my chickeny dinner

Today we went to nandos for dinner.
Then i went back alone.

tristan now...

Mark's nephew lil Tristan then....

 ...and now at 3 months +, he's got the biggest most gorgeous pair of eyes!

 Holding him in my arms felt funny as he was super light compared to Darren...lol.

auntie lee's again

I'm back at Auntie Lee's nyonya restaurant! Wrote about this awesome place 2 years ago (read it here) and since i was back here recently, i decide to refresh everybody's memory on this. 

The same interior, probably with some bright new tiles on the walls. 

 Guess what, they have an actual printed menu now!
However, i did not manage to flip through its pages - didn't need to, as all our dishes that night were pre-ordered days ahead. Yup, you have to be real lucky or the place to be real empty for Auntie Lee to accept walk-in customers. Everyone who's ever eaten here will be able to tell you that every single dish must be pre-ordered, with the exception of drinks, rice and chendol.

 The star of the night goes to the Cili Garam Fish. Amazing tasty, addictive cili mix on a very crispy deep-fried fish! The 7 of us got this huge fish which cost RM 85! Pricey but oh wth, having this once a while wouldn't hurt anyone.

 I recalled pre-ordering Devil's Curry but was quickly shot down by Auntie Lee who claimed there were more orders for Ayam Limau Purut, so she devilishly coaxed me to take this instead. No regrets though, this RM 20 chicken dish was good too!

 Bendi ulam at RM 13, another authentic nyonya dish - very spicy and refreshing!

 Not everything about nyonya food have to be chilli-related - check out their Cencaluk Omelette at RM 13.

 Their Udang Masak Lemak (RM 41) has huge fresh prawns but not much to shout about the kuah. Wish it was more pungent in aroma and taste. My sis can cook a better lemak version of this!

 This kinda ugly-looking brinjal dish is called Terong Gulai Lada (RM 13). Wouldn't recommend the brinjal to be cooked this way anymore......

Their signature cincao drink...

 As usual, the fathers are the ones who usually tackle the big fish head at the end of the meal.

An excited Darren who sat together with us at the dining table, was eager to get his first taste of nyonya baby food!

 Maybe a couple of years from today ya, son.

But even so, mummy must remember to make early reservations at Auntie Lee's. ^^

GO on, call 06-283 1009 for a good time at Auntie Lee's.

italiannie's .. again

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
The way to siu~V's heart is through the doors of Italiannies. ...(haven't heard THIS one eh?) hehe

Yes, i have blogged about dining here before but i can't help but to take pictures every time i've the chance to eat here. SO i can then gloat about their mouth-watering food, again and again.
I can safely say that when you dine here, you're bound to leave with a stuffed belly.

Everyone enjoys their healthier alternative of soft warm bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, on the house. If you have a 'thick skin', you can always ask for extra helpings of bread. Better yet, if you have a friend who has a 'thick skin', get them to ask.

 The truth is i'm always finding excuses to travel all the way to The Gardens, to my beloved restaurant. That includes making all sorts of bets with a free meal at Italiannies (of course!) at the end.

This time around, mark and i were there on a weekday, so we ordered their lunch set.
For appetizers, we chose their Mushroom Soup and for my choice of salad,

 ..the Sicilian Salad attracted me the most, due to their interesting combo of lettuce leaves + fruits + nuts.
And boy oh boy, my salad appetizer came in this huuuuuuuuge serving!
If this is the size of their appetizer, i can't imagine how their main course salad is like.
I really really enjoyed this salad thoroughly. Look at various detailed ingredients in it - certainly not something simply tossed up!

 As main, we had the ever popular Beef Carbonara - a tantalising creamy affair.

 Mine was the Parmesan-crusted White fish with herb rice. Everything about it was perfect, though i didn't quite fancy the basil-flavoured rice.                                                  

 The fish was flaky and very flavourful, it needed no sauce at all.

 For dessert, we had Raisin Bread Pudding which was rather decent..

and the only other choice of dessert in out set was Chocolate Brownie. love love love...

At the end/ nearing the end of the meal, i was struggling to finish what was left on my plate. So fullllll, yet too delicious to let it go to waste!

I so wish they'd opened an Italiannies outlet somewhere near KL town so i can get my quick lunch fixes now and then.

