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A day at Queensbay Mall

I personally love hanging around Queensbay Mall, regularly once in a week when I have time. Why? It's something related to a book store there... hehehe. 

Some new stuffs in Starbucks here. Their new cake looks ugly, and have some very bad review, thus, I didn't try that. Starbucks' muffins do have some good reviews. I especially love their Banana Chocolate Muffin. Today, I try out their new Espresso Caramel Muffin, they do taste great! Here's the tips for Starbucks visitors, choose the muffins only! All other food are junks! All the cakes and pastries by Starbucks are junks! ONLY MUFFINS ARE GREAT! Why? Their cakes are unattractively decorated, over priced, dry, lack of taste, and use artificial flavorings! Their pastry are stinky oily, and nothing special and overpriced! Only muffins worth its price tag!

After sitting and reading lots of "free books" in Starbucks, I bought this soy bean milk drink! The fragrance of the soy bean tempted me to buy it! It really taste great! I can see their machine full of soy bean pastes. It's the real thing! They did use the real soy beans to make the soy milk, better than ChaTime and all those other bubble milk tea which uses milk powder! (You might "pee diamond" if you drink too much milk powder from China!) Let's switch to all natural soy bean milk! :D Peace!

Austin Chase Queensbay Mall
Location: Queensbay Mall, Penang.
48HoChiak Level:   Coffee = 5/10  Tea = 1/10   Cakes = 8/10    Foods = 3/10
Cuisine: Fusion
What's Best: ???
Price Range：RM12++

Austin Chase is having discounts for their cakes! They previously taken in the Penang famous Humble Beginning Mille Crepe. However, their price tag is too high. They cost twice compare to those in Secret Recipe. I must say, their cakes have the quality, just that it's too expensive. Each of them RM12.90 in normal price. Yes, they taste good, better than secret recipe. They just lack of fancy decorations and priced too high. Now they have 50% discount on cakes. It's a great chance to get a piece of cake and try it for yourself! You'll hate Secret Recipe once you tried their cakes! 

Their tea is from Twining's, nothing special, very expensive, the worst of all! I can make a better and cheaper Twining's at home, just buy the tea bags from grocery and soak the tea bag myself! Their Coffee, isn't as good as Starbucks'. I ordered Caramel Macchiato, and the foam is not smooth! However, their caramel have some vanilla flavour in it, making it taste unique.

Their food? A disappointment! Please take note on their "Pictures are for illustration purpose only" fine prints on their beautifully photographed menu! The photo above is the real thing! While the photo in the menu showing that the sandwich comes with potato wedges and some green pesto sauces.

The taste, still acceptable! Overall, still expensive. Well, you may try this place if you want some cozy, fast internet connection. Try their cakes, they are great.

48HoChiak! Dai Sek Thong, Kulim. (Night)

Dai Sek Thong, Kulim
Location: Kulim.
48HoChiak Level: 5/10
Cuisine: Fusion
What's Best: ???
Price Range：RM2++

This is my first visit to this cafe. Middle class F&B business is not easy. After closing down of Coffee Hut and lots of other cafes around the town area, this one still survive. The food price is reasonable, and can be considered as "Family Cafe".

The only problem is, this cafe have very limited variety of food and beverage served. They do not have fresh fruit juice. They serves very common Chinese food. The good thing is, they portion of the food is really big. I ordered Jingdu Pork Rice, and there's lots of pork given. Look at the photo below: the amount of pork meat covering half of the plate. 

Overall, if you are looking for a reasonably priced family cafe with some clean environment in Kulim, I think this is the place. Honey Bakery serves expensive junks! :P

New Year New Recipe!!!

My mom always loves to experiment on the ingredients and come out with something new. The ingredients can be so simple, and she will always able to make some delicious new recipe. Another talent that she has, is able to recreate a dish without knowing the recipe! Lets share some of her new creation during this Lunar New Year.

Green Apple Sweet Corn Soup
Ingredients: Green Apples, Sweet Corn, Lean Pork, some salt.
The soup is so simple, light and tasty. The apples boiled until tender, the sweetness of the corn have covered the sourness of the apples.

