yin's bday at J&R

We recently threw a birthday dinner for my good buddie, Yin. The original plan was for a Korean bbq but too bad, the place got relocated and wasn't open yet. Hence, we brought her to a place she's never been to - Jarrod & Rawlins in Ampwalk ; a cosy restaurant famous for its gourmet sausages and pork! oink oink!

 Would you believe that we booked the entire restaurant just for our private function?!

Nah, knew you wouldn't.
It was exceptionally quiet that night - just like my first time here a few months ago.

 We didn't mind the quiet surrounding of course. The better for us to shout and laugh and play

 and sing the birthday song on top of our lungs.

 I dunno bout Yin but I love this place. The food's smashing good and fresh!

 May be a little pricey but some of the dishes here are really worth the price.

... like this Pie.

 and this burger.

 My usual drink when I have to choose a hot drink.

 They've got all sorts of pork products here.

 One of their signature dishes - the 'best pork served in a Western Restaurant' Pork Knuckle. Seriously good.
The servings huge so at least 5 friends can share it. There's this lovely mashed apple-something sauce that goes so well with the meat.

 The undressing of the knuckle.

 With the skin so crispy and meat so tender, we can't help but look like the happiest people on earth.

 Another fave of everyone was the ribs. Forget those freakishly sweet ribs I used to order from a back-lane Chinese stall, this one's the real deal. Marinated right into the bones, the bbq sauce was perfection.

 Nevermind we looked like we were 'high' on drugs while we were 'attacking' those ribs.

 Just so happened, I saw this poster of their ongoing promotion for weekdays lunch. Not a bad deal indeed.

 Don't leave without trying their gourmet sausages too. They've got a huge variety of them displayed at the counter for you to pick and choose.

 Each type's priced differently so we ended up with a mixture of chorizo (RM 4.35), cumberland sausage (RM 10.84), lamb merguez (RM 4.14), lamb provenza (RM 4.32) and my fave yet, dynamite chicken (RM 4.52). The Dynamite Chic was fiery hot, it was like a cili-padi flavoured sausage.

 The best way to eat at J&R is 'order-to-share'. Chances are, that way, you wouldn't end up over-eating and yet, you get to enjoy a variety of food.
Then the cake came and it was a Sesame Flavoured Cake. Weird right? lol. A first for me all right.

 Yin sure enjoyed her cake that night! Bigger cake, bigger wish perhaps?

 Hope Yin had a memorable birthday and brought home a 'pork'-ful of memories.
And while all of us had a truly scrumptious meal in J&R,

 later that night, some dog got to have his little feast too. :P

Happy wishes and here's to many many more birthday celebrations with you, Yin! ^0^

xmas in suka

Malaysia is one country where we celebrate each other's festivals, particularly when it comes to Christmas time. Whoever started the tradition of giving presents to one another during this season, is a genius. At least, in the eyes of the commercial and retail moguls. I for one, can certainly get used to getting a present (again) just 5 days after my getting my birthday gift. :)

Don't you agree Christmas is the most beautiful time of the year? No other festival even comes close. Just check out the malls, streets and even offices and be amazed at how everyone simply wants to be a part of this season.

Whether it's a 4-storey high brightly decorated Christmas tree,      
or a waist-high tree which looks like it belongs in a house,

the flickering lights on a Christmas tree never fail to make my heart flutter with joy.

A few colleagues and I had a gift exchange recently. My second one ever! Yeah, so pariah I know.   
Nevertheless, it was fun organising one and made simpler by inviting only female colleagues. Imagine the agony of cracking your head thinking of what to buy a male colleague. Our terms were simply 'no mugs, no photo frames, no photo albums and no food'. I'm sure you'd agree that we all have tons of those sitting around in the house collecting dust.

We went to this new Asian restaurant in town (along Jalan Nagasari near the Park Royal Serviced Suites) called 'Suka'. 
So, what's to like about this place?

For one, the decor's nice and its dimmed lights very soothing to the eyes.

So soothing that I could easily fall asleep in the middle of dinner.

I've been here a few times and some of the better dishes are their Nasi Lemak, Portuguese Baked Seafood, Fried Tong Fun and Nasi Goreng Kampung. Not the best in KL, but the quality's there and for the great ambience, it's still worth the price.

I do dig my drink though. It's Soy Bean with Chendol and Gula Melaka. If I recall correctly, I think it was priced at RM 8.50. Expensive all right but currently, Suka is giving away 30% discount off their ala carte food and drinks during dinnertime. Generally, their main course costs about RM 9- RM 13 before discount.

