Hari Johnny's Sedunia

First of all, sorry sangat-sangat Josh x update blog. Josh teramat sibuk dua tiga minggu ni. Ni pun baru balik dari Kuching. Ada kerja kat situ over the weekend.

Semenjak dua menjak burung-burung kakak tua kat office Josh tu uwek-uwek, Johnny's steamboat lah jadi pilihan utama mereka. So Josh yg selalunyer driver dia orang terpaksa lah ikut je. Ye lah, kalo x pergi, mengidam pulak. Satu hari dia orang akan berkicauan kat bilik. Ni al kisah satu hari kita pergi Johnny's untuk lunch....

Biasa lah, burung kakak tua akan berkicauan bila dia happy, lebih-lebih lagi kalo ada makanan yang dia orang mengidam. Kat gambar bawah ni, sorang uwek-uwek, sorang tengah berusah bersungguh-sungguh. ;-P

Salah satu sebab dia orang suka Johnny's adalah sebab sauce dia yang sedap (bagi dia orang lah). Satu lagi sebab sup dia. Well, that one i agreed. Josh memang suka soupy food. Kebiasaannya bila kat Johnny's, Josh lah yang jadi pelayan. Kena panaskan sup, masukkan bahan satu per satu, hidangkan makanan ke mangkuk dia orang... letih lah... hahaha

Nak dijadikan cerita, haritu kita gi makan bertiga. Baru je start nak makan, tiba-tiba terima sms... "kat maner tu?? makan steamboat yerr??"........ aiyooo..... ada rakan kerja yg kebetulan bersantap kat situ. Toleh kiri toleh kanan.... 'ter'jumpe diaorang.. Kak N dan husband...

Tengah-tengah makan, satu couple masuk.... dok sebelah meja. AISEYYY..... office mate lagi!!! Cik Diamond dengan Abg Man...

Tak lama kemudian, masuk satu group cik kiah 6 orang. Tengok-tengok... LORRRR, office mate lagi. Tiba-tiba restoren yg kecik tu penuh dengan office mate, rasa macam Hari Johnny's Sedunia pulak. Yang peliknyer, restoran tu bukannya sebelah office, kena drive 15 minutes. Hai..... TAKKAN SEMUA UWEK-UWEK KOT????

Switch Them Off

I was excited to see the ads about 60 earth hour about a month ago. I quickly searched the internet and logged on to the website.

It's a campaign initiated by WWF, the World Wildlife Federation, to reduce global warming by switching off the light for one hour. Millions of people world wide took part in similar event last year. This year, it reaches Malaysia, and millions of Malaysian had signed up to this campaign via this webpage.

On 28th March, from 8.30 ~ 9.30pm, my wife and I will switch of all the lights in our home.

Aircond and other electrical appliances too (except the fridge).

So, my friends, join us! Many celebrities had joined in too!


Remember, DO SIGN IN to this website. Your participation in this event will definitely make a difference.

Mini Concert

My wife and I were invited to a mini concert last Friday night. Who were the performers? My two lovable nieces of course! It's a piano mini concert and they played a few numbers written by some famous composers.

Though it's not a grand one, the mini concert was their piano teacher Charis's effort to encourage them to perform better and to uplift their confidence in public performance. Charis is our fellow church member. To make the event 'memorable' my wife ordered three stalks of daisy, one for each of my niece and one for Charis. To make it a surprise, our nieces were only told that there will be guests attending the mini concert, and little did they knew that we would be attending too. So, shh...........

My younger niece, Miss H, was called to perform first. She came forward, introduced herself and the numbers that she would be playing later.

Then she put her fingers on the key, and the music starts. Though a bit nervous, she played confidently. She had even memorized a fast number and played it without looking at the score. Cool.

Then the turn of Miss A, the elder one. Knowing how confident she was, she played up to our expectation. And that make us proud. O, by the way, learning piano does not mean to learn how to play piano only, but also to know who the composers were and under what circumstances that these composers wrote the numbers. And that's exactly what Miss A did. She did some research on Tcaikovsky and presented her research to the audience.

After their performance, they received applause from the floor and encore was requested. They pair up and played us another number, to which i sang along!

Then the flowers were presented to them. They were in joy.

Before the event end, we were served with some refreshments. Thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Christopher for the refreshments. Yummyy!

Our gratitude also due to Charis for her effort. Thanks ya!

Dine At Your Own Risks

Hm....after browsing through the internet, i found that many felt cheated and disgusted by the 'five-star price' of food at D'paya Serai restaurant. Though Abg Bear did put up an entry on the vast variety of food available in this restaurant, please do read the comments of those who had been there. The price is really a killer.

