Food/Travel

Vacation Rentals

2 Comments

What sort of vacation rentals do you rent when you go on a vacation? Do you splurge and go for luxurious vacation rentals? Or do you go on a shoestring kinda vacation and go for cheap vacation rentals for backpackers?

I’m not rich, but every now and then I still need a break from my mundane world, and therefore, I’d go for the budget kinda vacation rentals like a lodge or a homestay for backpackers. They’re not only cheap, but comfortable, clean and homey as well. And you get to know friendly travelers from all over the world too in such places. It is much more interesting than renting at a luxurious hotels and whatnot where everyone minded their own business.

Continue Reading

Food/Travel

Arabian Knight

11 Comments

Well, not exactly Ariabian knight, but an Arabian cuisine night. Not long ago, I went to have these at Wadi Al Nile with Smallkucing’s family as well as our new blogger friend, Angel Bear.

Arabian mint tea.

The tea was nice and refreshing.

For starters, Paparazzi ordered hummus. Hummus is a is a Levantine Arabian dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. It is a popular food throughout the Middle East.

Gigantic Mulawah bread for just Rm4 to go with the Hummus. The bread is similar with our own roti canai or roti prata, except that it’s way bigger, flatter, crispier and is usually sprinkled with black sesame seeds. And instead of having it with spicy curry, the Arabians usually eat Mulawah bread with hummus, or potato stew.

Two scoops of ice cream with cherry on top each for the kids.

As usual, I go for my favourite Kabsa chicken rice.

My rice comes with tomatoey potato stew as well as special made chilli sauce. My boy loved the potato stew very much that he couldn’t help but asked for extra from his Auntie Mamarazzi. >.<

I had sparkling fruit drink known as Fayrouz. It was really nice. I liked the taste very much.

Angel Bear on the other hand, had Kabsa rice with lamb. Huge portion too. And just look at the generous chunks of lamb. She said it was nice and had no lamb smell whatsoever.

Mamarazzi ordered Mandi/Mandy Rice with grilled lemon flavoured chicken. To her surprise…the portion was really huge. And it’s enough for 4 full grown adults to eat!

Check out the size~! It’s so huge, and just for Rm15! I nearly faint when i saw it.

There was also Lamb Akhdah, an Arabic dish where lamb are cooked in tomatoey sauce and spices as well as sliced potatoes. It was really yummy. It’s one of my favourite that night, and would definitely order this again next time.

We had Banana Masoob for dessert. Masoob is a traditional Hijazi Dish and is basically bananas, (sometimes dates) and ground bread all mashed up together, served with honey. It’s a very nice dessert, and the portion was very, very huge too.

Drooling and wanna try some Arabic cuisine for a change? Well maybe you can give this restaurant a try.

Wadi AL-Nile Restaurant,No 72-0, Block J, Platinum Walk, No. 2, Jalan Langkawi, 53300 Setapak, Kuala Lumpur. Tel : 03-41312356.

Cleffairy: Opps, there’s no belly dancing or dances of seven veils here. Only seductive food. Thank you to Paparazzi and Mamarazzi for the generous dinner treat. And it’s nice to finally meet you, Angel Bear. Pictures are not mine. They’re all courtesy of Mamarazzi and Angel Bear.

Continue Reading

Food/Travel

Ireland’s Potatoes, Midvalley

19 Comments

I have the best dad in the world. He tends to indulge all my whims and fancy, and nobody can beat him in that. He’s still my no. 1 when it comes to indulging me.

Last month during his visit, he brought me to pig out in Ireland’s Potatoes, Midvalley, KL. And needless to say, I stuffed myself silly with all of those carbs and proteins that my body needs badly.

I saw this interesting Ireland’s proverb… There’s two things that cannot be joked. Marriage and potatoes. I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, but I agree that marriage is not something you can joke about. Saying ‘I do’ is like agreeing to eternal bondage, isn’t it? But then again, I’m kinky, bondage is fun. LMAO.

