La Cuisine @ Kampung Baru

La Cuisine is a big open air eating place with various dishes offered from "stalls" that rings the perimeter of the place. High ceilings and well ventilated. Situated amidst dilapidated buildings in Kampung baru with the majestic KLCC in sight. Nice, clean with acceptable ambiance. I was invited to join an after work binge by my office mates.

We start with a basket of otak-otak Kempas - RM12.00 for 20 pieces, essentially fish paste mixed with herb and spices, wrapped in coconut leaves and grilled over an open fire. The ones offered here smack of mass production, not bad but I had better from rural Mak Cik's who hand made these themselves.

The drinks were a bit too sweet that we ended up asking for iced water to tone it down.

The Laksa was so-so according to Yamin. Coming from up north, he would know what he's talking about. To me it lacks colour and presentation, the garnishing looks measly.

The grilled lamb set. This is carved from a spit roast. Its good, the BBQ sauce that came with it is excellent but the black pepper sauce lacks pepper. Served with slices of pita bread and coleslaw, it made a reasonable meal.

The mean looking oxtail soup. It is mean, though not in the looks department, in taste it excels. Best taken piping hot as the congealing fat when it cools down is definitely unappetising.

This would have to be my favourite dish. Kai lan fried with salted fish. A tad oily but the leaves are crunchy and well complemented by the chunky salted fish. I really appreciate that they make sure only the flesh of the salted fish and not the bones are used.

Sambal sotong. Squid in a fiery chili sauce. Lacks the fire and taste that I was looking for. One of the items that we did not finish. Also, looks like it has been re-heated once too often.

Another good dish, Siakap tiga rasa - triple flavored fish. A tad too oily but tasty none the less.

The piece de resistance. Ikan marbuk. sliced, spiced, deep fried fish on a bed of crispy kangkung.

Overall, the food is not bad though most tend to be a bit oily, makes you wonder if they also own a cooking oil refinery somewhere. Not a bad place with the right company. There were 11 of us and we were all fully sated by the end of the meal. The bill came to slightly over RM200.00. Very reasonable. Parking may be a hassle especially during peak hours but if you are in the vicinity, its worth a try.

Blogging for Charity

For every person who complete this meme before August 26th, Idham will contribute RM127 on your behalf to the Darul Izzah Orphange, Bangi. This effort is started by Idham who created a meme for charity. His aim is to collect at least RM10,000 worth of meme/tags from bloggers.

Idham says and I agree "Why lost and found? Because.....
Orphans are children who have all lost at least one of their parents or both. Nothing can bring their parents back......
But, we can help them to find happiness. Our little act of generosity can go a long way. It will be interesting to see how this meme travels, and how much will I be bringing to the orphans at the DIO on behalf of bloggers on August 26th this year."

Okay, this is the rule. If you are tagged, you need to write an entry related to the meme. At the end of your entry you just need to tag as many person as you like. You will then leave a comment in their blog to let them know they have been tagged. And to include this message, "By doing this meme you are contributing RM127 to the Darul Izzah Orphanage".

Note, you DO NOT have to pay anything, Idham out of his generosity will pay for you if you participate.

Then please copy and paste this rule somewhere in your entry.

The meme is about completing at least seventeen out of the following twenty seven sentences........ *These can be copied and pasted to your entry*

1. A person is only as good as .................the company he keeps.
2. Friendship is always .................a valued commodity.
3. To love is to........................to have lost and survived.
4. Money makes me......................miserable (the lack of it actually...).
5. I miss ........................the freedom and recklessness of youth.
6. My way of saying I care is by ............being there.
7. I try to spread love and happiness by...........sharing what I can.
8. Pick the flowers when.............it is yours to pick.
9. To love someone is to..............accept them as they are.
10. Beauty is...................a pleasure.
11. When I was thirteen, what I remember the most was....Liverpool Press, he he he.
12. When I was twenty one, I remember.................the stormy seas.
13. I am most happy when .....................all my debt is paid.
14. Nothing makes me happier than ........making my kids happy.
15. If I can change one thing, I will change.........human greed.
16. If smiles were cheap then I am certainly poor.
17. Wouldn't it be nice if we could..........cycle all day.
18. If you want to eat then you have to get food to your own mouth.
19. Money is not everything but..........it helps.
20. The most touching moments I have experienced is....a sincere thank you.
21. I smile when...................I feel like it.
22. When I am happy, I..............am happy.
23. If only I don't have to ....be there, then.....I'll be here.
24. The best thing I did yesterday was...........talk to my kids.
25. If I ever write a book, I will give it this title,"The Sailor Chronicles"
26. One thing I must do before I die is............to repent.
27. Doing this meme, I feel like ............................like an idiot he he he

Now I will kick this off by tagging a few of my blog friends - NOPE, you are welcome to do this and get back to Idham if you would like to contribute to the orphanage.

