Quill Mall

Interesting things are found here

Quill mall is the only mall to have a big enough H&M to house a section called "H&M home". I love browsing here. You can find many cute stuff. Biggest regret was not buying the hedgehog theme mug and plate that was on sale year back. It's not obviously out of stock although I keep returning here in the hope of finding it once more.

Interesting words on a bag

RM 19.90. I bought this bag because the words and the printing quality was just what I like in a bag. Not too difficult to read and no corny words that may embarrass you when you bring this bag to meetings. So yes, why not. I haven't actually used it. Saving it for later.

They had a selection of candles for sale too. But the smells were all a bit off. Sandalword smelt like musty fungus and the cotton smell was distinctly non-cotton-like. I almost bought the sea salt candle but after the 4th sniff I decided the sea didn't project at all well.

Quill mass has an awful entry to their parking. The curves dangerously as you turn to your left to get your parking ticket. The actual parking spots itself is lovely. Brightly lit, with ample space between cars and rather large spot designated for ladies. And when you come up the escalator from the basement parking the first shop that greets you is "Kluang Station" which is a decent place to have a meal. They have large space in the middle of the shopping mall. It's a pity they didn't think having a nice entrance to the carpark was important.

LOKL , KL

The front of the shop. 

My first visit to LOKL along Jalan Tun HS Lee, which is a stone's throw away from St John's Cathedral. I tried parking inside the church compound and walking here but the guard refused to allow me to get free parking so I ended up parking at a public carpark and spending RM23 on parking for the day.  Here is the shop front, I like the simple white wash front. From the outside, you wouldn't think there is a courtyard inside. I like buildings like this. I believe houses should have the same concept.

The hostel 

 I entered through the hostel by mistake. It was only after I was seated that I realise there is a direct entrance to the cafe from the front. (Duh)

The side entrance to the cafe from the hostel via the court yard

This is the sunny courtyard. Like this very much.

Another view of the courtyard

 The other end of the courtyard.If you look up, you can see the balcony and the hostel rooms. All airy and well thought of.

Inside the cafe

 The cafe is actually small but the tall ceilings help give the illusion of space.  And they have a long bench with tables at one side, so that saves space. And the lightning makes it cosy.

Fritata and earl grey tea

 I had this. Fritata with some gorgeous green sauce. I've yet to decipher what went in the sauce but it was the perfect accompaniment to my frittata.

Salted Caramel crepe cake

 This cake was fresh and the fork cut through like a hot knife through butter. I could have eaten two of this. Really

Hash brown something

 Filling and it smelt divine when it arrived

Nutella cake

 I would also have this cake again. So light and fluffy with Nutella.

A selection of the available menu

 Some other things to consider when I next come. A note, their breakfast is served all day. Despite their website saying otherwise.

I wonder why their symbol is a rooster

Worthy of a post card surely

Some greenery is always welcome

 Greens always makes a picture look good.

Taken near closing time

 We were here for hours chatting away.

Chairs all arranged neatly signifying the end of a working day

Finally, it was time to leave, but we will be returning. Soon.

30, Jalan Tun H S Lee, City Centre, 50100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Food 4/5
Ambience 5/5
Parking: 1/5 ( be prepared to pay through your nose if you drive here)

Sunday

Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe Puchong

So many things happened last week my head is still whirling from thinking and analysing. Mainly work-related so I refuse to allow it to govern my every thought and emotion. It's Sunday, the start of a new week. That horrible to-do-list still has the same number of things on them. I need to trim it a bit. By today hopefully.

I thought I would just review the Catholic Churches I've been to in KL.

1. When I started working in KL many years ago, my driving skills wasn't good. I only knew routes near the place I worked. There wasn't waze back then. And the church I attended every Saturday evening for sunset mass was St John's Cathedral. I got used to the haphazard parking in the church compound and the potential long wait after mass as you figure out whether the car in front of you is going to move soon.

2. Then the Car-free Sundays started in KL. every 1st and 3rd Sunday and as I'm a person who rarely reads the papers, I used to get caught often enough driving out at 7:45am to go for the 8:00am mass and not be able to drive through roads. And then pulling up at the side of the road to google the different churches and check the mass times and check how to get there. Frustrating when it happened. The first church I went to was Church of the Good Shepard in Setapak. Mass was at 0900. I remember driving there and waiting in the car until 0900 and feeling that the morning was wasted.

