Rou Gu Cha King @ New World Park

The remaining part of New World Park along Jalan Burmah opened its doors yesterday 1 August 2007. The earlier opened part houses the famous hawker stalls from Swatow Lane. When I heard that this newer part would play hosts to other restaurants like 600CC, Starbucks and Old Town, I thought I'd pop by during lunch today to check out the place.

The new phase of New World Park is very spacious but most of the restaurants have not opened. It promises Manhattan Fish Market, Starbucks, Old Town, Lok Lok and many other restaurants. While walking around today, we spotted 600CC, Nyonya Cafe and Rou Gu Cha King.

Rou Gu Cha King looked most promising and had more patrons compared to the rest, so we decided to eat there. Rou Gu Cha is mandarin for "Bak Kut Teh" (in Hokkien). The poster inside the restaurant proudly boasted that Rou Gu Cha King can be found in Shanghai and Penang.
Ok, I thought, everything seems promising.

Upon browsing the menu, we found they have a few types of 'Bak Kut Teh' - they had the normal version, the spicy (Ma La) version and even a dried version... And we could also pick and choose our own ingredients which is what we decided to do. They also have a variety of noodles.

We had wanted to order the interesting looking Green Tea rice, but was told it was not available yet as the spices have not arrived from Shanghai. So we settled for the yam rice, a plate of lettuce and a bowl of chinese cruller (yau char kuei).
We also order the Nestum Prawns and the Chinese Pear Dumpling. Since they had tea making sets on every table, we also decided to try their teas. We had wanted to try their Rose Tea, but again were told the tea leaves have not arrived. In the end, my brother chose a tea (can't remember what it's called now) but its the first item on the tea list.

There were quite a few tables waiting but we found the food took quite long to be served. And my main gripe was that the 'Rou Gu Cha' soup was not hot enough. To me the soup should be piping hot...but it was just lukewarm but the taste was not too bad. Even when we asked for a refill of the soup, it was lukewarm.
The chinese crullers were rather dismal - quite hard and cold. But the yam rice was not too bad.

The nestum prawn was more of a fried mashed prawn paste which was normal. When the Chinese Pear Dumplings were served, they looked yummy. But it was definitely too oily for my liking, since it was deep fried with a savoury filling. We just could not bring ourselves to finish them because it was so oily.

Nestum Prawn

Chinese Pear Dumpling

The whole meal set us back about RM55. And in the end, I had more fun making the tea with the tea set and making jokes about the boiling pot exploding if it ran out of water before they refilled it! No, I don't think it will explode la! But it was pretty 'gan cheong' for me watching all the steam come out of the pot especially when I knew there wasn't much water left in it!

The black pot which I thought was going to explode!But otherwise, it was a really lovely tea set!

Would I come back here again? Probably. But not anytime soon. As with all new establishments, they would need some time to iron out any 'teething' problems and for all their spices and teas to arrive from Shanghai!

Support and Sponsor the Brave Bloggers of Blogathon 2007!

Blogathon 2007 has kicked off at 9pm today. There's a long long list of bloggers who have picked the charities of their choice and will stay up 24 hours to blog, a new post every 30minutes. A most brave and noble thing to do, because staying up to blog for 24hours is no joke. And having to put a new post every 30minutes is even harder!

I've pledged to sponsor Pelf who's picked the Eden Handicap Service Center and Kelwin who's for MAKNA. But there are other Malaysian bloggers taking part in this as well. So do go over and give them moral support and help keep them awake! It's still not too late to pledge (you have til Sunday 9pm).

For those brave souls taking part in Blogathon 2007 - I salute you!

Sky Hotel Char Siew Siu Baak Rice

Apologies for my disappearance! Have been so bogged down by work...and then when I managed to clear most of it, I immediately laid hands on the last Harry Potter book....and after staying up for 2 nights reading...I FINALLY know what happens.......!! won't go into that...cos it's time for...a food update!

I have been craving for tasty char siew...and I immediately thought of this...

Probably one of the best 'char siew, siu baak' (BBQ Pork) rice in Penang, can be found at a corner kopitiam at Sky Hotel (blue-y building) along Chulia Street. It's been operating for a long time and I think most Penangites would know this place. It is almost always packed and getting a table may be quite difficult, but sharing tables with other strangers is the norm here. All for the sake of good food.

The char siew here is definitely worth a mention. I have never tasted char siew so delicious, with the sides slightly burnt giving a nice crispy bite to it while the sui baak is average.

Doesn’t that look ‘evil’?? Enough to make a person’s mouth water….!