When you have done yours, please leave a comment in here - so that Idham can keep count.

Thank you.

Honda Stream IV: The Race

Heh, I'll show these people how to ace this race...

Oh no, what did I get myself into ? My husband made me do this. Oh no, oh no...

This is going to be peanuts. I'll smoke you all, heh heh heh

Team Ferrari ?

There goes the sponsored cap...

First crash of the day.

The rabbit goes smack in the barriers while the tortoise goes chugging along.

Safety and medical support out...

Finally the podium.

It was great fun with Fauzi declared as the fastest driver and Team Ferrari vowing to make a comeback...

Honda Stream III: The Young Artists

A colouring contest for the kids. Cute little people getting creative.

Honda Stream II : Photo & Videographers

Small, smaller & smallest camera ?

Another mine is bigger than yours.... he he he

The double headed videographer ?

Holding it tightly.... View from above.

Holding it loosely... View from below.

The kid looks like he's getting bored, yet the photog is contorted just to capture the moment. What could the point of interest be ?

The Doc & the Talk (and the Mrs.). Which is which ?

Photog duck walk relay race. Duck walk to the end, take a picture then come back. Which team do you think will win ?

This is my spot. Get away, get away, go find your own spot.... OR... Eeekkkk yours is longer than mine (lens lah). Kah kah kah.

BTW, you are welcome to post your own caption to any of the photos above.

Honda Stream

A bit of a misleading title actually as this post is not about the review of the Honda MPV, but more the group of people that forms a bond through that car. Then again, how do you review people ? My yardstick is simple, if I can have fun with them, if there's mutual sincerity and comfort in their company then they are fine. This group met the criteria and I am holding on to these guys (and ladies and kids...). Pictures below are from our recent family outing wonderfully organised by members from the Southern Region. Thanks to Fauzi, Suhaimi, Nordin and the rest of the Southern Streamers.


The photographer being the photographee. One treats sick people while the other lets you talk over the air. Which is which ?

The family enduring the heat while the photog fiddles with his equipments, angles, lighting bla bla bla.

Each member came with an average of 3.7 kids - OK, I made that up, but there are more of them than us.

Some of the members, we miss those who missed the event. Those who have to cancelled at the last minute due to weddings, funerals, etc.

The tribal chief just can't stop yapping even in the pool. Its a POOL, you are supposed to swim, not talk. Kah kah kah.

A portrait with the cars lined up in the background.

Cars and drivers.

Finally, its so hard to say goodbye. A memorable event with good company. Thank you guys. Look forward to FG 2008.

Desaru Beach

The kids had a grand time at Desaru Beach recently. The sand was fine, the water clear and cool. So much better than Port Dickson or even some of the more popular public beaches of Langkawi. The only downside is the distance from Kuala Lumpur. It is a longggggg drive. About six hours of what felt like an equally shared distance of highways and trunk roads. For most destination, once you get off the highway, it is only a few minutes on the trunk road before you arrive. Not in this case, even I ended up asking the dreaded question "Are we THERE yet ?".

Exit the highway at Kulai Toll, head towards Kulai town and turn left at the sixth traffic light towards Kota Tinggi and Mersing. Bypass Kota Tinggi Town and drive straight towards Mersing until a four way junction and turn right towards Bandar Penawar. At Bandar Penawar, lookout for a Petronas station on the left and turn left immediately after the station. Drive straight and follow the signage towards the Desaru Resort area.

There are quite a few attractions in the vicinity, for instance, the Fisherman's museum, Tanjung Balau recreation park and of course seafood restaurants. The only catch is that you have to drive for a bit as they are spread around. In the vicinity of the Desaru Beach itself there is a small petting zoo (we didn't go), go cart, horse riding and archery. The kids insisted on spending most of the time there at either the beach or the pool.

In conclusion, I recommend that the PD, Melaka or Cherating crowd to go at least once or more if you don't mind the long drive. Its an interesting change of holiday destination.

Teluk Cempedak

Capt,

attached is the pix that i told u, plastics, plastic containers, ropes, diapers, ciggy butts, ....even a small size electrical board!

it doesn't matter whether it came from rivers due to heavy rain lately or even it is purely done by manusia

if every each of the visitor take 5 mins doing cleaning up i'm sure our beach will be wonderful

my 2 kids joined me to do the collecting job but unfortunately others just looking aje, "eh mamak ni kutip harta karun ke?" yg pengunjung tu lagi kow dahan & daun pokok yg dikutip, kakaka

The above picture and excerpt of email is from a friend advocating that every visitor to the beach take some time to help clean the environment. At the very least, to pick their own rubbish and any that are in their vicinity. Its really sad when everyone takes things for granted and hope for the problem to be tackled by some one else. Kudos to Dennis.