How to : Mushroom Risotto

Just another dish I learned to cook to feed Fatty and I during my stay in Melbourne.
Quite an easy dish but a little patience is needed.


#1 Ingredients.

A can of campbell chicken broth
1/2 cup of Arborio rice
Garlic
Cuttlefish
Mushroom
1/5 cup of White wine
Mixed herbs
Butter
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste


#2 First, you melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in garlic and saute until fragrant.


#3 In a saucepan, warm the chicken broth.


#4 Add in cuttlefish…


#5 and mushrooms and cook until soft.


#6 Add in Arborio rice and coat it with olive oil for about 2 minutes. When the rice has taken on a pale, golden color, pour in the white wine and constantly stir it until the wine is fully absorbed. Add 1/2 cup by 1/2 cup of broth to the rice, and stir until the broth is absorbed. Stir continuously the entire time until the rice is al dante or for about 20 minutes.


#7 Stir in mixed herbs and parmesan cheese if you wish. Finally season with salt and pepper to taste.


#8 Final product of my mushroom risotto.

I would prefer using chicken than cuttlefish but that’s what I’ve got in the fridge at that moment, so cuttlefish it is.
I was also stingy on my mushrooms and next time I’m gonna try mixing different types of mushrooms.

Chopped garlic, mushrooms, meats, or even shallots, you can add in base on your preference.
Have fun cooking! :)

David Guetta Live in Malaysia 2012

David Guetta Live in Malaysia marks my fifth rave but sadly not the best.

I never felt that pissed at any rave event, that day was the first.
We were all late for Alesso which I was so looking forward to due to the crazy jam, also my first time experiencing such jam due to rave.

Maybe it’s just me finding faults but it did almost turned my mood off entirely. Or perhaps I was way too sober the entire time.

1. The stage was way further than all the other rave’s stages, we have to walk so far in.
2. It wasn’t even a proper walkway at some point, I have to step on stadium chairs to get down.
3. Of course, they wouldn’t have crowd control because that just means that the event organizer will earn lesser but the crowd literally drives me crazy. It was so fucking crowded and it is totally not cool to have god knows how many person’s sweat on my body.
4. When it was time to leave, I have to go through stepping the stadium chairs again but it was worst this time. There were 2 sides, one which kept walking and going while the other side (which was my side) was stopped by the security guard again and again. It was already so crowded and the guard decided to just stop and not let us go. The atmosphere was so stuffy, a friend I bumped into fainted and the stupid guard still did not let us go. I WAS FURIOUS! Really, organizer?
5. Half of the crowds acted like animals or worse.

ANGRY DIE ME! And here are the pictures from my angry night.


#1 Almost towards the end of Alesso’s spin.


#2 Lights from screen.


#3 An overexposed picture of my outfit for the night taken from Zoe’s S3.


#4 My fat boy who didn’t enjoy as much too.


#5 Me and Gavin who’s having an orgasm look on his face haha.


#6 With my bff’s bf who surprisingly wanted to go with us but just stood there whole night. Sigh, Y U NO DANCE?


#7 Zoe, Alvin, and Poh.


#8 I decided to just let Zoe take the pictures since her pictures taken from her S3 is so clear but ended up blur.


#9 Because she still doesn’t know how to focus using S3’s camera.


#10 Which explains why I now have more than 1 blur pictures. I also look so skeleton-y in this picture it kinda scares me.

Everyone has been telling me how skinny I am or that I look even skinnier the last time we met but I don’t understand!
I weigh myself and indeed I lost weight but I’ve been eating and eating too.
I’m constantly eating to the point where my friend said, ‘Every time I see you, you’re eating’ or ‘Every time you come out, you eat’.

Maybe I party too much, my type of working out. Mm hmm.

Pick Your Door

I am reaching my crucial year, aren’t I?
In less than a month I will turn 24 and I’ve never felt this old in my life.
I’m almost breaking a sweat, how is this even happening? How am I hitting 24 already?

There’s no way you can stay away from responsibilities as you age, they’re parallel or almost.
You can delay it from hitting you if you’re born rich but it will just come crashing at you sooner or later.

