Monday, July 31, 2006

Checking Out KL Hilton

Mrs Pitt, Zahara and mom had checked into KL Hilton for a night to have a short getaway. I had posted about the dim sum lunch we had the day after and said that I would blog about the stay. We checked in at about 3pm and when we reached the corridors, we knew it would be quite an enjoyable stay.

When we went into the room, we were greeted by modern furnishings complete with a 42" Plasma TV. The room was inviting and the bed was really comfortable, one that you can just lay onto and probably won't want to get up unless hunger or nature calls! Ha ha ha...And even if nature calls, the two sliding glass doors are near enough for you to roll off the bed and straight into the bathroom section.
Heck, I could even stay in the bathroom for the night; it even had a its own small LCD TV on a rectangle mirror that you could swivel. Located next to the shower area and separated by the glass panel, you could even watch through the glass when one is showering though the sound might be drown out with the fantastic rain shower feature (mmm...It does feel like you are bathing under the rain, with privacy of course!). Or if one would prefer, one can soak in the comfortable long bath.

The view from the 25th floor was nice but marred by the haze. The skyline was barely visible. Luckily, we just intended to stay indoors to enjoy the room.

We then headed off for dinner around 7pm after lounging around in the room. We headed off to Chynna as mom needed rice, Zahara needed noodles (Mrs Pitt just needed to fill her stomach). As for me, I just needed food! LOL... Here are more shots of Chynna.
After a scrumptious dinner, we headed back to the room and laze around further. We chatted till mom was tired. They then started cleaning up to retire for the night. I looked out the window again, by this time, the haze was gone and I could see the lit up buildings.
So it was decided that when I come over to pick them up the next day, we would do dim sum lunch first. It was then time for me to go off after spending an enjoyable day there. Mrs Pitt wants to come back again! I'll be traveling for the next few days and probably won't have time to blog till Thursday night. So till then, remember, Live Life!

I think I've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it. ~ Charles Schulz

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Dim Sum - Chynna, KL Hilton

Mrs Pitt spent the night with Zahara in KL Hilton, mom was there too. Will blog about the stay later but today's post will be on the dim sum lunch we had in Chynna, KL Hilton. We have had dinner there before and have been wanting to do dim sum there for some time but never got round to it till now. Now that we have, Mrs Pitt wants to make sure she goes to Chynna for dim sum again before she goes back to USA. The dim sum, ambiance and service were good - I'll just let the pictures do the talking! I know some of you will tell me that my blog is making you all hungry! Ha ha ha...

I eat merely to put food out of my mind. ~ N.F. Simpson

Friday, July 28, 2006

Engrish "Refreshing" Patch

While cleaning up my place in preparation for Mrs Pitt and Zahara, I found something that I had bought about 3 years back . I bought this particular "Essential Oil Refreshing Patch" not because I wanted to use it but more for it comical value. Anyway, finding it again a few days ago, it still gave me some comic relief due to it's atrocious Engrish, of course.

It's pass its expiry date and I can now throw it away, having blogged and posted pictures of it. It's suppose to clear my head after using it (and more, as stated on the back of it). However, after reading through it, I think it will give some of us a headache rather than making us feel better!
Every survival kit should include a sense of humor. ~ Author Unknown

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Winter Sonata Cafe - More Korean Food

A while back, I was having late dinner at Friendster's Cafe in Damansara Perdana when I suddenly realised there was this new Korean cafe across the road. Winter Sonata Cafe, was still opened at around 11 plus. Being curious, I walked across at about 11.55pm and was told by the staff that they were closing (they close at midnight) and told me to come back another day. I had then asked to have a look at their menu and the Korean owner, Jenny Lee, was very friendly and took time to explain the items on the menu to me. There were set lunches available from RM15 and the pics looked nice. I then left, promising her that I will return.

