Lafite - The Verdict
*long post, I'm bitching. This post reflects entire on my personal opinion. It's up to you to agree or disagree.

The Arrangement:
The bosses had agreed that the whole company should go for a nice lunch somewhere, to some place which we would normally not go to on our own, and that they would subsidise RM 50 per pax. So our internal organising committee (consisting of Asst Managers as they are known, the FFC) got together and the decision was to bring everyone to Lafite @ Shangri-la, KL. The arrangement was that we'll go for lunch there, and that each person will only have to fork out at most, RM 25 per pax to cover the remaining cost (bosses had the Shang card which entitles them a discount, which meant the meal should not cost more than RM 75 per pax).

Upon Arrival
We all took our seats and got comfortable. Waiters approached us and asked if we wanted any fruit juices. Some of my colleagues ordered from the choice of fruit juices, as we thought it was part of the meal package. No one was given any beverage menu. We only got the main dish menu, and the price stated was RM 82++. No one was informed that fruit juices was of different price. I didn't order any fruit juices, instead, I asked for warm water. 5 minutes later, I got my warm water & a glass of fruit juice was placed in front of me. I looked around and saw most of my colleagues also had fruit juices, so I figured it was probably part of the meal course. Go figure~

Another colleague at another table inquired if the fruit juices were part of the meal course. The waiter said yes.

The Appetizers:
Appetizers are buffet style, you just take as many helpings as you want from the glass display at the centre. Some of the appetizers were pretty ok, but nothing really extraordinary which would make you go (make me go anyway) "Oh wow! This is fabulous!".

The glass piece at the centre, surrounding by the appetisers. Imagine a naked chick bathing in the centre...

Clockwise from left: duck slices, kebab (this ain't french!) and crab meat wrapped with salmon.

Clockwise from left: asparagus, egg mayo sandwich wrapped with salmon and tuna.

Clockwise from left: teriyaki watermelon, mango shot, some bun (I forgot what is was) and Parmesan sticks.

Caviar, with bits of mussels and tomato puree. No it's not beluga caviar.

The Main Course:
There were a few choices for main course; duck, chicken, lamb, cod fish and salmon to name a few. I ordered the cod fish. Since Lafite is supposedly some "Progressive French Fine Dining" concept, the plates which the mains were served in are big, and the mains arranged nicely at the centre. My cod was pretty ok, portion was a little bigger than I had expected (it is fine dining you know). However, it was a tad too salty for my liking. I tried my colleague's Irish Stew, and although the meat was very tender and tasty, again it was a tad too salty. Even my colleague agreed. Salt must be really cheap these days, hmm... Sodium laden dishes must be the trend.

Cod Romesco (the cod fish main I ordered)

Salmon

Irish stew

Lamb

I asked for more warm water. 15 minutes later and no sign of my water coming. I asked another waitress again and she refilled my cup.

The Desserts:
Waiters went around asking if we wanted coffee or tea. Again no mention if those would incur any additional cost. Some of my colleagues ordered coffee and tea. I had neither.

From right to left: 1) green tea ice-cream with biscuit & raspberry sauce 2) chocolate cream with bits of banana 3) strawberry meringue 4) orange slice with chocolate (can't recall the actual description) 5) raspberry flavoured marshmallow

Dessert was served on a piece of dark tile (very heavy piece of tile, it could kill a cow). The idea was to eat from right to left, in order to fully enjoy and experience all the many flavours. 5 different desserts to tantalise your taste buds. I think the only dessert which I enjoyed was the chocolate cream. The rest were just so-so. The raspberry sauce on the cracker was sure sour, and the marshmallow tasted a little like cough syrup (raspberry flavoured marshmallow, all light and fluffy).

My colleague sitting next to me ordered a cup of coffee. It took forever to come.

The Finale: Bosses settled the bill. Everyone went back to the office, some feeling very full, some feeling that it wasn't a satisfying lunch.

The Collection:
RM 50 subsidised by the bosses, the remaining amount of an estimated RM 25 would be out from our own pockets, right? It was later revealed during collection that the fruit juices were not part of the meal package at all. In fact, each glass cost RM 20++. Fwaking hell! So, instead of forking out RM 25, those that had the fruit juice had to fork out RM 50 instead. Ouch! Many unhappy and dissatisfied faces, many disgruntled feelings. Boss was also not happy when he heard from us about how we were given fruit juices when we didn't order them. They were overcharged as well.

The Conclusion:
1) Lafite - Lafite waiters & waitresses made no mention about their menu, only showing us the menu for the mains. Whether or not this is in fact, their method of service, as a F&B outlet, I find them rather unethical. Firstly, don't serve your customers something which they never ordered. Second, when a customers inquires if the beverage if part of the course, don't lie. Third, show your customers the full menu. And when your customers asked about the details, don't try to squeeze your way out of it. Your customers have the right to know. And buck up on your service. You're located in a 5-star hotel, better live up to expectations.

2) The organising committee - Next time, do get your facts right when planning. Check the finer details. A miscommunication which could've been avoided had created false assumptions and led to many unhappy feelings.

