XiangCool.com

The Hiking at Bukit Tabur

xiangcool — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:00:46 +0000

This wasn’t my first time hiking at Bukit Tabur at Melawati, I used to hike there quite frequently about 2 years back.

Since the last hiking with my classmates at Bukit Gasing, we moved to something even challenging this round.

I haven’t been exercising for quite some time since my finals commenced, hence it’s tough for me to regain the stamina to conquer the hill. If you think Broga Hill was tough, think twice for this. This is at least 3 times tougher than that.

The last trip at Bukit Tabur, I wasn’t really enjoying the scenery up hill. We took our own sweet time there since we started the journey at 9.30am.

Apart from hiking, taking photos was the main aim of the day. Of course you know the girls came for that purpose =P

With Ryan, Vincent and Han Pin. All of them are going UK for the next sem, guess I wont see them so soon after this.

Guess we are real good at taking photos, never stop taking photos at every possible nice spot.

We were kinda tired uphill and yet we’re taking photos of ourselves. Great, that’s the motivation =P

Look! It’s certainly not easy =P

With Han Pin, Dayang, Jasmine, Felina and Vincent

The most challenging part for me wasn’t about my stamina but my shoes, they choose to fail me during the journey. I know it wasn’t a proper hiking shoes, but probably not to broken down at this time.

I slipped couple of times and worst still we took the wrong path. I ended up with bruises around my legs when I’m back.

Okay, this is how my shoes looks like right now. Time to say sayonara and get a new sport shoes!

I will definitely return for the next hiking at Bukit Tabur again!

Cherish. Tiramisu. Mother’s Day. Egg Benedict. XiangCool

xiangcool — Mon, 14 May 2012 03:00:58 +0000

Just a quick update on my blog, I have finally went through the hell two weeks long finals. Cheer to the 4 months long sem break! *woohoo*

During my finals, I borrowed my house for BryanLimTV collaborating with DaDiDumTV to videoshoot a “community service message” video for Mother’s Day. Check out the video below…

I’m one of the “keh leh feh” inside, spot me =P

Subscribed to their youtube accounts for more upcoming great videos =]

Baked Tiramisu Bianco Cake for my cousin bro TJ birthday, improvised version.

Mother’s Day Flower Cake from Bloom Florist for my lovely mom!

I was told that Egg Benedict from Plan B Bangsar was great, put up the challenge to create it myself on Mother’s Day for breakfast.

Took me the whole morning to make this since everything was made from scratch, english muffin, poached egg, canadian bacon and hollandaise sauce. Glad it was a good output and my family and relatives enjoyed it.

Lastly, the most recent photo update of myself.

Truly Nyonya Delicacies at The Tranquerah, Encorp Strand

xiangcool — Thu, 10 May 2012 03:00:43 +0000

If you have followed me on twitter, you surely knew that I’m busy with my Finals for this 2 weeks. Hence there aren’t any intensive blog post I have written in this two week. I’m happy that my finals gonna end by this coming Friday and I will be enjoying my 4 months break. *jump with joy*

I was actually at the launch of The Strand last year, which is the opening of this authentic nyonya delicacies restaurant named The Tranquerah as well. They serve a variety of local authentic Malacca nyonya food.

Greeted by Emily Lim,our very local Malaysian artist and Miss Malaysia dressed in nyonya clothing.

We had onde-onde, the very tradition nyonya kuih for starter.

Asam Jawa Juice

The restaurant was partly owned by Alan Yun, our Malaysian Actor. Celebrity Chef Florence Tan which specialized in Nyonya cuisine contributes the recipe for the dishes in Tranquerah.

Honey Crispy Sotong

I love this deep fried sotong along as it was sweet and crispy at the same time. It was coated twice before putting into the frying process and it brings out the caramelized flavour. Oh yums!

Cincalok omelette

One of the nyonya dishes that you must try out, omelette with pink fermented sauce made from fermenting miniscule shrimps called ‘geragau’.

My favourite dishes for greeny veg – Kang Kung Belacan!

Sambal Udang Petai

Love the crunchyness of the prawns and how it blend with the sambal sauce, not forgetting the savoury petai!

Ikan Cincaru Sumbat

I remember that I had this quite regularly during my school days and I love this stuffed sambal chili paste fish. It just taste great when the spiciness immerse into the flesh of the fish meat!

Ayam Sioh

Alan was recommending us his favourite as this ayam sioh had a thick gravy base and tasted slightly sweet and tangy with a good flavor of spices. It would be best to go with a bowl of hot rice!

