know some ppl dislike…) but that smell to me is heavenly. And even with their usual modus operandi of salt and pepper, the lamb smelt really inviting when it arrived on our table. 3 pieces in this instance was just too much for us that we needed to take away 2 pieces.

Overall, I still prefer Jake’s but Las Vacas definitely my next favorite for a simple, affordable, fresh meatish dinner minus the all the dressing and sauces. Sometimes you like to get all dressed up for an event but sometimes stripping yourself naked and lying down on your bed can be very refreshing.

p/s: The coffee served here isn't too bad as well.

Location:

Las Vacas Meat Shop,

Jalan Yap Kwan Seng,

50450 Kuala Lumpur.

GPS: N3.163103, E101.714802

HEART MELTING MOMENTS

Almost 2 years have passed and fatherhood has definitely been a very challenging journey. But at the same time, it has also been a very rewarding journey filled with much new found laughter and heart warming, melting moments. The journey has also opened me up to a whole new world of emotions and behavior.  A simple hug and all your worries of the day gets wiped away. A simple game of throwing bolster at her makes her laugh so hard as if you’re the most exciting dad in the world.

Here is a compilation of heart melting moments that I can remember from day one of my daughter A.C.

1.       A.C. calling me “Daddy” for the first time. Soft and sweet like the gentle wind blowing a smile on your face. That has changed a bit now that she mostly screams “DADDY!!!”out of excitement but the word still means a lot to me.

2.       A.C. calling me on the phone (of course Mummy helped dial) and just saying “Hello Daddy”, “Daddy I love you” and “See you later Daddy”. 3 sentences repeated after Mummy but you know she means every word of it. The little voice over the other line that means the world to me.

3.       The excitement she shows when she reaches home and I take her out of Mummy’s car. She now would turn her head left-right vigorously expressing how excited she is.

4.       When asking A.C. to decide where she wants to sleep (after annoyingly going from 1 bed to another bed effusing to sleep) and she points and says “There” (baby bed), “There” (Our bed), “There” (baby bed), “There” (Our bed) and you can’t help but to smile at her cheekiness.

5.       A.C. waking up in the middle of the night and falling asleep back in your arms willingly (most of the time she looks for Mummy so it’s a very treasured moment when she agrees to sleep on my arm). No matter how uncomfortable it can become sticking my arm out to let her petite head rests on it, my heart is to melted by the moment that I really don’t care if it’s uncomfortable.

6.       A.C. resting her head on my shoulder while I carry her around with her arms wrapped around it. Words are not necessary during these moments and backaches resulting from intentionally carrying her longer that needed is negligible considering the warmth that results from that bond.

7.       A.C. at the staircase saying, “Daddy. Carry” even though she’s very capable of walking up and down the stairs by herself. It could be her being lazy to walk up and down the stairs but it’s nice to know that you’re needed.

8.       While reading to her before she sleeps, in her sweetest voice she’ll asks, “What’s this?” and no matter how tired you can be, your heart just melts away and you answer her ever so willingly even though she repeats the question 3 times for one item and multiple times during the course of the reading.

9.       You’re tired. You’re reading to her and you yawn. Gently she moves her hands over to your mouth to cover it for you.

10.   When she randomly dances to some music. You cannot help but to laugh.

11.   When you’re still sleeping in the morning, she plants a kiss on your face hoping that you wake up. If that fails, she starts pinching and pulling your ears and if that still fails, she bites them. Never fails to wake you up and even though you so wish you could sleep  a little longer, looking at her smiling at you in the morning you so willing wake up, give her a big hug and kiss and tell her “Daddy loves you”.

12.   When she mimics the actions you teach her (i.e. walk like old lady, old man).

13.   When she so willingly entertains your crazy actions and follows along like when you do Gangnam Style and she joins you.

14.   Out of the bathroom, in your towel/underwear, she chases you around the room to grab your butt and is so entertained by it. Laughs out loud while she chases you.

15.   In her manipulative ways she says, “Don’t want Mummy to change. Want Daddy”. Of course it sucks when the reverse happens, “Don’t want Daddy to change. Want Mummy”.

16.   After scolding her, she says, “Sorry Daddy”. Sure you were dead pissed a minute ago but it all doesn’t matter now. You just want to hug and kiss her. You actually feel bad for scolding her now.

17.   She grabs your hand while she sleep and treats it like a bolster.

18.   Sometimes she puts her hand on your face while she sleeps. To her, it’s the comfort of knowing that you are there and to me, it’s the exceeding joy to know that you mean a lot to this little girl.

19.   She cries when she sees a stranger and when you pick her up, hug her and comfort her, she stops crying. The confidence that she shows that Daddy is around and nothing can “harm” her now is priceless. You’re like freaking Superman to her.

20.   It’s hard to wake up in the morning to go to work when she’s awake. In her blurness, she’ll say, “Daddy go work…”. You go over to her, give her a hug and kiss before you leave and as you close the bedroom door, you give her more flying kisses while she returns everyone of it. It then becomes really hard to close the door tight as she continually fixes her gaze on you. How to officially close the door with the adorable baby gazing upon you, hoping that there’s a chance you stayed back home today.

PIGGING OUT @ BETTY’S MIDWEST KITCHEN

Betty and me could have been the almost perfect lovers. We both love pork. We both love huge helpings. We both love high calorie cholesterol laden food. We both are cheap. Unfortunately, she seems to be married with children residing in the states and fortunately for me, I am married to a beautiful woman with a healthy eating habit which has increased my life expectancy significantly.

Located at Aman Suria Damansara, this relatively small restaurant holds a bomb of food. As the name suggest the food served here are recipes from the States, specifically from the MidWest region a.k.a. the heartland of America. Ironic as it may seem, food from the heartland that would probably give you a heart attack sooner. But life is to be enjoyed and good (most of the time unhealthy food) is to be savored.

First up was the soup. The soup of the day was “Ham & Sausage Soup” (RM8). Taste wasn’t anything to shout about but the soup was loaded with a generous helping of pieces of ham and sausage.

Next up was “Pig in a Blanket” (RM13) which is generally cocktail sausage wrapped around a bacon. This was good but nothing really special to talk about it. We’ve all seen this.

And now, the dishes that made me feel really close to heaven, singing Hallelujah as I gobbled them down.

DOG FOOD (RM10). Thick French Fries flooded with gravy and baked with cheese. If a girl’s comfort food is chocolate. This is definitely a guy’s comfort food. For the price and the size of the serving, it really does put McD’s fries to shame. Super rich in flavor and makes you feel all warm and comfy inside (right until you hear the ambulance siren around the corner).

PORK CHOP (RM23). Tender succulent pork chop pieces (which is really hard to come by) sunk under a load of delicious gravy. This dish is my standard dish everytime I visit the place.

 

CLASSICAL MEATLOAF (RM16.50). It never crossed my mind to order a meatloaf but when my friend ordered this and I had a taste of it, I cannot describe the awesomeness of the dish. Thick, meaty minced pork that gives you a sense of high.

CHEESEBURGER (RM16). Plain looking burger but the pork pattie is really something to look forward to.

And last but definitely not least is their famous House Lemonade (RM2.50). Don’t miss this.

In summary, I absolutely love Betty for its rich Americano food and her very, very reasonable price. It’s going to be tough to find some other place which serves up such tasty and hearty meal for a fraction of the price. Love it!

Location:

A-G-40, PJU 1/43,

Aman Suria Damansara,

47301 Petaling Jaya,

Selangor.

GPS: N3.122895, E101.595309