Living to Eat: Nagomi Shabu-Shabu @ Jaya 33

First up, HAPPY ONE MONTHIE, BLOGGIE! Presents, anyone? :p

Anyways, back to what people actually LIKE about my blog: food posts. As promised, here's the latest of the lot.


As dad was in Thailand, mum, my aunt, grandma, sis and I went to a place my dad would NEVER take us on Saturday. As mentioned before, he's very picky with his choice of dining, and in someway despises most places we want to try (be it the reason of price or majority of the time his taste for food).

Nagomi Shabu-Shabu it was, then.



'Shabu-Shabu', which literally means swishing sounds of things (in this case, meat) in the water, is a traditional Japanese dish. Usually, the people from the Land of the Rising Taiyo would dine with beef (and I can clearly imagine those rich, fat, bald businessman would dine Kobes. Go Google Kobe beef to find out more).

Steps we amazingly followed one by one. So not Malaysian!

Ironically, none of us tried beef (and definitely not Kobe beef. RM129 for 120g leh!)

Sis and I got the duck, while the rest got chicken.

Last ducked 2008. My puns are so funny.

Duck, which was more expensive, was more succulent and delicious. The tediousness of shabu-ing one duck slice at a time was painstakingly time-wasting though. No wonder businessmen love it, they have ALL the time they want. But seriously, it's delicious with the Goma sauce (which is peanut-y.)

Like satay lo, only healthier and Japanese-ier. :p

As we put the vegetables in, the waitresses make cute little meatballs out of the minced meat with spoons. Ah, such service. Everyone obliged for their assistance since it was our first time shabu-ing, so what the heck, let the pros do it.

I so totally took a photo of her without her head on purpose.

The minced meat tasted SOOO wonderful, I ate them bit by bit. The accompanying vegetables did their job in making the broth tasteful, giving the meat a more delicious taste (I speak as if I'm some judge from Iron Chef like that.)



There were 3 sauces available, Ponzu sauce (which is vinegar plus sesame and what not), Chilli (apparently for the Malaysian tongue. I didn't touch a bit :p) and Goma sauce as mentioned earlier (which would obviously be the sauce on the right.) The step-by-step gives a brief description on which sauce accompanies which food, hence the variety.

My aunt complained that the Chilli wasn't as good as Chinese steamboat ones. Haiya, how la to compare? Why compare in the first place, since this Chilli was only to SUIT the Malaysian tongue (don't believe me, look at the step-by-step on top!).



One meal is enough to make one bloated, as you tackle (very deliciously) on the vegetables, tofu, mushrooms, meat (in sliced and minced form) and rice, which you turn into congee (bubur la) with the stock. Seriously, I had a great time there and had a wonderful experience ENJOYING my dinner (2 hours of non-stop eating, yum!) Mum and my aunt couldn't finish their chicken too, so I had a whopping 2 platters of meat for myself (:

Yet, I'm still less than 45 kg :( *hears envious hisses*

In conclusion, Nagomi Shabu-Shabu is a great place for those who love steamboats, want a Japanese 'winter' dinner experience or to take your time in eating. A word of caution; bring enough money! (My aunt purposely made us order water only as a precaution :p Hehe!) The bill was a whopping RM180 for 5 people. Oh well, good things do come with a price.

Verdict: B+

@: Kar Jie's in Shah Alam

This post will have many 3s in it. Those allergic, please click on the Nuffnang ad before closing the window :p (I'm SO considerate to my readers.)

For the first time in the holidays, I have spent 23 hours awake for the day, which would be yesterday. I was awake from midnight til 3, then woke up at 4 (for reasons I cannot ponder).

It was the 3rd time during my holidays whereby I had breakfast in the morning at home (first and second taken before sleeping after :D Nocturnal I am!)

Which was Baker's Cottage Sweet Potato Bun thing that I bought during my morning walk.

It was also the third time I visited Kar Jie (big sister in Cantonese), my ex-college mate who has a brother with the same age as me, along with the same name pronunciation as mine (Ken Jin).

We made bento during my second visit too.

It tastes as good as it looks! :)

3 trains I took during the journey arrived RIGHT after I reached the station (lucky me!), but there were problems as well. More to come soon.

And what did I do there? Entertain myself with modern technology.

HAHAHADOUCHE.

And Jooger Liang.

YUE YING LOVE LOVE HER DARLING JOOGER LIANG~

As well as DDR-ing, but thankfully there are no photos or videos. It would definitely make this blog popular, but for very wrong reasons.

The journey back was madness.