Crazily enough, I went there the next day with K.Princess and was warmly welcomed by Jenny who remembered me. I ordered my usual Bulgogi set and K.Princess had her Kimchi Chigae set. Her Kimchi Chigae set was okay, so that means till now, only the one at Amcorp Mall is the best. My Bulgogi set was not bad and I wouldn't mind returning again. Being termed as a cafe, the cutlery was more westernised but nevertheless Jenny told me that she had bought them from Korea. The place had a nice ambiance and is cosy. The cafe is decorated with Korean celebrities memorabilia - cups, little posters and even pictures from the latest Korean hit movie, King and The Clown. Jenny told me that her sister works as a stylist for the Korean stars back home in Korea! How exciting!
There is a TV screen screening Korean dramas and I guess the setup of this cafe follows the theme of such since afterall, it's named Winter Sonata, after the tearjerker love story hit. There were also candles (only lit at night) all around and I told myself that I will do dinner there one night as I would think the ambiance would be even nicer then. As we left, Jenny told us to drop by again at night for maybe a karaoke song or two! I might not know how to sing Korean songs for now but I will definitely take up Jenny on her invitation and hear her sing!

I would like to have Bulgogi - "Bulgogi juseyo".
One of the first few Korean sentences I learnt. - wmw

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Smile

Mrs Pitt and Zahara are visiting, so have been out quite often. Hope to be able to blog at least every other day. Meanwhile just a short one today. I have told my friends about this each time I'm at this supermarket. This particular sign never fails to make me smile no matter how many times I see it since I frequent this supermarket frequently. Since I have a blog now, I can post this up and be reminded of it more often.
I had seen quite a number of men lurking around this aisle. LOL... Had thought about it and decided not to notify the management since I first noticed it a few years back. If they change the sign, I won't be able to smile at it again and that would be sad. Some things ARE better left the way it is! Meanwhile the other Tit-Bits that I came across is a website for women with breast cancer. Now this one is no laughing matter.

If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.
~ Andy Rooney

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Dinner Do

Last weekend, I was invited for a cosy dinner gathering at a friend's place. As usual I took my camera along. Both company and food was good. We had lovely fresh tiger prawns, beef rendang, nasi impit (with delicious peanut gravy) and laksa Johor.
We had coffee after that and realised that we should have gotten a cake to make it the almost perfect meal. However, we were very full at the end of the meal and stopped ourselves from driving out to look for one! After dinner, some of us sat down to watch a movie on my friend's new 32" Samsung LCD TV. It's such a beauty, one that I have always admired. Prices have come down quite a fair bit but I shall continue to dream of owning one. I'll wait and wait and wait....ha ha...Delayed gratification is best! Oh, I received a joke via sms a few days ago. It's funny and oh so true! I just have to post it here. Have a great week ahead!

Personality of a female follows the size of her bra.
30 = Innocent
32 = Calm
34 = Defensive
36 = Sexy
38 = Hot

40 = aggressive
42 = Beyond Control

Friday, July 21, 2006

New Found Interest

I've been taking more photos of late since I started blogging. I realised that I've developed a new found interest in taking pics and now seek to improve my photography skills. Right now, my faithful camera is a simple one, a Samsung 4 Mega Pixel with no optical zoom, basically a beginner's camera. For it's price of USD97, it's good value. I had only started playing around with the different modes of the camera in my pursuit of finding out more about digital photography and came up with surprising shots from a simple camera like this. I'm not a photographer, I just take photographs!

The night mode is one such feature that I'm just beginning to take note of. However, one needs a steady hand to be able to take a shot in this mode. I took this shot just past midnight. It's the view from my friend's 17th Floor condo and the cluster of tiny lights are outlets/shops in Desa Sri Hartamas.
On the right side of the balcony, there's this new condo. I'm surprised the lighting was so enhanced! There's a lot to learn about photography and I'm at baby level! Ha Ha .... These two shots are a bit blur as I've mentioned about the need for steady hands in night mode but I guess they are decent photos. I was at Borders and I actually found myself checking out photography magazines and trying to pick up some tips. Just found out about Gaussian Blur, a technique used in digital photo editing. Yes, I'm indeed fascinated with the endless possibilities of digital photography. I came across this site a while back before I started blogging and absolutely love the photos taken by Arnaud Frich, check out his Paris shots here! The comments are in French, seems English update will be available soon. So now, I have another new found interest (not another one!). Too many things to do, too little time. Add photography to my list of French revision, learning Korean, Japanese and Mandarin (Oh! Am to take up guitar lessons too! Gasp!), not to mention my other fascination with Daniel Henney and Yutaka. There's 183 Club and DBSK too! But for now, priority is to finish cleaning up my place before Mrs Pitt and Zahara shows up next Monday! Yay! I can't wait!

