wAntAn productions

Swimming in a Pool of Bokeh

2008-06-29T16:59:00.000+08:00

Just because this blog needs an update :)

How I feel about the RM2.70 petrol price

2008-06-04T18:23:00.001+08:00

Vomit Blood!

Bong Sen Vietnamese Restaurant, KLCC

2008-05-27T00:08:00.000+08:00

Has anyone heard that I changed jobs? It's true. I'm now working near the KLCC area. Before this I spent one and a half years in Putrajaya. Even though there was basically nothing to eat in Putrajaya there was always Dengkil and Equine Park nearby where we could get cheap and affordable food.

Working in KL is a whole new ballgame. You're confined to eating lunch at locations nearby because it's mighty impractical to drive out for lunch. First of all you'll have problems with finding parking. Secondly, parking costs will kill you. Unfortunately if you're working near the KLCC area your choices for affordable food isn't all that great.

This post isn't about affordable food. Far from it. Shortly after I joined there happened to be an outgoing colleague. I hardly knew her but I still tagged along to her farewell lunch. It was held at Bong Sen. A Vietnamese restaurant located on the top floor of the KLCC mall. Right next to Chakri.

Being a "set" kind of guy I ordered their set lunch. Basically they allow you to combine an appetizer, a main course and a drink and charge you a set price for it. It was about RM30. I can't remember the specific figure. Frankly speaking I was quite hesitant to spend 30 bucks on lunch but sometimes you just have to go with the flow and hope you didn't pay so much for a lousy lunch.

Vietnamese Prawn Rolls. A decent start to my meal. I started thinking maybe I would get my RM30's worth after all.

Cham. A soda plus (was it?) lime drink. They serve this with a small pot of syrup (sugar water) because the drink is quite tasteless. Thought it was interesting when I looked at the menu. I was dead wrong. If you're ever here don't ever order this. I poured half a pot of syrup into the drink and it still didn't taste good. I didn't bother adding more because I was afraid of drinking so much sugar :)

Pho. The famous Vietnamese Beef Noodles. I order this at every Vietnamese place I go to. Some are good and some are bad. Bong Sen's noodles belonged in the latter category. A colleague of mine described this dish best. She said it was more like the local Beef noodles with Kuey Teow. I couldn't agree with her more.

It's obvious to me why Bong Sen is consistently the least crowded lunch time establishment in KLCC. Do I really need to spell it out?

Kit Yi is 7 months old

2008-05-26T22:58:00.002+08:00

Just a little post to remind me of some Kit Yi milestones.

At 5 months old. We suddenly noticed that she could sit very well. 2 months later she hardly falls down while sitting anymore.

In fact nowadays we don't have much use for the stroller. Whenever we go out to eat, Kit Yi goes to the baby chair.

Also at 5 months, we started feeding her some solid food.

2 months on, she still makes a mess of eating :)

Nowadays she's taken to doing the 'boo-boo' ritual. We don't have any idea why. She probably just likes to do it.

This is one of my favourite Kit Yi pictures. Well except for the drool part.

Oh yeah and last week I spotted her first tooth. It's coming out from the bottom.

TheStar.com.my predicts the future Prime Minister?

2008-04-11T09:54:00.002+08:00

ST alerted me early this morning about an article that The Star Online put up. Apparently someone put Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's face on the article instead of the intended picture of our current PM. Things like this are good for a morning laugh :)

I'm wondering if this will be a reality soon. It's probably no big secret that DSAI harbors and intention to be the PM and there's speculation that he will be making his moves within the month. Interesting times lie ahead.

They have since changed the picture.

Original article is here.

Aunty Yong Pan Mee, Equine Park

2008-04-08T18:19:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I paid a visit to Aunty Yong's Pan Mee which was recently mentioned by kampungboycitygal. I was filled with anticipation. After all I'm a huge fan of Pan Mee.

I parked my car at the parking lots opposite the restaurant and walked towards it. Getting there is not a big problem for people who work in Cyberjaya or Putrajaya as most of us do head to Equine Park for lunch from time to time. If you're not familiar with the area the only tip I can offer is that it's located among the shops behind Jusco.

As I was walking towards the shop I could smell the aroma of Pan Mee in the air. A very promising start. I took a seat. Waited a little while but didn't see anyone coming to serve me so I walked towards the auntie doing the cooking and delivered my order. Apparently this place serves very slowly so I was rather impatient.

The auntie politely asked me to sit down and wait for someone to take my order. Ok dokie. Sat down again and not long after someone took my order. Waited 10 minutes or so and it came...

