Brilliant Nasi Lemak House, Kepong

 Do you have the app called foursquare? It's handy. Especially when you are abroad and looking for good food nearby so you don't have to walk so far. Foursquare led me here one Sunday.  Brilliant Nasi Lemak House. Who comes up with names like this? What if you're not brilliant? Would that be false advertising??

 The menu is different. So that alone makes it worth visiting. The place had adequate seating,and it wasn't loud. You get to sit on stools so you can't rest your back. Some people ( my dad ) would hate that very much. This encourage you to move on to better things after you've finished your meal. The staff were efficient and we had the fan blowing so it wasn't stuffy. Parking was easy. It was a Sunday but we parked near enough and walked hardly more than 15 steps to the shop.

 I like their fried rolls. It was piping hot when it arrived and crispy when I bit into it. And the filling was tasty. Wished they had served it with Kampung Koh Chillie sauce. ( I love that sauce)

I had the nasi lemak. The fried chicken was very nice. The coffee was up to the usual standard of a coffee shop so I have nothing to complain.

10, Jalan Metro Perdana 8, Taman Usahawan Kepong, 52100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

handbags

In the foreground is the Celine trio. Named is descriptive. It comprises three separate pouches joined by buttons which slick and are secure enough to work as a single unit  and works as a sling bag. Usually the three separate pouches come in the same colour, but in some cases like mine you have different coloured pouches. In the background is my trusty workbag the Longchamp which is tried and tested and has been abused and battered by me quite a bit daily. It still looks decent.

The bag forums have separate pages raving about the trio. Apparently it's a big thing and there are enough die-hard fans of this bag. What they are all unanimous in stating is the ease of use and just how much this bag can hold. It comes in two different sizes. Due to the price I choose the smaller version.

I love my Celine trio. It's the most expensive handbag I've bought ever. So the first few trips out with it was nerve wrecking. I felt I had to look after it and make sure no pen marks or scratch marks or oil stains or soup stains. You can imagine, it was a strain on my relationship with the bag. After the 4th outing, things got better. I became more relaxed and started enjoying the bag.

In comparison. the Longchamp le pliage is amazing. I love the luggage size ones especially. They are handy to travel with when you feel your bags are full, out pops the trusty long champ, you unfold it and immediately you have more space to stuff your things.

Anyone used this before?

I've decided to be that more organised. And bought a cover for the car. So when it's not moved for a week, there isn't a fine layer of dust. I find the annoying. It's fine but makes your vision impaired slightly. So hopefully this new gadget will keep the car dust free and make driving it a breeze after prolonged rest periods.

The cover was bought at ACE. I didnt know they came in sizes. This is a size L.It's indoor parking with minimal breeze so I hope there won't be any draft blowing it off, and should there be one, that the friendly neighbour would collect it for me and readjust the cover.

How much sleep should we get?

I need 7 hours sleep to function and 8 hours would make me happy on waking up and happy to go to work. Anything less than 4 hours and I still like I'm walking on air and everything appears surreal and you feel that every decision should be done this way...or maybe that way, or maybe the first way.

Quality of life

Home sweet home

Traffic jam is caused by more cars on the road. Fact. Cars are affordable in Malaysia. Fact. Public transport in Malaysia has space for improvement. Fact. When you combine all this, the conclusion is traffic jam in KL during normal working days and certain peak periods assuming most folks clock in the same time and clock out the same time. Which leaves you with the option of leaving early at the risk of not being productive and arriving back in good time. This option won't sit well if you have an conscience and your boss won't be happy if he or she were to privy to this information. Another option would be to leave later, avoiding the usual crowd. Which means you will be forced to spend more time at work. You may be more productive if you choose to use this time to finish up paperwork and all loose ends for the day can be tied up quite nicely. the last option is to leave on time and brace yourself for the traffic arriving home tired and less productive and earlier than if you were to leave much later.

I've tried all there. There is no easy option. A good way to solve this problem is to be productive in the car. So getting a driver is good. It would allow you to send and read emails. Make calls and receive calls without risking being caught by the police talking whilst holding a phone. And you can sleep should you choose to and arrive fairly rejuvenated.

Jeggings

Jeggings™ is a registered brand name owned by Turkish textile company ISKO (clothing company), a division of Sanko Holding, who were the original producers of the stretch textile.

I found this statement on wikipedia. Now I wonder how we ever got any information before the age of internet. With such trivial knowledge at our fingertips it's unforgivable not to keep yourself updated. Anyway back to jeggings. I think I like them now. It's snug and I believe shows my best feature which are my legs, everything above the waist is  wobbly. The high waisted leggings allow you to not have a muffin top. And teamed with an appropriately billowy top and ballerina flats, it can look cool. 

