FITS AND STARTS

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Little dragon balls, err buns

This year's summer is probably my least favourite. I've only spent two months in KL and already I have to leave. Those of you who know that I didn't fare too well in the exams will be reminded of the ominous fate that awaits me (I can just hear Teresa's cackling in the background upon revelation of the news to her). I'll be heading back to England on Thursday night. Sorry to cut short the holiday folks. I suppose it was my fault really for not doing more for my studies. But I feel a sense of contrition; I do, I do...............

Eugene was in KL for an entire week, two weeks ago. I think most of his time here was spent at foodie joints, thanks to me hee. After days of "Dim sum today, ok ah!!" we finally got round to satiating our craving for the Chinese version of tapas on Saturday. Google hits showed Shang Palace to be one of the better places that serve dim sum, so to Shang Palace we went. We ordered the requisite har kow and siu mai, two varieties of cheong fun (one with prawn and the other a mixture of mushrooms, prawns and char siu), xiao long bao, kai keok in spicy black bean sauce, porridge with slivers of pork, and wu kok. Eugene was quite adamant about ordering the xiao long bao because I told him that I hadn't tried it before. And he spent some time describing it in detail too, albeit rather animatedly........



And so our xiao long baos arrived, looking rather unimpressive with their pasty glue-coloured complexion and shrivelled exterior. But as soon as I popped one into my mouth, everything Eugene said about delicious meaty juices bursting from the middle held true and all that was swimming in my mind was "Delicious. Meaty. Juicy. Juicy. Juices." Apparently the ones in China are much nicer because the xiao long baos melt as soon as they enter your oral cavity. Well, for newbies such as myself, I'd say that first introductions to xiao long bao at the Shang Palace were tasty enough. Next, fried xiao long bao!

The others dishes were pretty good. For the siu mai, Shang Palace adds a piece of scallop meat at the top and I find this slightly alters the flavour of the siu mai. It was quite nice, although I wasn't quite used to my siu mai tasting a little, well... fishy. My favourite kai keok was not too soggy. The skin didn't cling to the bones; it was puffy enough and had just the right chewy texture that I like. The wu kok was probably my next favourite dish. Like the xiao long bao, it looked measly and pathetic in size compared to the wu kok in Kam Tong, a Chinese restaurant in London. But all you need is one bite to banish any negative notion. The crispy delicate exterior crumbles in your mouth and the yam is delectably sweet and soft. Omg just the thought of wu kok is making me salivate...

Btw I hear the Pussycat Dolls are coming to Malaysia. Anyone going to their concert?

Friday, July 07, 2006

Hangat bola

Yesterday a friend sent me this SMS:

"AT LAST: A new bra size that fits all women. Highly recommended. Women should try it. Sale ends this Sunday. It's called............... the WORLD CUP :)"

Unfortunately, the finals don't interest me much because it's between France and Italy. I've said this many times, and I have no qualms in repeating that I AM SORELY DISAPPOINTED WITH BRAZIL'S PERFORMANCE. It's absolutely unforgivable that they lose to France because when they play to what they are capable of, they can be terrifying. But it didn't seem like that at all in the match... WHERE WAS THE KAKA/RONALDINHO MAGIC?!?!?! WHERE WAS THE PACE?!?!?! AND THE POWER?!?!?!? Iiiiiiiiishhhhhhh!!!!!

I was in Penang last Friday with Lil, Azlan and Chun How. Stayed at Golden Sands for a day and Gurney Hotel for the next 2 nights. It was a good getaway from the city. We ate loads, swam loads, and slept loads. Even the ubiquitous and requisite deck of cards took a backseat. I got a nice, uniform tan from all the watersports too, as seen from the pics below which I took with Monkey when I went out with her, MF, Audrey and Jason on Tuesday.




I've noticed that girls (at least my bunch of girlfriends) like to stick their tongues out in photos when they're acting retarded. Why ah?

Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind if France won the World Cup anyway; that way Brazil have some consolation in that they lost to the eventual champions. May the best team win!

Sighhhh. Brazil, what were you thinking? :(