Dinner at Esquire Kitchen (14/09)

The day after dinner at Nihon Kai, my parents and I went out for our usual grocery shopping which was usually followed by dinner. Since I needed to buy some household items for Uni, we decided to go to Atria since there was a Giant there. And so we ended up eating at Esquire Kitchen in Atria, another restaurant we frequent to. Though Esquire is quite common and has been around for a long time, I am still inspired to feature it in my Brighter Side blog.

We ordered about 4 dishes but my dad was the only one who ordered a bowl of rice to go with the dishes. I ordered another individual noodle dish whilst mum ate the dishes with no rice.

We chose...

this... -Pork ribs with old cucumber soup-

this... -Chicken with chashew nuts in paprika sauce-

this....
-Soft tofu with mushroom and veggies-

These dishes (including the noodle dish) were special because I managed to order them in Mandarin!!! (and a tinge of Cantonese la) Yaaaay!! :-) My dad went out for awhile so he assigned us to make the orders and since the captain spoke in Cantonese at first, so i responded in Cantonese...lor . I then switched to Mandarin as I was more comfortable speaking in Mandarin. Well.. at least, it made good practice. :-)

I did not manage to take pictures of the 'Noodles with Fried sauce' dish because I destroyed it before I thought of my blog. -sweat-

The soup was very well boiled. The flavour was there, though I swear I did not see a full pork rib. There were only small pieces of meat in the soup. Sigh..I suppose the current economic situation has made them stingy. Speaking of which, we noticed the other dishes were much smaller than before. Sigh. We can't escape the fact that Malaysia is seriously suffering from the current inflationary pressures and political situation.

Right, back to the food, the chicken with paprika was just right. Not too salty. The chicken was tender and not too old. The dried chillies were edible too, you can suck on them to get the sauce out that had been absorbed by the chillies. Because the sauce was quite thick, you obviously need to eat this with bread or rice.

The tofu, on the other hand, was plain..of course, this was already expected. Mum made the right choice in choosing these dishes because one was tasty, the other was plain. Again, it was all about the combination of too 'opposites' as I've mentioned in my previous post before.

My dad was still not full and satisfied, thus he decided to order one of my favourite dishes..

this!!!-Eggplant cooked Sze Chuan style-

Erm.. well..dad ordered this dish..so I did not get the chance to practice my Mandarin or Cantonese. -sweat-

Eggplants/brinjals have this distinct creamy taste that keeps me going for more. So this dish was definitely creamy and it was so soft and smooth. I even found the spring onions addictive. Sure it was oily..but this was (and still is) one of my favourite dishes!! :-D

However, like other dishes, it shrunk in size...-sniff..wipes tears from eyes-

Dinner at Nihon Kai (13/09)

My parents and I had dinner at Nihon Kai, a japanese restaurant that we frequent to. The food so far had not been disappointing and so was the price. To us, it wasn't as expensive as many people would assume it would be. And though it was not centrally located in a busy place, you would be surprised to find people already sitting down for dinner at 6pm or even earlier! We also noticed many people making reservations beforehand (alot of tables were placed with the reserved sign and it is not to say that FFK..they actually DO turn up).

On Saturday, someone booked one of the private dinning rooms for a family dinner. For appetizers, we saw the waiters bringing in TWO HUGE plates of GIANT LOBSTERS on dried ice! My dad explained that this was a popular (and expensive) delicacy eaten raw. I don't know whether it was eaten raw.. maybe it was cooked but eaten cold. I need to research on that lobster dish. I couldn't get a pic of that lobster but the presentation was so grand and the dried ice made it look mysterious. We overheard everyone in that room going 'Waaaahhh....'
"Yea, they may go Waaaaaahh.. when the bill comes, they will also go Waaaaaaahhh..." joked my Dad. -sweat-. Yeap, I would not be surprised at all. Its lobster after all. He explained that one plate can cost from Rm100 onwards depending on the lobster.

'Waaaaaaaaaahhhhh......'

Still, the set dinner WE ordered was as yummy and at least the bill did not make us go 'Waaaaaaahhhh..'