Ayam Pongteh

Ayam Pongteh is chicken cooked in fermented bean paste, mushroom and potatoes. It had a balance of salty and sweet taste from the soybean paste and gula Melaka. There is a pork version of this Nyonya stew too. The gravy is thick and goes really well with rice.

Inche Kabin

Inche Kabin is definitely one of the signature Nyonya dish. It relies on a great spice seasoning to bring out the taste of this dish. The chicken was exceptionally fragrant with its spice marinade and coupled with the aroma of garlic, onions, lemongrass and curry leaves.

It was Emily birthday on that day too, she had a birthday cake baked by Big Boys Oven by Sunny Yaw.

The Tranquerah
62A-G, Red Carpet Avenue
Encorp Strand, Jalan PJU5/22
Kota Damansara, 47810, Petaling Jaya
Tel: 603 – 6142 4106
Email: tranquerah8@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Tranquerah

XiangGiveAway : Premium Passes to Watch UEFA Champions League Final with Heineken A Legendary Night

xiangcool — Tue, 08 May 2012 07:00:16 +0000

As promised earlier, I’m giving out 1 pair of Premium Passes to watch UEFA Champions League Final with Heineken A Legendary Night on 19th May 2012.

Watch the UEFA Champions League final between Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich live on cinema in High Definition on:

Date: Saturday,19 May
Time: 11:30pm
Venue: GSC Signatures, The Gardens

How I address premium? How does free flow of Heineken, popcorns and food while watching the Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich at premier seats?!

In order to win the passes,
1. Make sure you have like XiangCool.com facebook page
2. Name me 3 iconic stars of UEFA Champion League!
3. In less than 30 words (whole sentence), complete “I wanna watch UEFA Champions League Final with Heineken because…”

Contest ends on May 10th!

Can’t wait to watch how Chelsea gonna kick their as like the match with Liverpool earlier =P Join me and see you at the Heineken Legendary Night!

Pick Me Up at Kuchai Lama!

xiangcool — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:00:04 +0000

New dessert shop at Kuchai Lama!

Their signature items!

Fruity Tower with Blueberry, Mango and Strawberry Ice!

We tried the Ice Cream Burritos with Oreo Cookies too!

Mixture of Crepe covering ice cream and oreo cookies!

Nippy Noodle Restaurant @ Jalan Kuchai Lama

Breakfast at Executive Lounge, Eastin Hotel PJ

xiangcool — Wed, 02 May 2012 03:00:37 +0000

Check out the related blog post =]

As you know, most of the stay accompanied with complimentary breakfast in the hotels. I am entitled to complimentary breakfast at the Executive Lounge of Eastin Hotel PJ as I was checked in to their Eastin Deluxe Suite.

Located at 17th floor of the hotel, the Executive Lounge is only accessible by those who stayed in Executive suites. That explains you will get a comfort area, most likely to be less noisy as compared to the ordinary breakfast place.

At the Executive Lounge, there’s a breakfast menu for us as those were the dishes cooked as per order. I ordered the two half-boiled egg and the golden banana pan cake for the morning.

Let’s have a look what’s available over the counter…

The cold cut counters where smoked salmon were available! Start imagine munching it with some cream cheese topped on it with freshly baked garlic bread. Oh Yums!

Next you could have some garden salad to kick start the day. Topped with olive oil as dressing, super healty-licious!

If you’re a carbo lovers, go for the croissants, danish doughnuts and bakeries available there

Or you might just want to have some toasted bread, whole meal or white.

Cheese to go with your bread/salad or whatever you want to topped with =P

There;s several stuff at the hot pots, hams and chicken-siew mai is available.

Some mini sausages!

Cereals lover will definitely love this area, they have various variety of selections for you. You can have all of it as long you dont go nuts =P

Milk and juices!

Yogurt anyone?

Some mixed fruit to balance up the diet, more nutrients and fibre!

Love to have a cup of expresso, cappuccino or latte for the morning?

There’s carbonated soft drinks for you as well

Caffe Latte

Cappuccino

I love varieties, I get a small portion from all the dishes out there.

The golden banana pancake I ordered earlier, taste great with some whipped cream and maple syrup topped on it!

My favourite fruits!

