Little Big Soldier – Movie Review

CNY is the time when i just have to go to the cinema even if there are plenty of DVDs to watch. Its a tradition left from my dad’s days with us when every CNY, whole family would  go to town and watch a Chinese movie. This year was no exception eventho i didnt go back to Penang this time.

KL was pretty much deserted during CNY but not at the cinemas.  We went to Pavillion and only  managed to get tix for Little Big  Soldier. We wanted to watch Valentine’s Day or 72 Tenants of Prosperity or All’s Well..  but looks like everyone was trying to escape the heat and get into the  aircon movie theatres.

Anyway, Syd was happy cos it features her fav singer Wang Lee Hom!! Unexpected good luck for her..lol. I personally didnt like Wang Lee Hom when he acted in Lust Caution but then with Jackie Chan onboard and no other movie tix available after queing half hour…..beggars cant be chosers i suppose.

When the movie started, all of a sudden we realised…oh no…movie is in Mandarin!! Thank God for precise English subtitles!!

Here is the synopsis for the movie.

Jackie Chan is an old soldier who only wants to survive. The other is a young general(Wang Lee Hom) who is aspiring to conquer. After a bloody battle, the two are the only ones alive. When the soldier finds the injured general, he decides to kidnap him and brings him on a long journey to collect a reward, thinking by doing so he will no longer need to fight a war.

The general, feeling insulted, attempts suicide but is saved by the soldier every time. Somewhere along the way, the soldier and the general find themselves becoming allies in a fight against the real villains.

Movie Review – 8/10 Unexpectedly was a great entertaining movie. Lee Hom is still a stick in the mud but Jackie Chan makes up for it with his slapstick humour and stunts.

We Are the Reason

Its Complicated – DVD review

 

What do you do on CNY when its so hot you dont want to go out? Get some dvds and watch at home lo…

I saw the BTS(behind the scenes) on E Channel Astro and thought it should be fun to watch these 3 great actors in a movie. Alec Baldwin from 3rd Rock, Meryl Streep…who can forget her in Mama Mia and Steve Martin…long time funny comedian!

Was quite entertaining at parts but thought the storyline was abit weak and quite predictable. Anyway this is the official synopsis of the movie.   

Jane is the mother of three grown kids, owns a thriving Santa Barbara bakery/restaurant and has - after a decade of divorce - an amicable relationship with her ex-husband, attorney Jake. But when Jane and Jake find themselves out of town for their son's college graduation, things start to get complicated. An innocent meal together turns into the unimaginable - an affair.

With Jake remarried to the much younger Agness, Jane is now, of all things, the other woman. Caught in the middle of their renewed romance is Adam, an architect hired to remodel Jane's kitchen. Healing from a divorce of his own, Adam starts to fall for Jane, but soon realizes he's become part of a love triangle. Should Jane and Jake move on with their lives, or is love truly lovelier the second time around? It's--complicated.

Review: 6/10 watch if you really dont have anything to do!

Michealangelo’s at Pavillion

Went for a light dinner at Michealangelo’s just to actually try out their tiramisu. If you dont like nude paintings, dont look at the walls. You should also not bring little kids here less they shout about the shameless wall decor!

In all his glory!

Stocked Island Bar.

Creme di Funshi  or Mushroom soup to you and me!! LOL RM12.90

 

Insalata Cesare or Salad with hard boiled egg ,croutons topped with cheese shavings. RM17.90

Mojito RM24.00 (taste horrible…and costs more than the food!)

 

Tiramisu RM17.90…didnt like it!

 

Overall…service and mains were good. Desserts…can be had elsewhere!

Neroteca (Italian Restaurant)

This cosy little restaurant is located at the Ground floor of the Somerset Building at Lorong Ceylon. It seems to be little well known except by word of mouth as you can never see it from main roads or even if you walk by.    The interior sits probably 30-40 people max so if you are thinking of going during the weekends, try and book 1st. 

I went there for lunch and as you can see, the front of the restaurant is just glass and it can get pretty glaring from the hot afternoon sun. Another thing that i didnt like was that smoking is allowed here and this kinda ruins the taste for me! However the waitress was kind enough to relocate us to another table mid-way thru our meal as the next table was puffing like a chimney!

See those things hanging from railing are sausages and other dried foodstuff –chillies and garlic etc. Ahem, looked abit disgusting tho…lol!

Complimentary fresh bread to dip in olive oil/balsamic vinegar and roasted garlic…heavenly!

Ordered parma ham on oh so sweet honey melon!! How come i cant get melons as sweet as these??!