This was MY set dinner. And being as blur, I forgot the Japanese name of this dish. Sigh. -Sweat-

It was basically baby asparagus wrapped in beef + Sashimi (the bowl on next to the main dish).
Set dinners usually includes rice (-gasp- i ate rice AGAIN!!), the main dishes such as the sashimi and the beef with asparagus, the mini appetizer, a small dish with pickled veggies for digestion, Miso Soup, and Chawanmushi.

My dad and I ordered the same thing (hmph, that copy cat :-p). Mum, on the other hand ordered a different set dinner which was a stew with deep fried pork meat and veggies. Again, I forgot what it was called. And, I could not take a pic of it as they imediately dug in and destroyed the set's presentation. Sigh. -sweat-

The beef and asparagus dish was good. The beef was tender and the asparagus was not too young, or old. It was just nice and thank God it did not taste bitter. However, the only flaw was that the veggies used to bed the Sashimi was quite bitter. Apart from that, the combination of the beef dish along with the Sashimi gave some 'life' to the fishy taste we get from the Sashimi. That is if you eat the Sashimi and the beef TOGETHER la. What I also did was I dipped the beef asparagus in wasabi and soy sauce..just like how we eat Sashimi. It gave the asparagus some kick though the taste became too saucy. I guess it was a good decision to combine the Sashimi and the beef dish as a set because for one, it brought two 'opposites' together. One was placid to the tongue as it had no seasoning whatsoever (the Sashimi) and the other was very well seasoned.

Ah! We also ordered a side dish (again, i can't remember the name) which was deep fried soft shell crabs, tempura style. It was good too!! Because that came first before the set dinners, we poked and mauled the crabs with our chopsticks thereby rendering the dish in a not-so-photogenic condition. Oh dear.. -sweat-

Btw, Nihon Kai is situated around the Old Klang Road area. It is located behind Michelin which is after BHP Petrol station. Hence, you need to turn right as if turning into Michelin.

The dinner was filling yet I did not feel bloated at all. In fact, in most of our visits to Nihon Kai, our tummies usually felt 'just nice' after eating. We also did not feel thirsty proving that they do not exceed on the Msg content...

except for the Miso Soup that is. :-p

Finally, after so long.

I was supposed to post this up yesterday but anyhow.

The 5 of us (Ching, Anju, Sya, Chui and I) FINALLY managed to meet up on the 7th of August at Anju's place after months and months (or maybe years) of not being able to meet up. Anju came back from Ireland for the summer break. It was a great experience. Dinner was simple; Ching and I 'ta-pao-ed' food from a food court in DP (I 'ta-pao-ed' rice..Gasp!), and brought it over to An's place to eat while the rest came after dinner.

The meet up was sweet and simple, literally. Sweet because the girlish chitty chatters were accompanied with some Lindt's Swiss Chocolates and a small glass (really one, it was a small brandy glass, don't worry!) of Irish Baileys. (Sorry la, I got it wrong about the chocolates in my last post). Perfect for a Thursday night...though NOT perfect on the calories and sugar content. LOL! Sure, the combination of rich Swiss Chocolates and rich Irish Baileys was an absolute calorie-intake disaster. But, it was oh so yummy and hormonal changing (chocolates increase your Endorphins mah).

-Frm top to bottom: The top cover of Lindt's chocolates and the treasures that awaits us inside...*dramatic Hallelujah music plays when cover opens*-

Ching brought along her Dad's new bulky SLR camera. Though the camera annoyed Sya, the pictures turned out beautiful..as you can see. Come la, Sya, give the camera some credit. LOL.

And so, we updated each other on what we have been doing with our lives so far. I couldn't believe how much we have grown. One of us was already married with a baby daughter, the other was working and staying with her bf, one had already travelled Europe during her stay in Ireland, and one was/is still studying but will soon enter her final year. Amazing.

-The lonely chocolate; his other friend dressed in white with an almond armour is destined to be devoured by a hormonal changing female homosapien-

Btw, before going to Anju's place after getting the food, I noticed the nice mileague numbers my car was displaying. And it was the 7th of August to top it all off.

