GOODBYE 2013... THE YEAR THAT WAS...

sun setting final day @ Sri Kinabalu

2013 is an eye opener and soul searching year. Recalling my 2013 resolution with a twist, a twisted year it was, note to self. Be very careful of what you asked the universe! The universe listens to your wishes. On a brighter note, many beautiful memories were made along the way and I thank all for their positive input in my life.

January 1^st, had lunch with LL, at my Club, KDE after the place that we wanted to go was closed due to the night before. January also welcomes home my cousin NS from New Zealand and we went on a makan-ing (eating) spree all over Kuala Lumpur for her to get reacquainted with authentic Malay dishes.

February see me holidaying in Kuala Terengganu as usual to be with my sis’ family. Another opportunity for me to taste, experienced and savor the local delicacies. And I go all out in interviewing the stall owners. It was a great adventure and my sister Dr S, supported my inquisitiveness and go out of her way to places for me to take a photo shoot of the midin shoots (a kind of ferns). And here in Terengganu too, my other sister SAH showed her skilled and expertise in cooking the fish head curry!

midin shoots

Yong's fish head curry

March and April were a busy month doing the taxes, assignments and presentations and of course house hunting for I am leaving my abode of 13 years for good. May was another busy month packing my 13 years of accumulated treasures and trash, memorables and tokens, keep sakes and clutters. The month of May also saw me burning the mid night candles for my final examinations while at the same time house hunting, packing, labeling, snapping photos upon photos of my condo at every all opportunities and reminiscing my days at Sri Kinabalu Condominium: Period.

empty ~~~ adious~~~

Finished my final on 9^th June and moved house on 10^th June with the help of my beloved nephews Kamil, Aiman and Ezwan. My sis, Dr. S and family came over for a week end to help me unpacked and rearranged my furnitures to an acceptable order. A big thank you from the bottom of my heart!  Attended two beautiful heartwarming weddings in June, oh what a beautiful June’s brides they were!

Celebrated my birthday in July with a bang with a pre 2^nd July dinner and birthday breakfast with my BFF, followed with another two birthdays’ dinners with Id and HH and closing it with a blast in Bangkok, Thailand with my Glam buddies! This is a 360 degrees contrast compared to my uneventful day in 2012 when everyone thought that I was celebrating with someone!

 

breakfast birthday bash!

Observed Ramadhan in July. Eid was celebrated quietly on the first day and with a blast on the 5^th day of Eid and organizing an impromptu open house at my rented condo and inviting the usual clan plus my close cousins, few friends and my office staffs. Savoring delicious such as Yemeni chicken rice, fried macaroni, fruit cocktail puddings and truffles all courtesy of the chef, my beloved sister, Dr S and sous chef, NN. Also on the menu were my eldest sister, Yong’s mouth watering sambal lodeh and lemangs, courtesy of my nephew, Awa.

Welcoming a brief stay of a little sparrow in my life in September and experiencing full throttle pain in the gum hence bidding goodbye to my wisdom tooth. October is a month of Foodie adventure. And November saw me cruising over the horizon to Phuket and Krabi via Penang. It is a life time adventure to say the least.

As usual, December was pretty busy with vocation commitments and socials engagements. December also witnessed me starting on a strict diet which I observed religiously much to contentment and reflected in me managing to slip into my black baju kurung just in the nick of time to attend to my UiTM BFF’s son wedding in Tasoh Lake, Perlis while having fun getting lost close to the Malaysia-Thailand border!

Lost- <> 7 km from Malaysia-Thai border!