Large Soup Mushroom Pan Mee

I believe any good Pan Mee shop will serve up an excellent bowl of Soup Pan Mee (i.e. the way it's meant to be eaten) although I personally prefer to eat the dry version most of the time.

First impression; the bowl of noodles is huge! Shouldn't have ordered the large size.

I quickly dug in. The noodles were super smooth. I'm not sure how they do it but I don't think any other shop makes pan mee as smooth as this. In fact they were so smooth I had a tough time picking them up with my chopsticks.

Sounds great right? Unfortunately the taste leaves a lot to be desired. The soup is very very plain. If you share my tastes you won't enjoy this pan mee. Not only that but you don't really get much ingredients with your bowl of noodles. More mushrooms and potato leaves would do wonders for the taste.

The size of the dish is pretty commendable though. I had a hard time finishing the whole thing. If I ever go back I'm going to order the small sized one.

The whole meal was RM4.50 plus a cup of iced Chinese tea which probably means the noodle itself is priced at RM4.00. Worth the money if you want to get really full. Too bad the taste is so plain.

The Magic of Cropping

2008-04-02T16:29:00.002+08:00

I was just playing around with the Edit Photo feature in Flickr courtesy of Picnik. It's pretty useful for doing simple stuff like cropping and rotations. It's also got some nifty filters like the vignetting filter I used for this picture. I've always been too lazy to fire up Photoshop to clean up pics so this Picnik stuff is a godsend.

Before

After

Picture is noisy because of ISO 1600 (plus the fact that I'm not using a D300).

Rakuzen, Hartamas Shopping Center

2008-03-24T17:08:00.000+08:00

Another outdated post as usual. 26th February is me and ST's anniversary. It's the day we became a couple. Every year we'll celebrate this occasion with a nice dinner only this year we have someone else tagging along...

Who else but Kit Yi?

As is usually the case we ordered the sets because it makes the choices easy :)

Unagi and Sashimi Set (RM 48.00)

Wow. The Unagi was extremely flavorful thanks to the generous amount of sweet teriyaki sauce. This set also comes along with some sashimi. This set is a little expensive but it's truly the best unagi I have tasted so far. Oishiii!

Yakiniku (Beef) and Sushi Set (RM 45.00)

This set was pretty good as well. I prefer sushi to sashimi so if I return I'll order the sets with sushi instead. I must say the side dishes are quite nice as well. I usually don't like miso soup but the one I was served was nice. Not all salty like the usual ones I get. Even the chawan mushi (steamed eggs) were good.

Kushiyaki Mori (a.k.a Skewer Grilled stuff RM 32.00)

We also ordered an additional serving of Kushiyaki Mori which is basically a selection of skewer grilled stuff. This was a big disappointment. Firstly there's nothing great about it. Secondly the prawn was undercooked and not too fresh making the inside all mushy. Thirdly, skewer grilled chillies? Hehe... I don't quite understand the appeal in that.

It was a pretty enjoyable meal despite the disappointing Kushiyaki Mori. One advise about eating here. Make sure you make reservations because they're packed even on weekdays! We had to wait half an hour to get a place.

Japanese Ice Creams for Dessert (RM 5.90 each, buy 5 free 1)

There's a shop next door to Rakuzen that sells a lot of Japanese junk food. We bought some Japanese ice creams home for desert. Rakuzen sells you the same thing for slightly more than what you can buy outside. They're all good but I think the honey and green tea one is the best!

Massive Seafood Chowder (Special) at Williams

2008-03-21T15:01:00.003+08:00

Just a quick one. I was at William's yesterday night and I remembered the Seafood Chowder that suanie had the other day so I ordered it just for the hell of it.

I'm continually amazed at what William comes up with. A lot of his Western dishes are quite good (and expensive).

When the Seafood Chowder Special arrived I was apprehensive about whether I could finish it alone but I persevered and did it. A whole serving of the delicious seafood chowder downed all by yours truly. I'm not proud of it though because it'll mean a lot of suffering in the gym to get rid of all the fat I acquired in one single night :)

Don't do what I did. Get someone to share it with you. It's RM25 a pop which sounds expensive but really isn't. The Seafood Chowder Special is totally worth it becomes it comes with lots of prawns, many types of shell fish, some fish and one large prawn. Have I mentioned that it was delicious? It is. Do try it out... and make sure you share.

Revisiting Tanjung Sepat

2008-03-17T12:47:00.002+08:00

Yesterday afternoon ST, Kit Yi, me and a bunch of colleagues drove down to Tanjung Sepat.

It's my second visit to Tanjung Sepat but this time I drove all the way there and drove all the way back. Getting there from Puchong took us over an hour. Distance was roughly about 90kms (toll free all the way if you know how!).

