Dining With Jewelle

Having TV in restaurants is excellent for entertainment - especially for customers who dine alone, wished to avoid having long conversations or simply to enhance the dining mood.

That is why business places, not only restaurants but which have waiting customers should consider offering quality and varied shows.

Direct TV, the leading satellite television provider in the United States, is smart enough to offer special "Business Viewing" packages for business use. Offering various categories which ranged from arts & entertainment, family & children, movies, music, news & information, Spanish and sports, Direct TV can help businesses retain and attract new customers by keeping them entertained.

Check out the Directv service for different kinds of business; restaurants, bars, saloons, gyms, retail shops , banks, office etc and get their free quote.

When the Fratini Restaurant opened a branch in Seria, local folks were understandably excited.

But not us.

Having a number of expats in his office, my husband is used to office functions catering from its Kuala Belait branch and have only one thing to say about this place - expensive. While my friend and I had lunch once at their Kota Kinabalu branch last December and although we enjoyed the food, we were staggered by the prices - RM10+ for drinks!

Needless to say, we were not one of those who practically lined up outside the door of the newly opened Seria branch - raving for its authentic Italian fares.

But of course, having no other fancy restaurant (that does not serve Japanese) less than 20 mins drive from home, we had dinner there last week. We had sort of expected that one month since it was opened, the novelty of being new had worn off and we could just walk in without reservations.

We did get a booth and that was only because we arrived early and the next party was due in 45 mins time. All the other empty tables even sported the reserved signs.

Perhaps because of this, our food came extra speedy - and we did have a large order of mixed grill, lasagne, kiddie spaghetti and seafood salad - which costed us a whopping $75!

Of course, the service was fine and the atmosphere was great - but frankly, it is not a place we can afford to have in our list of favorite.

It's a good thing I am not hooked on any particular TV shows right now because I really hated having the weather messing up my satellite reception.

I think it is high time we have another satellite TV providers in the country - one that does not get affected by rain!

Perhaps Direct TV, the leader of satelite TV provider in the USA would be the perfect contender for our local providers. What's more, this Direct TV Service offers not around 30 channels but 45+ channels - and that is the cheapest package of channels safe for family viewings at only $29.99 monthly.

Imagine having the choice for up to 265+ channels from their ultimate entertainment package which cost ONLY $52.99. For this package, the Directv Service even provides free DVR or HD receiver.

Actually, even their second cheapest package with over 150 channels for only $34.99 is already tempting enough for me.

This satellite provider needs to come to our region.

I do not remember when was the first time I had bread pudding.

But I do know that it is the one dessert that I usually would try if I see it in any restaurant or cafe's menu. In fact, I will take bread pudding over cakes any day.

When I bought a small carton of ready made custard the other day, I immediately made myself my quick version of bread pudding - a slice of bread cut into small pieces, sprinkled with raisins and currants, topped with custard, a dash of cinnamon sugar and baked for about 15 mins (or until I like the look of the top).

If you have never eaten bread pudding before, then it is a lovely dessert to have with a cup of black coffee to counter the sweetness.

Most of the recipes online are made using the traditional method i.e. no ready made custard, but any one of them would be a good introduction to how this dessert taste like.

My husband and I thought of having a late night supper at the new Fratini Restaurant in Seria town earlier. But although the kids cooperated by turning in early, the babysitter was not ready and we could only leave home by 9pm.

Since it took 15 mins to drive to Seria, we decided that even if Fratini was still opened, they would not be able to prepare our food in time before their closing time.

And so we decided to drop by Kaizen instead.

My husband had a craving for the "chewing gum of the orient", a nick name for these dried octopus snacks sold in most stores. So since he could not get the processed ones, we had the fresh sliced octopus instead.

I tried it once at the other Japanese restaurant and did not fancy its rubbery texture.

I was not crazy about these either although they seemed easier to eat and the generous slices of lemon masked any smell which it may have.

But if you asked me, this is not something I will order anymore.

Because I wanted my baby to be born in 2009, I refrained from having any Indian food even though that is usually my first eating out choice whenever I am back in Sabah.

I knew that it's a common belief that spice or curries can trigger labour and I had Eu to vouch for this. I had an Indian meal with a friend when I expecting her and within a few days, I went into labour.

So as soon as 2009 arrived, I went for dinner with the same friend - and this time, since I am ready to go into labour, we went for my first Indian meal at a simple eatery at Api Api Centre (just behind Marina Court and Promenade Hotel) called Devi's Cafe.

My sister recommended this place long ago and the only thing that keeps me from coming here is because it is not air-conditioned. But since it was in the evening and less heaty, we chose this place for the meal-that-will-trigger-my-labour.

When we arrived, an Indian family was just leaving and we took that as good sign - if Indian's themselves frequent the place, it has to be authentic. Besides us, there were only 3-4 tables occupied.

