Sweet & Savoury Treats

Nothing beats a nice meal or snack whenever there is a chance to have one. Over the past fortnight, I have tasted several sweet & savoury treats on several occasions and I am delighted to share them with you.

Squarish pizza @ Dome for lunch with a friend.

Traditional beer-battered fish & chips @ Blue Reef for dinner with hubby.

Peppermint mocha frappucino @ Starbucks for after-work coffee break with hubby.

...And finally, 2 adorable J.CO donuts for my much-awaited teatime later! It's been more than 2 years since I got my hands on these sweet treats, believe not! :)

Haircut & Having A Break

It's yet another public holiday for me, the last one being a mere 2 days ago. I love public holidays as we get a breather from work to do something we like for a change, like, a shopping trip, or staying in bed late and refusing to get up in the early hours of a workday morning. ;)

I had a chance to treat my hair for a much-needed haircut and a scalp treatment today, it took me 2 hours of sitting patiently in the salon, staring at myself in the long mirror and witnessing the progressive changes of my hair. The senior stylist attending to me was a friendly girl and we chatted amicably, though I am not a talkative person. Managed to get out of the salon with a shorter, lighter hair and a much cleaner scalp.

Lunch was a takeaway from Starbucks where I grabbed a Chicken Toastie & a Tall Chocolate Cream Chip Frappucino. I got a pleasant surprise after being informed by the barista that I have won a complimentary Tall beverage for my next visit: the only catch was to go online and fill up a customer survey, get the complimentary beverage ID at the end of the survey, then show it to the barista on my next visit. And that's it. Lucky me!

I am now having a break at home, in the comfort of my air-conditioned room, gonna curl up in bed with my unfinished chic-lit soon. A few more hours to enjoy before the holiday draws to an end and back to work again tomorrow.

Finally!

The testing is finally over! After 4 weeks of hard work, finally I can exhale and breathe more easily. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of work to catch up with...application transitions, automating tests and other administrative tasks which are mundane but inevitable. I have to cover as much as possible before I am off for my 2-month long leave.

Let's hope that the production deployment will be smooth and stable for the next 2 - 3 weeks then!

Gambate!

It's been 3 weeks since I am into my busy work schedule. Many issues have been uncovered, and dealt with. I've gained much experience from this. Hopefully, we can sort out everything by the end of next week.

Meanwhile, I am starting with my new baby preparation. There are so many things to consider, it's kind of overwhelming for me but, with the help from family & friends, I think I am able to cope with them. Hopefully, I can get everything prepared by early January next year.

So gambate to myself! :)

I'm Reading...

OK, by now you'd probably wonder why I introduced myself as a book lover but have YET to see any post related to books. Well, you got one now. ;)

I have a soft spot for chic lits (or chick lits). It literally means fiction novels written specially for women in their 20's or 30's, tackling various issues and facts faced by modern women today: relationships with families / friends / partners (or better halves), studies, careers, marriages, children, playing multiple roles of being a mother / wife / daughter / sister / cousin / friend / aunty (:P)...you name them!

To some of you, reading such books may seem vain, as the language used may be too easy to read and sometimes it involves cursing which is not suitable for children. To me, I find such novels straightforward and very much related to some parts of my life. Not to mention quite humourous and entertaining. Sometimes I end up giggling after reading certain pages. I respect authors who have a sense of humour yet do not lose their artistic touch in writing stories that convey their true message to their readers.

The book I am currently engrossing in now is 'Lucy Sullivan is getting Married' by one of my all-time favourite authors: Marian Keyes.

It consists of more than 620 pages depicting the story of a girl named Lucy who is predicted to be getting married soon by a fortune teller, but wondering how that could possibly be as she has no current boyfriend and is still very much enjoying her life as a singleton who hangs out with her friends, drinks alcohol, and being lazy around household chores.

I hope I can finish this book in 2-weeks' time, as I am not a very fast reader. I should start to train myself to finish a book of more than 400 pages in 1 week' time. There are about 10 new books vying for my attention right now and I can't buy more because my books have no home to go to (all the bookshelves are fully-stuffed). Time to get a new bookshelf.