Had lunch finale with my BFF at Ruzz Aladin Briani Gam Johor and dinner finale at Jiran café with my all time, always there persona, SAY. In conclusion, the most significant event in 2013 was me moving from my 13 years abode with such a heavy heart wrenching feelings. But life must go on and I understand that was my pass and I had to learn to let go. In fact I had.

mee rebus- Ruzz Aladin

teary teary year

~Acepaizah~

Tasoh Lake Resort & Retreat, Perlis- A Wedding's Adventure

wedding dais

It was a travelling adventure that I am unlikely to forget till the end of time. So much memories were made along the journey that solidified our decades of friendship between my BFF, HH, NAR, [the groom's mom] and yours truly. Well the journey itself is entitled to its own post on another posting. We received invites for a wedding reception from my ITM's BFF (then, now University Technology MARA, Uitm). So, off we went to Tasoh Lake Resort & Retreat which  is situated next to the Timah Tasoh dam about 15 KM from the border town of Padang Besar, Perlis. The wedding was held on 21st December 2013. This would be my third time to Perlis,[first-NAR's wedding, 2nd - sending my nephew to UiTM, Arau branch], smallest state in Malaysia situated northern of the Peninsular sharing its border with Thailand up north and the Andaman sea on the eastern coast.

cake cutting ceremony

Upon entering the Reception Hall at the Tasoh Lake Resort & Retreat, we were greeted by our host and promptly ushered us to the buffet spread which to our pleasant surprise consists of authentic traditional Malay northern cuisine beyond the usual "standard" wedding menus that were very synonyms to Klang Valley's wedding reception.

buffet counter
bamboo shoots curry-1st tray

The menu consists of curried sweet young bamboo shoots cooked with diced beef. The bamboo shoots were crunchy and soft at the same time and you can play with your food by eating layer by layer. I had seconds for them! There were also talang fish (a big kind of fish akin to tuna) cooked with chili paste. And in my wildest dreams, they also served grilled chicken. Imagine, grilled chicken served at a wedding reception, a pleasant mind boggling encounter indeed to me and I cannot stop myself from going for seconds. I was also told that it is not unusual in Perlis or northern state like its neighbouring state of Kedah, for the host to serve salted fish too with all its accompanying salad, shoots and leaves together with varieties of sauces and dips. I was pleasantly shocked when I took a large bite of the salted fish which in my wildest dream thought was simply a fried fish!

salted fish and salad +shoots+leaves

sauces n dippings

seconds

Overall, the food were simply delicious luscious sweet melt that teases our every senses. It was a pleasant and out of the world wedding reception experience for us. Thank you Nor Adibah Abdul Rahim and husband Ku Hamid Ku Daee for inviting us. Oh my foodie scale, of course it is a perfect 10!

northern waves
~Acepaizah~

desserts
watermelon slices-kuih karas-cup cake

Dieting starts early @ Naili's Place, Ampang Point

sin-less grill chicken?

December is fast approaching like a runaway train on a downhill track. I am trying to get my bragging right of losing my kilos as per my New Year's resolution which seems blurring now. I have no time to waste after my gastronomic adventure on Libra Star Cruises.  Like the NIKE saying, I Just Do It, I started my die-t on Monday, 2^nd December. However, I am not well verse in the kitchen and depended heavily on street fares and on mercy of buyout food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Notwithstanding, I have an enormous appetite that need tantalizing mouth watering dishes to appease my daily needs. One of the places that are willing to substitute their fries with lots of coleslaw is Naili’s Place situated at one corner outside the Ampang Point Shopping Centre just opposite the Ampang Putri Specialist Hospital, Selangor.

I ordered the Grill Chicken which is topped with black pepper sauce that is not spicy. In fact the boneless chicken practically swimming in the sauce. My chicken is accompanied with fries which I politely requested it to be substitute with coleslaw. In fact the coleslaw too was swimming in its own sauce! The chicken is well grilled, crispy and tender and moist. In my quest against the weighing machine, I discard the crispy chicken skin. Not bad. I should get a pat on my back.

dried up fish & chips

My BFF ordered Fish and Chips. The Fish is quite dry and is too thin,  may be being deep fried too long. Of course it is accompanied with coleslaw and the mandatory fries. BFF’s son ordered Chicken Chop and again the Chicken was swimming in the mushroom sauce. I guess, Naili’s Place is very generous with their sauce, though the sauce were very diluted and watery! No short change here.

chicken chop swimming in mushroom sauce

I observed that Naili’s coleslaw is quite tasty considering that I am not a fan of cabbage!