After a good meal, a 'belly happy' us then drew numbers for our gift exchange.

As usual, we were the noisy ones in the restaurant, I didn't really dare look at the other tables. :P

Then we did the 'unwrapping of gift' session after we all agreed to 'fake' our appreciation and enthusiasm afterwards, regardless of whatever gift we got. heeeheee.

Here's what we all got for each other. Mostly very feminine stuff, 'cept for what I bought - a box organiser cum stool. :D

This is what I got from Belinda. Lighting's so bad, this is the only color I can be in so you can see me.

A (much) clearer shot of my cutesy lovely scented candle with tiny seashells in it. So adorable, where got the heart to light up this baby?

I think we almost brought down the restaurant in the way we reacted when Choy Phyll gave each of us a 'bonus' Christmas gift - this 3D Bust Up Roller.
Dun play play oh..Keeps 'them' firm and avoids sagging, you know. I wonder what the 3D is about though.... Triple D Cup???  *determined grin*

Christmas will be over soon. And I can't wait for it to come again. 

Next year's gift exchange will be bigger (than what I gave this year), bolder (than Choy Phyll's gift) and better (I-Pad for me perhaps? lol ).

And everything that started this tradition? It was believed that Jesus used to receive gifts from the three wise men.

And I don't mean Moe, Larry and Curly.

xmas in palate palette

With the year coming to a close and festivals looming around the corner, it's undeniably D best excuse to shop more, spend more and eat more!

It was great that I managed to join my girlfriends for a couple of xmas dinner cum gift exchange recently, starting with the one we had at Palate Palette (a restaurant and bar along Jalan Mesui; somewhere behind Hotel Istana). A very interesting website they've got (check it out) coz it also includes a bit of background on the owner of this place who actually started out as a jeweller.                                                                                     

 A small cozy restaurant and especially unique coz they've got chairs that come in different colors, shapes and sizes. This was only my second time here - the first being a birthday lunch for a colleague.

Our drinks which I thought were a bit pricey. I enjoyed my 'Firefly' though - tangy and refreshing, I think it's pineapple + lime + apple + soda + something else.

 The appetizers which we girls shared...This one's good.

This one's way too expensive for merely a few pieces of shrimp and a mediocre avocado paste.

This is mushroom soup served ala cappucino style. Sleek.

Just like any other fancy western restaurants, we were served a warm bun and balls of butter. Yup, butter shaped into the cutest little balls that one accidentally rolled onto the table while one of my friends was trying to grab hold of it.

My friend, Jewel is so in love with the buns served.

We ordered a main course each and ended up sharing them so we got a taste of everyone's dinner.

This was by far the best tasting dish that night! It was like eating bak kua (dried pork meat), only that this was beef and damn, so juicy!

I just had a spoonful of this and it was OK, I guess.

Guess who ordered the healthiest meal of the night..........ME!
Those freakily healthy chunks of breast meat were just too dry to swallow. Nicely seasoned though.
I admit, I ordered this as I was more attracted to the mango salsa that came with it.

Fancy name, but this turned out to be Fried Chicken. Lol.
Delicious batter but kinda out-of-place having those corn on cob sitting on the plate too.

That's Eugenie, me, Kimberly and Jewel....4 chicks with the most glamorous names. eh-hem.

I looked the most christmasey, dun i? hehe...

Thanks for giving me a lift home afterwards, Jewel! ^.^

See the pen on the table? Time to do some work..

4 teeny-weeny balls of rolled-up tissue paper contain the magic number that will determine who gets which pressie.......kan cheong pulak...

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the waitress brought over our desserts........cheh, anti climatic betol.

This is my fave dessert from them.

On second thought, I love anything gingery.

After much pondering over the fear of 'ordering too much', our greedy selves decided to go for a second dessert .... something ChOcOLaTey....and got this.

This cheese cake turned out to be smaller than my palm. =.=

Our pressies all laid out ready to be unwrapped.

No points for guessing what's in THIS bag.

Not that we don't like a brand-new fluffy pillow, but Eugenie and I were praying we don't get this coz it'd be awkward carrying a pillow in the monorail all the way home.

The gift from me is in the box right in front.

Gee, Eugenie, you look soooo happy with your new pillow...

Jewel got a really cool photo frame which looks like a tree with dangling branches.

This shawl is from me. Kimberly is sure looking ecstatic about it.

And yours truly got a lavender hand cream from L'occitane.
mmmmmm nice, come smell my hands.

Till next year,

h a p p y c h r i s t m a s t o y o u ! !