With the shocking price and the arrogant attitude of the workers, I'm hereby declare BAN THIS RESTAURANT! Opening up a restaurant does not mean that MONEY is all that matter. It's a business of services, so show some humanity and hospitality.

However, if you wanna try, or too hungry to resist, you're warned: ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISKS - risks of loosing a huge chunk of your money, risks of having heart attack, and risks of annoyance by the workers, unless you're too rich of course.

Remember ya, if you see this restaurant, YOU GO, I DON"T FOLLOW.


p/s The restaurant along with a Petronas station is situated along the highway to Kuantan / east coast, before the Bentong toll.

Terkejut Gorila!

Another blog-worthy incident happened during my trip to Kuantan.

We were on our way to Kuantan, winding through the old palm and rubber estates, passing by beautiful sceneries. It was 1.30pm, and we were very hungry. The driver stopped at this one and only petrol station cum rest point cum restaurant, some 15 minutes before Bentong toll. If we were to persevere, it would be another one and a half hours to reach Kuantan.


After refreshing ourselves, we went in to this restaurant: D'Paya Serai.

Lot's of choices, from varieties of grilled and fried seafood, to beef, chicken and vegies. I took a kembung (fish), half scoop of peria goreng (stir fried bitter gourd), kacang panjang (long beans) and a glass of barley drink.

Went to the counter, and the cashier punched a few keys on the keyboard...........

TERKEJUT GORILA Josh.....

" Sepuluh ringgit lima puluh sen, Cik" awek montel tu kata.

"......(mata terbeliak, pandang awek tu dan diam)......"

" Sepuluh ringgit lima puluh sen." the awek repeated matter of factly.

"Ikan tu berapa, dik?"

"Empat setengah, yg lain singgit setengah setiap satu..."
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
I finished up the whole plate, right to the very last grain of rice and very last drop of what ever gravy I saw. Munched the fish to the the bone without any bit of meat left.

The most expensive NASI CAMPUR i ever had.

Pakai Otak Ke Tak?

We stopped at an R&R along an East-West highway recently. While trying to get a parking space, I noticed this ridiculous blockage.

Two safety cones and a signage was placed on a parking space near the washroom, blocking cars from parking at that space. But if you read the signage, it reads like this:

If the parking space is meant for the disabled, how are they suppose to park it there when the cones and signage are blocking their way? Was the authority of the R&R expecting the disabled to get down from their car, move the cones and signage aside, get back into their car, and parked it in??

How inconsiderate! Pakai otak ke tak??

p/s But then, many 'normal' people love to park at places like this as they're very near to the washroom, even though they're well aware that these spaces are meant for the disabled. Tu memang TAKDE OTAK.

Nenek Bercerita, Josh Suka

We got the chance to dine at one of our team member Eda's grandma's place on our recent trip to Kuantan. Grandma served us nasi minyak with yummilicious spicy chicken and pickled vegie.

The thing was, I got so fascinated by nenek's (grandma) stories. I believe everyone was fascinated by her stories too (just look at the pic below). Nenek is a Chinese, raised in a Muslim family and was raised with Islamic value. And now she'd adopted the Malay culture into her life entirely. Staying with her closely knitted family, she is indeed a happy grandma.


When she talk, everyone listened. We were pretty much astonished to know that the famous bomoh Mona Fandey who'd cut her victim's body into 18 pieces and cooked curry with some of the victim's meat 10 years ago was actually staying just behind her house. Nenek also disclosed some mind-boggling details about the executed bomoh's life style... aiyoo... naik bulu Josh dengar.....

Nenek, with her extremely warm hospitality, had enchanted me. In fact, the whole family, including all her children and grandchildren, were very warm and friendly. I strongly believe that credit should due to Nenek who had brought up her children with good value and respects. I had experience the "Berbudi Bahasa, Budaya Kita" in that family that day.

Indeed, when nenek bercerita, we should listen. For in their stories, there're words of wisdom and valuable treasures.

HOT!

Was I hot? YES, I was HOT!

Hehehe... nothing to do with my sexiness. I'm referring to the exhibition that I got involved with last weekend in Kuantan.

The exhibition was held in Kuantan Parade and had really tested my endurance. We reached the exhibition site around 3.00pm on the first day, the organiser told us that the site was not ready. We were asked to come back by 9.00pm to setup the booth. After the dinner, we went there around 9.30pm, and the site was STILL NOT READY!! That had really made me HOT! We were tired, yet we were asked to wait. Lame excuses were given.. panas tak kalo korang kena treatment camtu??