 

Their Neroteca  salad with croutons, bacon, olives topped with generous shavings of parmesan cheese. Was abit too salty for me but would be great for cheese lovers as there were chunks of cheese in it as well.

Medium sized lobster on a bed of squid ink pasta  in tomato based sauce!!

  The pasta looks weird right? This sphagetti  has been enhanced with the chemical substance extracted from the ocean squid so it becomes very black in color. Squid ink, which is also available from the Cuddlefish (related to the Squid family), is added to the water and dough as pasta is made, creating very black colored pasta.  This ink provides a salty and somewhat sweet flavor as an ingredient and coloring to the pasta.

1st time i tasted this and other than not looking “nice” its actually quite tasty.

Last was dessert but we were disappointed as they didnt have tiramisu that day  so we settled for a chocolate mousse cake and a cheese cake.

 

The cakes were a huge disappointment and better ones can be had in Starbucks/Coffee Bean! 

Total for the meal for 3pax came up to a whopping RM338.55(incl 10%+5%).  Main course of the pasta lobster costs RM178, Salad was RM32 and Melon ham RM34. Cake is RM22 each but they gave us one complimentary to make up for the “out of stock” tiramisu.

A friend mentioned the pasta carbonara is to die for and may try this out another day!

Address:
Somerset Serviced Apartments Ground floor,

No. 8 Lorong Ceylon Off Jalan Raja Chulan
Kuala Lumpur, 50250

Parking inside the building is only for tenants so you have to park opposite in the open air car park or along the side of the road(nightime is ok but daytime you may get a traffic summons)!

Kampachi at Hotel Equatorial

Remember our last dinner at Kampachi Pavillion which wasnt too good so my brother suggested trying the original branch at Hotel Equatorial to see if any better.

 

Sashimi Avocado Salad RM38.00. Their dressing is a dark brown Miso/wasabi sauce if not mistaken. Was unique and quite good.

 

Kampachi Bento RM70. My brother likes the multi-offerings tray as he gets to taste everything from tempura to beef, chicken, sashimi etc. Comes with Miso soup and watermelon dessert as well. According to him…value for money!!

However he said KFC chicken was better than this fried chicken ….lol!!

 

Sashimi Teishoku set RM70 .

The Apetizer came in a trio of cod fish, oyster and pumpkin which was delicious.  

The set comes with rice which i declined and they gave me this simple salad in thousand island sauce.

I generally order the sashimi set as the true standard of how good a  Japanese restaurant  is depends on the freshness of the sashimi. Hmmm…on this particular day which was a Saturday, Kampachi major failed. The fish was bland…which probably meant it wasnt that fresh! Few days old shipment i guess.

Shake Don RM60.00. This is salmon sashimi and salmon roe on a bed of rice. Rate 7/10.

  

Macha Ice Cream RM13. Standard green tea icecream with some mochi and biscuit.

 

Tempura Ice Cream RM18. Basically its deep fried ice cream with pink mochi and Jap biscuit topping!! Syd complained the pastry wasnt crispy enough and too thick!

Overall verdict was probably a 6/10 as service was excellent here and made up for the lack lustre meal.

100 Yen shop Snow Ice Desserts

Have you tried this dessert that is available in those 100 Yen shops?? I tried this with Syd in Kuchai Lama one very hot hot day but unfortunately didnt quench my thirst.

We ordered the green tea topped with red beans and mango topped with mango snow  ice. Its very milky like and tastes something in between ice cream and icekachang!! 

Personally i would prefer Ice Kachang on hot days like these but for a try la to appease my sweety tooth Syd! After having these very sweet desserts, we were thirsty for water. It costs around RM4.90  each and there  are 7 flavours available which are Mango, Strawberry, Lychee, Milk, Peanut, Green Tea and Coffee Snow Ice.

Wish I was here….

 

These are the days you wish you were somewhere/anywhere else cooler………………….

pics from my NZ trip few years back. Auckland(top) Christchurch(bottom)

Welcome Tiger Year

Its the Year of the Roaring Tiger but all i can feel is…..zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. It could be the oh so hot weather and the never-ending indulging of food and titbits so i think i may just sleep thru the New Year.

Happy New Year everyone and drive safe!!

Money laundering

Did you read about the engineer in PJ who washed his clothes with some money left in the pockets and ....surprise comes out like this.....

Seems the 4 pieces of new RM50 got laundered pretty clean!! LMAO. Not funny if you are the one doing the money laundering!! Wonder if our new notes are so "washable" or were they fake notes??

12/02/10 - Latest news today- More people have come out with discoloured notes due to laundering!? And Bank Negara clarified saying "The incidents of ink wear due to washing with strong detergent are a rare occurrence.Even under such conditions, distinguishing security features such as the watermark, security thread and security fibres in the paper remain intact to determine the authenticity of the banknote”.