So, what do you think about all this for only RM 29.90++.....?
Quality assured, full stomach guaranteed.

SO WORTH IT.

axa annual dinner 2012

A nice setting indeed for a company event like an annual dinner...

However, it was a first for me to attend an annual dinner on a Thursday! Oh well, i supposed it was to coincide with my CEO, Jega's farewell bash.

The ballroom interior...                              

From my department...
The theme for the night was 'Colourful', hence the myriad of colours you see here.

More photos below...though very much less than what i would normally take. Could it be the fact that my simple dress was pretty much 'colour-less' that night, so my mood was toned down as well?...hehe

..with yin and jin...

with gaik bee and li kuen...

choy phyll in her colorful traditional attire....

These 3 ladies macam datin je...

Group departmental photo .... How big my department has grown, from just a handful of us few years back! Feel so old dy....huuhuu..

Choy Phyll (in black traditional wear) in her sporty hairdo can really fit in with the young cikus in my department!

Now, about the dinner - food was merely so-so...

Sure it was impressive that we were each served individually for every dish, but we weren't too pleased that our waiter took his own sweet time with the food distribution. One of them even spilled sauce on my dress.!..grrrrr. There's certainly much to improve in terms of their waiters. .

Can i just add that the lighting needs some RE-lighting as well? Our poor CEO was giving out his speech in the dark! Even invited guest comedian, Douglas Lim couldn't stop cursing the lights when it also went awry on him. lol.

One of the program that night was the Long Service Award Presentation (with cash token) to reward the 'old-timers' of AXA. Don't you just love the encouraging words at the bottom of the certificate?

Finally, 3 Best Dressed awards went to the most colorful, most creative and most striking!
Here're two of the award winners that night....

Now, if only there was an award for Prom King and Prom Queen.....

The door gift i received.....adds to my collection of thermos and flasks...

The lucky draw prizes were reduced a great deal this year but a-hahhh.....i was still lucky enough to win....

...a Ogawa Mini Foot Reflexology....which i have guiltily neglected after using it once. hehe

Time to make it 'twice' now...

to mooncake or not to mooncake

Is it just me or do you also feel like you're losing interest in mooncakes year by year? I blame it on the ridiculously inflated prices of mooncakes which is always accompanied by some seller's excuse that China was badly hit by floods, hence the price of lotus seeds has hiked up la, etc. 

If 5 years ago, RM10 could get you a Lotus Paste Single Yolk (LPSY) mooncake, today, you'll be lucky if you can even find a decent red bean paste mooncake for that same price. The baked LPSY being sold today approximates at RM 16 - that's like RM 2 per tiny piece (if cut into 8 segments)!

As a fan of the Lotus Paste DOUBLE Yolk, i managed to forgo my fave this year. *proud*

However, i had a different 'itch' to try something new this time around - the Doraemon and Hello Kitty range of mooncakes!

 From their snowskin range of mooncakes, i tried their ....
'Tiramisu'.................didn't really fancy the cocoa powder dusting on top, real mess. Cheese flavour wasn't rich enough.

 'Black Humour' ...........nice rich chocolaty goodness, but rather sweet to my liking.

The 'Tropical Pure Durian' was their best seller and at RM 17 per mooncake, this was definitely the charmer.
Apart from the rather powdery tasteless skin, the filling was da bomb! So smoooooth and creamy, this mooncake must be kept in the freezer and consumed right away from the freezer!

Bought 4 of their mooncakes @ RM 17/piece (gulp!) and got this free velvety hand-carry Doraemon bag.
Too cute!
It seems a much better deal if  i look at it as though i bought this bag and got 4 free mooncakes instead! lol.

Will this be Darren's very first bag?

This year, i also got to try mini mooncakes from Peninsula Connoisseur, Hong Kong.
When i say 'mini', they really ARE small....It is exactly the size of a slightly flattened salted egg yolk.
With a very buttery skin, they cost about RM25 each! Siao, man....

And last but not least, money cannot buy homemade lychee jelly mooncake, made by mark's aunty.
An awesome looking shape of the jelly, with the perfect texture and sweetness of juicy lychee flesh inside. ..
Heavenly.......

Well, we're officially done with mooncakes, for this year at least.
I have a year to start learning the art of making mooncakes. My crystal ball tells me it's gonna cost RM20 a piece next year! ...............wanna bet on that?