They also have other meats – intestines and duck meat I think. But I always order the char siew, siu baak rice. The rice served here is normal white rice, not the chicken rice variety. You can also opt to include a bowl of soup and a plate of steamed veggie (to make it a healthier meal). Char siew, siu baak rice for 2 including soup and veggie will set you back about RM12.

One more look at the scrumptious char siew…. ok no more pics….am getting hungry just looking at them! And it's almost midnite!

Only open for lunch. Try it and let me know if you adore it as much as I do!

Which Tarot Card Are You?

I have this thing for tarot card readings, numerology and such... so when I saw this on SweetPea's blog, I just had to do it!! So which tarot card am I?

You are The Wheel of Fortune

Good fortune and happiness but sometimes a species of
intoxication with success

The Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. You are lucky in all things that you do and happy with the things that come to you. Be careful that success does not go to your head however. Sometimes luck can change.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

RM127 meme for charity!

Have been meaning to do this meme for charity since I got tagged by Pikey. I actually saw this meme earlier on Zewt's blog but was really just too plain lazy to do it!! This was originally started by a guy called Idham who says he will donate RM127 for every completed meme (you have to complete at least 17 out of the 27) before August 26 to Darrul Izzah Orphanage in Bangi. He hopes to collect at least RM10 000 which I think is really noble of him. Hop on over to his blog for more info ya? And better yet, get busy and start doing your version of this meme for charity!

Here's mine:

1. A person is only as good as
2. Friendship is always understanding, supporting and forgiving.
3. To love is to give, to care, to be kind, to accept the good and the bad, to understand, to forgive, to be willing to work things out when it gets rough and to have gratitude.
4. Money makes me happy! And when I’m happy…see no.22
5. I miss my care-free college days.
6. My way of saying I care is by doing what I can to make them happy, even the little boring mundane things.
7. I try to spread love and happiness by
8. Pick the flowers of love and give it to someone who truly cherishes you.
9. To love someone is to accept them for who they are, irritating habits and all.
10. Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. I have a friend who thinks Spawn figurines are beautiful!
11. When I was thirteen, what I remember the most was moving to a new secondary school.
12. When I was twenty one, I remember finishing college and coming home and having a real hard time adjusting to my ‘restricted freedom’ and most of all having this huge dilemma of what to do next with my life (still having this dilemma now).
13. I am most happy when
14. Nothing makes me happier than knowing that I did something good to bring happiness into someone’s life.
15. If I can change one thing, I will change
16. If smiles were...........then I...............................
17. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all learn to be more tolerant of each other? Be more selfless and more compassionate to each other?
18. If you want to .............then you have to ................
19. Money is not everything but having money could make your life a whole lot easier!
20. The most touching moments I have experienced is
21. I smile when I am happy, when I am nervous but trying to hide it, when I’m meeting people for the first time, when I’m talking on the phone to my friends or people I like, when I see cute photos of puppies, kitties and other cute furry animals, I smile before I start a presentation, I smile at the security guard at my office building…ok, I’m a smiley person!
22. When I am happy, I tend to be very generous and want to spread the happiness around to my friends and family!
23. If only I don't have to ..............., then.........................
24. The best thing I did yesterday was
25. If I ever write a book, I will give it this title,"...................................."
26. One thing I must do before I die is to make time to do more charity work to help those in need.
27. Doing this meme, I feel like this takes more effort than I thought!!

There! I'm done!

And of course, after you're done don't forget to let Idham know so he can keep track of your post!

I'm going to tag...anyone who is feeling generous and wants to contribute RM127 to charity!

Good Clean Fun & An Act of Kindness

I spent the weekend in KL with one of my best friends and her friend who was visiting from the US. It was meant to be a chill out pampering weekend - an overnight stay at a hotel, leisurely breakfast and just enjoying the sights and sounds of the heart of the city.

And to my delight, the weekend definitely lived up to our plans! Mainly because of 2 separate incidents. We had planned to go to Rum Jungle on Saturday night, because a friend had told me that they have a mean drummer who plays a great set. As we walked towards Rum Jungle, we were exchange horror stories of the recent car hijacking events, snatch thefts and what not. And being just 3 girls walking along the street, we were extra cautious.

Upon arrival at Rum Jungle, we grabbed our drinks and took a seat. Next thing we knew, a couple of Aussie backpackers had approached us to talk. We still had our guards up, because really you can't be too careful these days....but they seemed friendly enough and managed to pull me to the dance floor, leaving my 2 friends behind to chat with the rest.