Akhem..so due to the "water-colours" used by BN, you can now go all the way to BN's headquarters in KL Block D ior any of its branches and exchange your discoloured notes for new ones! Malaysia boleh!

Fukubukuro

Fukubukuro (福袋, lucky bag, mystery bag^?) is a Japanese New Year's Day custom where merchants make grab bags filled with unknown random contents and sell them for a substantial discount, usually 50% or more off the list price of the items contained within. The low prices are usually done to attract customers to shop at that store during the new year. The term is formed from Japanese fuku (福, good fortune/luck) and fukuro (袋, bag). The change of fukuro to bukuro is the phenomenon known as rendaku. Fukubukuro usually are snapped up quickly by eager customers, with some stores having long lines snake around city blocks hours before the store opens on New Year's Day. Formerly, Fukubukuro were an easy way for stores to unload excess and unwanted merchandise from the previous year, due to a Japanese superstition that one must not start the New Year with unwanted trash from the previous year and start clean. Nowadays, Fukubukuro are pushed as a lavish New Year's event rather than a way for stores to get rid of excess merchandise. (Excerpt from Wikipaedia)

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Dont you think this is great if local Malaysian stores were to do that? Its such a win-win situation as stores will get rid of their old merchandise and customers get great discounts and a greater surprise when they open the fukubukuro??!!

Many retailers in the US also have started offering these “lucky bags” and the best one was when  the Apple store in San Francisco offered $250 lucky bags to lucky customers at their opening in 2004. The lucky bag contained  a mix of software, audio accessories, and an iPod in randomly selected bags. Apple Japan also runs this promo and you can submit your name before Dec 25th and be in the running for the lucky draw to pick out 200 lucky fellas who will qualify to buy this lucky bag. 

If you cant travel so far to Japan nor want to wait till end of this year, then head on down south to Singapore’s Central Department Store . From 22Jan – 28Feb 2010,  you can buy  the highly sought-after Fukubukuro Bag at $60* when you spend $80* at Central. Each bag is value at 3 times and more. You may just walk away with air tickets, LCD TVs, jewellery, beauty packages and many more!

This Cute Fukubukuro costs SGD24.90 was also sold at a shop in Central. So sometimes you get worthless stuff but thats the mystery and surprise lo!!

Handphone repair..RM250!!

Ish..my handphone broke down on me yesterday. Took it to Lowyat and they said its the IC and keypad spoilt!? Costs RM250 and if i dont want it repaired then RM30 svc charge. Haiz...so repair la cos my bro Patrick said, if repair ok then worth it rather than buy new one which is around RM700 or 2nd hand one also RM400 over.

But guess what, i came back in the evening, kaput again!!!?? FML. Taking it back there tomoro so no pics for now as i take pics with my handphone's 5mp camera. If they dont repair back for me, may cost a riot there!! Watch this space...

Snowflake SS15 Subang Jaya

One night we went to Subang Jaya for dessert on recommendation from my sweet Sydney – the ultimate sweets addict!

The venue – Snowflake which is just opposite Asia Cafe at SS15…few doors away from Starbucks and located on the 1st floor. Red lanterns welcome you at the stairway up!

Small little cafe like place with balcony sitting for smokers. Of course us non-smokers sat inside in the aircon comfort free from the pollution.

 

Quite a full house on that night majority students who live around the area though  there were a couple of families as well.

Posters on the wall posting the main ingredients in their Taiwanese style desserts like red beans, pearl barley, taro/sweet potato etc.

You go to the counter, order and pay for your food and you are given this little beeping UFO thingamajig!!? LOL.

Then you go and sit at your table till the UFO starts blinking and beeping! Means your desserts are ready and you go back to the counter to collect it on a tray. Serious SELF-SERVICE!

The bowl of blackish liquid was my order and when i saw it, my first thought was “looks like fu-cha(bitter herbal tea)”!! It was suppose to be their speciality of leong-fan(black jelly) with groundnuts, taro etc and served hot!

Turned out to be quite nice and not so sweet…just the way i like it! Was abit too much for after dinner though as the bowl was quite big. We could have shared as we saw others doing that.

The above was  the cold icy version of mine. See the brown thing is the shaved ice which has been frozen with melted brown sugar giving it the colour and taste!

Last one was the tau-foo-fa served with taro balls and cold syrup and this tasted quite bland. I prefer the taufoofah in my local neighbourhood market!

Each bowl costs around RM4 - RM5.50. There is a small outlet at Pavillion as well for those of you who do not want to travel to Subang to try this!