Surprise Birthday!~

To be honest, I was a little moody on my b'day. But, only because everyone I knew was busy on that night. I actually didn't feel like going out but William insisted vehemently that I did, even if it was just the both of us. So, we ended up heading to Delicious at Straits Quay as originally planned, although we arrived at 10pm. I knew instantly something else was going on when William informed the waitress of a reservation for eight at 10pm. Jeng jeng jeng!~ (Although, I've already suspected something from William's earlier insistence)

Anyhow, I was really famished so I decided to order something light s I know sweet confections will be coming my way later on. Their kitchen closes at 10.30pm, but the waitress refused to take anymore orders when I wanted to order at 10.20pm. And, I had just came after gym and was famished. Strike 1!

Then, I went to the baked goods and dessert section to order a savory Cornish that was on display, only to be informed that it was a fake and again, that the kitchen was closed. I mean, how difficult is it to heat up something that was already prepared? It's not like I'm asking them to bake it from scratch. Strike 2!

Disappointed, I had to order molten chocolate cake as my dinner (which I only ate half coz I felt a little nauseous having something so sweet and rich on an empty stomach) and head back to the table as my dear friends started trickling in.

We forgot to take a group pic coz we were pretty rowdy. Shawn came carrying a Tiramisu cake from Ritz (awesome local bakery). It was lovely. So soft and smooth with a rich yet light and fluffy cream filling. Just splendid as always!~

Me, assuming a lady-like cake cutting pose, according to Shawn.

Part of the gang.

I think Shawn was trying to hail the waiter who repeatedly forgot the extra glass of water I requested for the past 10 mins or so. Strike 3!

Seriously, I don't know if it's due to a change of management or just incompetent staff who couldn't care less about good customer service, but this is just unacceptable. Delicious in Penang has earned a BAN in my books.

Subsequently, we decided to head over to Mr. Pot at Gurney Drive area for some proper food. Apparently, some of 'em hadn't had dinner as well, and I was still craving something savory for dinner. We ended the night in loads of uproarious laughter that drew awkward and possible annoyed looks from other tables. Did I care? Not the least coz it's mah birthday!~

Thank you so much Shawn, Alvin, Dennis, Justin, Scott, Ben, Marc, Danny and David for making it. Although we started out late coz everyone was busy earlier, I had a blast just coz you guys were there. It's all that matters to me. A special thanks to William for organizing this. I really appreciated it and am so TOUCHED.

Love you guys!~

Happy 32nd Birthday to Me!~

So, I turned 32 today. Not sure what I'm gonna do or how am I gonna celebrate it yet. Anyhow, let's start off with a haircut to welcome another year younger and wiser XD

LOL, the trans assistant walked by behind me and I heard her smile at me taking this pic.

I hope my 32nd year will bring more good health, happiness and success =)

All I know is...there will be more questions on when I'm getting married from aunties and uncles T.T

I need to brace myself. Marriage questions, marriage questions everywhere!~

Tasty Discoveries @ Sakae Sushi

This week, I was given the privilege to attend a event to sample some of Sakae Sushi's newest creations. By now, everyone should already be familiar with the friendly green frog from the outlet that offers scrumptious Japanese cuisine. Come on, isn't he just adorable?

Sakae offers a wide range of items on the menu that leaves you spoiled for choice, ranging from teppanyaki, yakimono, agemono, tempura, nabemono, Japanese noodles and donburi. While offering tasty Japanese delights at reasonable prices, Sakae is constantly innovative in creating new ways to offer customers the best value in terms of variety, food quality and dining experience.

The first dish to arrive was the Kaisen Salad (RM16.90), which looked both vibrant and appetizing. Top of the salad consisted of prawns, tuna flakes, snow crab leg and is strewn with shrimp roe. All this was sitting on a bed crunchy, raw cabbage and surrounded by lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes, blanched broccoli and seaweed. It came with a side of creamy goma (sesame) dressing. The prawns and crab tasted fresh, while the shrimp roe added a hint of saltiness that was just right. The dressing with really delicious and nutty, and really made the dish. I found myself wanting more in the end, as there were more salad than dressing, even after we mixed it through. The salad overall had great texture, with the crunchy assorted vegetables and the soft seafood.

Next up, came the Kaisen Pirikara Nabe (RM 24.90). It was an abundant and appetizing seafood hotpot that comprised of prawns, squid, salmon, Japanese fish-cake, scallop, assorted vegetables (napa cabbage, shiitake mushroom, hon-shimeji mushrooms, leeks and sliced onions) and some glass noodles in a kimchee soup. The seafood was fresh and not overcooked. The soup was flavorful, but the spiciness was definitely milder than Korean version. However, I felt that it lacked just a slight bit of saltiness, which would really add a bit more depth to the flavor of the soup and bring out a tad more savoriness. I added a small amount of shoyu and it was perfect.

