My 27th Birthday, etc

So last Sunday I turned 27.
Because of a busy week (and more to come), I didn't really have much mood to celebrate. In stead, I spent whole first half of my birthday staying at home and slept for probably more than two hours in the afternoon. Guess I was just too exhausted...
But of course, Deardo treated me with a birthday dinner at Jogoya! :)I call that sleepy face cos obviously we both just woke up from our very long afternoon nap! :p
I had the mini Tiramisu cake from the cake bar as my birthday cake!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Guess what? We spent almost 5 hours there!!! Wakakakaka...

I don't know, I wasn't really too excited about my birthday this year, probably because I was really busy and I know I will have a lot to do after my birthday. So yea, all I wish for my birthday was a good rest, or a short holiday somewhere out of KL, which is not going to happen so soon. :(
Anywayz, as a reward for myself, I bought this Charles & Keith bag as a birthday gift for myself...It was love at first sight... :)
Mind you, at RM199, it is already the most expensive bag I've ever own! I think I'm going to take very good care of that bag!

Before my birthday, I was at the Culinaire 2011 at KLCC, doing some live reporting on the competition. It was pretty exciting for me since it actually made me feels like I'm back to my sport journalist life. You know, those camping out at the competition, doing reporting and interviews! Love it!
It was of course very tiring walking and standing for 2 and a half days but I guess nothing can beat how the students and lecturers have worked so hard to prepare for the competition! I'm truly proud of them, no matter how's the result like. But of course, I'm proud to say, they did very well! :D
Here are some snapshots of the event...Yeah... Imagine, I was with high heels on the first day!!! :S
Our golden boy... Derek won us three gold medals!!!
And here's Issac whom I'm very very happy that he won a gold medal at the competition!
And here's me and my colleagues... We were waiting for some result at urm... Probably 8.30pm...
And check out this cute sugar art piece of the Angry Birds! But according to some expert, this piece of art is ugly... What say you???

And just in case you are curious, and I know this is random, but here's my desk in the office...One of my colleagues actually said it looks like there are a lot of organic pet food. Cos the Japanese green tea packet at the right looks like food for fishes and the container of oats looks like they are for rabbit... ==|||

Like I said, work is still pretty crazy. I still have so much to blog about but have totally no time to do so!!!
So till then, hasta la vista babey~!

Mostly Comedies! :D

Yea, Chris Colfer who plays Kurt Hummel in Glee failed in his second attempt in winning the Emmy Award but hey it doesn't matter to me! I am still very much in love with Chris and Kurt! Can't wait to watch the new season of Glee which starts today~! Yay~! :D
I've been pretty loaded with work at the moment and do expect it to be like that for at least another one month time. Sigh... Seriously miss blogging and movies! So I took the opportunity of the long weekend to watch three movies in a row and I must say I'm still not done yet with the list of latest movies I want to watch! Arrrrggghhh...

Contagion
Obviously I went for this one because of Matt Damon! And yes, the likes of Marion Cotillard and Kate Winslet sort of make it more watch-worthy!
The movie talks about a virus that kills and how it affected people around the world until one scientist finally found a vaccine for it. It doesn't have a proper flow, with random switches to different scenes with characters in the movie, which I like a lot. But then the entire storyline doesn't seems to have a huge impact on the audience as they watch or even after watching it. There isn't like something that sort of click! While I still think it was quite an interesting movie, Deardo was absolutely bored.
And because there were just short scenes of each characters, you get to see very little acting from the actors, even if it means they are all like what? Oscar winners? To me, that was a waste. I mean, Gyyneth Paltrow died about 10 minutes into the movie and Kate Winslet follows soon after!
I think Steven Soderbergh should stick to comedy.

