Meng Kee Char Siu

March 16th, 2010

Spend a weekend over in KL to attend my bro’s graduation. We stayed at Nova Hotel which was somewhere behind Jalan Bukit Bintang and right next to it was this coffee shop. Dad said the chicken looks nice so we popped by Alor Kopitiam for a quick lunch.

Meng Kee Char Siu

Beansprouts was 6/10. Served with light soya sauce, I think it would taste better if a few more dashes of sesame oil were added to this dish. Bean sprout is one of my favorite vegetable and I think bean sprouts taste better without salted fish! Yup no salted fish here and I liked the generous topping of crispy mini fried garlic cubes.

As I thought about the garlic, I realised how much I love plants from the onion family which includes the onion, shallot, leek, and chive. Hard not to love them. Their pungent yet spicy flavour always manages to mellow and sweeten any dish.

Meng Kee Char Siu

Chicken was 7/10. I was looking forward to a nice, slick texture but it was more firm than tender. Flavour-wise, it was decent and not so oily. Better than your average but I prefer my steam white chicken chilled with skin that is slick enough to slip down my throat. That said, this is one dish that finds many different tastes and palates. You may think otherwise on how the perfect chicken should taste like for a chicken rice dish so feel free to tell me what you think or drop a link to your favourite stall! I’m keen to check them out!

(:

The next dish is the star of Meng Kee Char Siu.

Meng Kee Char Siu

Char siu was 9/10! I loved it! You must visit this stall if you’re a fan of charred, savory, and sticky uber-sweet perfection char siu! The slices of meat were not lean but I can live with not being healthy for lunch that day. How could you resist chewy roasted pork with a super-sweet sticky outer crust? Well the meat is not your conventional tender char siu because it had a good bite and slight crisp to it. Apparently leaving the meat longer at high heat may charred the meat but makes it chewier. That explains why the cha siu was darker than those found elsewhere.

We ordered just these 3 dishes. The rice was below-par because there was a missing glossy texture to it. I’m so picky today! I don’t know why!

Meng Kee Char Siu

I think Zac (I’ve changed Jack’s name after that dumb Jack Neo fiasco) takes pretty decent photos. Anyway lunch was RM58 for five! Kinda atrocious right? To think we were dining in a normal-looking coffee shop. Good thing the portions were not miserable and the char siu was good. I like my char siu hard, charred and sweet. You?

Meng Kee Char Siu
Alor Kopitiam
(next to Nova Hotel)
Jalan Alor
Kuala Lumpur
Closed on Sundays

Well, the KL trip was a very short one so I didn’t had much time to catch up with friends. Am grateful that sweetie-pie Marcky who wished he was pork and dainty Joanne who can’t wait to kill some Mat Rempits took me out for yummylicious supper. Unfortunately we didn’t took much pictures because most street food places in Malaysia are dark and romantic at night. Just fyi, we had beef balls somewhere near Jalan Alor again and then Chickuteh! Both were good!

Yes Marcky, I will be coming back for more of such dining escapades!

Vibram Five Fingers

March 9th, 2010

I’ve been complaining of never having the time to work out since forever. I believe nights of Macd deliveries which was inevitable during the mad rush of writing papers after papers when I was in uni had messed up my body. But things are changing. I’m done procrastinating and I got a feeling that Vibram Five Fingers did the trick.

Check out my latest toy.

Does it look bizarre? Haha. Well it probably wouldn’ t look so weird if not for the socks but I wore socks that was above my ankles because my coach, Kris told me to. Haha. No that’s not football socks. Kamen Rider kept laughing at me when he saw me in my running assemble! wtf? Anyway, Kris took the trouble to explain the science behind bare-foot running and shared his Vibram Five Fingers experience. I was totally bought over by the logic of running bare-foot. You get what I mean after reading this article.

With this pair of running shoes, I flew like Percy Jackson in Hermes’ flying shoes. It’s so light and so awesome that I am still infatuated with running in theses shoes after 3 attempts. I normally give up sports after 1 try. Yeah I’m that bad and lazy!

