Monday, November 24, 2003

We made pineapple tarts today!!!!!!!

Tried making some yesterday. Made the dough which had to be refrigerated. Then tried making the jam. Didn't cut the pineapple finely enough and ended up with pineapple toffee!

So, went out and bought another pineapple today and we succeded!!! Yeay! Made approximately 60 tarts today!

My God! I am growing by leaps and bounds. First a three course lunch for D's birthday and now tarts! Yikes! What next??!
This weekend is the third weekend we're doing our 'Check out a New Place'.

First place: Little Bali (Desa Sri Hartamas)

It was buka puasa time but nobody gave us anything to buka with. Not that I do it but still. The food came and was quite above average. I had the fish which was nice and D had the lamb which he liked.
+ points: Very nice food presentation and good taste and flavour
- points: Inexperienced waiters and no buka puasa dates even though we had to wait for our food past 7pm.
Value for money: Can do but not every week.
Recommendation: 4/5

Second place: Jake's Charbroiled Steaks (somewhere near Bukit Damansara....)

Again near buka puasa time and again nobody offered anything. D had the steak which was king size. Didn't fill him up too much but it Was big and very nicely done. I had the Charbroiled Chicken with (extra side dish) Mushroom Sauce. Chicken was dry and hard and didn't taste like it should if it was charbroiled. Mushroom sauce tasted quite average considering that it cost me RM4.50 for a tiny serving with 4 Shitake mushrooms.
+ points: Good steak with a nice size for an acceptable, reasonable price
- points: Bad chicken and expensive sauce. Can you believe the chicken comes plain? If I hadn't ordered any extra sauce, I would have been choking my dinner down, dry as it is!
Value for money: Expensive and the dinner was only half good!
Recommendation: 3.5/5

Third Place: Carnaval Chiarascurro (or something like that) (near Atria Shopping Mall)

Had to make reservations although it wasn't really necessary. It is a new place but had a very good walk in response considering. They serve a buffet of "a minimum of ten cuts of meat, fish and chicken". I counted I think exactly 10 and two of the cuts were chicken heart and gizzard. I am surprised that bishop's nose didn't come in!
Ok, different concept. There is a buffet line of cold and hot entrees and side dishes....consisting of stuff like rice, salad, potatoes, vegetables, cold pasta, egg salad etc. No meat, no chicken, no fish. The cool twist is this: waiters come out of the kitchen with kebabs of beef (lots and lots of different types of beef), lamb (lots of different types of lamb), chicken (yes, heart and gizzard too), fish (just one), turkey ham and caramelized pineapple.
So, what they do is, they come around the tables with their kebab swords of the meat, and a big 'machete' like thing. They ask you if you want the meat they're proffering and if you do, carve slices of it onto your plate!
A really different concept and quite quite cool although it does have its disadvantages.
D realllllllllllllllllllly like the beef especially one especially juicy (read: bloody) one. And I enjoyed the salad, the cold pasta and the turkey ham.
+points: Good food - very good beef, different concept, variety is pretty good
- points: The waiters stopped serving us after a while (wondered if it was because we had already eaten our money's worth), sometimes you had to wait for the waiters to come out of the kitchen serving the food, if you're not into meat......don't do this place, the fish wasn't very palatable (too much lime and kunyit made it too strong to bear), not enough fish.
Value for money: at RM45.00 per head, D ate his worth but I didn't I think. Again, if you're not really into your meats, it ain't worth it. But can trylah at least once to experience the different buffet style.
Recommendation: 3.5/5

So far we've been doing this 'Try new places' thing every week. But I guess we have to budge too huh? So far, the bills have run pretty high! :)

Any suggestions of places for us to try?!
(for 21 November 2003)

Today I saw a llife ended. Today I 'saw' lives changed.

Right in the middle of the afternoon, something happened. I don't know who caused it , I don't know what happened but somebody paid for it.

The motorcyclist ended up on his front with his arms up over his head and his legs sprawled apart. It almost looked like he was fast asleep. But there were rivers of burgundy coloured blood running from where his head laid, covered under newspapers, as were his legs. I guess the papers were there to shield curious passerbys from the horrors of protruding bones and smashed faces. Ah the sensibilities of the living.

His bike lay on its side, near him, almost like a faithful dog would. I don't know what caused the accident. I don't know if he 'deserved' it....but I do know that he will never go home again. He will never see his family again nor experience the ups and downs of life again.

Just like that. So easily. People go past, I go past. They look, I look. Does anybody care? Will anybody change? Someone is never going to see their husband/father/son/brother/grandfather/friend again but does it change life for us? The impartial observer.

IT SHOULD! It really should because it should make us learn to not take life for granted. To not take our bodies for invincible. To not believe that 'IT' would never, could never happen to us. I don't want for this to happen to me, I don't want for this to happen to my family. I don't want for it to happen to anybody!

I saw and I made a quick prayer, for me and for my loved ones.

Please, the next time you step out your door and into your car or onto your bike, please spare a thought for the person you could kill. The lives you could change. Nobody deserves to die annonymously on the road, spread out for all to see. Respect your fellow motorist and if this thought could go all around the world, nobody need die like this every again.