Johnny English Reborn
Rowan Atkinson is back! I was really excited to watch this movie actually but I knew sequels always fail to impress so I didn't have high hopes.
Fortunately, Agent Johnny English proves me wrong! The plot was brilliantly created where the beginning of the movie often seems to have a link to whatever happens of the movie. And mind you, it is bloody funny okay? I really cannot remember when was the last time I laugh so loud watching a movie, especially a sequel! Seriously, how can anyone not love Rowan Atkinson? Or Mr. Bean? Or Agent Johnny English???
While it is nice to see Rowan Atkinson again, I think I was also very excited to see Gillian Anderson, the very famous 'Agent Scully'! But my other favourite character has to be the killer cleaner! Ha, that woman is cool! And guess what? I just found out the actress, by the name of Pik-Sen Lim, is a Malaysian and was in the good old comedy series Mind Your Language! Gosh! Mind Your Language! So classic man!
This is definitely a must watch!!!

Nasi Lemak 2.0
You know, I know, Deardo knew that this is going to be quite a stupid comedy but still, I was curious. So we went for it, for Namewee you may say. Although I'm not quite sure about that.
Storyline wise, it is VERY DRAMATIC. Some makes you say things like 'stupid' or 'nonsense'. I especially don't like the over-used 1Malaysia or those Malaysia in unity crap ideas but well at least Namewee actually, as usual, touched on the sensitive topics, which makes a little difference. And of course, we all love how he made swear words sound so indirect!
While there isn't any acting skills to talk about, I am truly amazed by the fact that there are so many famous figures such as the Alleycats and the Baba & Nyonya guys! I'm sure we all missed them a lot!
And for some strange reason, the 'Curry Leh' song is stuck in my head now... I think I kinda like that song! :p

Best Ramen EVER @ Santouka Hokkaido Ramen, Pavilion

You can say I'm Suaku or whatever. The truth is, I've never been to Japan and so far, the ramen at Santouku is REALLY THE BEST RAMEN I'VE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!
Remember we went to Suki-Ya, which is just next to this very famous ramen restaurant. Why I say famous? The queue was sooooo loooong the last time we were at Tokyo Street!So we went, with Deardo's family as early as 11.30am just to avoid the crowd. The menu design and the entire list of variety of ramen are not that much, or maybe not yet. Like the ramen, you can only choose from perhaps six choices? The only difference is that you get to choose the size of your bowl of ramen from S to L, which I like a lot cos you won't waste food if you are a small eater!

Anywayz, we had two appetizers that day...Crispy Gyoza and Chicken Karage at RM10 each.
I think the Gyoza is probably also the best Gyoza I've ever had so far. Though the size is relatively smaller than usual, the skin at the bottom was really crispy and it really wasn't oily at all! I was really impressed! The Chicken Karage was so-so but the dipping sauce is unique and yummy!

And then the ramen...We had two of these Spicey Miso Pork Ramen on our table.
Miso Pork Ramen.
Shio (Salt) Ramen with Chasiu.
Chicken ramen, which was surprisingly the most expensive of all! :S
Springy handmade ramen... Yumzzzz...
Well we actually tried almost every one of the ramen in the menu, except for the shoyu flavour! Out of all the flavours, I think my Miso soup base is the best. It is flavourful but not too heavy while the salt base tastes a bit like our Ipoh chicken hor fun soup but obviously doesn't look like it. The spicy one is also not bad actually! But my conclusion is that the soup was marvelous! I've never had any ramen soup with such thick soup base okay! It is obvious that they made the soup out of pork broth and that does made a huge difference! I was so tempted to drink up all the soup in the bowl!!! I think the pork, bamboo shoots and leek went perfectly well with the ramen!
The ramen ranges from about RM20-RM34 or so, depending on flavour, meat and also size. Very pricey if you ask me, but the quality of the ramen is just too good for you to resist! Maybe we should go like once a month? :p I was very very very happy with the lunch that day~~!!!
Apparently Santouka is a Japanese brand that has outlets in all over the world! So yea, you can actually find it in country like Canada too!This queue is considered very short ok cos it was still early!
I am giving this restaurant a clear 5-star for their food and I think you shouldn't miss it too! Just gotta make sure you go a bit earlier to avoid the queue! :)

Hokkaido Santouka Ramen
6.24.03, Level 6, Pavilion
Jln Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2143 8878

Lovely Milo & Marie Biscuits Dessert (Kek Batik)