On the dance floor, there were just lots of people, friendly people, who genuinely seemed like they were just enjoying the dancing. At first I was still on the apprehensive but soon, I realized that these people just wanted to dance, which was definitely fine by me and so we danced! A group of Africans were even trying to teach me some of their traditional dance steps! And we danced the night away - no drugs, no alcohol (well, not too much anyways...) and definitely no sex. Just dancing! And just the way I like it! Good clean fun!

The next day, we were recipients of a really random act of kindness. A lady from Port Dickson offered the 3 of us a ride to KLCC because it was raining!! We were in the same lift, and because it was pouring outside I had suggested we take a taxi to KLCC and she overheard us, and just out of the blue told us she was headed there and would we like a ride?
We were stunned for a bit, our guards up immediately, and we were considering if it was safe. I even asked my friend quietly if she thought the lady would 'take us to go and sell'. In the end we accepted the ride and 10mins later arrived safely in KLCC!

We did so many random things that weekend - talking to total strangers and letting them pull us to the dance floor, accepting rides from a stranger... and yet when you come to think of it, these are simple things. Simple things made complicated because the horrors of society today has made us so cautious and fearful.

A risk was taken with that act - the lady risked her safety to give us a ride, and we took a risk trusting her to bring us safely to our destination. I am not in anyway saying that we should trust everyone we meet. But wouldn't it be nice, to live in a world where you don't have to second guess a person's intentions? Where you don't have to be wary of everyone you meet. Where you don't have to be so suspicious all the time and wonder if the shady looking guy walking next to you means you any harm.

It truly is sad how society has changed us, forced us to put up walls around ourselves, made us so fearful, hostile and violent, and taken out of us the ability and the intention to be kind to our fellow man.
Is this what lies ahead for our future generations? A world of fear and mistrust?

How Much To Give?

"I'm watching you sleep, it hurts a lot
& all I know is
You've got to give me everything
Nothing less cause
You know I give you all of me

I give you everything that I am
I'm handin' over everything that I've got
Cause I wanna have a really true love
Don't ever wanna have to go & give you up
Stay up till Four In The Morning & the tears are pouring
& I want to make it worth the fight
What have we been doing for all this time?
Baby if we're gonna do it, come on do it right"
~ extracted from Gwen Stefani's 4 in the Morning~

How strange that this song says everything that I want to say right now.

A guy friend once told me that you should never give yourself 100% to another person, because when that person leaves you, you will be hurt so badly. So in order to safeguard yourself, always keep, like say 30% of yourself. Never reveal everything to another person, totally.

Meanwhile, a female friend also once told me that the secret to happiness is to find a guy who loves you more than you love him, as this will ensure that he will 'worship' you.

Maybe I am too naive, maybe I believe in something that doesn't exist. And maybe I haven't found the way to find a balance. But for now, I cannot accept those things my friends have said. Because how on earth do you keep a part of yourself from the person you love? How can you keep a part of your heart locked away, as though you're stashing away some cash, for those 'just in case' days? Is safeguarding yourself from being hurt a justifiable reason?

I do not understand. And perhaps, because I do not and cannot understand this, I am singing that Gwen Stefani song over and over again.

Best Tiramisu In Penang!

I'm still dreaming about tiramisu... Therefore...ta dah.....


The best-est tiramisu in Penang!! Definitely beats all the other tiramisus I've tried in Penang so far...

This bestest Tiramisu (freshly made every day) can be found at Bella Italia Italian Restaurant, Belissa Row, Pulau Tikus Penang. In fact this is one of the best Italian restaurants in Penang... my family and I just love this place, and we go there whenever we celebrate someone's birthday or when we have guests over etc...its just our 'special treat' place! Will definitely do a more in depth review of the place soon...but for now...let's just drool over Tiramisu.........!

How Vain Are You?

Did this silly fun quiz I read from 5Xmom's site...cos I'm bored even though I know there's this report sitting there waiting for me to read it and make some sense of it....
So yes, apparently I am, quite the vain pot...coming in at 73% just 1% behind 5Xmom!

You Are 73% Vain

You're a little vain, but you also work hard for your good looks. Just remember, everyone knows you are a total hottie. You don't have to remind them.

How Vain Are You?

Well...what to do, in this day and age, so much emphasis is put on how a person looks. And there's the ol' saying that women want beauty, dun want their life. But, as vain as I may be, I refuse to be a slave to fashion (although I must admit I have no resistance whatsoever when it comes to shoes, bags and earrings....). And I sure as hell will not give up food to starve myself into becoming model thin!
In fact...I'm dreaming of tiramisu right now after reading an old entry in Keiko's blog...my oh my, her food photos are sinfully enticing!!!