Would Oli go back there? No. Even if the fruit juice incident didn't occur, Oli wouldn't go back there because the food quality is not that great. Unless you're a big fan of sodium, I wouldn't recommend Lafite at all. You could try it, I'm not stopping you. This is, after all, my personal opinion on Lafite. I wouldn't go back there because for the price they charge, I can get better food quality in many other places. Fine dining is all about the ambience, food is secondary. This is Lafite in my eyes. A one-time experience. Oli would go for good food above ambience anytime.

Read More

Rim Hunt
Hubby and I, together with another neighbour Min and his wife, spent a couple of hours today in Klang. The objective: To hunt for some nice rims for our car :D

Min is a car enthusiast, that's how we would describe him. So it was only the correct thing to do to ask for his advice on which shop to go to in order to not get ripped off. You know la... if you end up in the wrong shop, you might get ripped off so bad you wouldn't know what hit you until it's too late. So Min took us to one of the regular car shops he frequented in Klang.

Ee nee mee nee mai nee mo!

A whole shelf full of rims and 4 heads. Quite an interesting combination, ehehehehehe! The mechanic talked to us quite a bit and gave us explanations of the different types of rims and such. Just choose any rim that suits your fancy, and they will prop it up to your tyre to see if the rim looks good on your car.

The above rim was one of the rims which actually took my fancy. It was a matte black rim, with a thin red ring around it. I've always preferred matte over glossy/chrome colours. Glossy/chrome colours always makes me think of ahbengs :P But before confirming on this rim, we decided to visit a couple more shops first to check out more options (and also compare pricing, window shopping ma!). We compared 2 black rims, and my 1st choice is the one you see above. Min preferred the 2nd black rim, which was my 2nd choice (it's a black rim with a thin red ring as well, but the spokes have a different design). Going rim hunting made Min think about switching his car rims now, ehehehehehe!

There are just so many rims available in the market, it's seriously quite hard sometimes to just settle for one design. Sometimes you might like a certain rim, but it doesn't come in the size you want. Sometimes maybe the rim design looks good when you look at it, but when it's attached to your car, it may not look good after all. And on top of that, if you're switching to rims which is of a different size from the rims that came with your car, you have to invest in a new set of tyres too. So many factors!

After much window shopping and consideration, we decided to head back to the 1st shop where we saw the black rim and get those for our car. Upon us reaching there, we saw that very same rims being attached to another car!!!! O_O The mechanic couldn't help but laugh and said he has no more stock of that same rim design. But he did try to call some of his other mechanic friends to see if there's another set available. So while he and the guys were negotiating, I told hubby to reconsider the 2nd choice black rim.

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. Because when we saw tha above rim being fixed to the other car, I thought it looked kinda flat, haha! Even Min felt the same way. It felt like the rim didn't have enough depth. Hence I said to hubby to tell the mechanic again to bring the 2nd black rim over to our car and we take a look again. And that move finalised our decision. Fix it up, boys!

Prepping the car for the brand new rims.

A mechanic prepping the rims to be fixed with the brand new tyres.

Where's the tyre?!?

And there you have it. Fierce or not? LOL! Brand new rims with brand new tyres :D This is a Continental 195/50/R16. Ok, I'm not much of a car enthusiast like Min is, but at least I know how to read these numbers and am able to tell what means what XD

Next project for our car is.... the body kit~~~! No, we don't plan to pimp our ride. Hubby just plans to do some simple modifications to make the car a little sporty. Hehe!

Read More

Highlights
1. Political
The Tun continues to bombard and hentam the current administration. This old man betui-betui dowan to give up hor? Dah lah retire, step down, still want to fight. This lah, that lah. Habis-habis nak orang ikut kate dia. He's been twisting his words for the past 20 years. His dictatorshp has ended, like give up old man. You've had your time, and you've chosen to step aside, so step aside like you should. All the current political shits were your doing anyway. No, I'm not your fan. No I don't worship you nor the ground you walk on. You've done more than enough damage to last the country several decades. Yes you've brought tremendous development to the country. But those came with a heavy price, which the citizens are paying for.

2. Prodigy or Not
This Sufiah case is so boring. Yes it's sad a prodigy like her has winded up to be a high class escort. There's nothing any of us can do about, because she chose that path on her own, and she's happy! She didn't ask for anyone to help her nor rescue her. It's her choice lah, leave her alone. If you wanna blame someone, blame her parents and society for pushing her to the brink of self destruction to achieve something that was never in her plan or control. We're so concerned about our children scoring straight As and getting fantastic grades, that many of them no longer know what's it like to have fun and enjoy their childhood/teenage years. Everything is so academically driven, we're churning out robots rather than smart, pro-active people. Everything is about how many As you can score in an examination. And when kids don't fare as well they expect themselves to fare, they go kill themselves. Sigh~

3. Pigs for Clients
They first tell you they want something out of the ordinary. They want to stand out of the crowd, they want to be different. They're tired of portraying such a serious image, they want to be more approachable, more friendly and fresh. They tell you they're open the new ideas, anything conceptually interesting that would bring them out from their gloomy boxes. So you and the team sits down and work through some new idea for them. You come out with 3 different concepts for the client, each with their own strengths and uniqueness. Come presentation time, you showcase the ideas to the clients. And the ironic thing is always this...