This is the counter where the Ireland’s Potatoes’ crew takes order from the starving customers. The kiosk is well designed, though I feel that it’s a tad too small. I wouldn’t consider dining in as well. The place is too small to my liking. It was stuffy, and it’s best if you order the food and take away instead.

My dad knows that I’m a sucker for anything cheesy, so he got me this, the Ireland’s Potatoes ‘Special Cheddar Cheese Potato chips’. The potatoes was yummy. It was topped with gooey cheese and it was generously sprinkled with bacon bits. Wouldn’t mind having another go of these anytime.

My dad says their BBQ chicken wings is something to die for, and I couldn’t agree more with him on that.

My dad knows that I missed my mum’s jacket potatoes, so he got me these to sink my teeth on as well. I have nothing against Ireland’s Potatoes Roast Cheese potato skins, but I still think my mum’s jacket potatoes is still the best.

Ireland’s Potatoes have a lot of potatoes varieties for you to choose from…and if I let my dad have it his way, I daresay he’d buy more than just 3 kind of dishes for me. Scary…I think he wanna stuff me til I’m rounder, but unfortunately for him, I have his genes. Hahaha… I can never grow an inch sideway, even if I stuff myself silly.

Anyway, if you suddenly feel like having potatoes and in the mood to ditch your diet, you might consider patronizing Ireland’s Potatoes. Below is the address:

Ireland’s Potato
LG-211, Lower Ground Floor The Gardens,
Mid Valley City, Lingakaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur

Continue Reading

Event coverage

MHBuddy and I MAS Travel Contest

8 Comments

Remember my Meow Meow blogged about me bringing back some toys for her, courtesy of MAS? Well… my husband and I were both invited to the MAS Traveler Blogger Party in Neo Tamarind, KL.

The purpose of this party is to launch their new Facebook Apps as well as the I MASTRAVEL Contest. We both had a lot of fun there. There was loads of things and freebies over there to keep us entertained.

I was really impressed with the whole event. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted with fresh orchids lei, which were draped around our neck as well as the top of our heads respectively. (Lei is a Hawaiian word for wreath or flower garlands).

Geezzz… I was practically on cloud nine. I may not get any roses for Valentine’s Day, but I got my February flowers after all. From MAS no less. I couldn’t get any luckier, can I? LMAO. God always gives me things that I wanted in the most spectacular and surprising ways.

We were then ushered to the party area where we’re greeted with these…

The traveling tree…

Fresh tamarind juice that I can’t get enough of (Well, yeah, I’m a sucker for sourish stuff like this.)

There was a generous fusion buffet spread prepared for bloggers and media people alike, but what caught my attention was this…pastas were prepared upon orders from the guests.

I ordered some fusion pasta for my husband and marinara spaghetti for myself. Please don’t ask how much helpings I had that night…cuz I certainly had more than two helpings. 😛

There was various activities during the party too.

There was various interesting backdrop for you to take your picture with. The pictures that were taken that night was printed and framed up for the guests on the spot to be brought home.

Sumo wrestling for the tough and adventurous…

MAS also took the trouble to hook up artistes to draw caricature portraits for the guests for free.

There was plenty of entertainment for everyone…

Exotic dance performed by the KL Haka Dancers for the ladies…

Plenty of belly dancing to entertain the gentlemen who attended the party as well…

There’s also goodies as a token of appreciation for the guests who attended the event…

And this is my loot that night. A traveling bag, a MAS Traveler T-shirt, a raincoat to keep myself dry when traveling on rainy days a pen from Yahoo! to write on my traveling journal with as well as two traditional musical instrument. The musical instruments were given to those who are already MAS Traveler members… and since my husband and I was one, we both got one each. Hmmm…now all I need is a bull-whip and a Fedora hat… then I’ll be ready to play Indiana Jones! 😀

The emcee of the night was the gorgeous Jojo Struys, who was also involved in the AIDS AWARE Campaign in The Gardens not long ago (Opppsss, I have yet to blog about that… *blush*…all right, I promise I’ll blog about that charity campaign after this… 😀 It was really a good campaign, I tell you… and for a good cause too)

I did mentioned earlier that there’s a reason for this blogger party, didn’t I? Well, the reason is this; the launching of MH Buddy as well as I MAS TRAVEL Contest.