On this trip I was armed with my just acquired secondhand Nikon D50 and the Nikon 50mm f1.8 prime lens. I sold off my D40 to offset the purchase price. Still not sure if that was the wise thing to do but no regrets so far :) At least I sold off the D40 to a loving owner. Anyways, primes rule.

BTW, my first visit is chronicled here.

We had lunch at the same restaurant that I went to the last time; Ocen Seafood Restaurant which has the best view of the so called Lover's Bridge.

This is Lover's Bridge where the all good people of Tanjung Sepat go on dates.

Ocen Seafood Restaurant seen from the Bridge. It's built on stilts. At night the tide brings in so much water it you can barely see the stilts.

I didn't manage to snap a picture of everything we had because I think most people on the table were hungry so I didn't think it wise to interrupt their eating by taking pictures of the dishes.

An old favourite, the white clams. Good as usual. Love the sauce.

Crabs with Salted Eggs. The crabs were pretty small. Could have been much better.

Pork Ribs with Taro. Those Taros are HUGE!

A view of the Lover's Bridge from near the edge. This pic isn't as sharp as it could have been... totally my fault.

A closer view of the fishing boats.

ST and my lovely Kit Yi. Check out the nice bokeh.

I've voted

2008-03-08T09:04:00.002+08:00

I've voted. Can you? If you could, would you?

To me it's clear. The time for action is now. Change has to come. The worst thing you can do is to do nothing.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
- Edmund Burke

Fong Lye Taiwanese Restaurant, Midvalley the Gardens

2008-02-21T18:10:00.000+08:00

Some time back ST and I caught a local makan show on TV which featured Fong Lye and Ninja Jones. Both of them looked great and one of these days I'll probably try out Ninja Jones but today we will take a look at Fong Lye, a Taiwanese restaurant.

Fong Lye is located on the 3rd floor of Midvalley The Gardens. The Gardens if you don't know already is an extension to the old Midvalley specialising in higher end (read luxury) retail outlets. It's kinda like the new Pavillion, only a bit less interesting.

Met up with a few of ST's friends for lunch here during the CNY weekend thus we didn't actually get to try all the dishes I took pictures of.

Taiwanese Steam Boat Set (RM28.80)

The Taiwanese Steam Boat was featured in the TV show and it looked like one of the must try items. The serving is actually quite big so don't try it unless you're really hungry or don't have anyone to share it with. They serve the steam boat with some cute bear head shaped things which are nice to see but pretty much tasteless. The other stuff they serve with this dish is pretty standard stuff. The killer item is the sauce. It practically elevates the steam boat to a higher level :)

Taiwanese Minced Meat Sauce Noodles (RM15.80)

Next up is the minced meat noodles. Maybe it's because I'm not used to eating Taiwanese food but it's not exactly how I thought it would taste like. Not to say that it's not nice but it's just a little more salty than I would imagine it to be.

The side dishes are quite nice and the soup that comes along with the noodles are not your el-cheapo soup. Apparently the side dishes change from time to time.

Soup that comes with the set

Check it out. Ginseng chicken soup. Good stuff. Too bad I never learnt to appreciate the bitter taste of ginseng.

Taiwanese Chicken Chop Soup Noodles (RM16.80)

The Chicken Chop Soup Noodles look really really tasty. I'll be sure to check it out in the future.

Peanut Snow Mountain (RM6.80)

The Peanut Snow Mountain was also featured in the TV show. It tastes exactly like the traditional Chinese Peanut Sweet Soup ("fa sang wu") only it's in shaved ice form. Good stuff. This comes recommended.

Spare Ribs with Sweet and Sour Sauce (RM18.80) and Taiwan Snow Mountain (RM8.80)

Mmm... they look quite tempting as well.

Sichuan Tofu Set (RM15.80)

I love to eat good tofu. I didn't try this that day. Maybe I will one of these days.

Incidentally there were these 2 kids sitting at a table next to us who provided some entertainment for Kit Yi. She was laughing with them for quite some time.

Also check out:

masak-masak: Taiwanese Food @ Fong Lye

yongkailoon.com >> Fong Lye Taiwan Restaurant

LUST for LIFE >> Delicious Taiwanese Fare @ Fong Lye

I wasted money on KFC's Breakfast Meals

2008-02-15T15:30:00.001+08:00

I couldn't resist it! When I heard KFC was serving breakfast I just had to try it out. Nevermind that I have been cheated by countless KFC promotions. I'm a sucker for all of them :)

Anyways, KFC is playing catchup with McDonalds again. This time they try to outdo McDonald's great breakfast meals. The good news is KFC's breakfast menu is quite extensive (check it out here). They really one upped McDs on this point. I mean KFC's breakfast menu includes noodles and nasi lemak!

