PIGGIN OUT @ THE WINE HOUSE, PLAZA DAMAS

If you haven’t been to Plaza Damas, don’t forget to pack a backpack with clothes, food and water to last you 3 days because the possibility of you getting lost here is very probable and don’t waste your time asking the tenants here too. Equally hopeless. Parked at D (which we later found out meant Block D) and to when we arrive at the surface, we asked a tenant where Wine House was located and confidently he pointed us to the shop beside a mamak. Walked all the way there and didn’t find the shop. Walked further down and asked another lady tenant where The Wine House was. Again pointed confidently towards the mamak and told me it was 2 shops away from the mamak. At this point, I felt I was either blind or my brains were fried, too stupid to understand. I decided to call the shop directly and found out it was located at the other end at Block G! Luckily for us, the weather was nice and windy on that day and sights of water fountain with wave features were very comforting to us… you know… if we get lost again… at least got water around for us to drink.

Arrived at the The Wine House at 12:20pm after walking around finding our way for the past 30 minutes. We were shown to a table on level 1 where we would need to take a small lift inside the restaurant itself. How cool is that? I didn’t know at that point of time, I would get the opportunity to ride the lift up and down countless times. We were the only customers at level 1 and with the super low lighting and sun-light proof (i.e. black out) and if any white figure floated about, I would have made a run for it.

Anyways, ordered our food from a waiter who smelt of alcohol when he spoke to us and was half alert when he was taking our orders and I had to repeat myself multiple times to him and had to request for him to repeat our order (I don’t normally ask ppl to do it… but a drunk waiter cannot be good news) which he did flimsily.

Tick tock… waited for 15 minutes… nothing came… not even our drinks or soup… after about 20 minutes, my free rides in the small lift began. Rode it down, only to find him waiting to enter the lift with my wife’s honey lemon. Went up with him. But where was my coffee??!?!?! He went back downstairs, got back up the lift and served my coffee. Ok… so the lift is small, but not so small that it can only fit 1 honey lemon/drink at a time.

After waiting for another 15 minutes, went back downstairs (in the lift) to ask him where’s our food. The waiter said “Sorry but we’ve been busy serving”... I looked around and there was only 1 occupied table outside!!! Utter rubbish! If it weren’t for the chi from the water fountain earlier, I would have blown up at him. Went back up, to wait some more. The soup arrived shortly.

Waited somemore. And somemore. Went back down after another 15 minutes to asked him where our main course were. BS me again to say busy with customers. Told him to hurry up… like as fast as you down your last glass of alcohol before you served us. Went back up in the lift. Short and long of it all, I had to go back down one more time to hurry him up.

The best part, when the food arrive, he actually forgot another order we made!!! This place is a total joke! Food isn’t great. So-so and totally not worth your money and the frustration you have to go through unless you love riding lifts.

This place should be renamed – “The Lift Shop – Ride it as much as you want”.

Location:

LotG-0-03, Plaza Damas,

Jalan Sri Hartamas 1,

50480 Kuala Lumpur,

03-6201 0830

CHRISTMAS - GIVING

So it’s very cliché that Christmas is the season of giving and yea we buy presents for friends and families but we have come to a point where we benefit only people of equal socio-economic status and barely do I hear these days about people (individuals) giving to the less fortunate. How much effort do we actually take to think about the less fortunate? So something my wife shared just a couple days ago really made me think.

A friend of ours (more closely related to her) will be celebrating their daughter’s birthday soon and we have been invited. The couple however has requested that we do not buy any presents for their daughter. Ok.. this sounds very familiar… “Should you wish to bless us, monetary mode preferred”. But the next thing she told me really struck me and the thought has been in my head ever since. They would on that day pass around a box and all money collected on that day would be donated to an orphanage! It struck me for these couple of reasons:

1.       In our plenty, are we really thankful for all we have and think about the masses out there that are less fortunate or do we continually covet for more? Apart from being just verbally thankful, do we express this by sharing?

2.       How often do we actually actively think of ways to bless the less fortunate? We often become passive contributors where somebody else’s thinks of a donation program and we just contribute. We can as easily be active contributors ourselves. Their plan was ingenious.