Ultraman breakfast prepared by Jennifer. Parents with kids with always come out with the lovely kids meal =P

Here’s conclude the lovely breakfast I had at the executive lounge before I check out the hotel. Miss the hotel stay and food so much =[

Glenmorangie SOUNDFORM Fluid Showcase and After Party

xiangcool — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 03:00:01 +0000

I was at the Glenmorangie SoundForm Fluid Showcase last Friday and the after party at Vertigo to witness the awe-inspiring representation of the brand’s philosophy on ‘Unnecessarily Well Made’, The SOUNDFORM Fluid.

As you know from my previous post, Glenmorangie single malt whisky obtains its multi-layered aromas and kaleidoscopic flavours through maturation in fine oak casks, obtained from the Ozark Mountains. While there are many perfectly good single malt whiskies matured in casks that are re-used up to eight times, Glenmorangie goes the extra mile for that added elegance in its whisky by only ever using their casks twice. At its Tain distillery in the Scottish Highlands, Glenmorangie employs the tallest whisky stills in Scotland, ensuring only the purest vapours are used in the spirit.

Glenmorangie Brand Ambasaddor Ben Ng was conducting the whisky tasting session with the attendees.

We have tasted the 3 Single Malt Scotch Whisky produced by Glenmorangie. They are The Orginal, The Lasanta and Astar. For your information, Astar is considered as limited edition whisky as they are no longer in production!

Our bartender Han Pin was mixing some whisky for us!

We were educate on the 3 respective whisky aroma and taste. Savouring glasses of whisky and learned to recognize the taste and aroma infused by the few whisky. I were taught to have more imagination power in order to get the smell right. I’m getting slight tipsy before the after party actually starts.

The host of the night Joey G then introduce the resonating perfection, SOUNDFORM Fluid – a stunning, sculptural bar that brings to life the ‘Unnecessarily Well Made’ philosophy advocated by Glenmorangie. Officially unveiled at The Gardens in Mid Valley, the SOUNDFORM Fluid bar was designed by renowned architect and interior designer Philip Michael Wolfson for Glenmorangie, and it was inspired by the sonograph reading of the sound of Glenmorangie whisky being poured into a crystal glass.

Its bold jagged edges are covered in a black aluminium finish on the exterior, while the golden orange interior, which mimics the colour of Glenmorangie, is lit up to create an aesthetic, visual counter balance. It is a creative showcase and extension of the philosophy behind Glenmorangie’s deliciously complex single malt whisky brought into being.”

With my guest Han Pin

Xiang, Vivian and Han Pin

The showcase saw celebrities and single malt aficionados enjoy a night of appreciation as they savoured the ‘Unnecessarily Well Made’. After which, the crowd adjourned to Vertigo for the after-party featuring US DJ duo Manufactured Superstars, who supplied a steady flow of house, dance and electro pop into the night.

US DJ duo Manufactured Superstars

More Glenmorangie!

Han Pin, Xiang, Han Choong and Sui Ying!

The SOUNDFORM Fluid bar remains on display at the North Atrium in The Gardens, Mid Valley till 1 May 2012. Whether you are a fan of contemporary design or just plain curious, head over to catch the SOUNDFORM Fluid, before it leaves for its next destination in South East Asia.

Gotten Flowers for Mother’s Day? Win Flower Cake for You Mom now!

xiangcool — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:28:13 +0000

I loves doing Giveaway in my blog whenever I afford to share the happiness with everyone.

Mother’s Day is just weeks ahead and have you gotten anything for your mom? I remember the last time I got flowers for my mom was during my primary school days where I gotten her Carnation flower. I remember I gotten her a pair of diamond ear rings (shared with my siblings, I’m not that loaded) which she accidentally lost it during our cameron trip 2 years back. I will get her another pair when I start working…

So what’s your plan for the upcoming Mother’s Day? You should really considering getting one of these lovely flower cake for her and I’m sure she will be over the moon when she received it.

If you’re just a student and worried about the price of these flower cake, freak no.

So one good news I have over here, I’m GIVING AWAY one Flower Cake worth RM 120 to one readers here by writing the most heartful touching wishes/greeting to your mother, mother in law, god ma, wife who is the mother of their child, any mothers or what so ever at this particular Facebook Link.

That’s easy isn’t it? If you have gotten the flower cake for free, you could have spent your budget getting your mom a small gift or a dinner night out.

There’s a several terms and condition applied for the giveaway, contestant must be from Klang Valley as Bloom is only able to deliver. Put it this way, you need not to stay in Klang Valley but your mother must staying in Klang Valley in order to receive the flower delivery. The contest ends on 9th May and the result will be announce on the same day. The winners has to respond to me immediately (in the same day) to sent me further details.

