Eat.Dream.Live

Thursday, March 03, 2011

Phy is Whiny and Worrisome...

I know I should be sleeping instead off tapping away at this time of night. Lord knows I need my beauty sleep to get through the next few days with my sanity intact.

Thing is, I got a text from my boss at around 9.30PM telling me that KTP has ordered all COPS counters to operate from 8.00AM to 10.00PM every single freakin' day. Even on the weekends okay! And I thought having to work office hours all of last weekend was bad.

This will commence on the 3rd of March 2011 till the 10th of March 2011. Why? To accommodate the public and give them time to pay their Traffic summons before the last date. Something tells me that this gesture will go unnoticed and unappreciated.

I'm predicting that the counters will be quiet as a tomb throughout the week since the public knows they have time to pay ant then they will come in Tsunamic waves to pay their summons on the last day possible.

I'm not sure how this will work. Will both me and my colleagues be working at the same time for 14 hours? Or will we take 7 hour shifts? If so will there be compromise between us or will he demand to get the day shift just because he lives further away than I do?

I has been looking forward so much to this weekend too. Had planned to watch a concert at 1 Borneo this Saturday with boo but I guess that plan is going down the toilet bowl. I had to cancel my trip to Kudat with friends too because I was ordered to work office hours last weekend.

Sigh! I thought only private sectors such as banks get this kind of crazy orders.Turns out I'm wrong.. I wonder how I would cope? I'll find a way I suppose. I always do if only I accept the experience with an open heart and mind.

All these thoughts are going around and around my head like crazy. I tried to think happy thoughts while lying down but I still can't relax enough to sleep. Oh well, I guess sitting in front of one's lappy and whining into cyberspace won't solve matters either..

I'd better be off to bed now. Who knows, I may be able to worry myself to sleep. Until the next post...

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Flog: Kobe Sizzlers

Yesterday I was on my way to get my monthly sushi fix at Warisan Square's Sushi King when I noticed what I thought was a new restaurant on the same block so I went to check out their outside menu to see what kind of food they offer and the pricing.

From the outside..

Based on the name I had expected the place to offer modern Japanese cuisine (You know because of Kobe beef). Imagine my surprise when I see Indian selections on the menu. They offer Chapati, various curries and Bhajjis (batter fried snacks/starter) but what really caught my eye was Puri.

The Indian selection menu..

Puri is two fried wheat roti and it is my absolute favorite among all Indian rotis with Naan being a close second. I had not eaten Puri in what seemed like a lifetime ago so you can imagine my excitement when I saw it on the menu. I almost ditched my sushi to eat there but I decided to just have the Puri for lunch today.

The signage and interior decor was very simple with clean lines. Nothing fancy and it's not very big although it does have an upper story where I believe is where the kitchen is located aside. Not sure if there's a dining area up there.

Looking out to Le Meridien Hotel

Some magazines that kept me occupied.

Looking forward to my meal..

I ordered Puri, Prawn Curry and Shiroo & Cream as dessert. Unfortunately, the Shiroo & Cream was not available and I had to settle for Sizzling Brownies.

My yummy, yummy lunch...

The Puri were served warm and crispy, in fact, a little too crispy for my liking. It made eating with a fork and spoon very difficult. I had wanted to use my hands in the first place but the wash basin was upstairs and I didn't want to leave my handbag and things unattended so I just decided to use the cutlery provided.

Said Puri were also quite large, unlike the Puri's a family friend used to make. Her Puri's were soft and fluffy too (what? I'm just saying..). Anyway, I was quite full with just one piece of it but I loathe to waste something that I had not tasted in a long, long while so I just slowly finished it up. It's priced at RM1.70.

I'm no expert when it comes to curries so I'm not in a position to verify if a particular curry taste like proper authentic Indian curry or not (I know some people are very particular about that) but what I CAN say that the Prawn Curry was one of the nicest curry I can remember trying.

Gone!.. Excuse the messiness. I can never seem to have hand-eye coordination when it comes to food with gravy.. Lol...

The small bowl is just the right serving size and it contained 3 large prawns cut into 3 parts (it's served excluding the heads of the prawns). I could tell that the prawns used were quite fresh as they were still 'springy'. If they were otherwise they would have turned into mush with the slightest prodding I think. This dish is RM8.00 in price.

Now before I move on to my review on the Sizzling Brownie, let me just say that I'm disappointed at not being able to try out the Shiroo & Cream because I've never tried it before and as hard as it is to find delicious Indian fare, it is even more difficult to get a taste of their desserts here in Sabah. I can seriously count the fingers on one of my hands the times when I got to try them. Oh well...

My dessert arrived late. I had to remind the waiter again of my order before it was served to me which was surprising since only 3 tables were occupied including yours truly. The brownie arrived on a sizzling hot plate with vanilla ice cream on top. After settling it in front of me, the waiter proceeded to pour chocolate sauce from a sauce boat on top of the sweet course in a pattern.

My hopelessly unpretty dessert. So much for presentation....

Before I could get a pretty picture of the confection however, the vanilla ice cream melted and collapsed to the side of the brownie, bubbling vanilla and chocolate puddles on to the wooden sides of the hot plate. I really caution you against trying to eat this dessert too soon as it would be hot. It is really a dessert to be savored slowly and patiently lest you ruin the experience with getting a burnt tongue.