3.       We have come to a point in society where we the rich (and I am talking about people like you and me who have more than enough to get by the day) continually benefit each other (i.e. buying presents for each other). Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that it’s wrong to buy presents in appreciation of each other but it shouldn’t stop at just that. Honestly, we are the group of people that do not need to receive presents. We have enough. I have to reiterate this again – I am not proposing against giving presents to one another as a gesture of appreciation but we need to take the extra step to think of people, kids who are orphans who live in communal houses instead of the loving embrace of our parents.

4.       Do we really need all the gifts? Just last year, we celebrated Athalie’s birthday and I was really happy to receive all the gifts on Athalie’s behalf. Seriously happy that we receive so much and thankful for the generosity of our friends and families. But after hearing about what these couple were going to do… I began asking myself… “Did Athalie really need all the presents?” She already has lot of toys… Definitely more than what she can play with. Could we have taken similar steps and bless some other kids who needed them more? Let’s stop talking about 2^nd hand toys and start thinking about giving 1^st hand toys.

The only reason why these thought have struck me is this, I myself is as guilty as hell of being selfish and thinking of nothing more but myself. I am a super passive contributor who hibernates most of the time unless it’s out of a lot of convenience to contribute. Food bank at church… yea sure I USE to buy extras just because it was super convenient… you know… pick another can… easy ma. But looking back at how much God has blessed me, how oblivious I am people who are less fortunate, the little effort I have taken to bless others and how these couple who have just decided to donate everything they collect on their daughter’s birthday party really struck my heart.

So my resolve, easiest to execute is to copy. We can easily do the same and make that difference. Of course this is still a draft plan pending further discussion with wifey to see how best to maximise opportunities like this to not only bless others but at the same time to teach our daughter (and upcoming son) about sharing and putting a thought for the less fortunate and to help daddy be a more active contributor just like mummy.

PIGGIN’ OUT @ KOHIANG, KAMPUNG WARISAN

Nestled in the greeneries of Kampung Warisan (where the condominiums cost about RM700k and the maintenance cost RM2,000!), is this Halal Korean Restaurant. The restaurant is surrounded by chirping birds and tall trees and a very tempting swimming pool not too far away. Even before we sat down to order our food, we took a couple of minutes just walking around to admire the serenity of the area.

Kohiang is operated by a Korean couple, who operated a Korean restaurant in Ampang for 20 years before they relocated here. Needless to say, the food here tasted really good and coupled with the great customer service from them personally really made our lunch here a memorable one. Anything kimchi here is a must try – Cabbage Kimchi -  had to reload it over and over again, White Carrot Kimchi – was something different but tasted really good and not forgetting the Kimchi Jiggae.

Location:

Clubhouse in Kampung Warisan Condominium,

Jalan Jelatek,

54200 Kuala Lumpur.

Contact: 010-221 0036

GPS: N3.176695, E101.734373

Les Miserables - What It Has Taught Me

Les Miserables (‘ “ - ^ insert punctuations where deem fit)

So pronunciation was the first struggle everyone had even before watching the movie. Smarty pants me began by pronouncing it as “lay mi ze ble” (you know… I took French in college and pass… barely) and some bulat-bulat just went “less mi za ra bless”. Everyone was trying out different pronunciations.  Well, some friend was smart enough to google “pronunciation les miserables” and if you’re still wondering how it should be pronounced, feel free to listen to it over and over again here.

Anyways, here are some reasons why I thought Les Miserables (‘ “ - ^ insert punctuations where deem fit) was so awesome and how it has thought me so much:

         i.         There are people out there who can exhibit extreme patience like when you are so tired, worn out and deep in your sleep (Marius) and someone decides to sing at your face loudly (Jean Valjean).

       ii.         Police are really cool people. The next time a police ask you a question, you can actually sing him the answer. Like for example when he asks you, “Macam mana settle?”, you can go like “Lalalalala… Do a deer a female deer, Re a drop of golden sun, Mi a name I call myself, Fa a long long way to run….” and then drive off. Totally fine.