All this wouldn’t be possible without the kind sponsors of the Online Florist – Bloom The Floral Shop

Apart from that, they have 3 branches around Klang Valley if you were to customise your very own flower cake. Check out this fabulous stores!

C13, The Intermark, +60321611616
LG17, Empire Shopping Gallery, +60356321228
LG25, IPC Shopping Centre, +60377224429

Check out their online websites at www.bloom2u.com

A Truly Japanese Shumatsu Buffet at Eyuzu Japanese Cuisine, Eastin Hotel PJ

xiangcool — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:00:12 +0000

Check out the related blog post =]

My Luxurious Stay at Eastin Deluxe Suite, Eastin Hotel Petalling Jaya

During my stay at the Eastin Deluxe Suite, Eastin Hotel PJ, I went for the Shumatsu Buffet at their very own Japanese Food Outlet – the Award Winning Eyuzu Japanese Cuisine. They serve the most traditional Japanese delicacies prepared by the award winning Executive Chef Ricky Hui.

Before the dinner start, I went for some cocktails at The Divan with Esther….

I love the canope prepared for us, the smoked salmon with some cream cheese topped on the crisp bread!

Fancy some lovely swan cream puff? So lovely till we were so reluctant to eat them…

The milk crepe was really lovely, milk and creamy and you get the layered texture out of it.

The bar tender is preparing my glass of Mojito!

Not a liquor fans, hence I always go for Virgin Mojito. Minty lemonade soda drinks <3

Having some chit chat time at The Divan, we proceed to the next door Eyuzu Japanese Cuisine for our dinner =]

Eyuzu Japanese Cuisine has a gorgeous mini Japanese Garden view and private rooms for the diners. There’s more than 150 mouth-watering dishes to choose from the appetizers to desserts.

Table Setting

Japanese Potato Salad topped with Tobiko

Let’s start with the appetizers, there’s a few non-Japanese appetizers available as well.

Kimchi

I love the baby octopus, heavy in taste, crunchy and juicy at time.

The lightly salted cruncy Edamame

There’s crispy seafood skin, salmon skin, seaweed and prawns for your choice

I love the crunchy-ness of the deep friend tiny fish and the chicken meat for appetizers.

Ah, can’t stop myself from indulging the salmon skin which have rich Omega 3 nutritions in it.

One of the remarkable dishes was the crunchy deep fried prawn head, though I love prawn very much but I dont eat the prawn head.

Chawanmushi

Shark Fin Soups

I would say this is the only downside of Eyuzu as the shark fin soup wasn’t starchy enough and heavy in taste for me.

I really love the Sashimi served at the counter, all of them were cut in equal thickness giving a great texture to me. This could not be possible without the high skills by Chef Ricky. I swear I still salivating for sashimi from Eyuzu after a week.

Prawns lover like me would not miss the boiled prawns. I literally taste the freshness of the prawns and it’s heavenly good!

Fresh Oyster

Apart from Sashimi, Eyuzu serves a wide variety of sushi as well.

Sushi Roll

Inaruzushi

To be honest, the sushi spread were pretty good to me. However I was craving for some unagi sushi there, they only serve roasted eel meat at the hot pot side…

The marinated white tuna was one of the feature item of the night, the tuna was equally sliced and marinated with butter and garlic sauce. To get the best taste out of it, the trick lies at topping some butter sauce and garlic slice on the tuna. The butter sauce did not overpower the tuna but enhance the flavourful of it.

I’m drooling for more sashimi now =[

Soba or Udon were one of the signature dishes for Japanese cuisine, Eyuzu have you to make you own bowl of delicious udon or soba over the counter.

Cold Chasoba

The handmade buckwheat noodle were pretty smooth and great texture go along with the cold soba soup. Topped it with some condiment for better taste and texture!

My bowl of Hot Udon

I literally shocked at the Teppanyaki station knowing that they serve Lobster teppanyaki as well.

The mouth watering juicy lobster meat glazed with the buttery sauce!

Other than lobster, they serve salmon, beef, chicken, squid and fish at the Teppanyaki station.

Look at the plate of mixed teppanyaki, I'm drooling again...

This egg wrapped oyster gaves me the O-Jian feel, the oyster were wrapped with the pan fried egg.

Dobun Mushi ( Japanese Tea Pot Soup)

If you would like to have some like clear soup, you should go for the Dobun Mushi. It has a light flavour of seafood broth and filled with mushrooms and prawns.

If you are craving for some Sukiyaki, there's a counter with the ingredients for you as well.