3. There was a Sunday when I woke up super late, and found myself at lost for church times. Again googling found me at Jesus Caritas Church in Kepong. I feel I have ties with this church. The parish priest who did a lot of work there Reverend  Fr. Pierre Decroocq, who was also the first Parish priest,was the father who gave me First Holy communion. Small world indeed. He has since passed on and the church has blossomed into a bigger church.

4. The problem was with the mass time of 0915. I like starting the mornings earlier so I googled and found a church nearer home. Church of the Risen Christ Jalan Ipoh. And the current Parish Priest Father Jean Claude used to be the parish priest in my church in my home town. This church is the one which most reminds me of my childhood church. And it is 10 minutes from home. How did I never find it before I'm not sure. So currently this is the church where I attend Sunday masses.

5. I forgot to mention another church I used to go to after St John's which was Church of St Joseph, Sentul. Going for mass there was possible during car-free Sundays in KL because the road leading to church does not go through the city centre.

6. As the years progressed, I started having some meetings on Sundays and Saturday evenings too which meant I couldn't on that particular weekend attend sunset mass and I had to find a church which had a very early morning mass. And I did.Church of our Lady of Fatima Brickfields. Their first mass on Sunday starts at 0700.

Sangria

The hunt for good Sangria in KL isn't easy. First you need a sensible friend to accompany, one who won't be too judgmental as he/she sees your eyes glean and spark as you order and nervous laughter as you take the oh-so-important first sip. Second there is a huge amount of luck involved. Blogs when it comes to Sangria reviews are scarce. It's not fashionable to write opinions on this drink so nobody cares much about it. Thirdly, one needs to ask where shall we start?

Here are the limited places I've had sangria in KL.
1. La Bodega in Bangsar Shopping Centre. Had it there twice. The first was with a group of friends so we ordered a jug each of both white and red sangria. The red was v nice. the white less so. The second time was recently with a friend and we had a glass each. This was after I raved about it and said we simply must order this and have it with our meal. Watered down more ice cubes than needed, a smaller potion than acceptable and simply very little alcohol. Making the overall taste bland and disappointing.

2. A pub in Publika the same level as Thai Tuk Tuk. I can't remember the name. Now this was good. Good service. They made it in front of us and the the sip made me happy and the entire drink was just about right.

3. Ante, publika. Sometimes when you least expect something, you finally get what you want. Good Sangria at a reasonable price at a place rather near home. ( Just in case you get sozzled) It was priced much cheaper than La Bodega. Definitely a nicer taste, And that hint of mint was gorgeous made that bit of difference. And the amount of alcohol was correct. ( Picture shown above)

4. The Daily Grind, Bangsar Village. We went there during our red velvet hunt in 2016. We ended up being happy not just with the red velvet. ( Blog reviews were accurate here, this place does serve a very nice red velvet) But we also found a rather nice sangria served here. I can't remember the price but when we complained it was too sweet, they adjusted it without any complain and the final product was gorgeous.

Rock/wall climbing in One Utama

Here i am wall-climbing

In a fit of fit-ness.( hehe) I called up Climb 5 ( after googling the places in KL where one can rock climb- this led to to a few blogs...with wonderful pictures to ooh and aah-over) to find out the price, and book a time. I called at 11:20am, and the only available slot was 1-2pm.  The package is for a beginner. Entry fee was RM48 for one hour. And then you pay RM2 for a locker.( Free if you bring a free padlock) And you have to bring your own socks. As you can see, I wore my jogging gear. And my sleeping t-shirt. ( Comfy clothes they said)

It's best to park your car on the rooftop. At level 5. Which is where the rock climbing place is. Its a short walk from the carpark depending on where you park. Today being Saturday, we parked a fait bit away. The picture above is the second wall we were given to climb. I'll show you the first after this.

The folks in red were our marshals.At least I think they're called that. They were both lovely. Giving us encouragement and yelling which colored stones to either hop on or grip on. And more importantly they had enough enthusiasm for all of us.

This is at the entrance of Camp 5.