MHbuddy is a Facebook application where the customers who book a flight are reminded of their friends who live at the destination they are headed for. MHBuddy users will also be prompted if any of their friends on Facebook are also planning to travel to the same destination.

With MHBuddy, it is also possible for travelers to share their itinerary with their friends on Facebook. MHbuddy users can also select their seats as well as view the seats of their friends travelling on the same flight. MHBuddy can be accessed from the Malaysia Airlines Facebook page.

And  then there’s I MAS Travel Contest. It is open to all bloggers and the prize is TWO All-Expense Paid Trips for the winners.

Here’s how you can join the contest:

  1. Register
  2. Submit a blog post (can even be an old post, as long as it’s your best travel post)
  3. Upload a video on why you deserve the prize
  4. Get as many ‘Likes’ as you can

And this, ladies and gentleman… is what you’re competing for…

In case you’re wondering, here’s the contest requirement and terms:

Contest Requirements and Terms

  1. Must be 18 years old and above.
  2. Must be a Malaysian Resident.
  3. Must be a member of Mastraveller.com.
  4. Contestants are not allowed to submit on behalf of other individuals.
  5. Contestants must own the rights of the submission content; MAS and Yahoo are not liable for removal of contest submission due to copyright infringement.
  6. This includes and not limited to write ups, photos, animations, videos or any other type of content format submitted.
  7. Only Facebook Likes on the contest page in Mastraveller.com are eligible to be counted as valid contest votes.
  8. For other terms and conditions, please refer to the full list of contest T&C here.
Well, what are you waiting for, folks? Head over and join the contest now. It ends 1st April 2011.
Cleffairy: I wonder how it’s like to travel and have fun for a living? Hmmm… tempting… very tempting.
Continue Reading

Food/Travel

Dolsot Bibimbap @The Food Garden, The Gardens

16 Comments

My dad treated me to a Korean meal the other day when we got tired of walking around in the Gardens. It’s Dolsot Bibimbap (Some sort of Korean Mixed Rice) with a side of extra sour and spicy Kimchi soup and complimentary sliced potatoes and kimchi. This Dolsot Bibimbap set cost Rm 22.90, if I’m not mistaken, inclusive of some iced watermelon dessert.

I was in heaven immediately when I gobbled these up, not only because the food was nice and to my liking, but because of the good service provided by the lady who owned the stall. I’ve been patronizing her stall for quite some time now, and she never failed to bow and greet me in Korean. Gosh, such good manners. If only Malaysian could also show such manners to others, especially the customers!


Cleffairy: What good will it do to you if you have no manners?

Continue Reading

A Penny For Your Thoughts, Food/Travel, Time Heals What Love And Reason Cannot

Excellent food, excellent service in Flying Chillies

20 Comments

Last month, my dad gave me a surprise visit. He was having a meeting somewhere in town and he dropped by and took me to a posh Thai Cuisine Restaurant to eat. He was actually craving for my Tomyam, he said I make the best Tomyam ever, better than my grandfather’s Tomyam, much to my mum’s chagrin.

My mum have been trying to imitate my Tomyam but couldn’t seems to get it right and she gets pretty annoyed with my dad each time he compared our Tomyams. I find my dad’s preference hard to believe, though. I’ve always thought my grandfather’s Tomyam is still the best. 😀 Nothing beats my grandfather’s authentic Siamese Tomyam!