If you’re not the one who is climbing up the position ladder in the office, if you’re not the one earning Rm3000 and above at this age, if you’re not the one planning to buy a property then you’re the one who wonder ‘What the fuck am I doing in my life when others can be that good?’.

I am so far behind.
When will it be my turn.
Will I ever be that good to have my turn.
What am I gonna do if my income stay stagnant.

The above is just a few questions that you and I may have asked.
The world is so competitive right now or has it been this competitive all the way back to our parents’ era?
All we ever wanted is to have lots of money and enjoy life to the fullest ain’t it?
We always want the same thing, good food, branded goods, travel to nice places, nice cars, nice gadget and you’ll be on top.
Most often than not I wonder, how hard do I have to work or how smart do I have to be to achieve all the above.
Was it easy for them, for those who have it all?
Was it easy for them to start, was it a one hit wonder?

How do you set your priority in life when you don’t have it all?
When you’re just a normal person like me?
Time or money, you cant have best of both world if you aren’t rich to begin with.
Either you die working and have money with little time or you buy time with money.
All the applying leave and quitting jobs are traded with money.
Do people from 50 years back buy time and freedom with money like we do?

It is never easy to find a balance, especially not in Malaysia.
You work for long hours with low pay and not to forget the high expenses.
How many of us normal people can have a good balance between time and money?
Well unless you weren’t tempted by anything material or what I’ve mentioned above.
But then again, what’s life without indulging be it food or travel, branded or gadget.

Life can be this hard after your university days pass you by and this might just be one of the worst wake up call you have in life.
Another one will be realising actually people around you do die and leave but more on that another time.

For myself, I’d always go for time rather than money.
That is the reason as to why I hate 9 to 5 jobs and to why I hate even more on the word overtime.
Of course to most people, job is not just a job. It is a career where you can climb but career is a strange word to me.
I’m still in the midst of searching (searching since forever).
Having a job is sacrificing freedom in return of something else, no one likes it but everyone just have to do it.

You know, one thing I am glad of even in the midst of working is having found Caravan.
Caravan to me is not just another online store or just another lame shop that aims at earning money.
There are a number of things I have learned ever since I created Caravan with my partners.

I’ve always thought that it is going to be easy and I assume most of the people out there do think that setting up an online store is easy (and somewhat lame too).
But it was never.

I am the one dealing with marketing and customers and I have the duty to make sure that items from Caravan are sold off so that my partners will get what they deserve which most of the time made me feel stress.
Dealing with partners are never easy especially when everyone has their own say.
From stocks to labeling to customers to brand image, they can drive you crazy when they want to.

I never once regret for creating Caravan even though there are disagreements and fights because at the end of the day we always make it through.
Neither did my partners regret doing this.

I can trade time with money but I will never trade Caravan for anything else, time or money.

I see people complaining not having enough time or not having enough money.
Either you earn less and have more time, your earn more and have less time, or buck up and sacrifice everything else until you reach that point.

What’s your priority in life?
Mine is time and freedom.
Mine is love and Caravan.

The Press Room

The Press Room, my new found love.
I’ve always wanted to try out The Press Room at Bangsar Shopping Centre but I just don’t happen to go there much, just a few times for some odd drinks at night.
So when I knew that they were opening a new branch at Pavilion, I was excited.
I almost go to Pavilion every week which explains that I’ll be having a high chance enjoying my meals at The Press Room.


#1 Casual and comfortable seating.


#2 By the bar.


#3 English Breakfast Tea (RM13).


#4 Eggs Cooked To Order (RM23) served with sauteed mushrooms and grilled tomatoes with a choice of smoked salmon or turkey ham. I of course, will go for anything salmon. Portion is distinctly smaller comparing it to Antipodean’s Big Breakfast (RM18) but this portion is just right.
Tomato was still warm when I took a bite and the juice that flowed out was sweet.


#5 Poached eggs were perfectly done, not to mention the sauteed mushrooms tasted heavenly. Mushrooms tasted so good, the flavour lingered in my mouth. I don’t even have to mention on the smoked salmon, everything else was already so perfect.