We had to sign a disclosure in a form, which included who to call should anything happen to you. And you have ( the expected) declaration that you do NOT have medical diseases, there were at least 20 to tick as you go along.

My rented shoes.

Here are my shoes. The marshal said it must be super tight otherwise climbing would be difficult. So these were super-duper tight. My toes were a little curled up inside. And I felt like the width of my feet was slowly being morphed into a size 2 cm smaller. But that feeling was only at the beginning, once we started our exercises, the shoe felt just nice.

Baby walls to start with

We started here; you can see the floor is padded. Which made walking hard. And the walls aren't that high. During this climb ( our first) we didn't wear harness. So we were told how to fall. ( Very encouraging.Not!) I climbed twice once on the easier side and the second time on a harder stretch. I scratched my right forearm a bit on the sides as I attempted to hurl myself over the yellow barricade.

This is me, at the baby wall

I had a brilliant time. My only regret is not being able to climb right to the top on our last ( and steepest) wall. My limbs were a little less useful and I got stuck slightly more than halfway up and had to climb down. Am definitely returning for my second climb. And am considering joining as a member.

Archbishop Julian Leow

After morning mass at Sj Joseph's Catholic Church, Sentul.

We were blessed to attend mass said by Archbishop Julian at the St Joseph's Catholic Church, Sentul. This is the 3rd time he has said mass in this church and the first time after being ordained a Archbishop.

Click here for more.

Coffee

coffee stain...publika, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

Good coffee is hard to get in KL. And once you have it. you'll crave it. Here's my list of decent coffees you may get.

1. I'll start with Coffee Stain at Publika because that's the most recent haunt. Caffe Latte is nice. Been here 4 times.Once to have a takeaway ( which I felt wasn't so nice because once cold the coffee loses its charm) It was served in a canary hello mug the first time which was nice. But for some reason, it's now ( twice now) served in this black mug.

2. Coffee Societe also at Publika. Also good coffee. It's just a bit further to walk and there are usually not enough seating indoors and outdoors although nice you run the risk of being in the company of smokers.

3. SanFrancisco coffee. They make nice coffee. What I don't like is the venue. Small and the seats are too low so you'll have to sit ramrod straight. The outdoor seating faces Ben's which isn't too nice.

4. Artisan at Bangsar Village2. Again seating may be a problem. I sat at the long tall table on a stool. So you can imagine how uncomfortable that was. Coffee was nice. But I prefer Coffee Stain's latte.

5. The coffee place inside BIG is nice but the size of the coffee is small. And you get a big cold sitting there for coffee. And there really isn't much of a view unless you like watching people do their grocery shopping as you sip your coffee. ( hehe)

Sunny days ahead

Sunny morning, originally uploaded by andreaban2009.

The rainy days are finally over. With the sun, we also have the haze courtesy of some fire across the border. So perhaps I'll stick to the plan of swimming to lose weight in 2014. Of course, this means buying some new goggles ( powered of course), some flippers ( just to test out how fast I can go should I ever evolve into a mermaid) and a new swimming costume. The jogging shoes will be pushed back in the cupboard until my knees repair itself. I'm targeting mid 2014, because I do like running actually when I think properly. 

It's February already!!! And work is slowly starting to come in, in pairs and trios with similar deadlines and also the unexpected meetings which I dread because I contribute little and fear being asked to resolve issues beyond my miniscule power. Some days are terrible, where everything goes wrong, starting with  you feeling in a black mood for no particular reason. But TODAY, was a brilliant Friday. We should all take mini breaks. My CNY break has made me more patient, more tolerant of silly people and silly slow cars on the road. 

Finally!!!

IMG_8697, originally uploaded by penelopepink1979.

I read New Idea, Hello, Woman's Day and occasionally when I'm at Nail Boutique ( doing the obvious pedicure and maciure) I read Cleo, Her World etc.

Now you may not know this, but I've been drawn to Jo Malone's scented candles as it's nearly always featured in Hello magazine in the pages towards the end after the recipes ( which I do read despite not cooking these days)

So finally Jo Malone has arrived in Malaysia. Their store is at Pavillion where the Tangs used to be. WHoooopeee. I found it on Sunday and the girl ( Shikin I think her name was ) was friendly and helpful and I layered many perfumes to test and got very excited with the different smells.

I want!