So, for all wannabees - yo yo dieters, Naili’s Place is a good place to start your diet, if you are not preparing your own food. On Acepaizah’s scale, the Grill Chicken and Chicken Chop is a 7, but the Fish and Chips may be given a 6, I reckon. And I am being generous here. The ambiance is great with an outdoor rustic setting in the city which Acepaizah’s scale tipped to an 8 and value for money, I will give a cool 7. 

fast track dieting
~Acepaizah~

Cruising on Libra Star Cruises with Pak Nil to Phuket & Krabi

Lunch wt Captain Aznil @ Spices
Libra Star Cruise

I had been harping to KN that I wanted to go on a cruise on a big ship. It is beginning to sound like an old record playing over and over again. By chance, Pak Nil is planning for a cruise with his fans. We jumped to the idea, and the rest as the saying goes, is history. Travelling from Kuala Lumpur in a tourist bus before the break of dawn to reach Penang Port before 12 in the afternoon was a very tiring and body aching adventure to say the least.

Upon embarking the Big Cruise Vessel we were ushered to our tiny cabin on one of the deck which later we had an exhausting maze time! Dinner was served at 6 in the evening. It was a barbeque dinner and the lines were so long. However, due to the efficiency of the crew, we breezes through them with our plate full to the brim. (N.B. we missed our proper lunch!)

Crustacean battalion
ready to serve

My favorite crustacean delicacies were waiting for me in a big round steel pot. And they were not simply soldiers or majors of the crustacean battalion, they were brigadier generals! My oh my. All my tiredness and aching symptoms simply vanished at the sight of the well grilled prawny crustaceans.

grilled whole lamb

My companion, KN on the other hand was eyeing and feasting her attention to the grilled whole lamb. Without much thought and hesitation we heaped our large dinner plates to our delights, throwing lifetime  acquired table/buffet manners to the wind @ open sea!

grilled juicy corn on cob

It was one dinner to be remembered and cherished to the end of time. The prawns were simply delicious, fresh, with succulent and sweet flesh which does not need any additional dipping or sauce to unearth its sea-worthy taste.  It was a prawny affair for me, praying hard my allergy does not come in between me and the crustacean units in my plate.

my humble plate
1st serving...

As the result of our sinful dinner greatest adventure, we had light breakfast the morning after and a quick session of morning dance (en route Phuket)  with the star cruise crew on deck 9, which yours truly escaped in the nick of time.

day after breakfast wt my dose of caffein fix

The Acepaizah’s scale on this cruise is temporarily switched off but somehow it managed to make a reading scale of 10 for my crustacean buddies!

cruising crustaceans

~Acepaizah~

morning dance (KN in the red/black)

Lunch @ Sambal Hijau - Greeny Spicy Foodie Adventure

Awakening from long hiatus and food deprived, I went on an eating spree. "Armed" with an empty stomach and entourage of "makan" buddies I drove to "the other" side of town. Driving along two paid highways, the DUKE (Duta Ulu Klang Expressway) into the Penchala Link paying RM2.00 toll charges at each toll plaza, and making a final right turn into Jalan Sungai Penchala, making a stop at the much talked about Sambal Hijau restaurant. Sambal Hijau is located at Jalan Sungai Penchala, Kg Sungai Penchala, Kuala Lumpur. I visited this Sambal Hijau on two occasion. 

I was with JI on my first visit. I had a piece of grilled fish with an accompanying soy and tamarind sauce. I did not "sauced" my grilled fish with them since it is simply delicious fresh from the griller. Sambal Hijau had quite a variety of veggie dishes too and I loaded my plate with my favourites such as bean sprouts cooked in coconut milk which is crunchy, long beans and also the over cooked spinach. And of course some seafood delights- prawns!

my grilled fish

assortment of dishes

JI had grilled sting ray which I think is quite dry, taste wise, according to JI , it is quite nice. JI, being a small eater had some rice with on of the mandatory sambal hijau signature dish- kerabu sambal hijau. Taste wise I think it is red hot on my spicy scale!

JI's stingray

JI's plate of veggies
 far end-the green kerabu

On my second visit with Id and HH, the place is full to the brim and we were practically sandwiched between the serving table and the food counter. I had grilled tilapia, which costs a bomb! While Id had grilled string ray and HH had  grilled cat fish.

tilapia in the plate
no space on the table for serving plate!

HH's cat fish on serving plate!

Id's stingray ready to be attack!

My overall observation is that  Sambal Hijau serves great spicy and very very hot dishes with their signature dishes the green sambal. But I observed that Sambal Hijau's green sambal lacks the small round green eggplants with is synonyms to the famous sambal hijau's (green sambal) recipe. None the less, I am not complaining since sambal is not my cup/plate of tea/dish!. Sambal Hijau grilled fishes are fresh and meaty, and I should say they are value for money, we are in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, after all. The restaurant itself is clean but it is way too crowded during lunch time and its sitting arrangement is too close for comfort. I will give an 8 for Sambal Hijau grilled dishes. 

greeny hottie 

~Acepaizah~

Vietnamese cuisine - DuViet Restaurant & Cafe, Damansara Utama

grilled lemongrass fish

It was Leverage Chapter's Appreciation Dinner do, hosted by our Madam Prez G at her Vietnamese Du Viet Restaurant & Cafe. The theme color were red and black and four of us were dul penalised with songs and dance, yours truly included. Having endured our punishment, much to the law abiding Leverages' enjoyment, we were rewarded with the teasing 'happy-tiser' @ appetiser of halves of spring roll and fresh chicken rolls with sald together with peanut-like sauce and clear sweet chili sauce, with its very distinctive flavour of spices and herbs which is synonym to Vietnamese cuisine. 

halves spring rolls

Our main course consists of a choice of Noodles and Rice. My Chapter member, MY on my right and I ordered the rice set, Grilled Lemongrass Fish on Banana Leaf. The fish of course were laden with pieces of lemongrass with some traces taste of a varieties of spices and herbs(?) and to be flavoured with clear and sweet chili sauce. However, I noted that the fish could and should be eaten by itself without any additional flavouring since it is well seasoned (I think) prior to its grilling process. My only qualm is that, two piece is not enough.

bbq lemongrass chicken

My Chapter member, YN on my left and SL in front of me ordered the BBQ Lemongrass Chicken with Egg. While, DrM enjoyed her Vietnamese Traditional Beef Noodles with imported tenderloin beef fillet, stews beef brisket and tripe in clear beef soup. Interestingly, I noted that the beef noodles is accompanied by a plateful of fresh mix of shoots and leaves, much to DrM delight. Rumours has it that the Vietnamese food is considered one of the healthiest cuisine world wide with minimal use of oil and reliance on herbs and vegetables instead. 

beef noodles

Dessert is the form of Durian pancake. Usually I don not take @ like durian in any other form but in its original fruit form. But here, the seeded durian were wrapped up with some ice cream and the real flesh of durian were still intake with all its fibery texture, taste and of course! I savour it bite by bite by tiny small bite.

durian pancake
silky soft texture

inner view

Three colors Delite of green grass jelly, cendol and red beans with gula Melaka and low fat cream toppings capped the delightful dinner spread.

3 colors delite

 This is a fine dining restaurant, its value for money and the ambiance were very inviting. I am awarding a 9 on Acepaizah scale's for the Grilled Lemongrass Fish and 9.5 for the durian pancake. And I believe the rest of the menu commanding the same scale by the look on the faces of my member Chapter and also since our Madam Prez also act as the QC for the food. Really, she did QC on the spot one of the BBQ Chicken! 