We decided to have their banana leaf set meal with 3 vegetables, 1 meat dish with biryani rice.

My friend had some chicken curry and I had their mutton curry which the waiter stuffed inside the bowl of rice. We were disappointed that they did not have the potato dish and we were puzzled when the waiter did not understand "aloo gobi" and said that what we meant is "potato masala" (which I have never heard of before).

The accompanying vegetables dishes were nothing special. My rice and mutton were good but it was the mango chutney and another condiment that made me polished my whole bowl of rice - so good we even asked for second helpings of these two condiments!

I was satisfied with my meal (except they could have re-heated their vegetables) and for both of us including a bowl of poppadoms and iced drinks only cost us RM24.

The place itself is simple but it does have some nice ceiling decorations that sets it apart from normal Indian coffee shop.

And again, Indian meal proved to be potent with me as two days later, I delivered my third child!

During our first drive out to 1Borneo for this trip (to send a family friend to their hotel there), we caught sight of this restaurant which was a few doors units between the 4 hotels located at this mall.

Being western food lover, we immediately made plans to try this place out and had our chance a few days later.

When we arrived, the place was perfectly occupied by just the right number of other patrons (we detest busy restaurants where we can't get any attention and empty restaurants where we get all the attentions).

We had our pick of tables and at first decided on their couch type sections until our friend decided to join us and we moved to a bigger table.

For starters, I ordered their seafood chowder and my husband had their oysters. My chowder was delicious enough although I thought it could do with a more varied seafood. I did not try the oysters but my husband had nothing to say about it so I can assumed that they passed his judgment.


Then I had some grilled chicken dish called Portugese which took an amazingly long time to arrive. It's a good thing I was not too hungry and we were enjoying ourselves with my friends that I was not too bothered that it only arrived after my husband was halfway through his main dish, the lamb rack.


Taste wise, although it was delicious, it was not worth having to wait that long - what more in a near empty restaurant.

While the lamb rack was good looking enough, my husband proclaimed that the Buccaneer's (Brunei) was more to his palate - which for one thing was not smothered with mint.

One of our friend had the salmon dish which got no complaints from them.

Overall, we were not too impressed and having so many other choices around town, I doubt we'd make our way back here any time soon.

Welcome 2009!

I'm sure one of the first thing that most of us would when the new year approaches is to start a new year resolution. Work harder, save more money, travel more, make time for oneself, kinder to others and all kinds of resolutions.

However, how many of us really do check on our resolution progress? Or even monitor how many of our old resolutions have been achieved?

I know I am also guilty of making resolutions that quickly slips the mind once all the usual daily grind starts to take its toll. But maybe I'll make more of an effort this year with the help of an online resolution tool called Goal For It.

Goal For It helps anyone to quickly set up their list of resolutions, track their progress along the way and be motivated and inspired through their community network. The good thing about Goal For It is that you can also use it to set goals (serious or fun) for kids and even chore charts. When my kids are older and are able to read, I am definitely going to use this kids' chore charts feature!

But right now, I'm going to sign up and start having a more meaningful resolutions
.

A few days ago when I brought my kids to 1Borneo for a short visit to see the Christmas displays, we had lunch at the "New York New York" restaurant.

Like many of the restaurants in this mall, the NYNY is huge. It can definitely fit more than 100 patrons at one time. However, when we arrived, there was only one other table occupied.

I was pretty impressed with the choices of food and I would have a hard time deciding if I did not see the lamb shank dish straight away.

And their Moroccan Lamb Shank was what I chose with Eu excitedly supported my choice.

The kids liked the vegetable soup although I was a bit surprise when I saw the clear broth.

As for the lamb shank, it was tender and tasty enough but I thought the sauce was too little. Look wise, it did not look as good as the lamb shank in Charcoal Grill in Bandar Seri Begawan which we had last month.


My mother chose the creamy pasta with fish and we thought the pasta was delicious (although both Eu and Qi did not like it at all). They liked the fish though. My brother ordered their roast chicken and prawn combo.


I thought their food was ok but perhaps I'll only come back here for drinks as the place is nice to hang out with friends and check out their dessert selections.

Because I am not a fish lover, I am lousy at fish names and cooking fish dishes are limited to simple recipes. But since my kids take after their father who loves seafood, I do try to cook fish more often that I personally would do.

My kids prefer the steamed way of cooking as it is softer and juicier.

But when it comes to this kind of fish - which I think is called red snapper - steaming is a no-no for Eu. The smell and taste is too over-powering that she would not touch it.

A while ago I cooked them this fish deep fried before cooking it with some soy sauce gravy. Adding the small tomatoes was an afterthought but it was a good idea it gave the dish a salty and sourish combination that even I enjoyed it very much.

As for my girls verdict, they insist that I cook more next time!