Firstly, the train doors nearly closed against me as I entered (another reason why I LOVE being skinny). Then, the KTM had its air conditioning system malfunctioned And the train was packed as hell. Thankfully I had a seat, or I'd turn into a pole for other passengers.

And then there was the LRT back to Asia Jaya. And we ALL know the crowd in KL Sentral.


What to do, fuel hike ma. Food post next!

The Season to be Jolly

Ahh, holidays.

The time you sleep at 9 in the morning.

To wake up at 7 in the evening. Or later even.


The time you do stuff you've eagerly wanted to do during work/schooling days.

To only get yourself bored out and finding nothing to do on holidays (and continue sleeping again!)


The time you get nagged by parents to find for part-time work.

Like the time you got nagged by parents to study.



The time you were to go on trips, as planned thoroughly with friends and who not.

"So we go Maldives on the first week, then Paris the next la. Kau tim?"

To only get fong fei kei-ed, like always.

The time you decide to publish a blog to make up for the free time.

To only not update regularly eventually.

:p There's just nothing interesting, unless you'd like pictures of me sleeping!

EDIT: And wow, my house lights just had a trip or something. The weird thing is, my computer, TV and fans are still working fine. [insert suspenseful violin thrills here].

Living to Eat: Vietnam Kitchen @ Jaya 33

Chào bạn, minna-san!

(I had to look it up. :p And yes,. minna-san is Japanese.)

My family had Vietnamese for dinner, which was a delightful surprise. Dad usually takes us to places he's more familiar with (in other words, places we get bored with all the time).



This was the second time we've visited the place at Jaya 33, a place recently built as the legendary blue Jaya shopping complex undergoes renovation (which has not started demolishing work even. Sigh, politics, politics).

I ordered the Combination Platter again, which I first sampled in Adelaide, Australia (where I dined many things NOT Australian except for the grilled kangaroo and crocodile, YUMYUM!) It's a big plate of everything you can imagine under the sun.


Well, maybe not EVERYTHING, but hey, there are the usual cucumber, rice noodles, beansprouts, and meat, along with mint, lettuce and starfruit; all which you put on your rice paper to roll up and scoff like popiah. It's an interesting dish which I find is tasty and different for every bite. It's a dish to be shared though, so don't decide on this to go with a dinner solo unless you've been starving like hell.

For appetizers were the Mango Prawn Rolls.



WHICH WERE SIMPLE DELICIOUS AND TANTALIZING! I have this silly thing for sweet things in food; like pineapple fried rice and salad prawns. Quirky I am.

The Sesame Chicken did not live up to the hype though.



Mum disliked it very much due to the fact it was fried with batter. My point of view; it tasted like popcorn. I don't think chicken should taste like popcorn.

Except for popcorn chicken-lah.



The bean curd was not good nor horrible. It was really salty, but at least it tastes more like bean curd than popcorn.

All in all, the place is okay, with great ambiance. The dishes are really special if you've never tried Vietnamese before, and they also serve noodles and more. Their flan dessert tastes really good too (ate it during my first visit, so no photos :p) Oh by the way, this place isn't Halal, since they do serve pork.

Verdict: B+

Blooped My Way to Nuffnang Wild 'Live' Blogging [Post-edit]

NOTE: This post has been edited; it was initially for Nuffnang's Live Blogging Contest (which I did not win :( PSP fly away~)

A lonely octopus swam too far, ending up in an urban location, puzzled and confused. He searches for other aquatic comrades. Alas, he was lost in a world of land creatures.

A friendly bunny greeted him and handed a sticker tag for identification. I was a little dazed, but obliged.

I don't roar; I bloop.

Nevertheless, the community was made of friendly (and dare I say foxy; pun intended) creatures along the way too.

She eats and loves cheese; how queer!

Ladybugs flying as graceful as they look.

Pretty in pink...uh, red.

Cute horsies prancing the place.

Let's all neigh for Simon!

Even the lions are as friendly as squids in the sea!

Not to mention having a mole at the same place as me!

I ventured some more, only to get kidnapped by a gorilla.

*swoon!* so hairy and hunky! *COUGH*

The porcupines were prickly; but they're cool (and cute! *HINTHINTNUDGENUDGE*).

And female tigers enjoy doing their usual thing.

Oh what joy it was to see an octopus in the crowd too!

We're octopussies!

It was a humble surprise to meet ani-models as well. Personally, they look DIVINE!

We ♥ Sushi!

We so 'manis'!

So I was finally here; from the wild, to the WILD.

And then...at the corner of my eye, I saw him! It was! It was really him!