Merry merry appreciative night

~Acepaizah~

Local Breakfast in Kuala Lumpur - Lontong @ Kampung Baru

BFF's standard lontong 

Hunting for breakfast in Kuala Lumpur is a breeze. On this occasion, BFF suggested to go to Kampung Baru for the real authentic Lontong (rice cooked in banana leaf serve with coconut milk gravy and its assortment side kicks.) This is her turf where she stayed for more than 8 years, about decade ago. Parking is a real problem and we had to walk quite a distant. The stall is simply numbered GSA 14. Formerly, this area is famously known as Pasar Minggu Kampung Baru (Kampung Baru Night Market). All 4 of us ordered the Lontong and yours truly lontong sans chili paste atop the serving but with a piece of begedil (potato cutlets).

with begedil- pieces of rice
cut from a long banana wrap 

The lontong is simply basic. Just rice pieces in coconut milk gravy laden with a veggies such as tofu, tempeh, pieces of carrot and handful of long beans. We had some add ons such as fried tempeh and I had the begedil. The banana leaf's aroma permeates our senses and blend nicely with the milky sweetish (for me, sans the chili's paste)gravy. The lontong (rice cake) is well cooked and no 'grainy' rice feel at all, i.e., if one do not know how rice look like, they will never know by eating this lontong alone.

lopes

Since my BFF have sweet tooth, ZM order lopes (made from glutinous rice) kind of a rice dumpling which is eaten with sweet sauce and shredded coconut. Again, the lopes texture is very fine and well cooked @ steamed to perfection. ZM praising the lontong texture's non stop in between her lopes bite! It is a well spent morning and worth the hassle of finding a place to park our cars.(Note to self: come early before the breakfast come in droves.) It is value for money, for four servings of lontong and 2 pieces of lopes cost us RM17.00! Of course, we were all sitting by a shaky table on the five foot way! On Acepaizah's scale, I award the lontong a 9. Really, you can hardly get more authentic than this. Long live lontong!

patrons waiting to be serve!
Lontong wrapped in banana awaits hungry patrons

BFF's son, enjoying breakfast 

 creamy milky lontong
~Acepaizah~ 

potful of lontong gravy!!!

lopes on the string!

the ambiance!

Appreciating Life @ De Palma Hotel, Ampang

Rumbia Fried Rice
sambal on the side-stay on the side!

My life is full of celebrations. Correction, I appreciate what the universe bestow upon me and my everlasting gratitude towards the Almighty that I always find reason to celebrate life. One this special occasion is celebrating my belated birthday with HH at Rumbia Coffee House, De Palma Hotel, Ampang.

On this special occasion, I ordered the house specialty, the Rumbia Fried Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice). The fried rice was wrapped in a layer of fried egg, 2 pieces of chicken wings, some crackers, anchovies and garnished with few pieces of salad and long beans. The fried rice was mildly spicy with tons of seafood.

Seafood Tom Yam
wt swimming prawnssss

HH ordered seafood Tom Yam which was loaded with giant prawns! They were simply swimming in the bowl of Tom Yam and playfully teasing us! However, the Tom Yam was way too spicy for me but I managed to fish a piece to satiate my prawny cravings. To top it all, we also ordered cheesy spaghetti and innocent looking omelet.

cheesy prawn spaghetti

The Fried Rice was a plateful carbo laden dish with lots of protein. I enjoyed every morsel of them while HH helped me with all the raw green garnishing. The cheesy spaghetti was full of tomato richness and some garlic-ness aroma. The innocent looking omelet was not that innocent at all. It was laden with rich creamy fillings accompanied by highly caloric fries with some coleslaw on the side.

Overall, I give a respectful 8 on Acepaizah’s scale for food presentation and service. Ambiance was a bit too dark with warm lighting.

P/S :oops, being reminded by HH, in verbatim :" tear a piece of hot soft bun and dunk it into the tom yam soup....... to die for. ......."

Yes, we did asked for some buns, which were soft and warm. So we tore them and dunk in the Tom Yam... creative eating, don't you think so?

sinful delight

ricy teasing prawn

~Acepaizah~