Dining With Jewelle

Which girls in this age of such intense fashion consciousness who is not aware of what names like Prada, Coach, LV or Dior represent?!

Class and exclusivity, you say?

To me, they represent a dream because unfortunately I haven’t quite learn the art (read : guts) of entering their shops like I can buy anything (without checking the price tags first) let alone fork out thousands of dollars for one of their item!

But like all girls, I too want to parade my “Prada” around town if I do have one, if only to let other women drool - aren’t we all show offs!

Of course we can always get cheap knock-offs from the street but do you know that even in the world of fake items, there are various levels of imitations quality?

Inferior copies are aplenty on the streets that even a short sighted non-fashionista can immediately recognize. But there actually companies such as Ashley’s Boutique which finds superior copies of the trendiest items as soon as they are on the market.

The story of Ashley’s Boutique is interesting too. Apparently this service was started by someone who like most of us could not afford the exhorbitant prices that the real items demand and so she made it her business to find the “finest replicas” that are available so the moment the hot items are paraded down the runway, we too can have a piece of the trend while its still in season!

I like how thorough this site is as each item can be viewed from almost all angle so you can really have a visual feel of how an item looks it.

So if you are a fan of branded imitations fashion items, you should check out Ashley’s Boutique collections as they have bag or purses, clothing, jewelry or watches, sunglasses and accessories from brands such as Prada, Burberry, LV, Dior and Coach.

Now that you know where to get your stuffs, polish up your attitude and no one would be the wiser (except you as you saved yourself loads of money for MORE stuffs!)

A few weekends ago I managed to coaxed hubby to try out a new place called the Red Canopy Cafe at Batu Bersurat.

When we arrived the place was deserted so we picked one of the nice cubicle which even has a curtain door for privacy. The decor was contemporary but the thing that caught my eye was the huge flat screen TV which was playing some South American and Middle Eastern video clips. But the special thing about it was, the restaurant menu and dishes kept appearing on the screen so even if you don’t want to watch the clip, looking at the nice pictures of the curry and burger on the TV were sure interesting.

As for the menu itself, it was huge and thick! They have nearly everything from western to asian to even Latin inspired selections :

After much flipping back and forth, we finally decided on :

I think if you like a lot of choices when it comes to food, this is the place as we got quite a headache figuring out which to order!

We thought that the food was alright, the prices reasonable and the ambience cosy. Except perhaps the TV volume could be lower.

There was a guy who came in earlier than us and had a plate of succulent looking steak. We’d definitely try one of their steaks next time!

At first hubby wanted to go for the “Melbourne Motor Show” but I guess February 2008 is a bit too long to wait. So now, he is wavering towards the “Australian International Motor Show” which will be held in Sydney on the 11 to 21 October 2007!

I am not a Motor Show fan and I will never consider visiting a place because of its Motor Show. But if that is the reason that gets me there, I’m not complaining! It’s too bad that Prince Edward Island and Christchurch are not known for their Motor Shows as I would then have the perfect excuse to convince hubby to take me there!

To be honest, I’m not too thrill with the idea that we’re going to Sydney because of the Motor show but since we will be doing a lot of sight-seeing too, that is a big consolation. Of course there are a lot of interesting places in Sdyney. There is the iconic Opera House and the Royal National Park which is the second oldest national park in the world.

The kids will enjoy the Sydney Aquarium, Taronga Zoo and the Luna Park, the historical theme park.

Basically, there should not be any shortages of places to visit that will appeal to the four of us.

But what about accommodation in Sydney? You know that hotels are a big deal to me!

Luckily I knew of a great site that offers cheap hotels in Sydney. From this site, you can get rooms at various Sydney hotels with 2 stars from AUD40, 3 stars from AUD59, 4 stars from AUD94 and 5 stars from AUD139.

These are serious bargain if you asked me! They promised the lowest rates and what’s more they offer last minute deals or all year deals which means that either way, you will get a some kind of a good deal.

At the moment, I’m leaning more towards the Darling Harbour area for our hotel with attractions such as the Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Chinese Garden located here.

But most importantly, the motor show will be held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre which is in the Darling Harbour vicinity. I better check what cheap Darling Harbour hotels are available for this date before they are all fully booked!

Anyway, Sydney hotels aside since it won’t be a problem, I have to start thinking about all the other logistics as, if hubby changes his mind and decide that it’s Sydney motor show that he wants to go, October is a mere 3 months away!