Photography has made me realised that there are two different worlds; one seen through my eyes and the other through my camera - wmw

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

The Little Things (err...food) In Life

Oh, forgot about this till I was going through my photos. I was told by Alicia that I could find green tea ice cream at The Curve. I was happy to hear that and made a trip there. You can find the stall at a tea shop (forgot the name) but it's just outside Watson which is located on the Ground Floor. Once you see Watson, you can't miss it cos you have this giant cardboard standee of a green tea ice cream cone! Well, it's not the best I've tested but pretty good, good enough when one has not much choice! It's not the milky type and you can see bits of green tea leaves or something that looks like bits of green tea leaves, hee hee. So there's a slight bitter taste, which I do like. It's RM2.50 per cone! Well, it's the best and cheap green tea ice cream around, till I find a better one somewhere.

Just the other day, I dropped by the 100 Yen shop in SS2 and chanced upon the Japanese snacks section. I grabbed a packet of "Shrimp Chips" off the shelves. It turn out to be very yummy but Euro said it was tasteless! Ha ha. It's as thin as a Pringle Chip and really did have a prawny taste and I didn't find it tasteless at all! Went back the other day and it's sold out, so I guess others must find it yummy too. Actually, I have forgotten about 100 Yen shops located in the Klang Valley till I went to Japan and came across the 100 Yen shops there. Of course the 100 Yen shops here are not selling their products at the prevailing exchange rate. It's RM4.90 for the general "100 Yen" products while there are some cheaper and some more expensive.
Then there is my favourite kuih (local cakes), I can only find it in the SS2 Pasar Malam (night market) every Monday or at Yulek or was that Taman Cheras Pasar Malam. The uncle who sells it is an eccentric fellow. He doesn't talk much but will sometimes banter with you when you least expect him to! He doesn't touch any of the money, asking his customers to throw the money into a square box and even get the change, if any, themselves. He also always throw in one or 2 free pieces for me! He He...These kuih are made of rice flour with grated coconut cooked in brown sugar or gula melaka as filling. They are steamed and the pieces of pandan stuck to the back of each piece makes the kuih more fragrant! Cheap and nice, only RM1 for 3 pieces. He is the only one I know that sells this type of kuih, I told him that I've been eating it since I was young, buying from him when he sold from a proper stall downtown. Now, I can only catch him at the night market and he doesn't turn up every week. I had been looking for him for the last few weeks and he was missing. Turned out that he was on vacation in China! I only found out what these kuih are called when some girls asked him. He answered "You know Cheng Yu Ling's (the Hong Kong actress) English name? Dodo? This is called Dodo!".

I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things.... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind. ~ Leo Buscaglia

Monday, July 17, 2006

Happy Planet Index

Having posted an entry on Kuala Lumpur being 3rd in the LEAST courteous city, I was surprised that we are number 44 out our 178 countries in terms of being a country of happy people. Mmm...how can happy people be discourteous at the same time? Anyway, Vanuatu takes the top spot for being the happiest place on the planet. The common thing among the top spots are that they are less developed countries. Vietnam ranked the highest from the Asia Region, taking spot no. 12. To give you an idea of what I mean, USA is ranked 150/178! As the MSN article says, the Happy Planet Index (HPI) is a measure of quality of life against environmental impact. Check out the HPI website to find out more.
Screen capture from http://www.happyplanetindex.org/map.htm.
Click here to find out whether your country is filled with happy or unhappy people!

Find out more here on how to do your part to make this planet a happier place for ALL. You can even calculate your personal HPI where you will get quite an extensive explanation in the different aspects of your life. My results turned out quite well, me being very happy but it indirectly suggests that I should go on a diet! LOL ... But then I'll be miserable and no longer happy!. Just goes to show one can't have it all.

Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it. ~ William Feather

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Dong Bang Shin Ki Malaysia Concert

Guess where I was on Friday night? Yup, I ended up at the Dong Bang Shin Ki's (TVfXQ) concert in Bukit Jalil. Yup, that's me behind the poster. Only decided to get the tickets on Thursday and collected them on that Friday noon itself. Since I was still unable to drive in the evening, KPrincess drove to Putra Indoor Stadium. We were there early and went round checking out the stalls outside the stadium area. We came across a promotion stall by the Tourism Board of Korea that were giving out Korea Travel Guides, Tourist Maps and other info. How apt we thought, as we took some copies for ourselves since we were going off to Korea sometime in September on our company incentive trip.

I also manage to get my hands on a DBSK's big glossy poster. The poster actually looks very nice. They were giving out this poster for every DBSK's cd purchase. Just 10 minutes before the scheduled opening time of 8pm, we walked in and found the stadium only half filled. The big stage hyped up our anticipation of a great concert ahead. I actually took this shot in 3 separate pics and edited it to this panoramic shot.
Well, as we waited pass 8pm, the seats started to fill up. The concert started at about 8.35pm and it was about 90% percent filled. The place erupted with screams as the lights were dimmed, signaling the start of the concert. 5 boxes were slowly lowered onto the stage with dazzling display of lights and special graphic videos shown on the big 3 piece screen in the centre. Folks were also able to see a close up view from the 2 giant screens each on the top left and right of the stage. Both KPrincess and I were caught up in the euphoria with all the screaming fans around us and we watched in awe. When the boxes were lifted back up, all 5 members were on the stage.
We found the sound system a letdown. The music was too loud and it drowned out the vocals of the band. It was a good concert, dazzling lights, big video screens, special effects but marred by bad sound system. It was also good to see them dancing (they can danced!) and singing down the aisle. They even stood in the U-shaped area and were lifted up into the air, standing on a small circle stage each (couldn't take a photo as I ran out of batteries!) . They even added romance in the air as they sang and had wind blowing upwards towards their hands that were carrying red confetti. The red confetti danced in the air and was visibly seen in the stream of the spotlights on each of the members. Micky was the only one who spoke English when they took some time off from singing to speak to the audience. When DBSK took a break, Super Junior, consisting of 13 members came on and entertained us for about half hour! I have never come across that many members in a band. The 13 of them made full use of the big stage and they came out again in the finale of the concert.
Image fr : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Junior
We left the stadium when the concert ended at about 11pm. I felt that not enough promo was done for this concert. It was a BIG scale concert but only had small scale promo. I left, having a better appreciation for Korean music though I don't understand the language as I enjoy the melody. I enjoyed DBSK's ballads more than the fast numbers , especially the acapella "Always There". I also now have an added appreciation for the 5 members of Dong Bang Shin Ki, especially Max (left) and Hero (right, because he's mysterious!).

Image fr : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVXQ
Asian men are starting to appeal to me, albeit they are younger ones. Age doesn't matter! - wmw

Thursday, July 13, 2006

183 Club & Daniel Henney

Anyway, KPrincess has introduced me to Taiwanese series now of which I was never really fond of in the beginning. However, The Prince Who Turns Into Frog turned out to be quite a funny and nice show. After that ended, I'm now watching The Magicians Of Love on 8TV but PTIF was a better show. Both of this series star members of The 183 Club (183 cm being the average height of the five members). Unlike F4 (I could never stand them!), these members from 183 Club can act. So, I find it quite surprising that I'm become a fan of the show and the band! Heck, I am even brushing up on my understanding of Mandarin (of course, the Bahasa Malaysia subtitles help!) thanks to this show. KPrincess has also given me copies of the soundtrack, and now I find myself singing along to the Mandarin tunes, not really knowing what's coming out from me, sounds like I'm speaking in tongues! Hahaha....My fave members are Sam (seated left), Ehlo (above Sam) and Ming Dao (next to Ehlo).
Oh, it's been awhile since I last posted something on my Daniel. Having finished the "My Lovely Kim Sam Soon" series on TV, I now have in my possession the vcds of the whole series where I can watch, rewind, play, freeze every single frame of Daniel's appearance on screen. Hee Hee... Thanks to SBK! Mrs Pitt will probably make me show her Daniel's scenes too! Only his ... who cares about the story, she'll say! She's probably very busy now, packing. Here's a shot of Daniel for some stress relief! You can now have a second Daniel Henney wallpaper! (image from CnMDB.com)
Television is simply automated day-dreaming. ~ Lee Lovinger