After that, it was time for some new sushi dishes. First up was the Ebi Crepe (RM5.99). A luscious roll with whole-cooked prawn, crab stick, lettuce and egg mayonnaise wrapped in a light crepe layer. Taste-wise, it was just alright for me. It could use a bit more texture, as each bite was a bit too soft. Perhaps adding cucumber would be good, just for some crunch.

The Sakae Blossom (RM9.99) was just gorgeous and just as lovely to eat. It was an intricately-designed roll with very lightly grilled salmon as the blossom, with sides covered in shrimp roe and finished with small dollop of mayonnaise on top. It was easily one of my favorite sushi of the night. But then, I love anything with lots of shrimp or salmon roe =)

The Soft Shell Crab Maki (RM 5.99) was scrumptious. The combination of soft shell crab, sweet beancurd and spicy mayonnaise really made each bite sing. Also, I love anything with crispy soft shell crab, but who doesn't? =P

The Inari Avocado Ebi (RM7.99) was pretty good as well. The salad dressing, avocado and sweet beancurd skin combination was tasty but it wasn't as memorable for me.

Another favorite for me was the Hana Maki (RM9.99). It was a beautifully crafted flower rolls with delicate, fresh, raw salmon petals wrapping a sushi rice centre and topped generously with mayonnaise and shrimp roe. The richness of the salmon and mayo made each bite melt in my mouth.

The Hotate Mentaiyaki (RM20.90), which is succulent half-shell scallops grilled with cod fish roe, tasted both creamy and fresh. The scallops were still soft and slightly briny and cod fish roe tasted almost like mayo. I'm not sure if any mayo was added to the topping.

I've always loved the Genmaicha (brown rice tea, which is green tea combined with roasted brown rice) that is served in Sakae. The roasted brown rice really gives it a pronounced, toasty and delicious flavor.

The last item was the Curry Udon (RM12.90), which came with Japanese fishcake slices, chicken, cubed carrots and potatoes. The texture of the curry is not as thick but taste-wise, it didn't disappoint. We were all stuffed by then but still managed to scoff it down.

After all the fantastic food, we were ushered outside for a group photo with none other than the plump green frog. It was flattering as some of the marketing crew, along the with the frog, came all the way from KL for this event!~

Yes, I look like I'm still hungry, as I tried to steal a bite on the froggie XD

A big shout-out to Emily, as it was her birthday that day!~ And she met her prince too...in frog form. Not yet kiss mah, so haven't transformed yet.

When we got back in, we were surprised with dessert and presented with 4 flavors of their ice-cream. From the top: Dragon fruit, passion fruit, black sesame and green tea. My favorite were the dragon fruit and passion fruit ones, albeit it digressed from the usual Japanese flavors. I loved the refreshing, bright and clean taste of both =)

Each of us got a goodie bag, with a little green froggie inside too!~

A big thanks to Sakae Sushi for gracefully hosting us and making sure we had a great time that night. Also, thanks to my buddy Criz and our helpful organizers from Foodsion for making this happen =)

Partying Our Way To 2011

NOTE: I know that this is a LONG overdue post, but I got lazy and had trouble uploading the pics. There were too many ><

I definitely wanted to celebrate the coming of 2011 outdoors. Didn't wanna sit and rot at home while the rest of the world roared during countdown. No, I didn't plan to be Gurney Plaza, nor Esplanade where our dear CM Lim Guan Eng would be, and risk getting squashed by the masses and face the frustration of the possibility of counting down in the car amidst unmoving traffic due to blocked roads and block-headed revelers who might get a little too rowdy. I decided to head to Straits Quay with zai2 and meet up with friends there. Straits Quay is Penang's newest sea-front mall. Love the architecture but it's not fully populated yet. Only restaurants, quite 'atas' ones, have taken root. Incidentally, Straits Quay is also fast becoming a new 'IN' place for the vast population of Penang's gay people.

Massive Xmas tree...or just a tiny little zai2 XD

We also have a lighthouse, which now looks kinda eerie with the green light.

After spending 15 mins there with Isaac and Dennis, Isaac commented it was BORING. Well, the crowd congregating there were mostly family-oriented, and not even a small concert there could spice it up. SO, we decided to head over to Bagan instead. They were having a countdown event there too (which club/popular venue isn't), so we hastened our asses there. Traffic was surprisingly smooth, despite the fact that it was already past 11pm.

Can you see how hard we were partying down there?

'Train'ing to I Will Survive!~

Camwhoring on the dance floor XD

I partied so hard that night. It's been such a while since I went so wild. Drenched in sweat all the party and it's amazing my ass was still intact. Freakin' awesome way to welcome 2011!~

The Pooh Is 30!~

Yes, I just turned 30 yesterday. My 20s have gone and a new era has begun. The Pooh has left early adulthood and into his prime...

