Monday, February 26, 2007

Pre-CNY prep

~*~*~*Pre-CNY prep*~*~*~

Remember i told you about how stressful it was trying to get an appointment for a decent mani- pedi session pre-CNY?
Well, many thanks to Lynda for recommending The Nail Lacquer Room to us.

And thank you Jasmine for accommodating us at the very last minute. =)

Our appointments were at 11am and 12pm respectively as we couldn't get a booking for the both of us at the same time due to the human traffic.

We were impressed with how friendly and how much effort the staff at Nail Lacquer Room put into making sure our nails look impeccable. Yes, despite the busy-ness.

We actually spent 3.5 hrs altogether...that's pretty long, especially at busy times like this. Most nail salons would just colour our nails and that's it. No spas, no cuticle trimmings, no scrubs, no massages watsoever. Very sad ya.

However, Jasmine, the Director of Nail Lacquer Room feels that it shouldnt be this way. Customers need to be pampered at times like this. I so totally agree! =)




The Nail Lacquer Room has a very cosy and warm ambience. It feels like a second home.









Jasmine wanted a "close-to-home, close-to heart" concept.

She designed this place to look very cosy-like, perfect for chilling out. According to her, lots of residence from Perdana View Condo actually thought this place sells furniture instead.

There's a nice kitchen to make drinks for the customer. And there's a cabinet laden with books and reading materials. I of cos, chose the fashion mags. No hardcore reading for me during my mani and pedi sessions.








We were served CNY cookies and chinese tea. Pineapple tart missing from the picture as it's already in moi mouth. hehe..







Sis trying to decide whether she should stick to doing a french manicure or to choose one of the many nail art designs.






She decided to go for french mani and pedi with nail art.






I was kinda lost too..dint know which design to choose.






Finally made up my mind. Chose the indian-inspired design for my toes (RM7 each), and the floral one for my fingers (RM5 each).





I decided to pamper myself with:

Sparitual Manicure - RM28 (np: RM65)
Sparitual Pedicure - RM43 (np: RM88)

There's a promotion for Sparitual spa treatments at the moment. The 50% off will be ending soon.

Nail arts - RM34

Total damage - RM105


Jasmine giving my hand a good massage. Me almost dozing off. Gosh, I was so tired.







Vivian drawing on my toes.







The tools for nail art. i love the beads and diamantes.





My newly painted toe. :p







The flowers very "cina" right? I wasn't expecting this effect, but i figured it's okie for CNY la.





By the time we finished, it was 2:30pm, we were famished. So we went off to Ikea to grab a sausage before doing some last minute shopping.


Caryn's nails look so yummilicious. She's got Barbie-doll french manicure. That's what i call it! So damn sweet!



Caryn's mani n pedi turned out really nice.



plus my fingers..



The Nail Lacquer Room
B-G-03, Perdana View Condo,
21, Jalan PJU8/1,
Bandar Damansara Perdana,
47820 P.J.
Tel: 603-7713 2173
Email:
tnlr29@streamyx.com




~*~*~* Decos at home*~*~*~


Bought some peonies to deco up the place a bit for CNY. Caryn's work.




The Tang's residence is open for CNY open house visit. Let us know if you wanna come over.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Best Loh See Fun in KL

~*~*~*Best Loh See Fun in KL*~*~*~
Aijoo...I've been pigging out so much during this festive season.

Started my bingeing sessions pre-CNY already. So, instead of trying to stay trim for CNY - to fit into my CNY outfits. I actually did the opposite.


Yups, i dint bother controlling my food intake. How very smart. :p


A day before my Malacca trip, I went to check out this place called Restoran Sheng Kee, along Petaling St. Have been told they serve the best loh see fun around town.

This place is so famous that it was even documented in our local good-food programme "Ho Chak".





This place was so packed with ppl that it took us a while to be seated.




Mmm...it's the egg which makes the loh see fun very smooth.



Gotta make sure the egg is mixed thoroughly so that every bit of loh see fun is coated with egg.



YuMmm..this goes very well with their special sambal belacan.



I dun actually know the location though. It's actually located along the shoplot opposite Wisma Selangor (or something liddat).

You'll see: lotsa gas tongs by the walkway, a few chefs frying/cooking, lotsa smokes. The chefs actually do their cooking by the walkway outside the shop/restaurant.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Malacca - lovely city!

~*~*~*Malacca - lovely city!*~*~*~
Warning: this is a long post. Click "x" if you do not have the time.



~*~*~* Why i like Malacca so much*~*~*~

1) Love the Food - nothing beats Malaccan food.

This place boasts the best Peranakan food, ever!

But sorry, due to the fact that i only had 1 day, i didnt go to any baba nyonya eatery to makan.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Our 1st stop : Restoran Chung Wah for their infamous Chicken Rice Ball.


This is my absolute favourite! There are lotsa commercialised chicken rice ball stalls out there, and they are NOT NICE at all! So beware.


Look at all the yummilicious chicken rice balls. They are so fragrant and delicious.


I can eat 10 at one go! Yups ten! It's like i'm eating fish ball liddat, but a more aromatic version.


How many can you eat?


The chicken here is also very good. Very smooth and the smell of sesame oil is too overpowering.. MmmMmm..




2nd stop: Low Poh Peng from Poh Keong


After whacking the chicken and the rice balls, we went searching along Jonker St for the best "low poh peng" (wife biscuit in Cantonese).

Low poh peng (lpp) is a pastry with wintermelon paste as fillings. Not many places can produce yummy lpp.

This place does!


They're famous for that. You can actually track the place by the smell of freshly baked biscuits.