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

A Sign From Dad

Well, this is NOT going to be another food entry. Actually, this is just a story about a signage I saw. I was driving around Damansara Perdana, checking out the eateries in that area and I came across this.
No, seriously, it's not that I'm gonna write about the seafood from this place. It's just that this restaurant carries my Dad's name. Coming across this days after his 8th year, I took it as a sign (literally??? Ha Ha Ha) that this is his way of telling me that he's well and is here in our midst. Of course, he can have his share of seafood anytime he wants too! Trust Dad to tell me that in a restaurant signage. Some things never change, Dad's love for food is one of them! LOL .... I do intend to come back to Restoran Cheng Yen and try out the food one day soon. Mrs Pitt, maybe we go there when you're here, eh?

"Sometimes we miss out on what God is trying to tell us as we overlook the simpler things in life, expecting it to be more complex than it seems"
- wmw

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

PLU Cafe, Cheras

During my previous trip to Taman Cheras (before my retinal detachment episode), my friend brought me around for food. We are always looking for food, good tasting food especially. She told me that she had gone to this cafe with her mom for several lunches and found the food to be quite tasty. She had then brought other people there and suggested bringing me there for a snack, telling me that the mango pudding was exceptionally delicious. The cafe's name was PLU Cafe (located at Cheras Business Centre, nearby Taman Cheras) and it was while we were there, my friend decided to finally enquire what PLU meant and was told in Cantonese that it meant homosexuals - People Like Us. There was an awkward silence for a while, not that we were horrified to be in such a place but more of the fact that my friend was just recalling the times when she had brought her mother there, time and time again as they enjoyed the food. I think her mom would not step into the place if she knew. LOL... On keying in the word "PLU" in wikipedia, it made no association with such a thing. Anyway, that night, I was introduced to Kenny, the manager and he was really a cheerful happy guy. So, this is just another short food entry but one that is from a unique place with unique menus.

Ordering snacks was easy as Mango Pudding was the obvious choice since it was highly recommended and we also ordered the honey BBQ chicken wings. What was a slightly harder task was ordering a drink from the menu, and especially from their special promotion drink list. There were 6 promotion drinks to choose from their "Movie Marathon" list. Apparently these drinks were inspired from "PLU" movies and the one that was instantly recognisable to me was drink No. 2 "Brokeback Mountain". I don't think I have to tell you about that movie. I asked Kenny to recommend me a drink and he said that I should try No. 1 "Happy Together" as it was a mixture of sour plum and honey. I was told by Kenny that "Happy Together" had starred Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung.

Anyway, the food and drinks came and the drink was indeed quite good.
Having had dinner earlier, the honey and sour plum drink was a good recommendation I must say. The mango pudding was excellent and the honey BBQ chicken wings was also delicious and we had another round of it after finishing the first plate in record time. I was assured by my friend that their noodles were good too. Guess I'll have to try that another time. Good food and friendly happy staff, what's to complain eh? ;o)
Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? ~ Ernest Gaines

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Japanese

A friend sent this to me and on trailing it, I found "The Japanese Are Crazy" (TJAC) website. I've posted a video of this prank they played on people. At a ski resort, they set up this massage center complete with a coin operated massage chair. Check out what happened (especially the 2nd part of the prank! Got me laughing my head off!). Tip: After you click on the big play button, the video will start to load. Click the pause button, let the video load till the end (you will see the bar moving as it loads). Then click play, you will then be able to watch the video without flow interruptions.