The worst part came the next day.....

We were placed in the concourse of the building, DIRECTLY under the hot sun! It was in the building alright, but the glass roof was actually transparent and sunlight shines in right from 10am till 6pm.

Aiyoo.... hati panas, badan pun panas.

The event was organised by MAR* of Pahang branch. And clearly, they don't know how to organise event. The noises from the CD shops were unbearable, the heat was scorching, the crowd was few, the cleanliness of the place was not maintained.... the list goes on.....

Again... aiyooo... hati panas, badan pun panas.

Kuantan: Teluk Cempedak & Tanjung Lumpur

My recent trip to Kuantan was tiring. But that doesn't stop us from visiting various places there. There're two places worth mention: Teluk Cempedak and Tanjung Lumpur. Erm... sebenarnyer dua tempat ni je kita pergi, hehehehe...

Teluk Cempedak:
A mere 10 minutes drive away from Kuantan town. I didn't expect the place to be so well maintained and tourist friendly. Basically it's a white sand beach with soothing sound of waves. There're plenty of food stalls and restaurants, including the cosy looking KFC and McD outlet.

The pathway along the beach was busy with stalls selling souvenirs by the side. I was surprised to see people flocking in to the place at that time as it was around 7.30pm already. Majority of the visitors are not dining there, but strolling along the beach. Hm... naper strolling waktu malam ek?


We were tired and in a hurry, so didn't got time to have 'proper' seafood meal. This is what i'd ordered: Nasi goreng Amerika + air oren segar.


Tanjung Lumpur:
The beach here in Tanjung Lumpur is not as beautiful as the one in Teluk Cempedak. Probably because it's baron (no big trees along the beach) and hot. Without much maintenance, it looks rather 'desserted' with only a few locals fishing there.

But anyway, our purpose is not to do sight-seeing there, we're actually aiming for the food! hehehehe... we were told that the ikan bakar and all the seafood there are fresh and yummilicious. It's 5.45pm when we arrive, and many restaurants were not operating yet. We went to this stall, for 'minum petang' before having dinner at one of our team member's home at 8.30pm.


What did we had? Kerang bakar! I like this dish, as it's well cooked and not watery.

The yummilicious sotong goreng tepung.

Udang bersambal, very fresh!

We saw sata along the way, but we didn't try this. Kita minum petang je, makan ratah-ratah je..tanak makan banyak sangat.


If you're planning to visit Kuantan, be sure to try their seafood!

To Kuantan I Go

I'd just got the news that i might be going to Kuantan tomorrow. The confirmation was made this morning. Oh well, it's part of my job, i got to go. The trip is similar to the one in Penang last week. Will be back on Sunday night.

Anything interesting in Kuantan? What to buy? What to eat?

Glorious Food in Penang

There're a few things worth mentioned during my trip to Penang last week. Beside the excitement of meeting up with bloggers, what else but food? hehehe.

We had nasi kandar on our first night. When talk about nasi kandar, the Kayu Nasi Kandar is always recommended by the local without fail.

The food was great. Their curry and thick spicy gravy were our (or mine) favourite. Superliciously yummy. The grin of satisfaction on our face tells it all.

We ordered curry chicken. It may look plain, but the taste was marvelous! And the chicken was so tender.

The fried squid. Just so-so. Nothing much to brag about.

This one was interesting. Grounded chili stir fried and mixed with crumbs. Interestingly fragrant!

Of course, beside these dishes, we ordered some gravies and vegie too. I got so disappointed with the vegie. But what the heck, mamak restaurant were never good in preparing vegie.

On the second day, we went all the way to Gurney Drive. The heavy traffic had spent us 40 minutes on the road. Aiyooo...
What to eat at Gurney Drive? Everyone unanimously suggest pasemborg (pasembuk). A dish with mixed varieties of fish cakes, crackers, squids, vegie, noodles, served with thick and spicily sweet gravy on top.


Our thousand thanks to Suhaimi and Nazz to lead us there. Otherwise the journey may take longer than that.

The pasemborg was fantastic. But to some, the gravy was a bit too sweet. As for me, It's nice. But the price is rather expensive. I spent RM10 for that plate, thanks to a huge piece of fried squid.

I would like to thank Nazz for his wonderful gift. Some malay snacks from his kampung. TENKIUUUU Nazz!

O, ya, he gave me some sweet corn too. Also from his kampung. Very Sweet!!!

I felt that we didn't have much time to explore the Pearl of the Orient to the fullest. I think we should spend more time there in our next visit. Probably i can spend more time with the bloggers and have dinner together. Kan Maz?