They have quite a wide variety for the tempura station from fish, prawns, crab meat, yam, sweet potato and others...

The skewer station was rather good as well with the variety available!

Guess I had quite much for the night and time to shift the attention the desserts!

The topical fruits available at the station! Oh wait, I spotted my favourite Longan!

Chocolate Cheese Cake

Strawberry pudding

Japanese Cheese Cake

You can opt for the Japanese pan cake topped with various sauce such as kaya, peanut butter or even honey itself.

Mochi - red bean, pandan and sesame!

The lime sorbet served along with the green tea mousse were great to end the dinner! Sweet Sourish dessert!

There's Ice Kacang station and Ice cream selection as well. Check out my version of cendol above =]

Award Winning Chef Ricky Hui

For the amount you paid, I would say it’s worth for money considering the quality of sashimi and other foods! I want to go back for the sashimi again!

The shumatsu buffet is only available for dinner and the buffet is served every Sunday, price at RM86.00++(Adult) and RM43++(Child).
It’s located on level 2 in Eastin Hotel.

Tel: 603-7665111 extn 203

Operating Hours
Lunch : 12.00pm- 2.30pm (Daily)
Dinner : 6.30pm- 10.30pm (Daily)

Eyuzu Japanese Cuisine
Level 2, Eastin Hotel Petaling Jaya,
13, Jalan 16/11, Pusat Dagang Seksyen 16,
55100 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS Coordinates: 3.1267, 101.6447

Marvel’s The Avengers 2012

xiangcool — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:00:46 +0000

Genre: Action-adventure
Rating: TBD
U.S. Release date: May 4, 2012
Malaysia Release date: April 27, 2012
Running time:

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, with Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson
Director: Joss Whedon
Producer: Kevin Feige
Executive Producers: Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Jon Favreau, Louis D’Esposito, Patricia Whitcher, Victoria Alonso, Jeremy Latcham
Story by: Zak Penn and Joss Whedon
Screenplay by: Joss Whedon

I get to watch 3D version Marvel’s The Avengers way earlier than most of the Malaysians at the press screening 3 days ago. Though I’m not a movie fans but I have to say it’s one of the good production I come across.

Marvel Studios presents “Marvel’s The Avengers”—the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.

Joss Whedon briefing Chris Hemsworth about the shooting and details

In the movie, after Loki bid to overthrow the throne of Asgard was thwarted by his brother Thor, the evil Loki retreated to lands unknown to plot his revenge. Not just against his brother, but against Earth, whose inhabitants Thor now protects. Loki now returns with a nefarious plot to conquer Earth and will stop at nothing to see his vision realized. When his misuse of power threatens the entire planet, it may take more than The Avengers to stop him.

As the legendary director of the international peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury is humanity’s first line of defense against the world’s biggest threats. When S.H.I.E.L.D. becomes aware of an evil that threatens global safety, Fury assembles the planet’s most powerful beings and forms The Avengers.

Seriously I really adore all the hi-tech computers in the movie and wonder those be put up in our life in future?

I rate Marvel’s The Avengers quite high with the actions, plot and humorous dialogue in the movie.

One of my favourite character! His attire is damn cool!

One of the movie scene dialogue were pretty humorous to me. I remember the Black Wido was saying Loki was pretty evil and he should be killed (something like that) and Thor in a serious manner told them Loki is his brother. she replied him that Loki has killed 80 people in 2 days. Thor replied that “he’s adopted”!

Though I dont find Hawkeye very great in the movie.Armed with his weapon of choice, the recurve bow, Hawkeye fires his arsenal of custom-‐augmented arrows, specialized for any number of specific situations, with perfect precision. With the potential for global catastrophe on the horizon, he employs his amazing combat skills to fight alongside The Avengers.

Fearful of the damage that The Hulk could inflict, Dr. Banner chooses to live a discreet life in remote parts of the world, working to cure the sick and help the poor while trying to elude those who would take advantage of his ability to change into the enormous, green menace. When a mounting threat calls for Banner’s specialized scientific expertise, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury recruits him, knowing full well that the incredible strength of Banner’s alter ego, The Hulk, would be an asset to The Avengers. I remember the scene where Hulk sudden punch Thor grab everyone laughing point.

My favourite characters!

Check out the trailers!

I rate this movie 4.5/5 . You should really watch it in cinema!

Connects The Avengers:-
Website: marvel.com/avengers_movie
Facebook: facebook.com/Avengers
Twitter: twitter.com/avengers

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