Particularly Petty
I was driving to work this morning, being late as usual... What was not typical was being caught in some crazy jam... couldn't really move much and was flipping channels when I stopped at 94.5 in the klang valley. They were talking about something along the lines of "He says She says".. and the topic of discussion was "Are men detailed, petty and particularly nitpicky?".. Or something to that effect la... There was this caller who said that she bought her ex-bf a shirt, and he wouldn wear it cos he didn't like the collar....
What they are trying to say is ... Do men really go into details? Or do they look at the big picture only? Do men really care whether their handkerchief colour matches their socks? Or whether the fork in their left hand matches the spoon in their right?
Do guys worry about that little smudge on their shirt? Or the fact that the fishes have not been fed for 2 days? Does it matter to the men that they drink from a chipped mug? Or that they MUST use a particular brand of shampoo to wash their receding hairline?
Well, closer to home, I must say that I wouldn't call myself a nitpicky dude.. I use whatever shampoo and body wash I can get my hands on... Heck I dun even mind using ol' fashion soap to wash my hair and face... The fact that my boxers dun match my skin color says that I'm not a detailed fella. If I can't find a glass or cup, I drink water out of a bowl ala shaolin monks..
And, when I buy myself a shirt, the last thing i look at is the collar.
Chocz Rocks!!
Chocz in KLCC rocks!!! If you want the bestest place to sample chocolates, have chocolate drinks or indulge in fondue, there's nowhere else but Chocz... Fuiyoh!
Located outside Ombak on one of the upper floors of KLCC shopping arena, the decor is tasteful and the ambience just right. Its also a good place to sit down, kick back, relax and indulge in chocolate heaven and people watching...
But warning, warning tho... this place ain't cheap. So don't get shocked (syioked) by the menu.
As usual, for shopping trips, I dun bring along my cam, so be satisfied with 1.3Mp photos courtesy of my Nokia 6680.
After browsing the menu for what seemed like an eternity, with the waitress coming by twice to ask us if we wanted to order, we finally just settled for a bitter-sweet bourbon fondue for 2. Preparation time was abt 10 mins, and we spent it all watching people walk past and salivating at the sight of chocolates lined up at the counter...
Decor was mostly in shades of green, nice comfy seats that are sofa like with a splattering of metal railings. Simplistic.
And the bourbon fondue finally arrived.....
Dipping in... There were strawberries, kiwi slices, marshmallows, grapes, dried apricots, bananas, apples and pears and a burner with dark bitter-sweet chocolate swirling on top...
Both of us thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, sweet fresh fruits covered in warm liquid chocolate was delightful to the tastebuds... not to mention the mood and feel-good factor.
I'm not gonna tell you how much that fondue set us back, but suffice to say we could probably buy ourselves 60 pieces of Ferrero Rocher...
The Thing About Shoes
You wouldn't believe what I'm about to tell you. Last night, while having dinner with J at one of the restaurants near our home, I chanced upon a shop having a kinda garage sale thingy on 2nd hand footwear... and by golly, the shoes and sandals and slippers they had there were like so so new!! I couldn't believe my luck. C'mon, a pair of Nike Triax Runners for RM35? A pair of Hush Puppies slip-ons for RM28? It had to be my birthday!!
And best of all, they were ALL in my size!!! Can't believe it?? Neither could I!!!! I promptly whipped out my wallet and...... OK I'm kidding.
None of the above is true. Except the part where all the shoes you see are in my size. Cos they're all MY shoes.
Muahahahahaha..... J's always giving me the lecture where I have more shoes/sandals/slippers/whatchamacallit than her.... and she's supposed to be the W.O.M.A.N. No stereotyping here, but buying shoes do seem to be a female thingy. Most guys I know probably have 1 pair of slippers, 1 pair of work shoes and 1 pair of sports shoes. Maybe a few others have another 1 or 2 more pairs of footwear, making it a grand total of 5.... max.
Now, which guy has THIRTEEN (13) pairs of footwear???? C'mon, stand up and challenge the Shoe-bunny wherever you are!! Yeap... I have 13 pairs, all most definitely wearable and functional.
There are 10 pairs of stuff to cover my feet in the pic above, and I have another pair of loafers, another pair of futsal shoes and a pair of ankle-high boots in my car. Dammit... I may just about have MORE shoes than J!!! Not that I wana say it out loud la.... =P
I dun wear the same pair of shoes to work on consecutive days, I have a pair of slippers I wear to the pool and to wash my car, I have slip-ons to match when I wear khaki shorts, I have a different pair of shoes to match my blue jeans instead of my black jeans, I mean... I could just go on forever....