      iii.         Dying people are given this supernatural power to sing opera. Like when Fantine was on her deathbed, she didn’t even look like she was dying and sang like Pavarotti before dropping dead the very next minute. Also at the end of the movie when although Jean Valjean’s face look really bad, he could still sing like a super crazy opera man. Amazing.

     iv.         Superman has been around for a very, very long time. He was born in 1815 as a young French boy , got shot by the French army while collecting bullets like 4-5 times and never once screamed in pain (and could still sing joyfully), pretended to die only to come back in the 21^st century as Clark Kent.

       v.         Buying fake IDs started in France in 1815. So what if the police have stamped you as a dangerous criminal. Just buy a fake ID which lets you become become an owner of a factory and a mayor. So much better than our fake IDs which can only get you into a club.

     vi.         Sex kills. Bet nobody ever thought of this but if you have never had sex for a long time, please be careful. Fantine died after having sex with a stranger after a long time of celibacy (assuming she never had sex after her husband left her and the birth of her child).

    vii.         Not having sex makes you go crazy. Also like Fantine who sold her hair, her tooth and walked around suddenly in drapes and was only relieved of it all after she had sex…  only to die thereafter.

  viii.         History does not happen on a linear curve (i.e. 1800 – 1801 – 1802 etc). Dr. Emmet “Doc” Brown (Marty’s friend from Back to the Future) was right! Parallel universe does exist. The French Revolution happened between 1789 – 1799. In Les Miserables (‘ “ - ^ insert punctuations where deem fit), the year was 1815 and it was also the start of the French Revolution!!! You don’t need any more proof.

     ix.         France in 1815 has an extremely effective policing system. No matter how Jean Valjean runs around France (which by the way has a land area of approximately 545,630,000 sq km), Javert always finds you. Always. It’s not any other police but Javert. PDRM should definitely adopt their system.

       x.         People have extreme tolerance when a song like “I Dream a Dream” is sung countless times during the movie and all other songs (apart from some) kinda sound like it for the 3 hours you’re sittted in the cinema.

     xi.         Father-in-law’s are really great people. They would risk their life to ensure your safety (even though you’ve only met his daughter once and you’re not even betrothed to her yet – given that at least you sang a song with his daughter), get into shit with you, pull you through shit, does some amazing Samson-like-moves by carrying you on his back and climbing up buildings (literally) and risk his own life by defying the strongest possibility of a bullet shooting through his heart – all for you. Your own father won’t even do that.

    xii.         The Indians and French have something in common. They like to sing. More so for the French.

  xiii.         French people are a little bit crazy. After being shown grace by Jean Valjean, Javert kills himself. If the French were to have written the Bible, it would go something like this, “The father welcomed his prodigal son back with open arms. The prodigal son then went to the kitchen and killed himself”.

PIGGIN OUT @ GARIBALDI, BANGSAR VILLAGE

This year, to celebrate our anniversary, we decided to go to Garibaldi at Bangsar Village. Decision on a place to go this time wasn’t really difficult as TimeOut had just come out with their list of awards and Garibaldi won “Best Italian”. 

Located within Bangsar Village itself, Garibaldi is a 2 storey restaurant visible from the streets along Bangsar Village. The lower ground is a bar and the upper storey is a fine dining restaurant, housing nothing more than 15 tables with simplistic but comfy décor. Not much to a view here as you’ll have the adjacent building as a view.

Service here was really good. Not only were the waiters prompt in serving you, our waiter took the time to explain every dish that was served although me being the meaty grubby fellow barely understood anything. Regardless, I was amazed at the effort he took to explain each and every dish to the smallest detail.

To make things easy for us, we decided to order their degustation menu. Definitely the right choice. 

Before anything came was, bread sticks and bread.

Our first course was some chef creation. Don’t ask me what it was, I totally forgot.

Next up was mashed up prawns, celery, green apples placed on top of a slice of tomato with fresh leaves and sweet sauce around it. We loved this dish. Light, sweet and freshness.