I had to take a picture of this.

(Courtesy of -inhales air- ..Ching's dad's SLR camera..phew!)

To be honest, that night was the first time I could sip the Baileys PROPERLY. I mean, I drank Baileys before, and I do appreciate the taste. Nevertheless, I knew there was some way of sipping it 'correctly' so as to acquire that creamy taste on your tongue. But I couldn't master it. All the while, I usually drank it in a not-so-proper cup (like a hot cocoa mug..where the rims of the cup were designed to make bigger sips). Anju, on the other hand, served the Baileys in a brandy glass and it was much easier to take tiny sips. Though this was just a petty thing, it actually makes some difference which we may take for granted.

See!! I told you, the glass was small and the amount, very little. I did not drink so much la :-p

-For some reason, brandy glasses remind me of antique parrafin lamps especially the lamp shade..except the rim of the lamp shade has been sliced off and there is no kerosene stand at the bottom-

(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Hmmmm.......

I needed to post the following two pictures so as to clear any misunderstandings with Eeyore's owner and Eeyore himself that we had no intention to bully Eeyore or mentally traumatise him. LOL!!

I hereby declare that Eeyore is not gay as displayed in the picture below (notice the golden earring?)...



...And is not the type who would walk around with nothing but a bath towel on his head and sits on people's laps stark naked..




We had such a great time, that I lost track off time. Ended up coming back a little over my curfew time. But, bad as I am, I didn't quite bother. This time, we really wished Eve could join us then that could 'complete' the whole meet-up with all the 6 of us. But thats ok, I am sure all 6 of us will be able to meet up sooner or later.

Finally, after so long :-)

Spa Treat 12/09

Today I treated mum (and myself) to a one and a half hour full body aroma massage at my previous workplace; Aurora (I worked as a part-time receptionist there halfway through my summerbreak). It was so relaxing..though I did feel ticklish when the masseuse touched my foot. LOL!! The aroma massage comes together with the Hot Stone therapy and boy, was it heavenly. Well..at least it didn't scald my skin like some Char Siew. And I was so glad the massuese didn't go too hard on me. Since this was my first time going for a full body massage, I was obviously elated and easily impressed. Mum suggested I try out the massage done by the bling people, according to her, they are also as good (and cheaper too). Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves at Aurora.

I was definitely sure my neck/shoulder areas would ache abit after that since the muscles have hardened because they tense up easily. Shows how much we were in need of some relaxation to untense those muscles. It felt rather weird to me for awhile though especially the idea of having your own colleagues (or ex-colleagues) massage you.. -sweat-.

Working at Aurora might have been slightly placid but I still loved it, somehow or rather. Not to say I was totally complacent. I mean, I believe everywhere we go, we would surely learn something. It depends whether we choose to open our eyes or not. I learnt more Mandarin from my ex-colleagues, I learnt to be more compassionate to these foreign workers (something essential if I were to decide to embark on the Human Resources Management career) and I learnt to be more grateful/proud of my Chinese-Malagasy parentage (might be labelled as self acceptance,perhaps?).

Actually, my plan for today was to write on a meet-up we (Ching, Chui, Sya and An) had at Anju's place, featuring pics of imported Chocs from Ireland (or was it London?) and the classic Irish Baileys. But because the spa treat was just wonderful and sentimental (I got to meet-up with my ex-colleagues and treat mum), I had to post it up on this blog.

-Aurora, the art of massage-

I wished I took some pictures at Aurora (at least pics of the oil bottles or something)..but the inspiration to create a post for this outing came well after I came back. Thank goodness I have my boss's card.

Do drop by at Aurora if you happen to be galavanting at Jalan Telawi, Bangsar. :-)

*Bday wishes: Happy 22nd birthday,Joshua aka Josh. May God bless you,bum bum! :-)

A very backdated Mango Mania meet-up.