The bad news is that KFC's new menu consist mostly of re-used items. For example, the chicken patty appears in half of the breakfast menu items (as does the scrambled egg). Also they're not particularly good. I don't know about you but I have a love affair with McDonald's Sausage McMuffin with Egg. I don't think there's anything in KFC's breakfast menu that comes even close.

KFC Sausage Combo (RM7.70)

I tried the sausage combo because they looked nice. But alas it was wishful thinking.

Cheezy Chicken Muffin (RM5.30)

I picked this muffin because it reminded me of the Sausage McMuffin. The chicken patty has the familiar KFC Original Recipe taste and I liked it. But like I said it's no Sausage McMuffin.

KFC needs to buck up. It's obvious that all new items they introduce are done in the cheapest ways possible. The breakfast menu is not going to win them any new customers.

Madam Kwan's, KLCC

2008-01-29T14:39:00.000+08:00

I've always wanted to try Madam Kwans but never got the chance to do so until recently. Madam Kwan's originally started out as Sakura in Jalan Imbi. A place which I have fond memories of. So it was nostalgia that brought me and ST to Madam Kwan's outlet in KLCC for lunch one day.

It was a Saturday afternoon when we were there and the place was packed to the brim. Luckily it wasn't too long before we got our seats. On my mind the must order item is the Nasi Lemak so we ordered that. The other dish we ordered was the Curry Laksa. We didn't have to wait long for the dishes to arrive.

Curry Laksa (RM12.30)

The Curry Laksa was thick and all "santan-ny" but it was far from fragrant and aromatic. The sambal belacan was quite flat as well.

Their signature Nasi Lemak (RM14.20)

Oh man what a disaster the Nasi Lemak turned out to be. Their rice tasted more like normal white rice. The chicken curry was as so-so. The sambal was lousy. I'm starting to wonder why people like Madam Kwan's. The road side stall near my house serves better nasi lemak than this and it's about 4 to 5 times cheaper.

Ice Campur (RM6.50) and Cendol (RM5.80)

There's really nothing much to say about these two drinks. They're not particularly good.

Maybe I was too harsh on Madam Kwan's. Lot's of people seem to love them. Personally if I go somewhere that charges that much for Nasi Lemak it had better be extraordinary. Otherwise what's the point? I don't think I will ever go back to Madam Kwan's. They're just not worth the money. Plus the waiters at the KLCC branch are quite stuck up.

Happy 3 Months Old :)

2008-01-29T14:26:00.001+08:00

ST just mentioned that one of her colleagues said this blog has become a baby blog. That's not exactly true but here's a cute picture of Kit Yi taken 2 days ago. She's 3 months old now and more fun to play with than before :)

KFC Con Job: The Triple XL Burger

2008-01-16T15:22:00.000+08:00

I need to learn to stop trusting advertisements from KFC.

Coming in at 7 inches the KFC Triple XL burger certainly looks the part. The sad part is when you open it up and you realise you should have ordered the Snack Plate instead.

It's pathethic. What we get inside is basically the same piece of meat we get in a Zinger burger only flatter and split into two. It taste much like the Zinger burger too. For Flying Spaghetti Monster's sake, don't get this. Save your money.

More opinions here:

Another Boring Blog: KFC Triple XL Burger
It's Open for Us to Analyze: KFC's Deceitful Advertisement

Short and Quick: Beard Papa has Green Tea Puffs!

2008-01-11T09:50:00.000+08:00

Spotted a new flavour from Beard Papa at Pavillion. Green Tea cream puffs in addition to the vanilla and chocolate ones. RM18.00 for 2 vanilla, 2 chocolate and 2 green tea puffs in an outdated Christmas themed box. Green tea not that great. Original flavours better :)

Check out my old but still relevant review of Beard Papa's.

http://wp.peachjon.com/edition_2004_06/2006/02/beard-papas-mid-valley-megamall.html

Jogoya Japanese Buffet, Starhill

2007-12-31T17:07:00.000+08:00

Phew... with Kit Yi around things are extremely hectic. ST and I have not had any time to ourselves for a few months now.

2008 is coming. Wishing everyone a great year ahead and lots of good stuff to eat.

wAntAn productions ends the year with a 6 month outdated post on the very famous and expensive Jogoya Japanese Buffet in the ultra swanky Starhill Gallery, Bukit Bintang. It's been so long I've forgotten what I wanted to write about them but I'm sure the pictures speak for themselves.