Garden Wedding

One of my dear friends from high school returned to Penang last week for her wedding. It was held in Lone Pine Hotel, and all I could say is: it's splendid. It's a garden wedding and it's my first time attending one. The extent of preparation from her family and friends was evident from the overall decoration, to the teeny-weeny details. All aspects were taken care of to ensure that the wedding reception was a smooth one.

It was a western-style wedding, complete with speeches from the bride's father, brother, to the first dance performed by the bride and groom. The food served was a Chinese 8-course dinner though. I believe this is due to the fact that most of the guests were Chinese. The dinner was nice. Throughout the 8-course, no mosquitoes bit me so far although I was sitting at one of the tables in the garden! :)

OK, I think pictures speak louder than words. So enough of blabbing from me and time to show you some shots taken during the wedding.

Emcees taking over the stage to welcome the wedding march for the bride & groom & their immediate family members

Flower decorations for the guests' tables

Expensive Chinese 8-course meal to feed the guests

The bride, resplendent in her pink evening gown, was seen cutting the wedding cake with her groom

After which, the couple poured champagne into the glass fountain

Scenes of the garden at night

First dance, followed by dancing by the family and friends

And finally, we went home with a doorgift for everyone - a nice set of keychains made of pewter!

In Love With Mango Cardigans

I truly love cardigans, especially the ones from Mango (a.k.a. MNG). They are affordable and extremely versatile - a must-have for every girl's wardrobe. Not to mention that the quality is pretty good too.

Look at these colourful cardigans...I have the urge to get ALL of the colours but refrain myself from doing such an impulse buying. :)

MANGO V-Neckline Essential Cardigan

MANGO Cotton Essential Cardigan

A Taste of India @ Sri Anandha Bhavan

It's been a while since hubby & I feasted in Sri Anandha Bhavan, Tanjung Bungah. Of all the Indian restaurants that I have been to so far, this is my favourite one, thanks to its cosy and open-spaced environment. It's also quite popular with foreigners as one could spot "ang mors" enjoying the wide-variety of Northern and Sourthern Indian cuisine here.

Last Friday, we decided to have our dinner here. After glancing and flipping through the extensive menu, we have both opted for Chicken Briyani & a side dish of this long roti made of rice (I think). Sorry I don't know the exact name of this dish but I have captured a picture and hope someone can tell me its name. You must be wondering how I managed to order it without knowing the name. Well, fortunately there's a picture of it in the menu, so I simply pointed at the picture and nodded to the waiter: yes, I want this as well. :)

We were seated at one of the tables under a hut, our usual favourite spot. Here, we could see the main kitchen (open-air too) and the staffs were busy preparing food for their customers. Some of the dishes were on display too, example the tandoori chicken, curries and veggies to appease their customers.

Here's a glimpse of the environment.

Our main course: Chicken Briyani. Consisted of a huge chunk of chicken breast, a hard-boiled egg, embedded in Basmati rice with veggies & herbs. Also came with a type of curry and a refreshing salad. It's irresistible!

For our drinks, we had a Mango Lassi (one of the famous drinks here) and Carrot Juice.

And our favourite side dish of the long roti. It's light, crispy and slightly salty to the taste. It was served with 4 types of gravies. It's also greasy to the touch but, who cared? We loved it! 

What could I say? It was a sumptuous dinner that satisfied our taste buds. And so we left for home with full tummies.

Hectic Work Schedule...And Keep Going

It has been a busy work week for me. There is a critical testing coming up in a week's time. All of us here at work have been pretty tied up with the prep work and getting issues resolved, before we are geared up for the actual big day. The hectic work schedule is getting on my nerves but I keep on telling myself: "This is JUST work and I SHOULDN'T let my work control my life as there is more to life than work." This is what keeps me going until today.

Gambateh...wishing all of us good luck with the testing and all our hard work that we have put in for the past few weeks will be paid off. Can't wait for the testing to end in 4 weeks' time...

A Relaxing Day Out

I went for my monthly prenatal checkup today. Hubby registered for my appointment quite early in the morning to get a number. It's how the hospital administration works. You gotta register to get a number for every visit even though you are already a registered patient there. So to avoid the long-waiting time, it's better to register as early as possible, which could be a problem for me due to my 'early-morning blues' syndrome.

While waiting for my turn, we stopped by McDonald's @ Greenlane for breakfast. I was eager to try out the hotcakes (actually, I would prefer to call them pancakes instead). So I ordered a set from the Weekday Special Menu and bought an ala carte hash brown to complete my meal.