Ok. I know this outing was sometime back already (about 2 months back?). But the food and the outing itself was awesome. Honestly, that outing, along with other food sprees, inspired me to start this new blog.

Eve, Ching and I met up for lunch on the 19th of July at Nirvana's. As usual, Nirvana's was packed. But since Eve fancied a banana leaf lunch.. well..might as well drop by. I didn't take the banana leaf (as usual also) since I can't eat rice. So I ended up eating a plate of vegetables and drinking mango lassi (yes, sad i know). But it was the desserts that was inspiring and oh so yummy!!

We walked to a very yellow coloured Mango Mania. Everything looked so inviting.. the lounge area, the cakes, the fruits (yes, they displayed alot of mangoes) ..the whole interior design was pretty.


The menu looked tempting and very yellow too.

















Upon closer inspection, this was (and still is) their speciality. The Yoghurt Ice Cream!! Yo-Froz!!! 98% Fat Free!! -squeals- KYAAA!!

The Yo-Froz comes in 3 different flavours. Natural, Mango, or Natural + Mango. You can also choose to top it off with some cut fruits.

Btw, as I was typing this post, I thought their menu had a spelling error. I swear Yoghurt was spelt as Yoghurt and not Yogurt. So I looked through dictionary.com and discovered that Yoghurt can be spelt as yogurt or even yoghourt.


I learnt something new today. LOL!



These were the cakes they displayed. Mind you, the cakes looked pretty small for a slightly hefty price.










For some reason, the lounge area reminded me of Ikea. -sweat-








After a 'looonngg' period of discussion, we FINALLY ended up choosing (and eating)....

this.. (Mixed Yo-Froz)

this.. (Mango Cheesecake)

and this.. (the Chocolate threefold)

The texture of the Yo-Froz was quite smooth and because it was made of pure yoghurt (well almost), it melted fast. The taste was suprisingly slightly on the salty side. For those who are used to the 'conventional' sweet yoghurt ice cream, they might get taken back with the saltish taste. We didn't mind the taste though. In fact, it was that odd saltish taste that made me fascinated with the Yo-Froz. I guess, this was how an almost pure yoghurt would taste like.

The Mango Cheesecake was really creamy and soft. It wasn't as outstanding as the Yo-Froz if you asked me. It was nice but the taste was quite common if not, we would have still re-called how it tasted like just like the Yo-Froz.

The Chocolate Threefold was very chocolatey. Not bad but again, the Yo-Froz stood out more till I can't even re-call how great the Threefold tasted like.

I don't know why, but I was attracted to the artificial 'mango' tree at the corner where we were seated. It looked so oddly unique and cute, I had to pose with it. :-p











Overall, the desserts were yummy! The combination of colours, the contemporary pictures on the wall, the pillows and the sofas at the lounge area somehow makes you want to chill and order more desserts especially during a hot afternoon.

Another thing I also noticed was that the contemporary pictures were for sale (if I am not wrong) because they had a tag with the name of the artist and the price right below the pictures. So, the lounge area also functioned as a mini art gallery..which I find cute.

We have not tried the main courses there though. The menu contained the usual pastas, sandwiches and other common dishes that I can't recall now. When we do visit Mango Mania again for lunch, I'll be sure to write about it.


And thus, we wrapped up our food outing with a cam-whoring session. We just wished Anju and the OTHER two *coughs* Sya and Chui *coughs* were there too.

No worries, I'm sure we will all get a chance to adjourn to Mango Mania to add extra calories in our already lumpy bodies.


Pray Mango Mania doesn't close down before we get there though.

Second introduction

So I decided to create a another blog. Sure, I know I did not maintain/update my Centrestage,Backstage blog. Managing an EXTRA blog might result in another 'ghost town' blog (where I go MIA after consistent updating).

This blog, however, is dedicated solely to the various things in our everday life that we might take for granted, be it big or small. Since these everyday things inspire me so much, I am more likely to update this blog this time around.

Food, trips, holidays, shopping sprees, shoes, friends, family, meet-ups, clubbing experiences etc.. they brighten OUR brighter side. Don't they? :-)