To celebrate mother in law’s birthday, we had dinner at the new 11° Sports Cafe at the former SKBB building, now known as Plaza Sutera Biru in downtown Kuala Belait.

This place is located at the back of the building, completely hidden from the road and with no signages at the front, I wonder how they expect to get business.

This is the main entrance for both the Cafe and the Plaza Sutera Biru swanky boutique hotel, blogged by Princess Nashwa recently. In fact, the Hotel reception table shared the same floor as the Cafe but with no clear parititions or signages, I did missed it until someone pointed it out to me, despite my chair being right across it!

I supposed they had no choice as the space was tight and this small area (since the other half of the building was rented out to a Bank) had to accommodate the Cafe, kitchen, hotel reception, lift foyer, washrooms, utility room, security room etc!

But the decor of the Cafe was something else.

In fact, I’m surprised they call it a Cafe, a sports cafe some more, because it was actually very lavish with plush sofa seats, custom made chopsticks and some bronze (or lookalike) statues on the floor! I think the only sporty thing about this place were the balls which was arranged on the top shelf of the open kitchen counter, the TV was fixed on sports channel and a huge wall mural on football.

As for the food, my parents in law got adventurous and ordered stuffs they wouldn’t normally order for the sake of trying Northern China cuisines.

There was actually another wantan (dumpling) soup. It was quite sourish and when my father in law commented on this to the manageress, she sent us a complimentary plate of steamed dumpling!

Of course, this place also boasts their own “La Mee” which is basically handmade noodle, personally prepared by one of the chef. This noodle arrived last and by that time, I was too spent from having to eat, take pictures, feed Eu (who was having a lot of problems with the dishes) while giving her my “Sit properly” face and another hand blocking Qi who was somersaulting on the other sofa. Hubby said the mee was “okay“.

This was my first experience with Northern China dishes (that lotus roots pickle was definitely exotic to me) and I felt that they were mostly sourish and spicy. I was told that vinegar is favorite condiment for Northern Chinese and some of these dishes really reflected that! But that corn dish was quite tasty actually.

Eu only enjoyed the first 2 fried dishes as everything else elicited a “Chili!“, “Ginger!” or “Spicy!” from her. As for Qi, she spat out most of the little bit of food hubby gave her and if they find a mark or two on their sofa, it’s Qi’s definitely. Serves them right for NOT having baby chairs, though!

But I think their speciality is the after meal towels which came in the shape of a miniature football. In fact, when father in law first brought it back, none of us believed him as the ball was hard and tiny and how could they fit a towel inside that?! If anything, this has got to be the restaurant with the most memorable towels.

However, I do have a problem with their open kitchen concept.

Our table was right besides the kitchen and the noise from their hood was so loud, it was deafening. Other than that, the service was fine. The food was exotic and the place was really lovely. I’m sure it was even lovelier in the daytime with the picturesque Belait river just outside.

By the way, their Chef’s are Muslim Chinese and they still look very Northern China fair (I guess they haven’t been in this country long!).

As for the cost of our meal, mother in law who’s an expert at saving money, approvingly commented that we received “change out of B$100” (it was $90+). But despite that, they concluded that old Teo Chew is still the best for our kind of Chinese food.

Check out the Plaza Sutera Biru website which by the way specified the dress code for the Cafe. It’s “Smart Casual” if you please!

Two of our old university friends made a trip to UK last year and of course paid a visit to Newcastle upon Tyne and amazingly, some of the hall of residences staffs from our time were still working there! Looking back at their pictures of the Haymarket, Chinatown and even the Tyne river brought back a lot of memories. It was strange to think that 10 years had actually passed since we were there as I still have some vivid memories of events and places, just as if they happened just a couple of years ago!

I think my fondest memory of UK was travelling around the country, which thanks to dating an adventurous man, became our regular activities at nearly every semester break. We covered quite a large part of the country too, from as far south as Bristol to as far north as Inverness.

Of course London was a favorite destination too because as you’ve probably guessed it, London Motor Show is an annual event and became a must-go event for my walking car encyclopedia too. Such extravagance for a student, if you asked me!

Fortunately accommodation in London was not a problem and I can still remember that we used to stay in a few places around the Earl’s Court vicinity.

But one of the funniest memory that I have of our travels was during our road trip to Manchester for a Sabahan Students gathering. We were told by friends there of a street where several cheap Manchester hotels were supposedly located and our men were confident that we could find the place, despite reaching the city at night. But despite our men’s prowess at street navigation, boyfriend-then-hubby-now and another friend’s boyfriend-then-hubby-now just could not, for the life of them, find that maddening street!