Fried Fish with Pickled Onion Sweet Sour Sauce
Ingredients of the sauce: Pickled Onion (蕎头）, Fresh Tomato, Spring Onion, Tauchu.

Just pour everything into the wok and lightly simmer the pickled onion. The pickled onion is crunchy and taste sweet and sour, giving it a unique flavor. 

It's a simple Lunar New Year dishes, not sumptuous, no expensive seafood, and it is light, unique and healthy. I personally think that this is a great way to celebrate Lunar New Year. Instead of all those abalone, shark fins, sea cucumber, lobster... etc, all those food which has little flavor profile, why not we just make something new out of all our everyday meal? Both recipe above invented by my lovely dragon mom! Yes, she's 60 this year! (Not yet, her birthday is on November).

We are so lucky to have an Inventor Chef in our family! We love you Mom!!! Muack muacks!

山珍海味，不及一顿吃得开心的粗茶淡饭。

新年前夕，前一天，陪同某某吃了一顿山珍海味。其实，心里真的一点也不开心。没有想到餐桌上一大堆奇怪的动物，不见得是对身体健康好的东西。看着父亲把食物放在嘴里，心里拼命的担心。很久很久以前，就是很多官员，企图杀害皇帝，所谓的山珍海味，就是慢慢毒杀皇帝而创造的。高胆固醇，高毒性， 高脂肪的食物，也并不是美味口。

自己家的团圆饭，吃得安心，吃得开心，才是我最爱的团圆饭。母亲自己下厨的，清淡得来，却充满了幸福的感觉。我就是希望每一年的新年都能有那么快乐安心的一顿团圆饭。

Wild Wild Kulim! Catch of the Day!

I don't have those professional grade cameras, these are my best shots! Out of hundred clicks! Taking photos of animals aren't easy! Especially when they are wild and scared of us. I unable to catch photos of the pelicans, they are too fast. 

I think he is the boss of the gang. His eyebrow is the brightest and not afraid of me when i go near to them. He stays alert and staring at me.

Beautiful skin! They look gorgeous to be alive on their own meat. Not on leg or under people's  armpit! This guy actually very big in size, moving slowly, and I capture the photo very far away.

The Cutest EVER! (>..<) Kawaii! He hugging mommy, his size is just a little bit bigger than two of my palm... This is my best shot ever!

Internet Blackout Day 18 January 2012

No worries, my blog is fine, nobody hacked me. I just wish to increase awareness about the internet freedom! We had benefits so much from it, we even received free educational materials (Khan Academy, Youtube, Wikipedia... etc). It is the ultimate tool for us, if there's somebody trying to take over the internet, we must stop it!

Most of the information we get is from US, especially Wikipedia, and lots of our beloved shows. Let us say NO to SOPA and PIPA. Keep internet free! Peace!

Missed the Great Promotion!!!!

Just few days ago, I was planning on a trip to Gold Coast. And then travel to Brisbane by bus, and then from Brisbane fly to the nearest Great Barrier Reef site to feed myself to the sharks... Was thinking about diving or snorkeling. Now I'm going to hit my head against the wall! I didn't booked the flight! Now the cheapest flight I can get is around RM300+ one way. It's almost 50% higher than the one I saw few days ago! Shouldn't have wait for travel mates! Should have just book it and go there alone! Travel to Australia including diving the Great Barrier Reef in less than RM3k in budget is totally a great deal! Although my English isn't fluent enough, but I still survive alone in Tokyo! 

Ok.... now it's all gone! TT_TT no more sexy Mat Salleh at the Gold Coast, no more Brisbane bike ride, no more Great Barrier Reef diving. The chicken ran away! TT_TT

Doomed by Dome, but it's not bad afterall.

This is not some new fancy restaurant, it survived, means it has some reputation to keep on going. Today, we supposed to have a free lunch there, ended up we have to pay extra, since this is not a cheap place to eat. Before the food review, I just captured some photo of Queensbay Mall. The decorations really better than Gurney Plaza's.