OMFGWTFBBQ, I'm 30!~

All drama aside, it's not really as bad as I often paint it to be. It's just another number and now that I'm there, I feel more or less happy. I'm a lot wiser and looking forward to the new chapter in my life. No doubt I'll still need to energy to deal with the scandalous little devil, but I think I can handle that.

B'day celebration was a simple one. Dinner @ US Pizza in Nagore road with Shawn, Jamas, Scott, Albin and Dennis. It wasn't a big crowd but I couldn't care less. Any time spent with close friends is always fun and worth it. Zai2 couldn't join coz he had some family issues, so it'll be another celebration by ourselves. Another reason both of us should celebrate is that zai2 finally got the temporary job in HSBC. The pay isn't that much, but at least it'll stop him from saying 'bo lui!' every time I wanna go out with him.

Only 6 of us for dinner, and we ordered 4 large pizzas. We couldn't help it coz there was a promotion of 2 pizzas for the price of 1 every Tuesday. As a result, we felt like hippos after makan. After stuffing our pie holes with the pizza pies, with some leftover to tapau for zai2, came the b'day cake. It was the chocolate mud cake from Secret Recipe and tasted as rich as it looked. We only managed to polish off a quarter of the cake, after Scott and Shawn took compromising pictures of me removing the candles with my mouth.

Too many calories later, we brought the house down with some good-natured bitching and laughs before we called it a night at...10pm. You knowlah, old people can't stay up late d.

Aiks, sudden back pain while posting this, I wonder why ><

Also, I suddenly noticed that I have 30 followers...coincidence?

Earth Hour 2010

Earth Hour 2010 is scheduled on March 27, 2010 from 8:30 to 9:30 pm.

During Earth Hour, hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple; turning off their lights for one hour.

Earth Hour 2010 will continue to be a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to show leadership and be responsible for our future. Let's do it to prove that we care for something more than ourselves!

I'll be doing it, will you?

New Year in KL! - Part 1

Yay, happy frickin' new year to everyone and I just got back from KL. It was kinda tiring but really fun. Managed to do what I wanted to and see my awesome friends again, and then some new ones ^^

The new year also marked some firsts for me, which I will go thru in this post. On new year's eve, first thing I did for the day was meet up with Douggie @ Delicious in Midvalley, thanks to my dear friend aka driver, Adrian XD

What Douggie had, pretty good.

Didn't take what I had coz I wolfed it down and forgot =/

Douggie, Adrian and me @ Starbucks after lunch.

We were definitely going clubbing on New Year's eve, and the plan was to attend the Princeworld event for New Year's eve celebrations @ Warehouse club, which is just nearby to Oblique. Heck, I even bought a couple of nice, loose but slim-fitting shirts from Topman while we were at Midvalley just for clubbing. The fabric was really soft, comfortable and enhanced my...assets, RAWRRR XD

One thing I made clear was that I really wanted to avoid was massive new year's eve traffic jams, coz roads around certain areas in KL, especially Bukit Bintang would be closed starting 7 pm. I had a bad experience of celebrating New Year countdown in the car in Bukit Bintang years ago, and we were just less than 100 meters from our venue T.T

So we REALLY had to plan properly for it.

Luckily, Isaac helped us hatch a good plan to avoid all that shit. We would park the car somewhere near KLCC and then take the LRT back to somewhere nearby where Isaac could fetch us back home after he's done with work to freshen up and pimp ourselves ^^. Then, Isaac would take us to the LRT station again and we'd proceed back to KLCC for dinner and walk to the club, which is really nearby. So we left Midvalley at 4pm to do just that=)

Isaac himself had to fetch other friends, so he drove to Bukit Bintang that night. For the FIRST TIME, there was NO massive jam at Bukit Bintang, even past 10 pm, on new year's eve! Holy ginormous elephant testicles, I thought it might rain groundhogs! Anyhow, Adrian, Joseph (who came to KLCC by LRT to join us) and I had a quick dinner at Burger King.

For the FIRST TIME ever, I entered a fast food restaurant in Malaysia feeling like a tourist. Seriously, the whole place was PACKED by foreigners. The three of us were the ONLY Malaysians there, except for the Indian staffs frantically manning the counters to quell the LOOONG queue of tourists. No Burger King back there izzit?

After dinner, we converged with Isaac and more friends and a whole entourage of us (about 11 people) headed to Warehouse. We got in quite early to book a nice place to hang, before the crowd comes in. Decor of the place was really good, but sad to say, music kinda sucked. It was mostly trance and house. R&B and pop were almost non-existent. Where's my Lady GaGa and Pussycat Dolls? T.T

Long story short, before we know it, we were on the dance floor. After countdown was over, things started to get wilder. I proposed we move a bit closer to the stage to dance in the middle, since the spot we were at felt like the LDP, people moving in and out all the time coz the dance floor was near the entrance. It was starting to get hot, from the sea of people gyrating and dancing their asses off. Then, it started to REALLY hot. JL and friends started to pull my shirt off and shoved me up the stage...