The funny thing was (seriously annoying then), that particular street was only a couple of blocks away from the hotel that we ended up staying at!

How different things were as compare to now with online hotels booking sites with maps and pictures. In fact, even travelling last minutes can even prove cheaper at sites like the Cheaper Than Hotels.

Well, at least if hubby and I do ever decide to go back to UK, finding cheap accommodation will not be one of the problem.

Ever since I married into hubby’s family, I have been introduced into many types of food which I have never heard or tried before. So from now on, I am going to feature some of the unusual (for me) food which I think is special to the Brunei Chinese and/or Sarawak Chinese.

One of their family favorite is a particular large fish which they called the “Sultan Fish“.

This type of fish is according to my parents in law, quite expensive and presumably is an exclusive favorite for the Brunei and Sarawak Chinese as I have never heard of this fish in Sabah. Perhaps it’s called a different name there, could this is be the “jelawat” fish?

My mother in law usually cooks this very simply. Steamed with dried fungus and ginger. However, I don’t quite fancy this fish because it is full of bones and the kind of bones which are very fine and quite invisible to the eyes until they poked you in the mouth.

Hubby knew of my terror with the bones and always very kindly find me parts with minimal bones and it was only recently that I started to enjoy eating this fish.

And I was surprised to finally discover that although it has the freshwater fish smell (mud), the flesh is very sweet.

I think if you like seafood and especially fish, you would like this particular one too.

When I was younger, my girlfriends and I used to discuss about the kind of men which interest us. Some of us would focus on the personality, some on his wealth and there are some who were particular about race.

But personally, I see not much of a reason for anyone to have issues with interracial dating.

Perhaps the reason why I’m so open about interracial dating is because in Sabah, we have so many races intermingling, from the various native groups to the immigrant races that sometimes we tend to forget our racial differences.

That is why I am quite amused to know that there is a dedicated dating site for interracial singles such as the Interracial Romance, as to me, race should not be a factor when it comes to finding that special person. It’s not like all men (or women) from a particular race will guarantee you happiness, isn’t it?

But I guess the point of this kind of site is to feature singles who is open to potential partner from other races. Maybe there are those who, through other dating sites, found a potential person only to be told that that person will not date someone not from their own race!

Anyway, if you are looking for romance and you are open to men (or women) from various races (or nationality), you can check out the Interracial Romance, where you can search and join for free.

Good luck!

My father in law recently asked me which restaurant serves lobster dish (besides Excapade, that is) around Kuala Belait and Seria as he wanted to treat my mother in law for her birthday.

We knew that Buccaneer Restaurant has a dish so hubby and I (with the kids) dined out there to check it out.

As usual, hubby ordered the escargot and as before, Eu exclaimed loudly that, “Euww, I’m not eating snails!“. That was until we got her to try one and after that, she even insisted on my share! If you have never tried escargots, make it a point to try the Buccaneer’s, they’re really very delicious.

Their breadroll starter this time was different too. Although they were yummy, Qi loves the bread stick, I think I prefer the soft buns. I also asked for the pumpkin soup for a bit of fibre food for Eu and Qi.

As for me, I think I’m beginning to lose my taste for western fares and none of those in the menu (though good they actually were) sounded very exciting and I finally chose, by virtue of “hentam saja”, the barbequed beef ribs.

Sad to say, although it was actually tasty, I have forever (I think) lost my appetite for barbequed ribs after my experience with the Tony Roma’s and this unfortunately, looks and taste very similar that I practically pushed everything to hubby’s plate! I have no idea what made me pick this dish in the first place.

I got Eu the baked fish with rice dish which I think she enjoyed and later after several attempts, even Qi ate some too.

Hubby had the honour of having the lobster (no choice actually as I am not fond of seafood) and it came in a dish complete with mussels and fish fillet and smothered with cheese. I had a try and I thought the lobster was alright, the flesh was tender and quite delicious too.

Our verdict to my father in law, although the lobster dish was recommended, the intended person it was for will definitely turn it down because she does not eat cheese!

So instead, we had our family dinner at the new 11 (degree) Sports Cafe at the Plaza Sutera Biru.

But that’s a post for another day!

Kwan is my favorite character in Amy Tan’s Hundred Secret Senses and one of her memorable funny lines was when she declared that anyone from the State of Missouri must be full of misery.