Ok, back the Dome, we did feel that we are doomed when we read the price tag of each items. Overall, the food taste good enough. So it's considered worth its price.

Dome, Queensbay Mall, Penang
Location: Queensbay Mall, Bayan Lepas, Penang.
48HoChiak Level: 6.5/10
Cuisine: Fusion
What's Best: ???
Price Range：RM20++

 Potatoe Wedges with Thai Sauce and sour cream

 Catch of the Day

 Creamy Seafood Spaghetti, expensive but worth its price tag!

 Turmeric Chicken Rice

Egg Salad Focaccia

I forgot the name of this beverage. :P

Chicken Gourmet Pie.

Inside the Gourmet Pie, portion and presentation wise, according to my colleagues, it taste good!

48HoChiak! Yogo Goyo, Giant, Kulim?

There's a new dessert shop in Kulim Town! This new shop has some very elegant interior design and the environment is very pleasant for those who just want to sit there and have a chit chat. Though the price for the dessert is quite expensive. I wish this shop may survive here in Kulim. 

What's on my daily menu?

Just wish to blog about what I normally ate for daily basis. I'm not some famous food blogger who constantly get all those free food from those big restaurants. Thus, I have to save money for every expensive restaurant I visit. Each day, I ate ranging from RM0 to RM5 for weekdays and may be a little bit more than RM15 during the weekends. 

I rarely visit any restaurant during the weekdays. Thus, I normally just had breakfast, lunch and dinner at my company's cafe. The food here is rather cheap, and sometimes, I just grab some free cookies as dinner. Sometimes, I just pack up my leftover lunch as dinner. Thus, I can spend nothing at all to have my one weekday meals all settled.

If I feel that I need something more, or sometimes, when I need to have OT in the office, I will went out to Boston to have my favorite meal for dinner: the vegetarian bowl rice without eggplant! Since they give me 10% discount and I may claim the dinner bill for working OT, I may say, it's all free. 

When I have free time at home, my favorite of all time, is to cook for myself! Mainly I prefer to make strange stuffs. When I don't have any ideas on what I want to make, I simply make some noodle soup with vegetables. Thus, I ate vegetables most of the time! I love pork and chicken and fishes, but they are not in my regular menu! I once made a determination to become a full vegetarian, but things not going too well due to my stomach problem. After some research, I think to maintain a balanced meal is essential enough. No need to go extreme as being full vegetarian and have 5 apples a day. 

Also, not all vegetarian food are bad at all! My favorite restaurant is still Bamboo Grove and sometimes, enjoy Master Choo's vegetarian dishes. I love all those fried vegetables like Fried Plum Potatoes by Shillin, and those pasar malam fried oyster mushrooms.

Eat healthy, to live longer, so that I may eat more! LOL... enjoy!

The day I miss my flight to KL... TT_TT

Initially planning on a trip to KL to meet my old pal. Unlucky me, Air Asia planes now fly on time, not even one second late! I guess I'm unable to catch the CNY shopping spree in KL. Not to let my bridge toll wasted, I went to Gurney Plaza for some window shopping! 

Nothing is really special in Gurney Plaza. Their decoration are just normal. I kind of regretted that I didn't went to QB Mall (coz that's my regular "hiding from traffic jam" place). Their car parking system has improved. Now it is easier to find parking space, but it's not easier when you try to pay the fee and leave the mall. It took me some time to walk around just to get to the ticket machine. I guess they had done some Feng Shui so that the customers all "easily come, difficult to go".

I'm  not a big Hello Kitty fans, but this marketing strategy by Hong Leong Bank is really an eye catching thing. May be I'll be attracted to open an account if they use Doraemon. :P

So its not a window shopping trip at all. I bought this little girl's dress. There are so many independent kiosks selling little girl's clothing. Some of the gowns cost more than our own regular dinner dress. O_O" This is a present for the new born daughter of my church friend. Very cute, the pants can be un-buckled from the bottom so that we may change diapers easily. O_O"... p/s: something funny from my mom. Previously I told her I plan to visit Tokyo, she thought that I'm going there for plastic surgery. Recently I told her my plan on visiting Australia, she thought that I'm trying to get some mat salleh for a baby! O_O" See, I told ya my mom is cute! LOL.