KENNY-POOH BEAR! (who enjoys his beer very much)

*huggywuggynyamnyam!*

----

This event was really fun and wild, and the food was good (I didn't get to eat the Panna Cotta though! :( Sigh). Wished I was more sociable and talked more, then it would have been really fun.

Looking forward to the next Nuffnang event! :)

Roared My Way to Nuffnang Wild ‘Live’ Blogging

I got invited. My monkey drawing actually got me invited!

Now I have loads to think of though. Should I go, or should I skip this one? If I were to go, what am I suppose to dress up as?

I'm not going to be this desperate. Sure as hell.

And if I were to go, is anyone whom I know personally going to be there? Not only that, HOW IN HEAVENS AM I GOING TO GET THERE? (driving is out of option.)

*looks around drivers with puppy-dawg-eyes*

I might as well go wrapped up in cardboard paper, pretending as a cocoon. :p It'll be my first time socializing in the blogger community, as a rookie. It'll be like piranhas swarming a squirrel.



I mean, really. You do something silly and you'd see everyone rushing to snap a photo of you and uploading it to their blogs. And I ALWAYS do something silly.

Just not so silly to wear a costume above (and below).


Of course, I'll go for something SILLIER, and witty. I somehow got an idea while typing this post (hurrah for subconscious branstorming) but I'm still open for ideas.

Anyone got any?


*stares at empty room*


Anyone?

Shoutout: Double Z #1

Note: Shoutouts are basically posts I make to just...well, shout it all out. Basically, its concept would be to try and reach out to the person I'm trying to convey my messages to indirectly (because I'm such a coward /I don't know how to tell him or her straight / because I'm such a HUGE coward), unless s/he reads this blog in the first place :p. In other words, it's more like a self-thought intended for a particular person, but is told publicly instead.

...I know it's a stupid thing but BLEH!




Hey double z. How are you? It's been a while since we talked or saw each other. It's relieving to know that you're (touchwoodtouchwood!) alive after you went online last night, only to go offline shortly after I noticed. Only joking, but this is serious: are you feeling alright? I did not notice you in the MPH during our first day of exams as well as during OSPE. I intended to ask you about it, but somehow I did not want to as well. It pained me double, yet I didn't want to do anything about it; totally entirely my fault.

I went to IMU today, and looked at the resit list. I was dumbfounded, yet deep inside I knew my eyes did not deceive me during the examination days.

Double z, did anything happen? Was, and most importantly, is everything okay? Will you be sitting for the resits? I know it sounds really weird coming from me, but I'm deeply worried. I'd really hate having to go through IMU hell without your presence. I don't really demand an explanation, but if you're willing to share...well. :S Okay this is getting very awkward.

Though, I'd like to say this. If you're taking the resit exams, you have all my wishes for the best (: you can do it, blue undie boy! (woops, spilled the beans :p to everyone else, it's definitely NOT what you're thinking of.) Godspeed, for you were one of the most interesting, witty and definitely hell of a smart friend.


You'll make it through, definitely.



P/S: To the rest of my batchmates who didn't make it past the End of Semesters, all the best on Monday. I hope you all excel and proclaim proudly as a second year medical student. :) Gambatte!

EDIT: Everything's quite settled now. Thanks for the information, double z =) All the best to you and your future, you have my wishes.

Living to Eat: Specials of Penang @ The State

The irony of eating out on Father's Day with your father absent :p But this meant we could somehow choose our dinner venue freely.



Mum suggested this place, since the duck rice shop next door always has booming business on Sundays (which equals to long time finding for a place to sit) and we've never been to the restaurant before. Plus, it's SPECIALS OF PENANG. Must be very ho chiak, right?



Specials of Penang was also the same restaurant that catered my breakfast for my Singapore trip too. As it did taste pretty good, it's probably a nice place to dine.



Mum got herself the mee rebus (boiled noodles? Gah, I'm beginning to deteriorate in my Malay Language). She commented that it was n't spicy at all, but tasted fine. She prefers the ones in Penang though (I guess everyone who tasted Penang food would say that. Tissy must be very happy now :p).

My sister ordered the nasi lemak (fat rice, LOL.) with fried chicken.



The chicken looked horribly dry, and my sister said it tasted as bad too. I guess the kapitan's better.

As for me, Penang's famous assam laksa. (sour, spicy noodle soup with fish? I guess.)

During my entire Malaysian life, I've only had two bowls of my own 'assam laksa'. My very first bowl on my birthday this year even. I'm so not Malaysian-lah.