Its a fine line between looking cool and looking like someone trying to look thin. Top heavy! 

I'm now an owner of black leggings from Uniqlo. I teamed it with an electric pink cheongsam inspired linen top for Chinese New Year. I was a whole kilo heavier then. So I can't wait to try the same ensemble but with less weight on my frame.

Less carbs, more protein

Lunch

Can you tell this is chicken rice? For two days in a month I head to Putra Jaya for monthly meetings. During these two days, I struggle with eating less. Someone once told me attending meetings fatten you up. Because the food served is within reach, peer pressure dictates you eat together with the rest of the crowd and these unseen calories creeps up and your clothes get snugger and you face fatter.

For yesterday's lunch, I took a 1.5 scoop of rice, some protein ( tempe) a piece of roasted chicken and vegetables. I don't think I've fallen off the watch-my-diet mode just yet.

Capricciosa

Spicy Raghu

 Lent starts this Wednesday so I thought yesterday evening was a good opportunity to have a nice meal out. Sunway Putra is convenient because its on the way home. Yesterday there were more cars heading the same way so the drive took longer than expected. I blame the rain. It's nearly always the rain which causes slow cars and ultimately a long backlog of cars.

Capricciosa used to have a semi-secret buy-one-ge-one-free deal, it's not advertised anywhere outside the shop nor are you told of this when you order. You know it when you pay and the price is suddenly halved. Very nice surprise and we got to experience it twice. Sadly yesterday the deal ended.

Something else different was spicy Raghu which was a deviation from my usual Granchio. The tomato cause was a little sour. And there wasn't any spiciness. And freely made pasta was nice but because the sauce dominated the dish I didn't like it one bit.

Salmon

 The salmon is a tried and tested menu. It was nice. No complains there.

Tomato soup

The soup came with the spicy Raghu. It looked and tasted like an extension of the sauce so we left it alone and hardly dared touch it. Wasn't worth the calories in my mind. Especially since I'm now no longer feeling like I'm wearing my corset in my current wardrobe. Goes to show, eating less does help you lose weight.

Coffee société, Publika

Cosy environment

When you enter the cafe, what hits you is great warmth. There are seating outside but as some smoke its doesn't promise a smoke-free coffee experience.  They have a huge tall table with metal stools outside and when it's cool towards the end of the day or when it rains, sitting outside is very nice. especially when there is a light breeze blowing on your face and hair.

The picture above is the interior of the cafe. DO you see the huge tall table? To the right and beyond are smaller standard size and height tables should you choose to sit there. It promises privacy and some peace and quiet. Beware, sometimes you may get some loud customers and that may mar your experience a bit.

Salmon Sandwich

Coffee Société is a nice cafe to have coffee with a friend or have coffee when you are alone. It's located in Publika the same level as the more known Coffee Stain.  

Eggs Benedict and something I forget already

The food is nice. I have always enjoyed what I've eaten there. It also has nice memories. I've already only eaten here with good friends and have good memories of this place. I've eaten there with a dear friend ( we had a crazy day that day doing silly things ) who has since died of stomach cancer. Returning there sometimes reminds me of her  and her wonderful zest for life and her need to do things as if she knew her time on earth was measure on a different scale from others.

Princess Charlotte of Cambridge

This picture was taken during the Canadian tour, where the entire Cambridge family was treated to a special garden party with a wee little pony and balloons amongst other things. It's the first glimpse of the spunky little princess. Here she is taking her sweater off and getting all hot and bothered. There was also a video of her hitting the balloons. That was nice. She doesn't have a cherubic face like Princess Leonor or Princess Estelle, but spunk goes a long way.

Fat Boys, Publika

Bangers and Mash

German sausages and mash. Yum! We had dinner at Fat Boys in Publika which is literally beside San Francisco Coffee and directly opposite BEN's. I had Fat Bastard burger with a glass of red wine. Swine 's house wine is better than the house wine served here. This had a mediocre taste and little body and also a rather small amount.

My burger

I think I prefer the sausages. Easier to eat and more meat.And the taste was better than my burger.  My burger was rather small and the meat patty a tad slim for my liking. The chips were a good size no complains there and we had pretty good service.

A meal for three people costs RM 95 (not too shabby)

Flea Market

The weekend fleamarket at Publika is nice to browse. It's air conditioned and as you can see from the picture, has natural sunlight. In the mornings, with the light streaming in and minus the humidity, you feel good and want to walk on and on and see all things.