Well worth the money especially if you manage to get the VIP clips (bring 10 or more persons to the buffet). Best things are surprisingly the various mochi desserts.

Also check out:

Meet our daughter, Kit Yi!

2007-10-28T07:20:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone!

Yesterday on the 27th of October, 2007 at 10.22 am our daughter Kit Yi was born. She's got super chubby cheeks that's very tempting to pinch. It looks like she's got my lips. The rest of her facial features looks like they're inherited from ST. I'm very glad that she doesn't look too much like me. I'm not very pretty as a girl :)

Kit Yi is the biggest (and most prosperous) baby in the nursery weighing in at 4.18kg which is equivalent to 9.196lbs. During our weekly ultrasound scans we already knew that she was going to be a big baby. The last scan we did before she was born, Kit Yi was estimated to be 4.5kg which is HUGE for a baby Chinese girl. We made a decision to perform a Cesarean section because natural birth might have been difficult. While she didn't turn out to be as big as the scans determined she is still considered big. In fact she's visibly larger than all the other babies in the nursery.

I'm very happy that both baby and ST is doing fine. We're expecting to leave for home on Monday (which is tomorrow).

A friend of mine wrote this in his sms to me:

"Welcome to fatherhood. Enjoy sleepless, diaper changing and bottle feeding nights for months to come."

You know what? I'm actually looking forward to it. At least for now :)

View Kit Yi's picture set on flickr here.

Because everyone's done it - Malaysia International Fireworks Competition - Team Japan (midnight, 31st August 2007)

2007-09-03T23:34:00.000+08:00

We managed to catch the fireworks show put on by Team Japan for the Malaysia International Fireworks Competition 2007. The great thing was we watched it from Cyberjaya so we managed to avoid most of the crowd. The bad thing was that there were still a hell of a lot of people in Cyberjaya so we were still caught in a jam and the show wasn't all that great. Maybe we were just too far away to feel the impact.

I'm simply putting these pictures up because so many bloggers have done so and I was feeling kiasu. I know my pictures aren't that great. We were far away from the action after all.

Look out for a food blog next... I haven't done those in oh... like 4 months or so :P

Could someone please fix this?!

2007-09-03T23:24:00.000+08:00

Picture taken in Putrajaya, of all places. Btw, can you spot where the stripes have gone to?

meebo me!

2007-06-15T00:34:00.000+08:00

Have you noticed the little widget titled meebo me on the right of this page? It allows you to talk to me directly (if I'm online). Do try it out :)

My PC is usually on so chances are that you will see me online but I'm usually away from keyboard so please don't feel insulted if I don't answer right away.

Baby's a girl

2007-06-05T07:50:00.000+08:00

Doctor says baby's a girl :) Time to buy frilly clothes.

nuffnang says I got 37,365 hits for the keyword "Perodua Viva"

2007-05-12T23:52:00.000+08:00

I think regular visitors may have noticed the one week old nuffnang thingamajig on the right side of this page. I'm trying out a new ad serving service. Haven't been served any ads thus far but I'll keep it up for a while until I decide whether it stays permanently or not.

Anyways they provide some small analytics data to every registered blogger and here's what I saw today (you can find larger versions of the pictures by visiting my flickr page).

Wow!

And then I googled the keyword "Perodua Viva" to find that...

4th result.

I'm the 4th result in Google for Perodua Viva. Not too shabby but I didn't even write anything worth reading about that car :)

But seriously I never believed the nuffnang analytics page for a second. I don't even get those kind of hits in a month nevermind a day or two so I fired up my trusty Google Analytics and found...

Peaked at about 400 hits yesterday.

That's a more realistic figure. I hope someone from nuffnang reads this. Their analytics is a little whacked :)

Lim Meng Kee La Mian Xiao Long Bao

2007-05-11T07:43:00.000+08:00

No time to do a proper posting so I'm digging up some very old pictures from Lim Meng Kee La Mian Xiao Long Bao located in Imbi. If you think the name Lim Meng Kee sounds familiar then you're probably thinking of the Lim Meng Kee which sells dried meat in Imbi. This la mian joint is located across the road from the Lim Meng Kee shop and that probably means they are under the same owner. There's also another branch that I'm aware of located near the original KTZ in Kepong.

Roadside stall, plastic chairs, not your regular la mian joint.

Hot and Sour Lai Meen (RM6.00)

Xiao Long Bao (RM6.00)

Chicken Chop Lai Mian (RM9.00)

This place is probably one of the cheapest places to satisfy your la mian and xiao loong bao cravings. Food isn't going to win any awards but it's really decent considering the price. Do have a try.

Also check out: