Gong Xi Fa Chai!!!

Woo hoo!! Gong Xi Gong Xi!!!! Today is the first day of Chinese New Year!!! So happy!!! Got ang pau and nice food everywhere!!! Yum Yum!

The past week had been sucky for me... Something happened among some of my friends and made a big fuss about it... But i guess now most of the problem had been settled... Well, it's the beginning of a new year, so we shall forgive and forget and begin with a new life! Anyway, just wanna wish everybody Gong Xi Fa Chai, be blessed with good health, prosperous and good luck! Stay healthy, wealthy and wise! Take care and happy holidays!!!

Culinary...

Today i had my FIRST REAL kitchen class for higher diploma. We have alternate kitchen and f&b class each week... Meaning one week is kitchen, and the following week is restaurant service... Well, actually this is our second kitchen class, but the first class we only did pastry and the evening service class was cancelled due to renovation work in the kitchen, so today was our REAL first service class lo...

We had to work in a group of two, one person is kitchen specialization and the other is f&b... Today we were serving for a function of 50 pax... Aiyo, seriously very stress la... I don't know why i feel so pressured! Maybe because to work in a group of two... Honestly, i prefer to work alone... at least i can handle my own timing... You know ler, sometimes two people don't think alike, we might have different opinion on somethings... So it's really hard for me to control or organise myself ler... I'm not saying my partner is bad... It's my own problem ler... Maybe i'm not suitable to work in management... aihzzz!! How la how la?

Chef Bala was wrapping some stuff, he looks tired and exhausted... It has been so long since we last talked... He was my lecturer last term... Then he was asking me how's my classes going, and i told him really tension... He smiled and said 'not like diploma can play play anymore right?' it's sooooo true! I think i'm gonna fail this cert ler... die die die...

Oh, Chef Chong came to the college today!!! So happy to see him!!! As handsome as ever kekeke!! And he brought good news to us!!! Well, can't say what is it about but we're so happy when we heard that!

Where should I go for my training? Aihzz, i dowan to go alone again! It sucks! As for now, so many things to do, but so little time!!! Aih.. seriously feel like dying...

Phood again....

Just wanna intro a few outlets which I went to previously. The first one is Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao Restaurant, located in Ground Floor, Annexe Block of Lot 10. It it just adjacent to the Delifrance outside Lot10.

Nothing special about the decorations, but they have the open kitchen concept whereby guests can see how the chefs prepare the dim sums, the la mian (handmade pulled noodles) and other dishes.

They have specialties like the variety of La Mian dishes, the xiao long bao (meat dumplings with broth inside served in bamboo basket) and the dim sums... I ordered the Number 63, Wu Xi bla bla... It's a beef la mian, wah sai, i love it soooooooo much! The soup is rich in flavor and the beef pieces are sooooo juicy and tender! It's a bit spicy but absolutely fantastic... My family also ordered the xiao long bao, the vegetable dumpling la mian, la mian in chili oil (spicy betul!) etc... They also offer la mian with chicken, got dry fried la mian, and also cold appetizers like jelly fish, peking duck etc... And then if you order chinese tea can refill, other drinks no refill... (nyek nyek nyek, kiam sap la me)

The budget per person is about RM15 - RM20 la... But the bowl of noodles is big portion, at least it's worth the value.

Next stop, we go to a lower class one la hehe... This is a noodles restaurant also in OUG (Overseas Union Garden), it is called Restaurant Hong Cha... After you passed the BP station, turn to your right, and the restaurant is directly on your left. This restaurant serves very famous Seafood Noodle and Pork Noodle. They also have Japanese dishes like sushi, sashimi, tempura, sukiyaki etc. I forgot what's the reason they serve Jap cuisine already, hehe. Besides, they also serve porridge.