#6 Salad Landaise (Rm24) served with smoked duck breast and duck rilettes. I cant recall much as this was Fatty’s dish but I remembered myself saying, even the salad was so good. Smoked duck breast wise, I preferred Acme’s.


#7 Do you know what a good breakfast can do to your day? :) :)


#8 My paikia boyfriend.

Breakfast that morning was so satisfying I made up my mind to go back again for another visit.


#9 And there, I just have to stop by again before my midnight movie starts for a quick bite.


#10 A very refreshing glass of Summer smoothie, passion fruit, mango, and coconut blend (RM15).


#11 The Press Room Salad (RM18) served with grilled artichokes, asparagus, and poached eggs. I am never a salad person, I just don’t fancy vegetables. What came to me as a surprise was that I will even order a salad for myself to start off with (attracted by the word poached egg) and what surprise me even more was that I kept mentioning, ‘Oh damn this salad is gooood’.
There and then I realised salad could actually taste that good, I gobbled down everything and felt as satisfied as ever.

Now, I really cant wait to try out the rest of their menu especially what I can order for my dinner that will not disappoint.
Or maybe I could try out The Press Room at Bangsar Shopping Centre, I bet it’s just gonna be as good.

I’m not too extreme if I plan to try every single dish on their menu right? Well…
I’ll probably give myself two more visits to Press Room to officially decide that The Press Room is better than Acme Bar and Cafe.

The Press Room Bistro
Pavilion in Lot C3.10.02, Level 3,
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.

PLOY With Your Food

How did Ploy climb it’s way up to get #1 title at TripAdvisor? I cant comprehend.

Ploy is a restaurant inspired by Thai and Japanese cuisine and when this two cuisine are match together, you can only think of bringing orgasm to your tastebud. Or that’s what I thought.
Ploy actually means ‘gem’ in Thai and the restaurant serves a modern fusion cuisine at WORK @ Clearwater.
Clearwater is located at Changkat Semantan, it did took us quite a while to get there.


#1 Signage made from mirror cutout to create a gem-like effect.


#2 Menu protected by a wood cover.


#3 Casual dimly lit ambience.


#4 Fatty browsing through the menu seriously.


#5 While I took a picture of myself after I’ve done selecting my choice.


#6


#7 Ben’s Apple Sour (RM15) and my Thai Ice Tea (RM10) which is the only thing that captured our heart. The drinks was really good, though the glass was small. Instead of using normal ice, they put in frozen thai ice cubes into my drink and frozen sour plum into Ben’s drink. That way, our drinks will not turn out tasteless even after the ice has melted.


#8 Mixed Seafood Ceviche (RM31.50) which contains salmon, tuna, octopus, and raw prawn. I must say that this is one of the raw seafood platter that I enjoyed the least. The dressing (lime juice and shoyu) in my opinion was too watery, it didn’t looked and tasted appetizing. The size of the seafood was too small and it clearly wasn’t fresh enough. Raw prawns I ate at Jalan Alor Thai food was better than this.
It was dissapointing.


#9 Cant remember what sushi roll was this, too insignificant.


#10 Tender Beef Ribs (RM38) was served with Ploy’s herb sauce that tasted somewhat like our local satay sauce.


#11 Duck Confit (RM30) was the best dish among all. Other than the skin being real crispy and that they did not mess up the taste, there was nothing at all for me to rave about.


#12 If you’re an outdoor person, worry not as they do have an outdoor space to cater to your needs.

Note: Ploy was at the top of the chart while I blogged about this and after weeks of keeping this post in my draft, Ploy has now drop to #4 instead.

I don’t get why so many people seems to like dining at Ploy when the taste the chef created was no surprise.
Price wise, it is definitely affordable but with that price, Nathalie Gourmet win hands down.

Our bill came up to about RM120+ when it should be more because there was a promotion for buy 1 free 1 on ala carte menu.
There’s one thing I’ll go back for though, their drinks.

PLOY
G-02 Ground Floor
WORK@clearwater,
Changkat Semantan,
Off Jalan Semantan,
Damansara Heights,
50490 Kuala Lumpur
03-2095 0999