17 Saloon Cafe, Gurney Plaza, Penang

Location: Gurney Plaza, Penang.
48HoChiak Level: 1/10
Cuisine: Fusion
What's Best: EXPENSIVE!
Price Range：RM18++

PS additional information added 12 Feb 2012: I heard from a friend that it is not a common style in this restaurant to ask the customer to pay first. I would take it as I was disrespected that time. After much consideration, I degrade Saloon 17 to 1/10. Not a good place to stay, and expensive low quality food they serve.

 

Here's the expensive food! 17 Saloon near Starbucks at Gurney Plaza. Saloon??? I don't know why they call it "saloon", it doesn't seems like giving you some great hairdo. The decoration is what attracts me.  

Moment of truth! The food! It's a bit disappointment. The portion is so small and it can be considered PRICEY! Expensive and not worth the price tag! I would prefer to go opposite have some expensive Michealangelo Than having this simple spaghetti! They are nearly at the same price! This one only have 2 medium size prawn and 4 medium size calamari rings! 

The drinks! is the best! I ordered their mocktail, cranberry something, it's great! Though, it's still a little bit pricey! I won't visit this restaurant until they improve their recipe. The food is just too expensive!

17 Saloon is not halal. They serves pork! Another annoying thing is, they ask people to pay the bill first before the dishes came to the table. Not to forget, the price tag is expensive, so it's kind of reverse effect of their marketing strategy. For example, normally, we eat first, then we pay the bills. When the food is good, we pay the bill in high price, then we won't feel bad. If the food is bad, and they have expensive bills, they will get really angry! Let say, if people pay expensive bill first, and then they have great expectation on the food. Instead, they found out that the food is actually bad, however, they might not feel that bad, because full belly makes them more patient? I'm not sure of the logics and psychology involved, but I'm still not happy because the food is too expensive! Not because of the taste, its simply due to the price tag. If you looking for expensive, yet satisfying and reasonably priced food, better go for Michaelangelo opposite of 17 Saloon.

Pork skewer, what's playing on the Astro? This is not about food, it's something personal. Look, in Penang, people everywhere also talking about this, children playing it, crazy fans all around. I have to learn to accept that, and forget about that somebody. No matter how I set the "badminton" word as auto-deleted email setting, the best thing for me is still learn to accept that and separate the meaning between "that person" and "badminton". It's already a year, so I should have freed myself, and go looking for an Aussie Mat Salleh instead! : D Mom, I'm just joking! 

Not happy with the small portion and expensive food at 17 Saloon. Having some nice dessert and fried potatoes! I still prefer that Pandai-Action punya guy working at Shillin Jusco Bukit Mertajam. This Lucky dessert, is quite expensive also, but at lease, I think its worth the price tag. Inside full of real mango chunks! 

Wish after CNY will have chance to visit KL to Lou Shang! : D

48HoChiak! Kelang Lama Food Corner, Kulim. (Night)

Location: Kelang Lama, Kulim.
48HoChiak Level: 7/10
Cuisine: Chinese
What's Best:?!
Price Range：RM3++

This is my all time favorite spot. I only visit this place at night time. There are 2 hawker stall which is the best. One is the "Perfectionist Uncle" stall, and another is "Pretty Mom Fried Chicken" stall. Those are not the real name of the stall. 

The noodle stall, operated by one perfectionist uncle who did all the cooking, and his helper. There are various of choices available for you to pick. Ranging from fresh vegetable, to rice and noodles. You have to be patient enough to wait. Because the perfectionist uncle prefer to do all the cooking one by one. If you do not wish to have perfectly cooked vegetable, make sure you tell him about it. 

The other stall selling friend chicken, is operated by 2 pretty woman. They made some great chicken better than KFC. I personally love to have some fried chicken skin, and dip it with the hot soup by the perfectionist uncle. It's totally a great match. 

Both noodle and fried chicken stalls only open during night time after 6pm.

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