I like their Pork Mee Suah... The portion is big enough for me ;D and accompanied by enough servings of vege and pork meat... They have a self service counter whereby you can take the chili sauce and the pork fat (jue yao zhar) as much as you want! Hehe! Beverage wise, err, nothing much to recommend, I tried their 'Red Bean Ice' but, not nice one... My mum said it WAS nice the first time she tried it, because got coconut milk... Yesterday i tried, they use soya bean pulak! I was jokingly saying in cantonese 'No coconut milk (yie jiong) so use soya milk la (dao jiong), both also got the 'jiong' word mah!'

Budget per person is less than RM6 la (unless you order the sushi and stuff then of course different).

Then just a couple of doors away there's this restaurant that sells Curry Mee... I can't remember the shop name, i think is 'Ah Loy Restaurant' or something like that... They sell curry mee, curry chicken, curry 'pork skin' (jue pei)... Haven't try their curry mee before, just that yesterday my dad ordered the curry chicken and curry pork skin to the Restaurant Hong Cha... I will elaborate more next time when i tried k?

Politics

It's really hard to control politics huh... Well, politics happen everywhere, your house, your school, your college, your working place, even among your friends or family... There will always be politics... Why? Why can't we just be united and not fight among each other? No backstabbing, no betrayal, why can't all this just vanish from this world? Why must there be politicians?

But, i would like to say that, just let it be... Don't make such a big fuss if really politics do happen! Serious! You will definitely regret! Even if you want to make a big fuss out of it, please think of the consequences! Think of the people involved! Think of what will happen if you accuse someone mistakenly!

The feeling of being accused seriously sucks! And the pressure you have to stand of all these political problems also is so high! Sigh!! Be wise... think carefully!

Lesson in Life...

Lessons on Life There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall. When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise. The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life. He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and! that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral lessons: Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

Don't judge life by one difficult season.

Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later

Higher Diploma in Hotel Management

After two weeks of holiday, i already enrolled in Taylor's Higher Dip, and i chose Option B... Sigh, very scared lerr!!! Sounds really difficult!!! Just pray can pass ler!!! Why i choose Option B? Because i prefer practical and also cuisine... OPtion A is more to management... Well, just hope that i made the right choice ler... I'm just scared that i cannot deal with the pressure and want to quit halfway (i'm good at that!) hehe!

31 December 2005 Countdown With Pinkies

Weeeee Happy New Year!!! Well, i know it's quite LATE to talk about it, but here it goes!

I spent my new year with the DFC Pinkies in Secret Recipe 1 Utama, and i can say that it's my best new year!!! Got to see the fireworks directly above my head, with so many wonderful friends!!!

I reach 1 Utama with Joanne, Julie, Pui Ling and Heather at 4pm, and lepak around until dinner time. Went to SR, and met Uncle Chong Kuang, Aunty Penny, Joanne, Jeannie, Dylan, Aunty Jean, Uncle Pingeye, Eu Jin, Eu Shen and other pinkies! Chit chat awhile and sit down for our meal... We were served Mushroom Soup, Spaghetti with Meatballs, Salad and brownies for dessert! The brownies were excellent!!!

Then we had games at the platform, spraying everybody with snow flakes (those can spray thingy), Eu Jin was the victim of the day, everybody just tend to spray him.. haha! Funny thing was Uncle Chong Kuang and Aunty Swan kena also! It was really funny!!! I wanna thank Ria and Ching Yee for joining us too!!! Hehe, really wasted you guys never join the dinner ler... hehe!

Too bad we got bad news just before the countdown, Daniel wasn't in the Top 5 position for Ai FM Sms Attack!! Grrrrr!!! The DJs said that we fraud the votes, so it's a form of punishment! Fineeee!!! Then we went to the upper platform to wait for the fireworks... Few minutes before 12am, we form a circle, and at 12am sharp, everybody spray their cans of spray, it was really fun!!! And we hugged everybody, and watched the 8 minutes fireworks... We even shouted to the air 'Daniel, Pinkies Love You!', and 'Daniel, Happy New Year!', and then we have a countdown huggies, i think Uncle Chong Kuang was really touched by that! It really shows the warmth of the pinkies family... sniff sniff! Hehe!