Thank goodness I never fell victim to such pranks when I was in Japan. Now that I know what can happen there, I will brace myself for such things and that may mean taking showers fully clothed! LOL ...Anyway, check out the load of videos from TJAC website. Lots of interesting stuff. Saw one from the "Do Not Laugh" series. In this show, contestants are subjected to hilarious situations and must refrain from laughing. If they do, their behind gets belted (really hard). Looks painful to me! Crazy alright! There's also this amazing Japanese (though he's mixed) magician, Cyril Takayama. He does these really great feats of illusion and street magic, some sort of David Blaine. He seems better, maybe because he's mixed with Asian blood hence more exotic! There's also this purportedly straight guy, "Razor Ramon" who's now a famed celebrity for playing a gay guy who is really extremely gay in your face type. You will cringe with fear and yet laugh at his antics at the same time. Ha ha ha....I have not gone through the whole archive myself. Please take note, I'm not responsible for anything that will be hazardous to your health or things that one might find offensive. Please view at your own discretion.

If we don't go crazy once in a while, we'll all go crazy. ~ (M.*A*S*H) Hawkeye, "Bulletin Board," original airdate 14 January 1975, written by Larry Gelbart, directed by Alan Alda

Friday, July 07, 2006

Globalisation - Hawker Food

Went for my 2nd checkup yesterday. My right eye is doing okay though there is a slight inflammation as I had run out of eyedrops 3 days ago. Anyway, felt more relieved that the operation was successful (if not, would have to operate again!). Was sent home with some new type of eyedrops and told to come back for another checkup in 3 weeks' time. Since I'm still unable to drive at night, TD offered to give me a ride to our weekly evening meeting. I had a quick dinner with him at Sec 17, Say Huat Coffeeshop. Went there for our favourite Robert's Fried Kway Teow. While eating and chatting, we realised that there were two other stalls there that were similar in the sense that they had an English name. TD jokingly said that this was the globalisation of the hawker food industry!
I have not really thought about the fact that some stalls did have English names. But then, there were three of them in a single place, something I've not come across before. Armed with only my camera phone, I took pics of them. So, how local is our local hawker food if they start "globalising" themselves like this? Even the hawkers are influenced by the Western culture. Haha...Whatever happened to good old Ah Beng's Prawn Mee or Ah Lian's Fish Ball Noodles (hee hee...Ah Lian Yue Tan Tong, the Chinese educated would know why I'm laughing). However, I know there aren't much changes as Robert's Fried Kway Teow tasted good and yes, very local still! ;o)

Come to think of it, I've come across some local food places (though not necessarily coffeeshops stalls but small scale restaurants or previously small but gone big scale) that have their own websites too. With all the IT on the web, this isn't surprising but I think we might not be aware of it. There is this small town restaurant in Kemaman, Restoran Tong Juan where I enjoyed their specialty, stuffed crab. Their website address is...what else, but of course www.stuffedcrab.com. They even have a company profile - here's part of it - "
We formed since 1971 and specified in making stuffed crab and other chinese cuisine. Under the guidance of our fonder, Mr Chew Nam Ting, Restaurant Tong Juan has become an one top chinese restaurant in Kemaman town." Eh, specified or not and with due respect to the fonder, please take my word that the food is a whole lot better than their grammar. Here are few more to check out - Nasi Ayam Hainan Chee Meng (Chee Meng Hainanese Chicken Rice), Nasi Lemak House, Ah Koong Fish Ball Noodle, and Nasi Kandar Pelita. I'm sure there's more out there, anyone of you care to add to the list of such websites?

The message for business people contemplating their place in cyberspace is simple and direct: get linked or get lost.
~Vic Sussman and Kenan Pollack

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

In Loving Memory ...

Now that I have a blog, I would like to dedicate today's post to my Dad, in loving memory ...

IN LOVING MEMORY OF A DEAR HUSBAND
AND WONDERFUL FATHER
who was called home to be with the Lord on 5 July 1998
(1930-1998)
"Whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life"

Dearly missed and fondly remembered by wife, children,
daughter & son-in-law
and grandchildren.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Korean Food!

Of late, I've developed a love for Korean food. Since my first proper Bulgogi meal with Korean Princess, I've always look forward to Korean fare, namely Bulgogi (sliced marinated beef) and Kimchi Chigae (kimchi soup).