The stalls differ from week to week. And occasionally there are different interesting things showcased here. A few years ago we had loads of pandas and loads of people streaming here for pictures. And then we had the tapirs, like the pandas but on a smaller scale which also attracted a whole lot of people,

Today we had the usually interesting array of things. Some nice artwork, soap, food, salad, beads, batik etc.

Kudos to the architect. Natural sunlight is important. And it makes a whole lot of difference to the scene. Pictures taken are clearer, we appear more gorgeous in our selfies and generally everyone is that bit more happy.

Please don't eat the daisies

Doris Day is a spunky actress. She's not a classical beauty like Grace Kelly who can appear cold at times. Doris Day emanates the girl-next-door kind of warmth. And here she is playing a wife of a play critic and being treated a bit shabbily by the husband. Poor her. David Niven who plays the husband retires as a Professor in a university and takes up the job as a critic. His first article didnt go down well with his friend Alfred whose play he reviewed.He was polite and gave the actress a very negative comment. She eventually found him in a restaurant and slapped him

What a week

The week that was passed wasn't great. Work-wise I would say it reached the nadir of emotions and self worth. During the week, I felt demotivated driving to work, I got moody with work and saw negative things in most ( thankfully not all ) things I encountered.

But that light at the end of the tunnel is here. Am out of the dark nasty tunnel and we're onto better things.It still won't be perfect but sometimes criticism makes you realise the truth in yourself and the only way is to take an honest view of yourself and make changes accordingly.

Car wash

Car wash with a nice green bush in the background

You can have a good speedy carwash at the Shell Station at Segambut. The folks there are efficient and you won't be kept waiting long. Its a drive-through unlike some others where you have to reverse and re-park the car after it has been washed. The cost: RM10.

Nirmala Villas Restaurant

Extensive menu

I'm ashamed to admit I 've only just yesterday utilised Siri. After church this morning, I asked SIRI "where should I have breakfast?" And Siri gave a few websites to go to. And I chose this after reading the reviews on Foursquare ( useful app, you should download it ) . The chicken biryani is apparently the best. And most comments were positive in nature. Not a negative comment as I scrolled down. And it was near enough where I was at that time.

Rawa Dhosai Telur with spicy sambal

 You can find a parking spot easily enough. Not an official parking spot unless you choose you park in the building. We decided to live dangerously and parked illegally beside the room and mind right beside the fire hydrant. I know, I'm not proud of this. Thankfully, no tickets.

Dhosai Rawa with egg served with an extra condiment served like in the picture above. And do you see the red sauce at 12 0'clock, this one is absolutely lethal. ( Which is nice  two thumbs up from me )  I like my raw those crispy this wasn't. But I'm going to assume this is the correct way of doing it. It is after all an authentic Indian restaurant.

Madras Coffee served in a cute container

After the meal, we decided to go through the menu one more time. I was looking for Chai latte or something equivalent. I ended up ordering Madras Coffee. Served so cutely I had to take a picture before sipping it too much. This was served in a tumbler and dabarah.

Here is the address:
9, Jalan 11/48a, Sentul Raya Boulevard, 51000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Service: 4/5
Cleanliness: 5/5
Price: 4/5
And yes I will be returning.

Drinking this makes you fairer true or false?

Tau foo fah

What is this? it's a desert. Silky smooth and softer than any jello, this white glop doesn't have much taste on its own. It's paired with syrupy water which sometimes can be sweetened with Gula Melaka giving it a brownish hue. It has antioxidants which I'm sure does something wonderful with our skin.

Perseverance

The Helmut tossed aside

The niece showed perseverance during the Christmas break when she learned how to cycle within two days. She says one day but thats debatable. Children are funny beings. Capable of doing something when they think:
1. It's a common thing
2. If everyone else can do it, surely I can.
3. It's not impossible therefore I should be able to achieve it
4. I want it very badly.

Presumably because of the above points, she persevered and succeeded after many attempts. No wonder she disappeared into the garden and was quiet for a long while.

It's a good example to follow. Grade 8 violin exam. Thats the subject. And the 4 points should be the same. I'm not the only person taking it. Many have passed the exam so its a common thing. Why then should I think it won't be possible for me.

Then comes the next point, practice. There is no way around it. No pain no gain. Which brings me to my next step towards improving , getting a practice schedule and following it through.