Truth is... I didn't even know this is called 'Kek Batik' until I googled with 'Milo' and Marie Biscuits' as key words. To me, this Milo and Marie Biscuits dessert is part of my childhood memories. Aunty Ah Choo, who was once our neighbour, taught us how to make this and because I had a sudden crave for the dessert, I actually called her to ask for the recipe!
Apparently this is also something that a lot of my friends in FB love and for that, I must say, I'm happy to share the recipe with you guys! :)

Here's Aunty Ah Choo's accurate amount of ingredients:
200g Milo
500g Marie Biscuits
500g raw peanuts/groundnuts
250g butter
About 3/4 can of condensed milk

As you read how I made the dessert, you will notice I didn't follow the rules so much. Kekeke...
1) First, fry the peanuts/groundnuts with medium to small fire until it is obvious they are a little burnt and smell like they are cooked.2) Separate the skins by... Whatever way you could. Mamo told me to hold them with a filtering basket, scratch the nuts with your fingers then shake the basket while blowing the skins off. Yea, I know... Real hard work man.3) Now you will have to take about 1/3 of them to mash into almost powderish (or whatever you call it :p).4) With the mashed peanuts, lay them evenly on a baking tin.5) Now in a pot or huge pan, melt the butter (I only used 227g cos that's the only size I could find in the supermarket and I didn't want to buy another one just for another 23g). 6) Add in the milk and stir well.7) Now turn off the fire and add in the Milo. I didn't measure the amount of Milo either. I just pour until I think it is enough to thicken the entire mixture.8) Now add in the peanuts (the ones that are not mashed).
9) Then break the Marie Biscuits into smaller pieces (not too small though) and add them all in. I didn't use all the Marie Biscuits too cos I thought it was way too much to put them all in! I mean, 500g!!! I suspect I heard wrongly lor!10) Stir until the Milo mixture cover all the biscuits and lay them all onto the prepared baking tin. Make sure you push them tight!11) Spread the mashed peanuts evenly on top of the mixture.
12) Send the baking tin to the fridge for at least 4-5 hours and you can cut them out and serve when it's chill.
To me, this thing is just too easy to make! Okay, I admit the peanuts part is kinda ma fan. Well you can either skip that if you're not a nut fan. Or, you can buy ready-made ones from the market! Absolutely no baking required, just some simple cooking method!
Well, most importantly, it is dangerously delicious and addictive! The entire thing tastes a bit like chocolate fudge/Sneaker/Cloud 9. You get the chewy Milo and the crunchy chunk of Marie Biscuits and peanuts that made it a to-die-for dessert. My little cousins who happened to be in Taiping love it! My Ah ma loves it! Papo and Mamo love it! And Vivian was so happy to finally taste something that she also missed!
Try this at home too! I'm sure you and your family will will enjoy it too!

P/S: Many thanks to Vivian who helped me a lot throughout the process. :)

Super Simple Kerabu Pork Belly

I saw this recipe on Kuali.com and I was soooooo looking forward to try making this myself.
Personally, I love Kerabu! Be it Kerabu chicken feet (oh yumzz) or Nasi Kerabu (Alright, I know that's a different thing altogether). Most importantly, I am such a fan of pork belly! You know those with the fat on top of it??? You just have to admit it that even though they are super unhealthy, they are also super duperly yummy! :p

Well I made the recipe simpler so here's what I did...
1) Obviously, boiled the pork belly until it is cooked then removed and soak in ice water.
2) Next, just cut it into thin slices.3) Now in a bowl, mix the pork belly, chopped parsley, sliced shallots, chopped serai and chopped chili padi together.4) Add in some squeezed lime and brown sugar. 5) Now add in some fish sauce to taste and that's it!
We had it with other dishes for dinner the other night! It was quite a cool recipe I think. Pork Belly is normally tasteless and we always have it to go with soya sauce or simply cook them with other methods which erm normally take quite some time. With this recipe, pork belly became flavourful and too simple to make a dish with!
I'm loving it~~!!!The Kerabu Pork Belly was like a cooling salad!

P/S: I cheated this time around because we already had the pork belly cooked for the month of July prayer in the fridge. Hahaha... And thanks to Ah Ma's maid, all ingredients were cut well before I made the dish! :p