Apart from the great Bulgogi fare in Desa Sri Hartamas, K.Princess has introduced me to two other restaurants. For a cheaper deal, you should try the one located in Amcorp Mall. I can't remember the name but it's the only one located on the 3rd floor. The Kimchi Chigae here is a whole lot nicer than the more expensive one in Desa Sri Hartamas. There are many set meals starting from RM10 and above. Cheap and no frills meal but yet good.
Taken with camera phone (dim lighting too, so not that clear) but the Kimchi Chigae is really good!
Another Korean restaurant which I found quite good is located in Section 14, the block next to the one opposite TGIF. It's call Dae Jong Gum (following the famous Korean serial "The Jewel Palace"), on the 1st floor. You can't miss the big signage. However it only serves BBQ for dinner, so normally I do lunches here as they have special sets. Here, I settle for the cheaper version of Bulgogi (which also comes with the normal appetizers), RM18 as compared to Desa Sri Hartamas's RM28!.
K.Princess tried the Kimchi Chigae soup but found it was still not as good as the one in Amcorp Mall. For lunch, DJG even gave us a complimentary Korean pancake (they even gave out a Kimchi pancake before, nice and spicy). Korean tea and a sweet barley drink is on the house too. A full and satisfactory lunch as compared to, let's say, pasta lunch which will cost about RM16. Give me Korean anytime then. But of course, I can't afford to eat food like this all the time (too much good food and not enough money! ha ha ha) It has taken over Japanese food on my list now especially when raw stuff was never my cup of tea anyway. Unlike Mrs Pitt's feast! Anyway, according to my blood type, I should be eating more beef! What's your blood type? Check out your blood type diet here. Ok, I'm off to learn some Korean now.

Do vegetarians eat animal crackers? ~ Author Unknown

Sunday, July 02, 2006

A Day At The Villa

Thanks to an invitation by a friend to join her and her mom, I got to take a one day mini vacation (more like "eye recuperation") in Bandar Sunway. Ha Ha....Actually, it was at The Villa located in Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel.

It was a nice break from the daily routine of being in the busy city, and to be here, tucked away in the secluded area though still in the city. It is said that these exclusive 17 villas are spanned within an 800 acre lush tropical garden. I arrived at about 5pm and it was quite hot in The Villa as the sun was out and shining fiercely. There was a small "infinity" pool (an oxymoron huh?) for one to just dip into, not to do laps in. Nearby, there were some rattan chairs and a table where guest could lounge around. I took some shots with my mobile phone as I left my camera back in the house when I rushed out to make sure I beat the 5pm jam along the LDP (Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong).
The four post king size bed
My bed - comfortable sofa bed on the left. I loved the Nakamichi Sound System on the wall (right) though remote control wasn't working!
At about 5.30, my friend got a call, reminding her about cocktail hour and we then made our way to the Pavilion. Here, there were complimentary cocktails/mocktails/beer (free flow) and light canapes/snacks served till 7.30pm. The Pavilion is also the reception for The Villa apart from being the dining place for Villa guests. For about RM1,000 a night, I felt The Villa still had some improvements to be made. The service factor was okay, the staff being pleasant but in terms of maintenance and upkeep of the villa, it was not up to par.

I had a bad headache, been having it for about a week. I think it's due to my spectacles which is still at the old power level and my right eye is having problems adjusting. I slept early (11plus, that's early for me!) Anyway, it was a good rest for me. The next morning, breakfast was delivered to my friend and her mom. Quite a big spread - fruit juices, a basket of mini muffins/croissant/doughnuts, yogurt, sliced apples/pear, eggs with sausages and ham, fruit platter and coffee. We ate breakfast near the pool area, enjoying the quiet surrounding.
I even continued a few more rounds "fishing" with Auntie which we started the night before. She's a pro when it comes to playing card games! Ha ha..Came 12 noon, we checked out and I went back to my 852 sq. ft pad and had another long rest. It felt as good as being in The Villa minus the service because it was my home. LOL ...

It takes hands to build a house, but only hearts can build a home.
~ Author Unknown