Old movies

1. High society. I loved Grace Kelly in this. She was cold with a bit of warmth and her little sister ...I used to adore watching the scene where she danced sur la point into the drawing room speaking French and scaring the journalist and photographer. 
2. Anne of a Thousand Days. Genevieve Bujold is a real beauty. And Richard Burton as King Henry the VIII is perfect. We had a VCR version and it had little tit bits of the movie given to us. For instance that Elizabeth Taylor had a cameo role and to look out for that. And that her daughter also had a role as lady-in-waiting.  I used to dance away with my blanket wrapped around me and pretend to be dancing with King Henry. 
3. The man who knew too much. This is a new surprise for me. Watched it over the Chinese new year break. Introduced by my dad. And its only now that I watched the original Que sera sera by Doris Day. Oh boy, what a voice and what great singing in the film. Story line was brilliant too. As the old folks say, why don't they make movies like this any more.
4. Rear Window. Another Grace Kelly movie. I love Cary Grant he is witty and I like the fact he wasn't enamoured by her beauty thinking only of the lost of his freedom should they marry. She was one spunky girlfriend in this movie. 
5. Dial M for murder. Suspense can't get better than this. Grace Kelly was perfect in this. She was dressed in red at the beginning of the movie, potraying her as a adulteress and towards midway she was dressed in drab colours and minimal make up making her look washed out. 

Old fashion windows

Modern houses won't have windows like this any more. They are considered unfashionable. And then here it is, featured at an eating stall for decoration. So you see, what was once thought old and useless can turn into something quaint. That's humans for you. There's an old junk shop in Publika and sometimes they have a booth at the flea market at the ground floor of Publika, as we walk pass, mum would say I have this ....ooh I gave that away....oh dear that's so ugly. So yes, if we had hoarded and resisted the need to clear things up, we too would have had enough junk to have a store like so.

Notebook obsession

I have a whole plastic container of notebooks. And I can't stop buying more. I'm partial to square-lined ones, that I simply must buy. So I have a few moleskin ones in a drawer my mother terms "for moles" I wonder whether anyone else has this obsession?

Farewell Party

We had farewell party organised by the clinic staff for Kak R who has retired. She was a motherly figure in clinic. And would cook simple snacks for us as a surprise and other times, we would pay and ask her to cook some wholesome nasi lemak for us to boost the morale in clinic. I believe that's when I first started putting on weight. Her nasi lemak is very nice with spicy samba siting. No nanny pamby stuff. So I like it. We had a few birthday dos where we asked her to cater for us and the price and taste were both nice.

On a professional note, she was always polite and helpful. And had a professionalism which was nice to see. We already started missing her a few months ago when she had to take a long leave of absence following an accident which left her hands numb and her grip poor.

Farewell Kak R. You will be missed.

Tea time

This was tea this morning. Green sencha tea. And now it's a little pass one, and I'm drinking "English Breakfast" tea.  No pictures of the current tea cos I was in a hurry to sit down and sip it. I've added milk but no sugar and the smell and taste is both nice and comforting. I've forgotten how nice drinking tea is. Blame the media, its' all about coffee and being hip drinking coffee in certain places.  So I'm going to be a tea person for the next week.

Demetra

I love this book. Demetra unfolds in the tale, and Katie and her farm grows in you and you find yourself rooting for what's correct and feeling frustrated with what's happening. There is no doubt Kinsella has another winner here. I've just finished this book. In one week. Despite reading it as slow as I could to make it last longer. Feeling rather empty now so I shall look for another book to read soon.

Breakfast on a Saturday

The restaurant

Sometimes Waze doesn't show you exactly which lane to take, and with some roads having dividers this can be a problem. Or as in our case this morning, a blessing. We were en route to another makan place when we accidentally took an earlier turning. Waze recalculated and we were all set. Driving pass a row of shops I saw this particular shop which was full of people and had a small queue of people waiting to be seated. And we were in luck, a parking spot opened up in front of us. I'ld say it was a sign we should eat here. And we did. The kiasu bit of me did a super fast research on Foursqueare after we parked and all was good. The reviews were positive.

Some greens to be healthy

 We didnt have to wait long. Most people don't sit around and chat after food. So after 3 minutes of waiting or maybe less, we were seated. Had to share a table with another lady but that was okay. Gave us the opportunity to have a good look at what she was eating.

Curry noodles

 The curry noodles were recommended. But it was't brilliant. Wasn't too spicy chicken was good and the sauce wasn't overly lemak.

The popular wanton noodles with char view

 This was good. The char siew bits were generous and tasted good with minimal fat. Noodles were springy and the taste wasn't too sweet. I didnt like such a dark colour to my noodles.

Fried big dumplings

 Dumplings were a generous size. By the time I ate this I was semi full, so I wasn't wowed by it. There was a good crunchiness to it and it was properly filled with meat and prawn. They served it with a different type of chilli sauce.

