(M)onte's

CUTE WAITER SPOTTED AT MONTE'S!

Norwegian salmon steak with tomato salsa (and a cup of mustard!) :)

less than three :'(

Things left to do in Malaysia:

1. Dental checkup

2. Cut hair (?)

3. LG lunch (they are such a sweet bunch honestly, I feel unworthy)

4. Math class reunion/farewell (I'm going to be late!)

5. Class of 09 Cempaka reunion (wallet's burning, I smell the remains)

6. Potluck at Shiung's house (from the way it's described, I'm going to a five-star hotel)

7. Ramadan bazaar feasting (I BOOKED WENG SUMS TEE HEE :3)

8. Meet Ronald!

9. Meet aunt!! :)

10. Meet other aunt!!! :)

11. Shoot, pack pack pack pack.

12. Sell remaining SAT books and A-Level notes (quickly, leave me a message if you're interested)

13. Return book I borrowed from Book Xchange

14. Sort photos and send them for printing

15. Get new battery for watch

All in the span of less than three days. Aaaaaarrrrghhhh.

kaya cheng

Is that, or is that not, food porn slapping you in the face? *victory dance*

Obtained these delightful spank-able buns (smack that) from a little bakery in Penang's Ayer Itam. You know, those cute old-town bakeries that sell sponge cakes in bright, scarily-artificial (as opposed to "friendlily-artificial" yes, I make sense) colours?

I love those bakeries. They remind me of home. Malaysia. Penang. Kuala Lumpur. Grandma. Mommy.

Actually I just like bakeries in general. I like to stare at the buns (shameless), pastries, etc and imagine all their wonderful carb-y buttery goodness without the need of actually consuming them.

Well. Except stuff infused with a 'gula melaka-coconut-egg-pandan' medley. Those, I really need to consume.

Multiple angles of the same bun, same bite; you may thank me.

Eggy sweet goodness. I know some crave and stress for the caramelized smooth and toffee-like kind (all sugar. That's just ALL sugar.) but the textured eggy ones seem more authentic. And... nice! :) As long as it doesn't have added starch (boooo Nyonya Colors @theCurve).

Amazing stuff bought from the bakery inside Village Grocer @Bangsar Village 1

KAYA REMINDS ME OF HOME DARN IT, I'M BRINGING SOME TO AMERICA.

Obtained these less thrilling kaya buns in Kluang Station (@OneUtama), right before watching Harry Potter 7 (no I didn't cry) and just after downing an entire serving of roti jala (now that, I think I cried out of happiness).

Exaggeration. Thankiu.

But honestly, the movie was pretty great and I appreciated the last zoom out scene of Harry, Ron and Hermione just standing there holding hands, motionless, reflecting ALL they've been through on the bridge after Harry threw the elder wand into the deep dark abyss... Very nice. Subtle touch to the emotions of the viewers (subtle?!? SUBTLE?? I know people who bawled over HP7 like, four times).

I think a major determinant of my lack of teariness would be that I was kinda ill-prepared for the "final showdown" (which, to me, already happened when the last book was published, hellooo..?). I didn't watch HP7 part 1, as well as, um, HP1, 4 and 5.

But I read ALL SEVEN BOOKS and enjoyed every chapter. :) I cannot understand how anyone would rather let the movies spoil the brilliantly-crafted storyline and condense days and days of such enjoyable reading into well... about 18 hours of film time.

Now that, I feel, is sad. That is all. *in a Lovegood-esque tremor*

RIGHT, OKAY, SO THE OMG, THE KAYA TOAST. (lol, lol)

"Less-than-thrilling" toasted kaya buns.

Ordered them without butter. Weng Sum totally rolled his eyes at me. :D

Honestly, so disappointing. Kluang Station's kaya was much better the last time I remember it. Probably two years ago.

Kaya's such a pretty name. Maybe I'll name my future daughter Kaya.

O.O

What?

Mad ah?

carte blanche

Yesterday was pretty rough. I don't know why that happened and why I felt that way.

Are some things acceptable when they are just left unexplained?

Aren't they the times people advise you to just keep your big mouth shut?

Isn't it confusing self-seeking gratitude and mere duty?

Mixing up arrogance and attempts of justification?

This, for one, isn't denial! (hardy-har-har)

roti jala

"Excuse me, waiter!"

"Yes?"

"Your rendang and curry right, no oil please?"

"Excuse me?"

"Please, less oil."

"But it's from the... um..."

"Yeah yeah I know, uhh, could you scoop the mutton from the non-oily parts of the wok?"

"Uhhhh..."

"Thank you! <3 And my kaya toast, no butter yah?"

Weng Sum: *intense eye-rollling* Omg the guy damn patient la.

Me: I have the right to customize my orders!!!

Roti jala

Kluang Station

@One Utama

***THIS, (I SAY WITH TRANSPARENT EXCITEMENT), SHALL BE UPDATED DURING RAMADAN WEEK, YEEEEHAAAAA!!!***

naan kaya

OH MY GOSH THERE'S NAAN KAYA.

*food porn slap*

Kaya on naan! Sheer, sheer genius. *wipes away tears*

Why have I not chanced upon this epic collaboration before?

Why have I not THOUGHT about this epic collaboration before? *face palm*

I must start dreaming up heavenly food concoctions and believe them possible in the commercial world.

Heck, I could commercialize them myself!

Naan Kaya & tandoori chicken (dada)

Ali Maju Bistro

@Pusat Bandar Damansara

Naan is most definitely the best bread on the face of the earth. (Premature conclusion? Don't care.)