Btw, I'm still targetting a pair of brown suede shoes to match my new brown leather belt... Problem is buying it quietly so that J doesn't give me another earful..... and finding place in my shoe cabinet to fit another pair. Ha.
Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan
So, what did you guys do over the long weekend? Ok, I presume this only applies to those who took Monday off, but I also presume that's like 90% of you people out there...
Well, me and J took a slow and leisurely drive to the East Coast; our first real trip there. Real here meaning that we went to Terengganu before, but it was a whirlwind trip then, and had no time to smell the roses, or in this case, the keropok lekor...
We had booked ourselves into Swiss Garden Resort, Kuantan; which is not exactly located in Kuantan, but more of vicinity of Cherating. Place is way cool,... nice ambience, nice decor, nice room, nice view, nice beach, kinda like nice everything la.... Its a place I would recommend to honeymooners and also lovebirds.
Room-antic...
The drive East took us >3 hours and took us past places with names like Lanchang and Gambang... Not nice sounding, but quaint and serene places... J's colleague M gave us some pointers on where to eat local favourites and our first stop was Hoi Yin coffeeshop for their famous curry noodles...
Now you see it....
Now you don't...
I can't say it was the best I've had, but it doesn't disappoint either... This coffeeshop sits smack at the end of the road leading to Teluk Chempedak... You definitely won't miss it. Patrons sitting right out to the walkways and standing around waiting for empty tables...
Spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around and doin stuff... wat stuff? Stuff la... Heheh.
Oh yeah, we also did a pitstop at the Turtle Sanctuary...
Hawkbill teenage mutant ninja turtle wannabe...
Next gastronomic destination was a place called Terminal Satay Zul. We ordered the chicken satay and some nasi dagang. Delicious. Yummy. Definitely worth going back again, if I'm ever in Kuantan. That place was also filled to the brim and many had to wait their turn to get a table.
Nasi dagang with sardine curry... yummers..
By the time I snapped this, half the satay was gone... =P
OK, you have to forgive the somewhat pathetic photos, cos they were taken with my camera phone. Its kinda difficult to lug around my cam with the bustling crowd in the packed restaurants. Wouldn't wanna risk having teh-o' ais limau raining on my cam now would we??
Fast forward to next day's lunch... I'll just be yapping on and on about the food, cos to us; this was a planned relaxing getaway and something akin to a jalan-jalan cari makan holiday... An hour's drive and we found ourselves entering Chukai town in Kemaman... Place is famous for stuffed crabs it seems, and we navigated ourselves round the town in search of the particular restaurant.
Found it. Restaurant Kemaman right at the edge of the waterfront. Plonked ourselves down and proceeded to order. 30 mins later, food had not arrived yet. Small towns like these really take their time when doing things, even service. But there's just no complaining I guess.... It seems to be the norm. Everybody sitting and waiting patiently without even beckoning to the waitresses to check on their orders...
About the food, we ordered stuffed crabs, steamed grouper, dried chilli scallops and green leafy vege in garlic sauce... I know, its way too too too much for 2 people... but its a makan-makan holiday, remember?? Hehe.
The stuffed crabs came in individual plates... Nothing to shout about really..
By the time I remembered to whip my phone out, it was all gone also....
We then went round town, stopped at some dinghy, dodgy, smelly, dank and dirty shopping complex for a while.... and on the return trip, stopped to get some keropok for me mum...
Called up another ex-colleague for more food recommendations and was told to get to a place called Restoran Sri Mahkota in Kuantan, opposite Citiview Hotel. That was our stop for dinner. Food was pretty good, and dirt cheap too. We had salted fish fried rice, generous helping of squid in tangy mayo sauce, some green vege that i do not know how to translate to English and drinks.... all for less than RM30. Helpings were so huge, we had to bungkus balik hotel.
The restaurant...
BIG plate of fried rice.... way too big for two of us..
Full and satiated, we decided to walk around Berjaya Megamall... I suppose this is THE place for shopping for Kuantanians.... but it looked no better than umm... errr... Subang Parade. Fullstop.
Final day. Woke up early for some sunrise and some relaxing time at the beach. J was like a lil kid running around the beach and kicking sand... Just love to see her so excited...
J doing her impersonation of the Statue at Rio...
Lepas lunch, we also took another long drive home... guess we were pretty tired by then.. as the return trip home took longer and proved to be more tiring than the to trip....
Anyway, if you've never been to the East Coast... do make a trip there. Its really not too bad.