Fried little wantons

These were nice. Crunchy and not too big that it hurts your mouth when you bite. I wished they served this with Kampung Koh chilly sauce. Would have been a better condiment to the sauce they served which looked Thai like with some lemon after taste.

Chan Meng Kee Restaurant
No.44 Jalan SS 2/66,
47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor
Tel: 012-688 1972

A lovely surprise

I found this in clinic on Thursday morning. And a warm feeling in my heart ( and tummy) as I realised someone had thought of how we rush during clinic days and get hungry midway and rarely if ever leave clinic to eat before its finished.

So to that person who thought of this, thank you very much. The extra surprise of petai inside was amazing.

Are you a tea person?

A lovely gift of Dilmah teabags.

 I love tea. I love the subtle smell and taste. I've tasted Dilma before from the complimentary teabag selections some hotels give. I think it was from a more upmarket hotel that I chance on my first Dilmah teabag. Green tea it was. And I enjoyed it thoroughly. Then I promptly forgot about buying any teabags from the Dilmah range because I had a few small boxes of crabtree and Evelyn and a tin of harrods and a box of Boh tea in my tea section of my cupboard.

And now, I have this gift of a huge selection of Dilmah teabags. Heaven! I shared some. And am looking forward to tasting each and every tea and enjoying and will attempt some review later in the week.

The first teabag I'm trying is Sencha

What is sencha?
Here is the description from the Dilmah Tea website:
Sencha tea:A gentle tea with a refreshing, and pleasingly mild character. A grassy note and hint of sweetness in the finish are typical of green tea steamed in the Sencha style.

Suggested pairing:
 Delicate green and creamy salads, seafood, sushi

Dilmah tea is grown in Ceylon. I've seen pictures of Ceylon and it looks amazing. Hmm a good reason to think about a holiday there. I wonder how much it will cost.

A review of the week

An uphill tasks to remain upbeat at the start of the working week, but it has ended on a nice note. With hope that things will get better. Have a good weekend everyone. I hope to post more food pictures later

Slippery slope of life

Midweek

Teddy bears are funny things. I don't think you can ever outgrow them. As an adult, I'm not a fan of teddies because they harbour dusts and some of them have got weird smiles sinister ones even. But this teddy is a happy one. the smile appears genuine and he has a red rose stuck to his right chest. What's there not to like?

This picture was taken on Valentine's Day. A day where flowers are suddenly expensive and any meal anywhere is a table for two with romantic lights and expensive menus available just for the day.
What would be a perfect Valentine's Day for you?
1. some flowers. Not too much and certainly no tacky teddy bears with flowers.
2. Royce chocolates please
3. A concert ticket at the philharmonic.
4. Dinner at Ante with good wine.

A new blouse

Here is my knotted-hem cotton blouse from Mango. It's a little crumpled cos I haven't bothered ironing it. I'm hoping the creases will disappear by tomorrow morning in time for church. Do you think so?

My only gripe is I really wanted something linen from Uniqlo. The current season has nice linen plain colored tops which look mighty nice on the hanger. I tried one on this morning. Too short. When your belly button can be seen at certain angles as you preen in front of the mirror in the fitting room, it's not for you. The alternative could be buying a big size so it'll be longer and looking like a mini tent. So no, I decided I'll leave hat purchase well alone.

Sunday evening at Publika

Enid Blyton Faraway collection from mph Publika

 We bought a present for my dad. It's a secret so I won't post the picture until we've given him the present. ( Birthday present which means the post will be only in April) What I can post is the books which I bought. One of them is the Faraway series by Enid Blyton. Not sure why I never had this series so I hear it's going to be made into a movie. A good reason to buy this book and get aquatinted with the story.  I also bought Sophie Kinsella's latest book. A separate post for that.

Cafe Latte from Plan B roasters inside BIG

 And here is my third mug of coffee. The first was homemade before morning mass. Drank that to be awake for violin practice session number one. The second was at Kenny Hills Baker for breakfast after church. That was to stay awake and practice violin part 2. And here is my third, after dinner at Plan B Roasters. This time not to stay awake I just wanted a place to sit down.

Interesting Italian spirals.

I saw this interesting spirals sold at BIG. Tempted to get them, cook it and make some simple meal. Should I? Has anyone seen anything like this before? I've never been to Italy, so maybe these things are common place there. I need an Italian to comment here.

Violin exam

 I've reached a rut violin playing wise. Havent progressed as much as I should and it doesn't help that I havent been practising regularly due to combination of tiredness and laziness. And so this morning, I'm doing my usual last minute practice before my class at 2pm. Wish me luck everyone. And I hope I get into the mood of practising by this week.

I'm registered for Grade 8 this year. A lot of work ahead.