Friday, September 28, 2012

KLCC--Chinatown Day & Food Tasting at Sunway MIGF

9/27

Didn't wake up as early as the day before but still around 8am. Went to eat some awesome nasi lemak near where I live and the line was worth the wait. The taste of the rice is just different--apparently the stall sells over 4 wooden buckets worth of rice everyday!! The rice is just so different--sweeter, softer and melts in your mouth, unlike the coarse rice we have back home. You can just smell and taste the coconut infusion when you breath in the air.

Nasi Lemak

Cha Guo

After breakfast, we passed through the morning bazaar looking for snacks to munch on and stopped at a colorful cha guo stand which had colorful display of food all laid out. Picked up some munchies and then went home to head out to KLCC Chinatown with my sis.

We passed through Jalan Petaling intersections weaving through food vendors, knock offs and back alleyways glancing and stopping every now and then to see if there was a good sale. I got a pair of cheaply made toms for about $12. (Hey, why not right?)

While weaving in and out of alley ways, we went to a Buddhist and Hindu temple to take some photos then onwards to Central Market for some touristy shopping. Saw they had the I love KL shirt so I thought of getting a blue one. Sadly, they ran out of blue and only had black or white. Normally, I would never wear an I love NY shirt, but this one says KL which is similar design to the NY one so why not?


Chinatown


Temple

Incense at Temple

 
Incense burning for prayers 

 
Central Market

Preserving Chinatown/Jalan Sultan

After spending the whole afternoon walking around KL, we went back home to head over to the Basam Malam (night market) over at SS2. This night market was so crowded that trying to find parking took over 10 mins. The square block was filled with small stalls selling food, trinkets, fake DVDs to shirts and undergarments. As we were passing through, I looked up and saw a shirt that reflected the craze PSY has created worldwise--Gangnam Style has hit M'sia.

Gangnam Style invades M'sia 


We stopped by a Taiwanese crispy pancake stall that offered different meats to put on the pancake.It was interesting so we ordered the ham one to try and it was actually really good. The pancake had some cabbage, mayo, hot sauce as well as the ham. The crispiness gave it a good crunch. The pancake was just a snack--the real dinner was yet to come. I was so stuffed at the end of dinner, I could barley move.

I think I've regain my 2nd stomach now which comes in handy when you're about to head to a food tasting that offers different samples of M'sia's fine dining scene.



Crispy Taiwanese Pancake

Overload of food


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9/28

Today we took it easy with the food and had clear pork stomach pepper soup with noodles instead of the usual spice intense breakfast. After food, we headed over to Sunway Pyramid Convention Center which held the 12th MIGF (Malaysian International Gourmet Festival) giving people a taste of what fine dining in M'sia had to offer. I had bought 10 tickets and each sample had a token worth so each ticket was a token. We arrived a bit early so we headed next door to the retail area and just walked around. There were lengthy selections of wine from New Zealand, Portugal as well as Malaysia. I got to sample so many great wines--I wanted to buy them all! (Well, not all...at least some lol) Where there is wine, there is cheese! I totally got my wine and cheese on today! There were also some cigar stalls as well as durian puree which was really great. I really wanted the durian puree because it tasted like the real thing! Sadly, TSA will kill me if I brought durian puree on the plane because if smell could kill--that's one deadly weapon (though it's nothing compared to stinky tofu.)

After my many rounds of sampling wine (red, white, sparkling and rose), we made our way back to the food sampling and started making our rounds. I had creme brulee, braised lamb, mushroom risotto, shanghai bun, scallop with tamarind shrimp and beers. Not all the food we tasted was good, but the idea is to sample what they had to offer. It's finger food, not really big plates so it really is a matter of tasting and pacing yourself between the booze and food.

We had planned to go to the lagoon after we munched on the food, but between the free sampling of beer, wine, cheese, gelato, and actual food--we didn't realize how much time had passed. The admission price for the lagoon wasn't worth the time we would actually spend there so we just walked around the mall next door.

We will be heading to Singapore on Sunday for about 4 days so the blogging will have to wait until the end of next week to continue. I can't wait to explore Singapore again. The last time I visited, I didn't have time to actually tour the city because I was stuck on a cruise boat for the whole time--eating ice cream no less.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Malaysia once again...

After 7 long years I'm finally back in Malaysia again. I'll be traveling around Singapore, Thailand as well as within Malaysia until November 1st. This time back, I've brought my HS friend,Noah on this trip. She is also a foodie so we will be fine.

The flight from JFK to HK felt like an eternity with 15 hrs straight watching all the latest movies released on DVD and then a 2 hour layover. Passed out waiting for the connecting flight to KLCC and then passed out once again on the plane for 3 hours. Once we landed, I went through the immigration line pretty fast and waited for Noah because those of foreign passport had to see immigration officers for their stamps while I had the smart card which scans your thumb print and passport.

Since it has been so long, I almost didn't recognize my favorite uncle. Had to take a closer look before I recognized him. As we drove away from the airport, our car overheated and we were just chilling on the side of the highway until my 2nd uncle came to pick us up. We sat on the railing as we munched on our beef jerky and drank out water.