"We actually prefer something safer you know. All these concept concept, we dunno how to intepret lah..."

... %*$@%*@^$(&@)*#)!&)$ cipet... -_-"

Read More

It Still Hurts
The pain.

It's still there.

I still weep inside.

A silent cry.

Time will heal all wounds.

I just need time.

Read More

Nam Yee Pork Chunks! (non-halal)
Nam yee is actually fermented red bean curd. It's reddish in colour, and can be found in most hypermarkets. There's a white version of this, called "foo yee", which is cream in colour and also used as a cooking ingredient i.e: foo yee with yau mak (roman lettuce).

Yummilicious pork chunks~~~~ *drools*

This is one of our favourite dishes: nam yee pork chunks (or pork ribs if we use ribs). Just the other weekend, hubby and I were at Tesco and thought of buying some pork from the non-halal section. And I figured, hey, let's cook the nam yee again. It's been a while since we had that dish :D And so we got ourselves some pork belly this time (usually we'll get some baby pork ribs).

We got home, and I got to cleaning the piece of porky, and cutting it to chunks. These are the marinating ingredients:

Note: The amount stated are for approx 500 grams of meat
1 piece of nam yee
1 tsp nam yee juice
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp five spice powder
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp plain flour
3 tbsp corn flour
1 egg
1 tsp chopped coriander/cilantro (optional)

Combine the meat with the marinade and mix well. Marinate for a few hours or overnight. I usually marinate meat overnight for a stronger flavour and tender meat texture, hehehehehehe! Heat up the oil and deep fry the meat until golden brown. And your pork is ready :D

Just the sigh of it makes you drool, eh? I got this recipe from a cooking book which my mum gave us when we moved into our house. The original recipe was for 1kg of meat, so if you're using 500 grams, just half everything. Actually recipes are like guides, you can tweak them to suit your taste. The original recipe actually added 100ml of water, but when I mixed the meat with all the ingredients, it was moist enough, didn't need water at all (the egg should provide enough moisture).

.... Now I'm feel like eating nam yee pork!!!! Argh!!!!!

Read More

Observing In Silence
I had initially typed a draft regarding this post, but decided to not post it due to some reasons. Rather, I think it's probably best to delete whatever I've drafted out.

Like the saying goes... some things are better left alone. I prefer to observe in silence. Rant about it for a while, then forget about things :)

Read More

Baked Macaroni!
An easy dish to whip up. Doesn't take long and doesn't cost much :D All you need is some pasta (macaroni or penne if you like), some butter or olive oil, chopped garlic, some chicken breast meat or ham, white button mushrooms (yum!), spaghetti sauce (I like Prego), mozzarella cheese and chopped parsley.

Mouth watering~~~ YumYumYum!

Fillet the chicken breast to bite size, and marinate them with some flour, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Then bring a pot of water to boil and cook the macaroni (250 grams is more than enough for 2-3 pax). Once the macaroni is cooked, set aside. Heat up another pan, coat it with butter/olive oil (I used unsalted butter) and stir-fry the chicken, garlic and mushrooms. Empty a small can of Prego classic sauce into the pan and toss. Then toss the cooked macaroni into the sauce and toss again for a few minutes. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and coat it with mozzarella cheese (I added a dash of Parmesan cheese too, hehe!). Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Garnish with chopped parsley. Simple yet yummy. Can't go wrong with this one!

Now you see it...

Now you don't...!

I don't normally measure my ingredients exact. Most of the time I just 'agak'. I have recipes and they act as my guide. A lot of times I will tweak the recipes, trial and error, heh!

Read More

Back On Track + Hiatus
It's good to be back :)

I am very grateful to have married a very good man, who was with me throughout this whole experience. Giving me hugs and warmth when the sky was looking gloom. Yes I am blessed.

I also want thank my family for being there to support me. And not forgetting my friends who've sent me kind and supportive words. I know some of you have been kinda shocked and shy to ask me anything when you heard the news. Don't worry about it, Oli's doing fine really. One of my close neighbour (Eleen) even spared some time from her work to pay me a visit when I was on medical leave. Thank you dearie, you have such a kind heart.

Oli's gonna be away for a few days, it's Ching Ming again and she's following her hubby back to his hometown for the annual event. Quite a timely event for this year, I would say. And in some ways, I'm also not looking forward to it... Because I keep getting the feeling my in-laws are gonna be asking loads of questions...

The other day they had called hubby to inquire what had happened. You see, some of the older generation are still very conventional in terms of mentality (strong taboos, superstitions etc). So for them to hear such news, they had automatically assumed if there's something wrong with *ahem* me. Of course hubby cleared the air that this can happen to anyone, and that my health is not an issue. Maybe I'm letting my thoughts run too far... But somehow I'm anticipating they'll say something when we go back.

Gotta relax and just let things flow~~~~ Falalalalalala~~~~

Read More