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Contact me at racheltan88 (at) gmail.com
Last night we attended the Agency of the Year Awards Gala Dinner by Advertising + Marketing. So right after the Bloggers' conference at Times Square, we headed back to the office to quickly get changed.
Arrived at Royale Chulan Hotel just in time. Theme of the night: Oscar Glam.Some dressed to the nines at the glamorous venue while but some still came in their working attire and party dresses.
We even cracked a joke about this girl who wore a similar dress to the one on ezytred.com :P
Sponsors of the night included Zouk, TimeOut KL,Tiger beer, and Absolut Vodka (if only Boozeseal was there, he would've drank his heart away..or was he?)
The place was packed with unfamiliar faces but it was a great first time experience to an Oscar-cum-MTV-Awards-like gala dinner. After I left uni, I thought I will never get the chance to attend balls and gala dinners anymore but I still do! *happy*
I have a soft spot for nice lighting. This one reminds me of a sunflower.
Gala dinners are gala dinners. Of course there were speeches and what not but surprisingly, it was pretty entertaining. Comedian Kuah Jenhan performed for the anxious crowd too!
Our table filled with cutleries, flowers, name cards and menus but I was more concerned about the cutleries.
When I looked at the menu, I got pretty excited maybe because my stomach was already rumbling. But when I looked at the cutleries, I wished they would've cut it down to just a knife, fork and a spoon. And maybe another set for dessert. Instead, we had:
So Nikilesh and I had this conversation about fine dining and he said, "maybe should just start from the outer ones" which in a way kinda make sense *jakun tone*
So here's my Beginner's Guide to Fine Dining:
1. Napkins
Never ever place your napkin on your collar or in front of your shirt. For ladies, between your cleavage (uh-uh). You're no longer twelve year old kids. Napkins are for you to gently dab and wipe your mouth.
Don't forget to leave your napkins on your chair if you plan on returning to your seat so you won't come back to the table like a grumpy old woman/man when it's taken.
2. Which knife or fork should I use?
This one I can't tell exactly but if you look at the picture above:
No. 1 for butter and bread (or jam of any kind)
No. 2 & 6 for pasta and main course
No. 3 & 4 for subsequent dish (not dessert for sure!)
No. 5 for soup (if you notice, it's rounded) and..
No. 7 & 8 for desserts
3. I'm hungry, can I swallow my food now..fast?
Answer is NO!! You're in an elegant gown/dress/suit so take your time and enjoy bits and pieces of your dinner. Now, you don't want to eat too slow that you're ready by the time they serve the next dish. Also, remember to take small portion at a time (it helps your digestion too!)
4. Do not..!
- Don't smoke at the table unless invited by the host/hostess
- Don't use a toothpick or pick your teeth even if you have vege stuck in between them
- Don't ever point your cutleries (It's really rude when you talk with your food in the mouth while holding a knife especially!)
- Don't kick a fuss and be ladylike/gentlemen (If you don't like the food then leave it or pass it on)
Okay, now that I've shared my experiences, check out the menu of the night:
# Squid ink pasta with prawn and vegetables
Kisses: 3.5/5
# Potato and leek soup
Kisses: 3/5
# Chicken with braised chestnuts and vegetable (see picture of menu for glam name :P)
Kisses: 4/5
Great dish! Chicken was nicely cooked and the ingredients are fresh and tasty! and finally..
# Chocolate and berries for dessert
Kisses: 4.5/5
Yeap, it's my favourite dish. I've always been a dessert person so you know how to bribe me kekeke
Before I head out, some pictures we took last night:
# Miss Thailand and I
I look like Linda's babysitter here -___-"
Okay, another 'don't': Never ever play with food/garnishes hehehehehehe
Damn lazy to upload pictures but here's a video by TianChad:
We sure had a lot of fun! I’d like to personally thank all of you who cheered for us and to the rest of my Wonder Nuffies, thank you all for being patient and giving your best shot! :)
I think this is slowly becoming a trend. The soft and ‘feminine’ side of us wants to cook. How time flies, it's been more than a year since I last cooked 'proper' meals. Proper as in chop, fry, steam, and what not. Part One was more of 50% effort minus the stuff we bought that was ready made. But this I assure you, we put in 99% effort :)
So Vince and I headed to Carrefour to shop for groceries. At that time, it was pretty much spontaneous. We didn't have a 'to buy list' or anything. It was more like.."ehh, cook this la..or that"..then we bought the necessary items.
Let's take a look at what took place:
#1 Raw ingredients
Menu of the day:
Beef roll for Appetizer, Sambal Belacan Sotong, Steamed beancurd with minced chicken, "DOG FOOD" (you'll find out), and stir fry beansprout with egg.
We marinated the chicken and beef slices the first thing we got home.
#2 Chop, slice, mince, shred, and wash
I taught Vince how to wash, peel, and cut the squids the-Rachel-way ;)
He did a good job. The squids were all nicely washed and sliced.
While the sous chef...
helped with slicing and peeling. I'm glad my boys had fun ;)
#3 Then comes cooking
First on the list was the steamed tofu (bean curd). We prepared enough food for five people including Ming and Wayne who joined us for dinner.
Sorry a little blurry. We steamed two tofus alongside grilled minced chicken that has been marinated with sauces and stocks.
Here's how it looks like:
Simple to cook and healthy! I can live on only bean curds :)
While waiting for the bean curd, I started rolling my favourite dish: The Beef Roll
Ingredients: Straw mushrooms, beef slices (marinated), carrots, cucumbers, and toothpicks.
Roll the ingredients with the beef before setting it in place with a toothpick :) It should look like this:
The end product?