As expected, the pancakes were piping-hot when they were served to me. I poured a bit of the maple syrup and squeezed out the butter from its container on top of a pancake. Breakfast was ready! :)

My yummy pancakes with hot tea & hash brown. See the cute round butter with the 'M' on top? Neat!

Since it's still early after my checkup, we went straight to Gurney Plaza for lunch and some light shopping. I was in a relaxed mood that day: the weather was fine, cloudy but not rainy yet. Furthermore, the mall was not packed with the weekend shoppers. So it was nice to be able to walk freely and easily around without bumping into people all the time.

My retail therapy mode was kicking in. I stepped into several shops and bought several stuffs. My favourite Purchase of the Day: a black tweed bow crossbody bag from Dorothy Perkins! What I like about this bag is that it is flexible with a handle which I can carry around like a little bag, and it can also double-up as a sling bag when the strap is pulled out from the bag. This will be my go-to evening bag for my friend's upcoming wedding dinner.

Black Tweed Bow Crossbody Bag: Isn't it cute?

Right. Let's move on. It was lunchtime by then, so we stopped at Max Gourmet and ordered our usual dishes. By the time my food arrived, I was starving. But I allowed myself a moment to capture a pic of my all-time fave: Japanese-style fried rice with seafood & topped with fish roe.

Gosh, how I missed this when the Max outlet opposite Queensbay Mall was closed and we lost the opportunity to dine in there during lunchtime on regular workdays. The only other outlet that is still operating now is this one in Gurney Plaza. So naturally I was ecstatic when we chose to have our lunch here and I appreciated the opportunity.

When lunch was over, we did mostly window-shopping and I suddenly remembered that my contact lense supply was running out. Therefore we dropped by Optical 88 to place my order. In return, the girl from the shop gave me 2 vouchers of a free scoop of Baskin Robbins ice-cream each! Yippieee!!

On the way back, we stopped our car at the Baskin Robbins shop in Pulau Tikus. However, this area was usually infamous for inadequate car parks so we ended up not able to have our dessert after all. Nevermind, there's always next time and other branches too.

All in all, it was a great day out. I was still feeling relaxed when I reached home. It was a nice break from work and I looked forward to more. :)

Early-Morning Blues

I admit that I am not a morning person: I don't like waking up in the wee hours of the morning just to exercise when my brain & body are begging me to go back to sleep, neither do I like waking up before 9.30am during the weekends for morning errands or breakfast at the local coffee shops.

I only wake up at 6-ish or 7-ish in the morning during the workdays, that is being forced to do so, to accommodate the occasional early-morning meetings with my colleagues in the global team, or simply because on an average workday, our working hours formally start at 8am, just like most of the MNCs around here.

With that said, it means I have to be in bed by 10pm or 11pm MAX the night before. I need at least 8 hours of sleep so that I can be alert and ready to face a brand new day the moment I wake up on the following day. Anything fewer than 8 hours will contribute to the following symptoms: suffering from a cold, headache, being grumpy, and extremely sleepy especially in the afternoon. This is when I call it the Early-Morning Blue syndrome (self-invented).

So when I become a parent later on, I guess I have to tell my biological clock to adjust my sleeping hours to accommodate the needs of my little one. Or else, how am I going to survive motherhood? Right? Wish me lots of good luck. :)

Cool & Sweet Indulgence

I have a craving for ice-creams. I guess a lot of women do, too. This is evident because I notice most of the customers milling about at the ice-cream parlours are females: be it a mother with kids, an expectant mother, a girlfriend, a daughter or a sister. I couldn't really figure out why. Perhaps it's due to the mood-lifting effect it has on women or that women just love it for the sweet taste. 

Recently, I have bought home a tub of Cookie Dough Chip from Haagen Dazs and, no matter how much I yearned to finish it all in 1 go (gasp!), I resisted the temptation and spread my prized icy-cool treat to a couple of days, just for the sake of feeling not-so-guilty of sugar-overdose, and also to prolong its lifespan. :)

And so, at last, after 3 days (not consecutive, though), I've finished it! Pure indulgence! Yum yum!