The following course was black squid ink pasta with scallops and caviar. Expecting the regular starand of pasta in black to come, we were nicely surprised when the dish came with a roti canai shaped pasta (black of course) with a generous serving of pasta, caviars and best of them all, a 24k edible gold. Crazy but true. The shiny patch you see on the pasta is gold. Edible gold. Out waiter assured us it was safe to eat.

Next up was smoke duct breast risotto. As simplistic and unappetizing this dish might look, it was really good. The deep fried duck breast was fragrantly delicious and the risotto was rich and even though I was already full by now, I could bear the thought of wasting such a delicious dish.

And after all the wonderful dishes and we were already pretty full by now, the MAIN COURSE! I ordered a stewed beef shoulder while my wife had the trout. My beef was tender, warm and just plain good.

Finale, our dessert. You would expect a smallish portion for a dessert but no, everything in Garibaldi is served in hearty generous portions. Caramelized fruits, poached pear and stuffed ricotta.

And just when you thought it’s all over, they came over with this!

Overall, the food and service in Garibaldi was really amazing. I was really contented with the price, the quality of the food, the serving portion and the service. You just step out of this place smiling. Money well spent.

Full description of the degustation menu.

AMOUSE BOUCHE
Daily Special Chef Creation

GAMBERI
Tartare of Red Prawns on Green Apples and Celery with Parsley Gelatine and Tomato Sour Caramel

NERO
Black Squid Ink Pasta Layers with Scallops on Saffron Butter and Topped with Golden Wild Trout Caviar

RISOTTO
Pumpkin Risotto with Chestnut, Smoked Duck Breast and Robiola Tre Latti Cheese

TROTA
Butter Fried Ocean Trout Sage Flavored a la Mugnaia with Fennels Sauté and Black Kalamata Olives
Or
MANZO ALL`OLIO 
Traditional Beef Shoulder Stewed with Olive Oil, Anchovies and Parsley Served with Parmesan and Creamed Polenta

SEADAS
Deep Fried Sardinian Seadas Stuffed of Ricotta Cheese with Grappa Poached Pear and Honey Caramelized Figs 
IL SERVIZIO DEL CAFFE'
Coffee or Tea

RM165++

Location:

Lot 10 & G22, Bangsar Village 1,

Jalan Telawi 1,

59100 Bangsar, KL.

Tel: 03-2282 3456

http://www.garibaldi.com.my/

MY FIRST

Ok… this post has nothing to do with “you know what” or is this going to be a humorous post. I have never made any new year resolution cause I don’t think there’s any point in them just like going for motivation talks… most of the time, it only last between 2 weeks to 1 month and after that most people would revert back to their old self back (this statement is research backed). But this year, against what research has shown, I will make my first and my one and only NEW YEAR RESOLUTION!

MY NEW YEAR RESOLUTION

FOR 2013 IS………..

TO EAT HEALTHY!!!

I know my wife and my mum (who verbalizes this a lot) and dad (who doesn’t really verbalize this often but gives me the serious talk about eating healthy) are probably jumping for joy and my brother is probably going… “Why so difficult. Just take the pill and you can eat anything without any worry like me”.

My wife comes from a family where healthy food is served most of the time (no si ham, no skin, no oil, but lotsa natural nyonya santan – fruit k… so healthy :P) while my family as much as my mum propagates for us to eat healthy, there would be the frequent fei chu yok (fatty pork dish) that is served (and she serves them because she knows how much we love them). But to be fair, she has balanced the fatty pork dishes with saltless food, skinless chicken, brown rice, etc… but I still love the fatty pork.

So why this particular new year resolution?

Firstly, my cholesterol level is high (or what I would always tell myself… “A little bit high”), LDL level is off the roof (“A little bit high”) and sugar level is “kinda high” (but this can be constituted to the fact that I ate tones of lozenges the past few days before my test). Of course for the past years I have been breaking borders (slightly over the border/max limit) but have never gone into pills cause my trusted insurance agent tells me, the moment you take the pill, you’ll gotta declare it in your insurance and you’re gonna have to pay more. So unlike the Matrix, taking the blue/red pill here is definitely not an option. Gotta go flat out nude/all natural.