Anyway, my dad brought me to this restaurant called Flying Chillies, The Gardens, Midvalley. I have a lot of things to say about this restaurant. No… not a bad review, but a very good one. A 5 star review, in fact.

The service is really good and the staff are really friendly. They move as quick as lightning and served within 10 minutes despite the peak hour.

Flying Chillies Restaurant, 3rd Floor, The Gardens, Midvalley.

Very nice and intimate surroundings.

They were having this special promotion for Golden Tomyam Siakap, but we didn’t order that. Instead, we ordered these:

Spicy Seafood Tomyam for 2. I’ve requested it to be less spicy, cuz I know that in these Thai restaurant, their Tomyam are really really spicy. The Tomyam was still very spicy, but bearable. It’s sourish like what Tomyam is supposed to be, so I guess this Tomyam is up to my liking. It was generous with seafood too. Loads of huge King prawns, squids and flower crabs in it.

My dad ordered these for me. *grinz* he knows me best. It’s my favourite tempura calamari. Goes very well with their special Thai sauce dip.

Flying Chillies’ shrimp omelet. Initially I thought it’ll be one of those ordinary omelet, but it turned out it taste very nice. The omelet was laden with sweet shrimps and  and shredded carrots. Very yummy.

And the main star of the meal: Fried fish.

Dad wanted fish. I wanted mango salad. So we compromised. We ordered this fried fish topped with mango salad. 😀 I don’t quite fancy fishes, you see. I hate the bones. But to my surprise… this fried ‘siakap’ is boneless. The chef had de-boned it at my dad’s request. Dad must be scared that I’ll choke myself silly while helping him to eat the fish.

Since it was boneless, I gobbled it up without any complains. I love the mango salad, it’s to die for. Very fresh and crunchy with the right amount of ‘nampla’ (fish-sauce), sweetened fried anchovies as well as dried shrimps. There’s also fried peanuts in it.

My dad tend to go overboard when he order food or drinks for me. I was busy snapping pictures, and when I went back to the table… he ordered 3 drinks for both of us to share. All of it are my favourite. *FAINT* Orange juice, iced lemon tea and Coke.

Total damage to daddy’s pocket: Rm165.00. Very expensive, but the service and the food is great. We were never ignored and the food came to our table in less than 15 minutes.

Dessert was sourish lemon ice cream. No picture, though, cuz I forgot to take a photo of it. 😀

Wanna try this place out? Here’s the address:

Flying Chillies,
T219, Third Floor, The Gardens, Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2287-7708 Fax: 03-2287-7710


Cleffairy: Next time I wanna eat at Tony Roma, Daddy! Let’s go eat the rib rack! Mwhahahaha!

Continue Reading

Food/Travel

McQuek Satay Celup

12 Comments

My husband and I actually got lost again on our last night in Malacca. We were lost all the way into Bukit Cina, the Chinese cemetery in Malacca where the legendary Princess Hang Li Po was laid to rest at. Actually it was a rumour that the legendary princess from Ming dynasty were buried there. There’s no actual historical evidence that says she was laid to rest in Bukit Cina.

I wonder what’s with me and my husband? We keep getting lost and ended up in cemetery where the ancient figures were buried… is someone trying to tell us something? I don’t know, but when we were in Bukit Cina, I was too freaked out to snap pictures. Bukit Cina is really, really scary at night, and my imagination started to run amok and I started to shiver and get goosebumps. I practically begged my husband to get out of there as soon as possible, and while we’re looking for a way out back into Malacca town, we ended up in McQuek Satay Celup.

Satay celup is just like steamboat. The only difference is while steamboat consists of soup and various seafood and meat, satay celup consists of all sort of seafood and poultry the special peanut sauce.

We didn’t plan to go to  McQuek Satay Celup, and we found out later on that the place is actually very famous both locally and internationally.

We arrived rather late. It was around 10.30pm when we were there. My family were the last few people who patronized the restaurant that night, and thank God for that. I really do hate crowds and it makes dining less pleasurable.