Then, we went for mamak session in Alam Suria with most of the pinkies until 3am... At first Daniel wanted to come over, then he realized that there were pinkies there, so he changed his mind (are pinkies that scary?), haha! Then we head home after a memorable day! Thanks everybody for making my new year so wonderful! I love you guys! Muaks muaks!

Countdown Huggies at 12.10am 1/1/2006
Credit to: Soursand DFC











Pinkies Group Pic... 31/12/2005
Credit to: Uncle Pingeye DFC

Cameron Highlands

From 26th to 29th, me and my family went to Cameron Highlands together with my grandma, 2 aunties, 2 uncles, and 2 cousins... We stayed in 2 apartments in Equatorial... Bring tonnes of 'ka pou lang chang' wanted to make our own steamboat there, but end up making nothing...

It's fun to getaway from the hectic and polluted city of KL for few days, and 'breath in' the 'clean' air... It's not really fresh air actually, because all the loading lorries and trucks puff out black dirty smoke... *cough cough* Haha, it's quite cooling, seriously wonder if i should move here when i retire... (mimpi-ing)

Didn't do much there actually... But it was really fun because in the morning all of us work together to make breakfast... Then go around strawberry farms, vegetable farms, cactus valleys, go to the daily pasar malam... I bought RM10 worth of those dried flowers, the woman say can last 5 years but now also layu dy =_=", and RM10 worth of key chains (12 nos, those fruits and vege ones), and 4 butterfly bookmark...

As usual, I will talk about ---- FOOD:-
On the first day, we went to a restaurant we always 'bong chan' everytime we go CH, which is the Highlands Restaurant, we met the lady boss at a mamak nearby and she said that they will close down by end of the year, and they only serve steamboat, so we reserved for steamboat that night, don't know why the steamboat there is really nice, maybe because the items are fresh and they still traditionally use charcoal to heat up the pot...

We also visited the BOH Tea Factory in Sungai Palas... They renovated the place, very nice... But the factory still remains the same... We got to visit the factory, but at that time they were already cleaning cuz it was closing time...

I was very surprised to see KLG in Camerons! I thought only Taman Desa has KLG... Rupa-rupanya there are a few... Even in Ipoh also i saw...

On the third day, we went to Tanah Rata for lunch, wanted to try the T Cafe, but ended up in Downtown/Old Town Cafe. Can't remember what 'town' la... Gosh, the food was... erm... OK lah... Very very small portion and not nice. I ordered the Homemade Vegetable Soup, i thought was those Western soup like Borsch, but, *aiyak* it was like Chinese clear soup with jagung and mushroom and cabbage... Yuck!!! I ordered Seafood spaghetti, looks okay but taste sour... and the pasta was soggy... Overall, BAD...

Then on the fourth day, the T Cafe was very tempting, so we went there for lunch before heading back to KL. Gosh, the scones were heaven!!! Lovely!! Nice!!! T Cafe is a restaurant on the first floor, just nexxt to Marry Brown in Tanah Rata. There's a side staircase up to the cafe. You could even smell the scones and apple pie from outside. When we reach, there weren't many people, and we reserved a table already luckily. So we sat down, took our order and the scones came... Slurppp!! I ordered Boneless Chicken with Brown Sauce, and Banana Milkshake... Wooooo, fantastic!!!! Absolutely wonderful!!! We also tried Claypot Chicken Rice, Claypot Yee Mee, Hokkien Mee, Lamb Chop and Claypot Curry Rice, really really nice... The owner Terese got all the recipes from her grandmother and open this small cafe... Very cozy place, with books to read and can online from there (have to pay lar of course), the cafe is separated into 3 small halls, with a small counter to make the drinks and a small kitchen at the back...

After that, we headed off to Ipoh to see the 'Sam Poh Tong', had bean sprout chicken at Ipoh Town then head home to KL... And live happily ever after...

That's all for now... Gonna sleep.. Goodnight!