Secondly, today is the 21 December 2012 where the world is suppose to end and didn’t. So I’m stuck in this world for the next 50 years (as I am only 28) without any nearest doomsday prediction in sight. So, I’ve got to make sure I remain healthy and don’t have to pay for a bypass, dialysis etc. even though I think my company covers for such expenses.

In the past, I’ve successfully managed to reduce my weight significantly via my famous Banana Milkshake diet (from 90kg – 70kg in 2 months. Better than any slimming centre out there. Diet involved replacing dinner with banana milkshake drink) and recently through my going to be famous “Brink of Death (Sort of) Diet” when in 2 weeks I lost 2 kg (this also I didn’t follow strictly). Diet involves controlling calorie intake to less than 600 calories a day. So either lunch/dinner I would have tuna in a can (300 calories) and 1 cucumber while for the other meal is 2 x box milk and loads of coffee (black, no sugar, no milk) to suppress hunger. But through this 2 diet plans, I have also gained back significantly fast and now weigh about 79kg. So this time around, I’ve got to work out a more sustainable diet plan to lower cholesterol and maintain a reduced weight.

To make sure I am successfully in this, I have developed a new diet regime and hope this works better. This shall be called the “1200 Calorie Diet”. In the most simplistic way, for one if the meals in a day (I generally only have 2 – lunch and dinner. I don’t usually have breakfast), I’m going to have my usual food.. i.e  chap fan, chap fan, chap fan (which should be around the 800 calorie range) and for the other meal, I would ensure that my calorie intake does not exceed 400 calories and is mostly protein base (which is actually quite easy to achieve). So the 400 calorie meal can still be a very fulfilling meal for me cause lotsa protein means lotsa meat (just lean ones) and eggs (without yolk). Imagine, I can have like an Oven Baked Ribeye (406 calories @ 200g) and 4 hardboiled egg without yolk (68 calories) and it would still be a total calorie of 474! Or better still Oven Baked Pork Chop (285 calories/255g) with 4 hardboiled egg without yolk (68 calories) – Total calories of 353 only! That beats eating Pan Mee @ 474 calories. So at the looks of it, it’s not going to be really difficult. Just have to keep track of my calorie intake and to consciously increase protein and reduce carbs and fats in my diet. Still got a lot of good, delicious option for food.

FYI… Mc Donalds Big Mac Meal has a total calorie count of 1160!!! Burger@480 calories, large fries@455 calories and large coke@255 calories. Eating Bak Kut Teh (342 calories with rice(242 calories) (Total calorie@584) beats eating McDonalds.

Like I said, still got a lot of good alternative around. Of course BKT would have to be lean (non-fatty) meat (and I’m not saying everyday k… just when the craving to eat bad comes along… hopefully not too often). Other good low calorie food are wan ton (45 calories per), yong tau fu (80 calories per fried, 40 calories per non-fried), tandori chicken (260 calories) and fish ball noodle (330 calories).

The long and short of it all, 2013 would be the year I’m going to eat healthy and keep an eye on my calorie intake and taking special notice of carb and fat content.

Note: I wrote this article on the 21 December 2012 and am only publishing it now less my wife cancels all Christmas food plan after she finds out my numbers for my blood test results… she seems to have forgotten that I’ve done the test with all her year-end paper marking busyness (divine intervention)… :P Love you dear and I’m going to be around longer than you think… :D

4 IV FOUR EMPAT

4, IV, Four, Empat years ago, I married a beautiful lady at the tender age of 24. Of course getting married young, people had a lot of things to say…

4, IV, Four, Empat Things People Thought About My Decision:

                     i.         Why so early? Can wait sum more ma…

                   ii.         Ha…? Shotgun? (Had to make sure Ju Li maintained her weight (and me on diet just in case they see wrongly) less to create more suspicion… and now.. 4 years down… when I tell people I got married at 24, I have to make sure I also tell them, “I also have a daughter born 2 YEARS LATER”)

                  iii.         Gatal… Tak boleh tahan ar?