Once the 2nd uncle picked up us, we got dropped off my aunt's place to settle down and chow down. My (1st) uncle bought us a ton of food--satay with curry sauce, fried shrimp crackers, moon cakes as well as cokes to drink. Chowed down on the satay but two orders of like 20 skewers were a bit too much to have for dinner at 10pm. After eating, we finally had a place that wasn't a 1/2 bent chair and it felt AWESOME to lay flat and pass out.

9/26

Woke up pretty early due to jet lag (6:30am) so I decided to empty out my big suitcase full of vitamins and ginseng. Chatted to my uncle for a bit and watched the news which consisted of China's grand opening first fleet operational with 5% of the sailors were women. Then came the hard topic of Japan vs China on the Diaoyu island. News is the most depressing thing ever to hear about! After that, my aunt came back so we headed for FOOD! Went to SS2 for breakfast and had two different kinds of dosa and a roti. I also tried the new 3 layer tehrik with 1/3 milo; 1/3 nescafe and then the tehrik... I DEVOURED my food in less than 10 mins of getting them...I was starving and trying to make up my 7 years of not getting decent malaysian food.

 
3 layer tehrik

 
dosa

  
roti 

Afterwards, my sis came around and saw her puppy. Went to a mall near by to get the necessities like shampoo and toothpaste. After the mall, we headed to dinner and stuffed our face with nasi lemak, grilled tom yum fish, blackbean sauce lala (clams) as well as chow kuai tehow served with the side of 100 plus!!! I AM IN FOOD HEAVEN!!

 
the choices

 
nasi

 
100 plus

  
chow kuai tehow

  
lala

 
tom yum fish


 Then I found a film heaven! Bought 10 boxes worth of instanx mini fuji films for 8 usd bucks a pop!

 
Jackpot!

now back to jet lag problems and passing out to wake up to another day full of food

Thursday, October 27, 2011

WF4Lfye !




Hahaha, cute gif. about WongfuProduction

SMTown Concert in NYC at MSG


Shinee performing


SuperJunior


SNSD


Shinee


SMTown Live finally decided to come to the East Coast and in NYC of all places. So happy they decided to choose NYC and Madison Sq. Garden! The concert featured new SM artists--SNSD,Shinee, Superjunior,F(x) but also the pioneers as well--Kangta, Boa and TVXQ.

Love that I had the opportunity to go to this concert.

**all photos taken with my new camera**

Deadmaus5 concert at Roseland Ballroom 10/4/11!


Deadmaus5





Deadmaus5 is my 3rd DJ I've heard live. The first was Tiesto and then David Guetta at Pacha NYC. I hope to go to more shows if my budget allows it. It's an awesome experience and very liberating to just be there where music is blasting all through the night.

**all photos taken with my new camera**

Thursday, September 22, 2011

NYT Personality Quiz

According to NYT Personality Quiz I'm an Adventurous Spirit: You have got a fresh positive attitude to life which means you are naturally drawn to anything that is modern and original. You have strong views and opinions and your adventurous spirit means that you are not afraid to ruffle a few feathers in order to voice them. When all is said and done, you are a bit of an intellect with a tendency to do a spot of soul searching from time to time.

You're a fast-mover and feel energized about anything that gets your pulse racing! You're enthusiastic about life and an upbeat spirit who knows how to have fun and tends to value all which is fresh and new in the world. You tire quickly of old conventions and outdated ideas, wishing to experience new methods with youthful innocence and vigor. It's all about big thrills and exciting antics that take you out of your comfort zone. You want to feel connected to the world around you and actively seek out opportunities to get closer to nature. For you, it is all about broadening your horizons and living life to the fullest!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Pain/Love

Love--what is love? It's the age old question that scholars, romance novelists and ordinary people have tried to wrap around for centuries now and even centuries to come.

How can this invisible thing, not even a thing--but rather a feeling which cannot be grasped, kicked, let alone see cause so much pain--physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

When you do have love--you feel invincible and it does not matter how slow or fast time past, you only care about love.

But,

When it's gone--you rather die or better yet just disappear forever never to walk the earth again or see anyone. You hole up in a dark room, eating your feelings away, disregarding any social or personal etiquette and just want to say 'FUCK YOU WORLD. AND YEAH, FUCK YOU TOO _(fill in the blank)_'.

The question is then--when and how do we get over it? Do you find anyone person to subdue the pain until you're bored and find another? Do you sulk away your life and say FUCK OFF LOVE, I DON'T NEED YOU! (Gives finger) or does time actually heal all if not most...

Are we just programmed to always need someone in our life no matter how minuet their role may be: a simple 'hey, how are you?' to 'let's get hammered and forget!'...

What would happen if I just wake up one day and just forgot everything--forgot anniversaries, forgot places associated with the feeling, forgot the favorite food, forgot everything they said, forgot them...

will I still be scarred somehow?