When we arrived, we were kinda disappointed cos these are all the low poh pengs they have left. I wanted to buy at least 20. They've only got 14.




Their pineapple tarts are pretty good as well.




Didn't try their tambun though.


If you're a lpp and pineapple tart lover like me, you might wanna take down this add:

POH KEONG ENTERPRISE
No. 81, Jalan Tokong, 75200 Melaka.
012-613 4338, 012-353 1577


The lpp is as good as the ones in HK and Macau dearies.

Only RM0.90 for a piece of lpp.

3rd stop: Cendol at Jonker 88


After buying our lpp and tarts, we happily moved on to our fave cendol place.


If you frequent Jonker St a lot, you'll notice that this place is always filled with patrons enjoying their multi-flavoured cendols and laksas.

Do check out:

Jonker 88
House of Musuem Cafe
88, Jalan Hang Jebat, 75200 Melaka.
Tel: 06-286 8786
website:
www.jonker88.com


I love their cendol cos it is smothered with gula melaka (palm sugar) instead of the common brown sugar.

Look at the "gao-ness" (thickness) of the gula melaka. YumMmm




Love it cos it's not too sweet. And the sweetness of the gula melaka makes this whole cendol taste very exotic.

RM1.70 for a bowl. =)




What's better than enjoying cendol at a place like this? It's such a huge baba house. So old, so traditional. Sommore, Teresa Teng's music was playing in the background.

I feel was if i was transported decades back.


After our cendol session, we went to visit my god-daughter in Bukit Cina.


~*~*~*About 1.5 hrs later.....*~*~*~

We returned again to Jonker 88 for another bowl of cendol and some light snacks as we were hungry again.

If you haven't tried "goreng goreng" before, it's time to do so.

Goreng means fried. Basically, goreng-goreng consists of your typical yong tau fu ingredients all fried up...


And why issit special? It's the baba sauce.


They used to serve fried yam cake as part of goreng-goreng. But not anymore. Was kinda disappointed. Also, it used to taste even better with shredded green mangos, now only left cucumber.

But still, it's pretty good.


I tell you, it's the baba sauce! Its da bomb!

RM3 for a plate of goreng-goreng. Still cheaper than loh bak in KL. Much yummier too!



Trust me, you gotta pour all the baba sauce and toss them together. Ask for another plate of sauce if not enough. hehe


We ordered the Baba Laksa. It was pretty spicy for me, but my sisters didnt agree. RM3.50 and the portion was very generous.



4th stop: Satay Celup


In order to hasten digestion, we decided to walk all the way to Lorong Bukit Cina - our next stop. For satay celup.


Gosh, it took us longer than expected, and it was a bad choice walking so freaking far in heels. I badly needed to sit by the time we reached. =(

We went to the original satay celup place

Capitol Satay
41, Lorong Bukit Cina,
75100 Melaka.
Tel: 06-283 5508/ 012-229 5505


To be honest, we were so full. We didnt really order much.


The staff kept adding gula melaka and ground nuts into the satay sauce. They were damn generous with the ingredients la.


My concern is: do they actually replace this pot or do they recycle it and serve the next batch of customers with the same pot? *shudder*

Good thing we were one of the earliest customers there. At least we had a fresh pot??

Look at the selection of food. Not bad at all. RM0.50 a stick is cheap man! You can't get this price for a stick at Fatman's Lok-lok.



Our selection was pretty pathetic at first. We were really stuffed. However, after the first stick, we somehow topped up and took more stuffs. Siao!



Someone's definitely enjoying her satay celup.

I love the century eggs! I hate 2 plateful! ehehe


Love how the texture of century egg and how it melts in my mouth. *drooling*


Capitol's Wall of Fame. Apparently, lotsa celebrities makaned there before.



2) Love the Vintage buildings and beautiful artifacts abundance!


took this picture at Jonker 88. Lotsa antique telephones and irons. Dad loves collecting these irons.


Found this beautiful lantern outside a baba house.


i like these tiles.
i like how women in the 20's and 30's era dressed. the nicely curled hair, the cheongsams.
Gorgeous!


was walking along heeren st or was it jonker st when i stepped on this. the walkway of the baba house was covered with such beautiful flooring. i likes~

chinois masks




checked out the Cheng Ho museum. They've transferred the Cheng Ho well here.


I didnt know that you can actually get your mahjong set "washed". For all mahjong lovers out there, now you know where to go la!


RED wall


ahem...lotsa "SS" shots from here.

SS = shiok sendiri/camwhoring. :P




Malacca is such a beautiful place. In fact, you can take a picture anywhere and it'll still look good. :P




talk about depth and perspective =)


i love my Carrie Bradshaw dress!





dun laugh!:P

i was mimicking a Jap tourist's pose. She was doing something similar to wat i was doing, only more exaggerated. heh!


Claudine trying out the pose while snickering.



3) Love the Shopping


We went to the night market along Jonker St as we wanted to taste more street fares and buy/look see at stuffs.


We found this cute toy. There is a button for you to manouver at the bottom and it actually moves! Very simple but effective mechanism.

A Classic!


We bought 6 of these toys altogether. Very cute!


Have a good look at this pair of earrings. Nice or not?

Hnnh! I bought this from KL for RM15.

Get this, i found this same pair at Jonker St, for ....RM10 for 4 pairs! BUGGER!
I got conned BIG TIME!!!!!!!


Bought this beautiful pair for like RM5. By far, my cheapest pair of earrings. =)


Damn retro looking right?


In short, these are the reasons why i like Malacca. In my very humble opinion.