Yes, for the FIRST TIME, I danced topless on stage, right at the front row. In my defense, it was my friends' idea, so I'm innocent. *puppy eyes*

Also, they were tugging at the brand new white shirt that I just bought on the same day for clubbing, which I adored, so I 'had' to take it off. *ginormous puppy eyes*

Being half naked in full view of everyone while being soaking wet in sweat, with my jeans riding low and shakin' my moneymaker ain't so bad after all...

OKLAH, it felt pretty effing darn good XD

Oh...and I met this cute fella named David. Stay tuned for part 2!

PS: Mien, see? No need 2 drinks and my shirt came off XD

PPS: Sorry no pics during clubbing. Didn't bring my camera in coz I was afraid it might get stolen.

PPPS: More pics in part 2 lor...

Early Birthday Weekend

Last Friday, Isaac.R and JL came down from KL just to celebrate Isaac.Y's belated birthday and my early one. I thought it was really sweet of them and I really appreciated it. Thanks for coming guys! =)

Saturday started off by Isaac.R and I taking JL to several places he had never been to the first time he came to Penang last month. Isaac.R actually took JL to Kek Lok Si in the morning, but I met up with them at Tesco at noon and together we proceeded to the Snake Temple at Bayan Lepas.

Isaac.R pointed out that the guy in grey walking beside him was kinda cute. He's Malay but looked kinda mixed and yeah, he's cute =X

Oh my, there he is again. 'Accidentally' took another photo of him, but he's quite cute leh. Should've taken a close-up one =P

Once inside, JL was kinda squeamish about the snakes and wouldn't try to touch 'em, which was kinda funny since he was the one who suggested to visit that place.

After that, we proceeded to a beach called Sungai Batu (I think) that is ONLY accessible through some remote kampung area with REALLY narrow and bumpy roads. It was so bumpy, luckily none of us ate yet. If not, we'd be redecorating the inside of his car, if you know what I mean. If someone in the car was pregnant,
heshe would've had a pre-mature delivery, or terus 'gugur' leh. And we got slightly lost along the way (it's not like that kampung place had signs). Eventually, we found the place, which turned out quite nice.

Wonder what caught their attention...?

Isaac.R and JL (standing)

JL and I =)

After that, we proceeded for a looo00oo000ooo000oong ride to Balik Pulau. Kinda reminded me why I never go to Balik Pulau. Plenty of narrow, winding roads along the long journey. On top of that, the car was almost empty on fuel the whole way, adding to the suspense lah. So, JL got bored, took my camera and started taking random pics and camwhoring.

Isn't JL cute? =P

Why to Balik Pulau? For the laksa of course (durian season is over, cannot get good ones d T.T)! Why else would someone travel miles and miles if it were not for makan, especially Penang makan? =P

Asam laksa...JL and Isaac.R had this.

Laksa Siam or Lemak. I was the only one having it but after they both tasted, they ordered it also. It was quite good XD

You can only get this in Balik Pulau now I think. They don't sell this anywhere else on the island. If got, please lemme know k?

After that, we headed back to Tesco coz we needed to do some additional shopping for the BBQ that night. Fast forward, the BBQ on Saturday was just a medium one with less than 15 people. Nevertheless, it was good times with good friends =)

These were taken quite early when not many people had arrived yet and it had just started. Too busy eating and talking to snap the rest later =P

Oh, and remember I said that Brendan was baking me a cake? It's a marble cheesecake with luscious dark chocolate coating and thinly sliced kiwi fruit. It was absolutely DELISH!

Introducing Brendan, my fave foodie and baker XD

ACTUALLY, we had 2 cakes that night and the cake above was the second one. The first was a creamy crepe cake that Isaac.Y had ordered and it was really good too. We demolished it before I remembered to snap a pic =P

Prezzies!

I got a lucky cat, an aromatherapy set for my room, a MP3 wireless FM modulator for my car (how practical), a cute angel pair and A FRIGGIN' ELECTRIC OVEN (which also came with a Winnie the Pooh envelope and card that you see on top XD). Apparently, someone IS listening to me when I yap about not having an oven and wanting to learn how to bake XD

So, my friends pooled some cash and got it for me. I think it's really sweet. Good lord, I was so excited, I think...I THINK I jumped up and down like a kid *embarrassed* OK, MOVE ON!

Ah...lastly, Isaac.R got me this locket which means prosperity while we were at Balik Pulau from this uncle, who is apparently a living heritage and has made a living his entire life out of carving and molding silverware and accessories.

Guys, thanks SO MUCH for everything. Thanks for spending the time, making the effort and the meaningful gifts. Love y'all loads ^^