                 iv.         Still got so many choices ma…

But that decision to marry my college sweetheart, my one and only true love (any previous gf’s less than 1 yr not counted) has been one decision that I have not regretted and I am so glad we decided to get married then. In any case, by then, we have already been friends for 2 years and dated for 4 years… Wanna wait for what sum more? So why did I married JL (my wife)…

4, IV, Four, Empat Reason I Married JL:

                  i.            She loves KIDS as much as I did

                ii.            She was my anchor, my stabilizer, my Xanax and my island of solace

               iii.            She wasn’t a workaholic who spent more time in office than home (women I fear the most)

              iv.            She loved me

Through the 4, IV, Four Empat years together, we’ve gone through ups and downs but the best part of the journey to me has been always learning from each other. We definitely come from 2 very different family backgrounds and of course those shape who we are today. My family was very routine focused while hers was more laid back and bonding focused. So while my family always had everything planned out in advance, her family sits back and is able to converse with each other for hours. So when she married me, I was all about getting home, settle dinner, wash the plates, bath, watch TV and sleep and she was left feeling emptiness in the relationship and wondering – What happen to conversation? Dinner was just about finishing up. Sitting down in the couch was just about watching TV. Lying down on the bed was just about sleeping. To me, that was life. But to her, that was definitely not life. And through the years, I have to learn to converse with her more, which was something that didn’t come easy but refreshing in the end.

4, IV, Four, Empat Things I’ve Learned From JL:

               i.      There’s more to consider than being super duper PRE-punctual – I use to get irritated (and sometimes still do) when we’re like sharp sharp on time for something. But through the years, as much as PRE-punctuality is still important, I have to consider other aspects (i.e. if we reach super early for a wedding, baby would have to endure through the delay and in the end, nobody’s going to be happy, our own fatigue and there’s no point in reaching there early and not being able to enjoy ).

             ii.      “Put the sponge down and come spend time with us!” – Making sure the plates are washed immediately is not as important as spending the time to first bond with both baby and mummy. My schema of eating – bring the plates to the sink – wash it had to be reconstructed. I’m really glad that JL has brought about much more perspective to what is important. “Plates can wait. We can wash them later. Spending time now before she sleeps is more important.”

            iii.      My values are not always right. This is something that I have learned and have to be constantly remind myself.

           iv.      Eat fish. Eat healthy. My staple food before I met her was Maggie mee & fatty pork.

4, IV, Four, Empat Things JL Has Learned from Me (I think):

            i.         Expand food choices – she now loves Si Ham & have learned how to suck Balitong.

          ii.         Increase risk appetite – she can go on manageable roller coaster rides, drive a new car fresh from the showroom, snorkel and canoe far off to the ocean.

         iii.         Swim – even though she told me that she has a “crooked backbone” which causes her to not to be able to float in water (which was a lie but I took it as a fact and I have successfully thought her how to swim – so for swimming lesson (even if you’ve got a physical problem that causes you to sink in water), contact Master Swimmer Chan).

        iv.         Cleanliness is not everything. Sometimes can close one eye. So sometimes when I wash the rice 4x instead of 5x, can close one eye a bit  :P

Looking back at our differences and how we have adapted together really puts a smile on my face. That’s to me is the true meaning of love and being together. Sure she’s kind, loving, understanding and all… but with these new found maturity in our relationship to learn to understand where we come from and change and adapt… to me… that’s beauty. It was definitely not easy, a journey infused with arguments (as we’re both quite hard headed – 1^st child syndrome), nights where I just ignored and slept while she’s left still fuming over our conflict, but in the end, the journey has been worthwhile. A true value of a great sword is one which has been immerse in fire and tested in battles. Don’t get me wrong that our married life is only filled with conflict. Our married life definitely has more enjoyable moments than conflict but relationships will be tested and year after year as we mature together, I treasure and love her even more. The experiences that we’ve been through, both good and bad becomes the very foundation that we build our relationship on.

To my beloved wife, I love you very much and love you even more as the years go by. Sorry for the times I’ve hurt you with my insensitivities. Thank you for being the anchor that I can rely on. I look forward to both calm seas and rough tsunamis that we would go through and in which through each experience, we come out stronger in the love we have for each other. I love you very much!