Obviously she did not know that in the state of Missouri, there is a Branson city which is the self-proclaimed “Live Entertainment Capitol of the World” with their numerous theaters and music shows while being geographically surrounded by the natural beauty of the spectacular of Ozark mountains.

In fact, not only would a fictional character be interested in this place, even I am intrigued by their fame as the “Family Friendly Las Vegas” :

Originally envisioned as a center for lumber shipment from the Ozark Mountains, the city began to develop tourism in the 1930s. Today, Branson is a major regional destination in the United States with a well-known reputation for live music theaters, primarily in the Country genre. The city hosts three major amusement parks, as well as a diversified armada of live theaters that house everything from comedy and magic shows to variety music and dancing. Built along a portion of Highway 76 nicknamed “The Strip” because of its Las-Vegas-style roadside neon signs, Branson has built its reputation as the family-friendly version of its Nevada counterpart.

So it’s not wonder that Branson MO real estate continues to be a popular investment to cater for its growing tourism.

In fact, ThousandHills Golf Resort Community is very popular among those who wish to own properties as well as benefit from an exclusive program of nightly rental which can help ease the cost of owning the properties.

If you’re looking for some real estate investment opportunity, check out ThousandHills to find out more.

This was actually the first Indian restaurant which I wanted to check out in KK last week. But when Vee, my chauffeur cum dining mate refused to be adventurous, I decided to shelve the idea until I had another dining mate. That happened to be my youngest brother who had a choice of being either a baby sitter or my chauffeur, and the smart man chose the latter.

So it was off to Kohinoor for me, finally.

This fine dining North Indian restaurant was located at the Waterfront a few doors next to BED and flanked by bars. We went there for lunch on a weekday so I was a little surprised to find that the place was empty.

The decor of the place was lovely, with lots of flowing fabrics on the ceiling. It featured an open kitchen concept so it was a little disconcerting to find the eyes of all the chefs (supposedly flown in from India) on the two of us.

I read somewhere that their lunch sets were recommended and that was what both of us had. Since Jay Frediano never had any Indian food before (except roti canai or murtabak), I ordered the mutton set and chicken curry set. I convinced Jay to try the mango lassi and fortunately he was okay with it. I attempted another Indian drink called a Jal Jeera which is a concoction of lime, mint and something else I can’t remember right now. It’s actually quite nice but I think you need to acquire the taste for it.

Of course, as with any other Indian restaurant, the poppadum were served first. Theirs were bigger in size as compared to Choice Restaurant.

This was followed by a plate of pakoras and samosas which I thought were quite good that I finished them all.

Soon after that, our main dishes arrived. Besides the Punjabi chicken curry, I was served a bowl of long beans masala and daal terkawali.

While Jay’s mutton korma came with Jeera Aloo (supposedly a favorite North Indian dish) and Bhindi Masala (ladies fingers). We thought that the ladies fingers used in the dish were quite tough, perhaps too old.

I was actually looking forward to the Jeera Aloo the most. I once had a potatoes with mustard seeds dish cooked for me by a close friend’s MIL and I have been crazy about it ever since. However, I was never sure of the name and since the Aloo Ghobi at Choice, the other Indian restaurant, was cooked with cauliflower, I thought perhaps the Jeera Aloo would be the type that I would prefer.

However, I was a little disappointed as this dish was quite dry and the potatoes still quite hard. I’m sure this was the authentic way of serving this dish but I think I prefer the Aloo Ghobi more than this.

All the dishes were great. The portion was just nice, if a bit too much. In fact, even the plate of rice came with 4 slices of naan bread and salad! Jay, someone who can eat 10 slices of bread in one sitting, was already struggling to finish them off. I should have brought my other brother here (he’s the type who can eat 20 slices of bread in one sitting!).

There was even a plate of fruits and coffee for dessert.

For a set of RM15++ and RM19++ each, they were really value for money.

I think for a fine dining place, the dishes were reasonably priced. The service was great and the food was lovely. Perhaps the only problem I had with this place was when they let the cooking smoke from their grilling section entered the restaurant. But at least they noticed my frowning face and quickly closed the door.

Also, this place has no toilet but there is a public toilet a few doors down.

Finally, here’s my brother stuffed to the max and I’m sure is so happy now that I’m back to Brunei and no longer around to pester him to babysit Eu and Qi, take her shopping and drive her around town!

But seriously, thanks Jay Frediano!