Frankly, I was never one to exercise and I thought that it was a waste of time. Used to skip every PE lessons at every chance. But at 24, I had no choice. I need to start watching my diet and lifestyle. Don’t want to end up buying new clothes every year because I can’t fit into old ones anymore. Don’t want to realise that my sloth-like lifestyle is turning me into a pudgy mess only when I can’t see my toes. Don’t want to end up like Ken’s colleague who had a heart attack at 30. The fear of growing old with decreasing metabolism rate scares me.

And so I woke up and started running regularly. I still indulge in food I crave but I control my dinner portions. It is perfectly logical not to eat so much at night. After a month, I felt a real sense of accomplishment and pride at having achieved a certain goal. I ran faster and longer each time. After each evening spent at the running tracks, I felt more peaceful and happy. Got to give my body the credit for producing endorphins which also helped me sleep better and feel better. I now no longer waste time on useless thoughts of why have I not been burning more calories and looking more toned as I wanted because I know I am heading the right direction.

(:

Yup. Vibram Five Fingers was a good start to a healthier lifestyle for me. I’m happy that it is so light and comfy. As if I’m wearing no shoes at all! Strangely, I am starting to feel weird if I don’t run every 3 days. Gonna bring Vibram Five Fingers along for my 11 days holiday trip with girlfriends! Actually looking forward to run in Perth this coming April!

Hope  the weather won’t be a bitch.

Majolica Majorca Chapter 26

March 5th, 2010

Thanks to Diana, I was invited to Majolica Majorca Chapter 26 workshop! For makeup noobs like me, Majolica Majorca is a popular makeup brand from Japan. I met some really kinky ladies at this makeup tutorial. We are supposed to learn how to make ourselves look like human-like dolls.

Majolica Majorca

Do you like my red stockings? Ken hates it! Oh well, at least Clara adores them. Haha. She’s such a babe. Our trainer, Laurette was sweet too! I was the test subject of the day and it was an indulgence to have her applying the latest MJ makeup on my face. It was like a free makeover but I got to learn how to do it after that.

Of course, Laurette used the featured MJ products which includes a Pore Cover. It works like a makeup base. Something like a BB cream but I find that MJ Pore Cover is so much lighter and my skin felt more comfortable in it. Any idea why BB cream is heavier and oilier? Maybe it is ill-suited to Singapore’s humid weather. Then there’s the Jeweling Eyeshadow which comes in either a pink or blue palette. She tried the pink one on me. Honestly, I never had pink eye shadow before and was worried it may turned out weird. Thankfully, the swatch of colours was soft and pastel-like.

Majolica Majorca

Here comes the best product of the chapter. Laurette glammed up the light yet distinctive eye shadow with the Amazing Mascaras Lash Bone Black Fiber In & Lash Enamel Glamour Volume On. My lashes was significantly lengthened and thickened after the application! OK we are supposed to use the Bone Fiber which acts like as the mascara base followed by the Enamel Glamour. I tried it on my other lash and the application was fairly easy.

Majolica Majorca

My lashes were very stubborn. They simply refused to curl nicely! I was told to clip them longer next time with the eyelash curler. Anyway I found that Asian brand mascaras are more suited for me than Western brands especially Revlon which tend to be clumpy and smeary! MJ is not bad. The mascara was quite light, even after I applied a couple of layers thinly. Doesnt weigh my lashes down. Nice!

Since I had a date at St.James after dinner, Laurette gave my doll-like eyes an extra finish by lining my eye with the Perfect Automatic Liner. It looked even more dramatic. Meanwhile..

Majolica Majorca

From the looks of it. everyone was busy having fun, dolling up, trying out MJ products. I will probably post more detailed reviews of these products when I get my hands on them. Am definitely looking forward to using the Lash Enamel Glamor Volume On & Lash Bone Black Fiber On for night outs with girlfriends!

Photos credit: Majolica Majorca Facebook Fanpage