 

To buy or not to buy the next tub? Well that's a question to ponder upon. I'll let you know. :) Till then, it's time to turn in. Good night, sweet dreams, sleep tight!

Dinner @ Seafront Dining

Formerly known as @ The Sun, this semi-fine dining restaurant has moved to a new location near the Burger King @ Jelutong, with a new name Seafront Dining. We received an SMS from the restaurant informing us of the new location, and since my uncle wanted to treat us for a dinner, we thought of giving this new place a try.

There was a wine & bar section upstairs (sorry, no pics taken). On the ground floor: the interior of the restaurant still maintained some of the decorations from the former restaurant, as you can see from the shots taken below.

Most of us ordered the 5-course set dinner, priced at RM42 nett. Senior citizens and those whose birthdays fall within the current month were entitled to a 20% discount from their orders.

Food-wise was quite okay, nothing much to boost about. Though I noticed that ala carte meals had bigger portions compared to the course meals. But I couldn't do an apple-to-apple comparison as the main courses ordered for the course meal and ala carte were different.

Some food pics for your viewing. There was a welcome drink for each of us (kids included) in a tiny champagne glass, I think it's a sort of sparkly fizzy drink.

Welcome Drink

Appetizer

Main Course #1 For 5-Course Meal: Salmon Fish with Boiled Potato & Greens

Main Course #2 For 5-Course Meal: Lamb with Mashed Potato & Greens

Main Course #3 For 5-Course Meal: Grilled Chicken with Wedges & Greens, this was my choice. :)

Main Course From Ala Carte: BBQ Chicken Pizza, this was for the kids. :)

Top: Baked Cheese Cake. Bottom: Chocolate Cake with Walnut, very nice. :)

Mango Cheese Cake, not bad too. :)

Iced Lemon Tea

The overall service was good. Before we left, I took the chance to snap a few more pics of the exterior.

Going Nuts Over Floral Prints

It was a rainy Saturday morning. I figured the best way to spend my morning and afternoon was a nice retail therapy at one of the popular malls in Penang. So I went to Gurney Plaza. :)

I liked Dorothy Perkins clothes as it offered a lot of tops & dresses with floral & quirky prints - my current fashion craze. After flipping through the racks, numerous rounds to and from the fitting room and tossing out several chosen outfits to the sales girl (luckily she was all smiles and very patient with me), I narrowed down to these 3 tops and purchased them without hesitation. They were flattering and very comfy for everyday wear.

Here's a glimpse of my purchased tops

My next search: empire-waist tops or babydoll dresses for my bulging tummy (yes, I am preggie now.) :)

Teambuilding Luncheon @ China House

An ordinary-looking pre-war house on the outside, however the moment we stepped in, we were greeted with a different ambiance altogether. The place was re-furnished with a classic western look and it was divided into various sections housing different eating styles (fine-dining, casual-dining, cafeteria-dining with emphasis on Penang Street Food). The upstairs was where the art gallery was located.

Since it was lunch on a Friday noon, the place was buzzed with diners especially at the casual-dining section. Luckily we made our reservation so we headed straight to our table without much fuss. It was a teambuilding so I was determined to enjoy myself to the most. With food, of course! :) The price of the food was on a slightly expensive side, with main courses ranging from RM20++ to RM30++. A fresh fruit juice cost about RM10 per glass. There was a wide-array of mouth-watering sweet savouries on display at the casual-dining section, and we couldn't resist ordering 2 slices of Tiramisus and a slice of passion fruit cake to satisfy our sweet tooth. Both were simply divine.

Take a peek at some of our main courses.

This was what I had: Spaghetti with grilled chicken & ginger bud slices. Simply delicious! Highly recommended.

Most of my teammates ordered this: Roasted chicken sitting on top of a focaccia bread, garnished with salad and drizzled with olive oil. Yummy!

This was from the breakfast menu: Beef burger with scrambled eggs, tomatoes and salsa sauce. Heard that it's not bad too.

Fresh mango juice & mint with lime juice. The mango juice was nice as it was handcrafted with FRESH mangoes, this is the first time I've tasted a fresh mango juice! :) As for the mint-cum-lime juice, I was told that it tasted sour, but good anyway. Well, I might give it a try next time.

All in all, a great luncheon on a humid afternoon, the occasional indulgence that I would treasure. That's all for now, have a great day.