Other than the fact it reminds me of home, it is... soft. White (eh, someone make wholewheat naan, thanks). Fluffy (don't get me started). FRESH (Naan is NEVER NOT fresh). Burnt charcoal-ly bits at the bottom. Hot. Crisp. Chewyyy. Mmmm.

Naan is actually... pizza dough? Without the grease. No (visible) oil involved.

I hate grease. I hate pizza.

And I say with joy, that there's a pretty awesome indian place in Charlottesville. It's all-you-can-eat though. Naan breads shall accompany my cold miserable winter days in Virginia. :)

giddy smiles

Didn't you always have these when you were little?

They are (UNDERSTANDABLY) freaking child magnets. The annoying kids always just ate the icing and left the crackers behind.

Stopped eating them when I was about... nine (?) and started again at 18 when I found out the Giant hypermarket above HELP had them. ( :D :D :D :D :D :D )

Just imagine my face when I saw these. Nostalgia + colourful madness + equally excited friends (Kareem especially), I think our expressions trumped those who are exactly half our age.

Same reaction as when Tze and I found out about the new Winnie-the-Pooh 2011 movie.

THERE'S NEW WINNIE-THE-POOH MOVIEEE OMGGGG!!! :D :D :D :D :D

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!! :D :D :D :D

GSC isn't showing it!!! The girl at the counter laughed at me when I told her that I wanted...

But I saw them playing its trailer! I remember clearly because I was jumping up and down screaming Pooh, not the most graceful and dignified thing to do in public...

Anyway, I never knew what they (the colourful iced crackers) were called. 

Weng Sum: They're "tou chi peng." Belly button biscuits.

*unleash barbie side of me* Pink pink!! I want the pink I want the pink!

But it'd be embarrassing to stand in Giant just fishing out all the pink ones.

They are so addictive. Like peanuts. Either have one, or have all.

Got 'dem angles right bro

AAARGH!!!!

FINALLY!!!! IT'S THERE!!!!

:D :D :D :D :D

OMG OMG OMG FLUFFY CAKE I LOVE THIS

YEE HEE HEE HEE

WAAAAAAHHHH FLUFFYYYY!!!

POOF POOF POOF POOF

SOOOO FLUFFYYYY!!!!

"IT'S SO FLUFFY I'M GONNA DIE!"

Egg white angles

Rotiman

@Pusat Bandar Damansara

faux-reos (foreos)

I MADE OREOS!

I don't know, there's a strange sense of triumph when you reproduce something so well-known and so well-loved by people of all societies.

A LONG, LONG and tedious process. Killed my entire afternoon; took me about three and a half hours? 

A run to the grocery store would have been the way to go...

I made them using whole wheat flour. Healthy buzz? Not really. My whole wheat flour expires in 4 days.

Double stuf? :)

Pretty? :)

Ahh. Too bad they're really gross. Burnt my first batch and the course flour messed up the texture. Plus, I didn't have Dutch processed cocoa; I used the regular one, so the chocolate taste isn't AS dark and intense. The filling's pretty authentic to me though, and sandwiching the wafers were unbelievably fun.

What's next? :) Digestives?

chicken rice pt 2

So right, the chicken rice supposedly originated from Singapore (well, how about Hainan itself?) but there are still many variations!

This is the version that's sold in Penang! The rice isn't as rich and fragrant (as Nam Heong's) but it's moist, fluffy, and drenched in this awesome dark sauce and accompanied with an amazing clear ginger-infused chilli.

And the soup had an apple! An apple!! And the price was soooo tai, the below was only RM3. 

???

Uncle, can make profit wan ah?

Had this when I discovered the kuay chap stall I used to frequent closed down. :( As disappointing as finding out about the discontinuation of vu yu.

***

Alright so in KD, instead of having pan min/seafood noodles, I gravitated towards the chicken rice stall in the Four Eight (8888) kopitiam in the corner lot.

Have you realized the chicken rice guy ALWAYS steals the spotlight? It's always at the entrance of every coffeeshop. Why?

Pretty large portion, the rice.

:)

council dinner

Council (reunion) dinner at Craft Brews @Mutiara Damansara.

Suraj, the 4A* A-levels student, took ages to decipher this.

Like, four hours? :P

I don't think he understands it still.

"What? How can you tell that the man was depressed cuz of the woman?"

"Yeah! He was impolite, didn't even thank her??"

"Wait. So SHE drove him to drink and he's being rude."

Hahaha!

Student Council 2010-2011

1.5 years of "reign" over A-Levels college. :)

So many sweet memories.

Campaign week.

Bribing people for votes.

Our first council dinner/bonding session in Chilis @BSC.

The mad planning for HELP's BEST PROM EVER (hehh).

Career Day planning.

All Ball Brawl (ABB).

Search for a new treasurer. :( :)

Laughing at Russell's lame awesome jokes.

Scolding Mark for being late ALL THE TIME. :)

Arguments.

My wonderful 18th birthday surprise Kareem organized.

Suraj's poor pre-NS experiences.

Pork? Pork? Pork?

A-Race.

My cupcakes.

Interviews.

Alyssa's imaginary lasagna dinner.

Council definitely coloured my stay in HELP.

Cheers! :)

Pirated milano cookies

See these?

*nods head*

*cute-sy voice* I maaaaade them. :D :D :D *dances*

A long tedious process of chilling (as in, literally putting the cookie dough in the refridgerator), squeezing using a ziploc bag, and baking.

Darn it la, they're not of the same size.

Sandwiching! Obviously the most fun part. Halfway through, I realized I could have just used nutella instead of battling with my mushed up chocolate chips.

I don't know how to melt chocolate. Yet.

Three and a half hours yielded only one and a half containers?!?! :P