It’s well known even all the way to Taiwan. Celebrity Chef Chen Hong (Taiwan version of Chef Wan) went there to eat before too, in the year 2003.

My mouth was gaped open when I saw it. Who would have known, such a small restaurant in a secluded area in Malacca captured the heart of an International chef. Surprising indeed.

If you wonder how much the ‘steamboat satay celup’ cost, just look at the picture above. It costs around RM0.55, and there’s discounts offered for group of tourists and whatnot.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the peanut sauce. Locally, it’s known as kuah satay or kuah kacang. It’s made from ground peanuts, chillies, coconut milk as well as sugar. It’s sweet and spicy, and it’s very thick. Yes, it’s very thick and not diluted, so it tasted really, really heavenly.

I took a lot of satay and dumps it into the hotpot so that it can be cooked.

Satay… chicken satay, beef satay,seafood satay…

There’s also veggies, quail eggs and fishball satay….

But my favourite got to be these… the sweet and succulent king prawn satay. It’s really yummylicious, and I daresay we ate more than 30 sticks of these king prawn satays.

We ate a total of 60 satays… and the total damage to the pocket including 2 can of iced cokes is… Rm 36.00. 😀 Not bad, eh? The food was absolutely fresh and the peanut sauce was to die for too…

Cleffairy: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… once I caught a prawn alive… 6, 7, 8, 9, 10… and they’re all in my mouth and down my tummy… 😀

Continue Reading

Food/Travel

House of Worship in Jalan Tukang Emas, Malacca

4 Comments

I was staying in Jalan Tukang Emas (Goldsmith Street) when I was backpacking with my family in Malacca. And I saw these house of worships… they’re beautiful, and they’re old too. Can you guess which one is a mosque?

Picture no. 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

If you’re an observant person, you’d realize which one is actually a mosque. 😀


Cleffairy: Mosques does not necessarily have domes.

Continue Reading

Food/Travel, Sponsored/Paid Post

Beautiful Costa Rica

No Comments

Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east.

Costa Rica is a word in Spanish which bears the meaning: ‘The Rich Coast’. And it is true in many ways as Costa Rica is rich… in terms of tourism industry, that is. Apart from the beautiful beaches that attracts millions of tourists and beach lovers per year, costa rica real estate is aplenty too, providing real estate costa rica and costa rica vacation rentals for those who needed it during their stay in Costa Rica.

Being a free-spirited child of the sea… I long for the day where I could frolic around in the sea once again instead of just being stuck here in the in front of the concrete jungle, day in, day out, slaving all day long.

Continue Reading

Food/Travel

Buying belacan in Tg. Kling, Melaka

12 Comments

During my recent road trip to the historical Malacca, I also went to buy some local foodstuff somewhere in Tanjung Kling, a fisherman village in the outskirt of Malacca.

The food stuff there is much more cheaper than the locally produced goods sold in Malacca Town itself.

Along the small roads in Tanjung Kling, there’s loads of stalls selling their locally produced goods. I decided to just drop by at the one below… the one with Malacca state flags hanging on the roof.

Loads of locally produced food stuff. Belacan, keropok, cookies, gula Melaka, you name it.

Varieties of belacan (fermented shrimp paste) as well as salted fishes.

The small stall in the outskirt of town also sold varieties of keropok… some are already ready to be eaten, while the rest are not…if you happened to buy those are not ready to be eaten, you’re gonna have to deep fry it. 😀

The stall is also selling cincaluk, budu, dried cendol, dried cha cha, dodol, rojak sauce and many more local delicacies.

Overall, the food stuff price in the village of Tanjung Kling is much more cheaper than those shops in Malacca Town. 😀 I’m glad we made time for a little tour around Tanjung Kling, or I’d probably be slaughtered alive if I were to buy food stuff in town.

Cleffairy: The simplest things are sometimes a luxury that many can’t afford.

Continue Reading