Dining With Jewelle

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
.