Due to *cough* lack of experience, I don't know if it tasted good or not. But it tasted DAMN spicy. Seriously, the more I ate the spicier it got. The fish was a little tough; not very appetizing.

My mum who finished the remaining laksa said it's not as good as Penang (and somehow I knew she was going to say that, but oh well.)

We had some Penang rojak (fruit and vegetable salad mix thingy) after, which was okay (photo not taken. It looks like ordinary rojak la) The pineapples were really sweet, but the cucumbers were horrible. Oh well, you can't have too much of a good thing.

For dessert, mum got herself leng chee kang (which I don't know how to translate, and didn't take a photo of. Sue me.) and said it tasted horrible. She who rarely wastes food didn't finish her bowl.

My sis and I ordered monsters.

This is a Milo Mountain. It's basically really sweet Milo flavoured ice topped with really sweet vanilla ice cream sprinkled generously with really sweet Milo powder.

From my description, it's obviously not a dish for the diabetic. Or hyperactive (like me! :p), but I enjoyed it. Very sinfully, though. With my tongue doing 360s. You get the picture.

Bottomline, this place wasn't what we expected, but the food's still not too bad in a way. Service was really good (they even take notice to serve our desserts after finishing our food!) and food's considered quite cheap (everything altogether was less than RM45; the Milo Mountains were RM5.90 each though. Bleh). The place gets pretty packed too, and things get unavailable later, so it's best to visit this joint earlier.

Verdict: C+

Pointless Tagging #1

I somewhat despise this idea of tagging, since it not very special and most of them are similar in one way or another. But oh well, if your 'big sister' tags you, you have nothing to do but oblige :) (and also for the reason I don't want to blog on food too many times...yup, another food review is coming soon).

It was meant to be 8 layers, but come on, there were only 5 questions listed (so I edited it to my benefit :p).

And from the tag, you can notice I talk to my sister a lot. And I also learned that the cake is a lie.

And I tag no one, reason already stated in the first line :) Unless you want to continue, go ahead.

Living to Eat: 6 to 10 Grill & Nasi Lemak @ Seksyen 17, Petaling Jaya

It's not the first time I've eaten at this place, nor I think it would be the last.



My dad firstly introduced this place to my family months back. It's a restaurant that sells cheap Western food at a lower price compared to classy places such as Victoria Station and San Francisco Steakhouse. My dad finds the food there tastier than the latter too. I'm somewhat agreeable to that, actually. And the most important thing is...



IT SERVES PORK. (no offense to the Muslims or anyone who cannot take it, but really, it's definitely startling and rare to find a restaurant like this.)

And we went there for dinner last night with my aunt (the same one who ate the Banana Caramel Walnut pancakes). It's a pretty comfortable place despite not having the appearance of a standard usual Western restaurant (it's a shoplot located below an apartment) but no one's complaining. The wait for food isn't of a Western restaurant standard either (which is to their customers' benefit for not waiting their butts for their dishes).

My sister got herself the sausages and eggs.



I tasted a (slice?) of one of them and thought it was really good...for a sausage. The sauce was a little salty though. My sister really enjoyed it, and she seldom gobbles down everything on her plate.

My aunt ordered her typical Grilled Fish (she ALWAYS orders something related to fish, including my mum. Is it a woman thing?)



The fish looked like fried eggs, but my aunt said it was not bad.

Both my dad and mum ordered the Grilled Pork Chop (Mummy didn't order fish!).



I've had that dish before, and to me, it's the more timid version of my usual (which will be shown to you very soon). It's really good with the pineapple sauce, but sometimes the meat's tougher than usual.

And I ordered the Grilled Pork Rib.

Massive, eh?

I often ordered this when I go there, as the portion's huge enough for my appetite and I love it a lot. The luscious meat with sweet pineapple sauce; the creamy whipped potato (which is replaced by fries if you order the Grilled Pork Chop); the crisp cucumbe-okay, I'm acting silly. But this is THE dish for me.

And then, their weakness.



For those looking forward to a good dessert, this might not be the place if you order their Banana Fritters with Ice Cream. It looks really special, and tastes REALLY special as well. Try it for yourself...if you want to.

Ever since dad introduced this place, we've always had the urge to go back, but sometimes do not (I believe in 'absence makes the heart grow fonder'). It's good (and to be frank, advised by the tauke himself) to come early to this place, as it gets quite packed at night. Oh, and their pumpkin soup's lovely too. Try this place if you're close by, it's definitely worth it.

Verdict: A- (and lower if I count the Banana Fritters)