It's juicy and good for starters ;)
Then we continued with our third dish, sambal belacan sotong *deeps face in spice*
We didn't expect it to be spicy, but it was so spicy that your faces would turn red eating it. Though not as bad as Frontera's chicken wings (you have to try, your lips will swell for at least 30minutes! i'm not kidding!), squid completes my meal :)
Any vegetable dish would always be the last dish on the list to prepare because it takes minimal time to cook. Also, it shouldn't be grilled or stir fried for too long or it will lose its nutrients.
I love eating cabbages and this dish is basically the "DOG FOOD" as Vincent calls it -____-
but after he tasted it, everybody liked this "DOG FOOD" heh heh.
There are carrots, mushrooms, onions, and cabbage in it.
and eggs.
Finally, Vince cooked this last dish, Beansprouts with eggs.
Eggs are his best friend.
It may look disgusting here, but give him some credit la, effort and sweat kekekeke
We took about 2 hours or more preparing dinner before our guests came by with 5 boxes of rice alongside these dishes:
Though tiring and troublesome, the satisfaction was great eating your own home made dishes. We ate like hungry little kids before indulging in a tub of ice-cream :)
I’ve almost forgotten about the story until I received another SMS yesterday. It all started when I attended a media launch sometime last month. Don’t be mistaken, this is not about a familiar Mr. H, rather this entry is about a particular Mr. H that I met at my client’s event.
We first met when he happened to sit beside me. As usual, at business events you exchange name cards and so on. When I received his, it says“All For Love”(should’ve taken that as a ‘sign’). So out of curiousity, I asked about what he does and found out that he’s a local celebrity.
Sorry, pixelated the picture. That's famous designer Key Ng on the right.
Of course, being the girl that I am, I blatantly asked, “So what movies have you acted in?”
He named me a couple of dramas and sitcoms that they screen on RTM 1, 2 and TV 3.
But thing is, I don’t watch the television. When you’re working and all you stare at is the computer screen, you wouldn’t want to stare at any more screens, including your mobile phone when you get home. So it got pretty awkward,
“Oh, I’m sorry, haven’t seen any of these films”.
Later that night, he dropped me a SMS asking to hang out but something inside told me to prolong with my silly excuses. Finally I couldn’t come up with anymore reasons and invited him along for a night out with a couple of friends.
He offered to pick me up as we both stay in the same area. Headed to Mark's Place at Kelana Square while waiting for the other two to come.
What happened was, it all went well.. we talked like how two friends just met. But then when my friends stood me up and asked us to head to Zouk instead, he started behaving weirdly. Either that or I must've been a conservative freak.
In the car, he took the longer road and we were stuck in a jam. Fuck. All i wanted that point of time was to get over with everything and head back home to sleep.
I should've seen it coming, the signs, our conversations.
"I've dated a couple of chicks and they are all longer than any proper relationships I had"
"You know, how celebrities are.. we meet and we have casual relationships"
"We meet at sets and stop seeing each other until the next time we work again"
and when I thanked him for buying drinks, he said "the least you could do is give me a kiss".
I've met jackasses who think highly of themselves (and that's fine) but one thing that I can't stand is how women are treated as objects to some of them men. Another one would be women cheapening themselves leading to these kind of stereotypes.
So of course I told him what I thought and all the women he's met must've been bimbos who's just completed primary school. Nah, that's not what I told him. I was feeling kind that night.
Curious how he looks like?
It's photoshop-ed i tell u! :P
So when we arrived Zouk, my friends were already tipsy. So we danced, drank a little and club hopped that night. I felt really uncomfortable and told my friend that he tried 'touching' me. My friend replied, "Aiyo, dancing sure touch la" -____-"
So anyway, i'm not thinking too much. My predictions were right. On the way back, he stopped and asked "so, where do you want to go now?"
All i could think of was..home! Bring me home muthafucker. And he placed his dirty hands on my thighs. I was on the passenger seat.
If you must know, he was aware that i'm in a relationship.
So finally, when we got to the guardhouse of my condo, he said, "Can I walk you home?"
No, muthafucker. Not in a million years.
It was actually scarier than what i'm writing but i can't really explain it all in words. Just know that i don't often get frightened easily and he scared the shit outta me.
And that's because he leaned forward to give me a peck on the cheek o_O while i covered my face with both my hands. Don't ask me how he managed to still do that. But gross.
After that incident, he still have the cheek to message me @#$@%! and his latest sms says, Hi dear, you've been mia for a while...
So there, the story of Mr. H. Children, have you learned anything from this?
Moral of the story, never ever entertain well known people. They are known for being eccentric. Nyehahaha, i'm just kidding. Just thought I'd share my story on a dry day. And of course, he shall never ever get my reply.
Remember the square cube like wafers you munch on while watching TV, movies, or on the way home from school? I'm talking about Munchy's wafer cubes! My favourite is the Hazelnut flavoured cubes (not because the packaging is purple in colour though me likey the colour :P) but i like taste of nuts and chocolate put together!
My close friends would tell you, I never like peanuts (as in solid nuts). I order my ice kacang without the kacang or the kacang merah. Any nuts i tell you. And the same goes for my chendol. But peanut butter is yummilicious, i bet you! Hazelnut is something that turns my taste buds on too :P
If you guys like singing and beatboxing (mimicing OR copying people) hehe i kid! You definitely have to take part in this contest:
Munchy's MIMIC The Music Contest
All you need to do is record yourself (video) doing the most creative version of the Munchy's JINGLE!! EASY, NO?!
You can also use frying pans and rubbish bins! SERIOUS! I KID YOU NOT ;)
Plus, you can win great prizes like the iPad!
Find out more about the Munchy's MIMIC The Music Contest (click pinklink)! They've got a pretty cool website too minus the labia lookalike cartoon :P