A sauce boat with chocolate sauce.. Although it was too sweet but I like the fact that I had an option of adding more chocolate sauce instead of being content with how much the chef decides to give.

The chocolate brownie was okay and had nuts in them. The continuous heat from the hot plate however will make the base ever so slightly burnt and if you leave it long enough, the middle part of the brownie would become hard, almost like a cookie. The sauce was too sweet, most probably made from chocolate with low cocoa content. Not worth the RM12.90 I'm afraid.

Kobe Sizzlers also serves Western dishes, mainly served on hot plates as the name of the restaurant implies. The prices of these are pretty standard, about RM22++ each with seafood costing slightly more and fish being slightly cheaper than lamb, chicken or beef.

The service was sporadic, quite quick at serving (with the exception of my dessert) but slow on picking up plates even when you're obviously done.

In a nutshell I'd definitely be going back again whenever I need my curry or Puri fix. Hehe.. By the way, Kobe Sizzlers is located at Unit no B-G-15 & B-01-15 Warisan Square, 88800 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Until the next post. Cheers!

Petronas CNY Advertisement

CNY is coming to an end and what better way should we spend it than with another family reunion dinner and by watching #petronasCNY ad?

Monday, February 28, 2011

"French-fy" Your Eating Habits..

For the past 8 years of my life I have been trying to lose weight, drinking shakes and slimming teas, spending big bucks on diet pills and even prescription medicines. Needless to say, I’ve never succeeded in reducing my weight to lower than 68KGs.

Throughout those 8 years I bounced back and forth between "sensible" dieting and throwing caution into the wind by buying weight-loss ‘aids’ that I mentioned above. I would also alternate between exercising religiously and giving Ms Couch Potato herself a run for her money.

For the ‘sensible’ dieting and workout parts I gathered information from books on the subject, devouring the knowledge and theoretical parts but finding it burdensome and unable to practice it in real life. For one thing everything was so restrictive. Everything has to be low fat, whole grain, sugar-free, and light for it to be ‘healthy’.

Which begs the question if full cream milk for example is bad for us, why does it come out of the cow with that particular content of fats, vitamins and minerals in it? If fats and sugar are so bad, why is it naturally present in nuts and fruits respectively? If rice is so bad for us, why does it even exist on this Earth?

Deep in my heart I knew that all natural food sources are here for a reason and that no food groups should be excluded from our diets. However, desperation always did make me succumb to short bouts of totally ditching rice (only to eat it in two fold 3 to 4 days later).

This kind of yoyo dieting is the norm for me but after years of going through the same happiness and disappointments of losing and gaining weight, I was ready to quit and just be happy fat.

Then I discovered a book entitled ‘French Women Don’t Get Fat’ and I seriously feel like it is God-sent. This book doesn’t necessarily focus on healthy eating as we know it to be as much as balanced eating towards achieving weight-loss and wellness. It doesn’t include any charts of nutrient or calories, instead it puts enormous emphasis on eating for pleasure.

Despite being a bit distracted and ‘story-telling’-like at times, it’s still packed with practical and useful tips in pleasurable eating towards weight-loss without feeling deprived. It’s so good that I am thinking of sharing with all of you what I learn from this book in bite-sized portions.

I’m doing this simply because I want all of us to throw away our wonky ideas that has been burned into our minds of what and how weight-loss is supposed to be. I know so many girls who throw up after a meal, refuse to eat despite getting daily migraines and painful gastric attacks and taking laxatives or inflicting diarrhea upon themselves just to see the numbers on the scale go down.

Please, please, please enough with the body torture already! Being thin is not worth it at all if it’s at the expense of your health. Cliche as it may sound, our body IS a temple and we should respect it and treat it well.

Source

So are you ready to "French-fy" your eating habits?

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Itchy Heart: The Body Shop's Brush With Fashion Collection..

The Body Shop has launched it's new collection which is the Brush With Fashion and I've had my eye on this since when I first saw it in their brochures last month. I had checked at The Body Shop every week to see if it has been released here in Sabah since.

I haven't been to KK for the past two weeks so I'm not sure when exactly the collection was released. In fact I had quite forgotten about it until I saw it at Center Point about 2 days ago. Here's the collection:

Two eyeshadows, two lipgloss, a makeup base and a cheek tint

The eyeshadows....

But the product that really made my heart 'itch' with the desire to buy is this...

Illuminating Face Base

(It has a brush on one end and the base is peach colored with light-diffusing pearl. Love it!)

...and this (but not so bad la this one, still can tahan if I was to skip it)

Tailored cheek tint

Argh! I've made a solemn promise to myself to not buy unnecessary things and as much as I'd like it to be otherwise, I know that these are counted as just that. Huhu... I've swatched it at the store though and I really, really like it.

Now I'm wondering if these babies are worth taking a sabbatical from sensible spending... Hm...

P/S: All pictures from Google..

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Switch Up..

Last week I said in this post that I am planning to switch the contents of my makeup bag once a week or twice a month so that I won't get bored. After swatching countless shadows and careful deliberation, this is what I decided on for at least the next 7 days..