Pink Wednesday @ Baskin Robbins

I've always only heard over the radio, the advertisement on Baskin Robbins' Pink Wednesday. You show the staff something you have in pink, and you get a discount! But I've always got no chance to take advantage of this pink campaign. Simply because there isn't a single Baskin Robbins outlet over in East Malaysia. How pathetic, right?

Anyway .... I happened to be at one Baskin Robbins' outlet in KL, after grocery shopping last Wednesday night. While waiting for my family, I ventured into the outlet and surveyed the flavours. Actually, I had not realised that it was a Wednesday night. Till Bro drew my attention to a tiny cardboard on the counter.

Source : http://www.baskinrobbins.com.my/pinkbig.html

Bro opted for one Happy 8 ... but they'd run out of the waffle cone. We could have 8 tiny scoops of ice-cream in a cup but for the same price. So then, we changed our minds and decided to go for the Double Jr. Scoop instead. The regular price was RM9.50 ... but on a Pink Day, we could have it for RM7.50.

My ice-cream .... 

I opted to have Chocolate Trilogy at the bottom and Citrus Twist Ice on top. Chocolate Trilogy is a concoction of chocolate fudge, white and Swiss chocolate, chocolate chips and chocolate covered pretzels. I found this flavour to be very satisfying. The Citrus Twist Ice is just lemon and lime flavoured ice ... but I loved the tangy and refreshing taste. 

The ice-cream made a great dessert after dinner ..... and I just wish I could have it more often, like every Wednesday or something. ;P

Nasi Kerabu From The Pasar Tani

We were supposed to only be going for a walk downstairs. We walked to the car to replace the old road tax sticker with a new one. Then on impulse, we drove to the Pasar Tani nearby to buy some food. I did not even have money with me, but luckily, Bro had his wallet.

It was rather late already, and there were lots of people at the market. There was a local tv production crew shooting a scene ... and they attracted much attention. I had not much interest in that .... I proceeded to buy some fresh meat and vegetable produce ..... and then I walked by a stall selling Nasi Kerabu. Yippee, I thought. Not to be missed.

Nasi Kerabu is a Malaysian East Coast favourite ... which I only started to learn to eat when I first pursued my studies in Kuala Lumpur many years ago. I love it with as much herbs and raw vegetables as possible, like ginger flower, daun kesum, cabbage, long beans, beansprouts, and so on. The raw vegetables really taste refreshing and just go so well with the spicy, slightly tangy and pungent condiments.

Anyway, the vendor was a young man, and he was so polite. Customers could choose their preferred "sides" for their Nasi Kerabu, as there were fried chicken, spiced chicken, fried fish, salted egg, stuffed chillies, to name a few. I chose fried chicken and salted egg.

Then he proceeded to assemble my rice. A bowl of rice, and a spoonful of raw mixed vegetables, a spoonful of grated coconut and fish flakes, a spoonful of sambal, and a spoonful of chilli condiment. He placed into the packet a deep-fried chicken drumstick, half a boiled salted egg, some fish crackers, and then proceeded to wrap up the whole package.

Nasi Kerabu, RM6.00

Back home, I unwrapped my package of rice ... and tucked into it with delight. Yummm ....

Bubble Tea : Dare I?

Recently, maleic acid has been found in 15 starch-based products in Singapore, mainly in tapioca starch balls imported from Taiwan. It is an ingredient so essential in a glass of Pearl Bubble Tea. Maleic acid is not usually used in food products, but is used to create a chewy or Q effect in food. When taken in the long-term, maleic acid causes kidney damage.

Because of that many bubble tea houses have issued statements that the pearl balls used in their establishments are safe for consumption. For example, Ochado Malaysia, Ding Tea Malaysia and Chatime Malaysia are amongst those which issued statements on their Facebook pages.

"Don't drink Bubble Tea," my parents warned me.

But the other day, when I was shopping at the Pavillion .... I had to make my way to my favourite hang-out spot. I loved to sit outside the outlet at the table nearest to the glass panel ... where I can look down and watch people. I can stay here for hours, just looking at the passers-by.

A regular pearl bubble tea, RM5.90 and popcorn chicken, RM6.90 for me

Despite the bubble tea scare, Chatime still gets a substantial number of customers, as I observed during the few hours I was there. At any time, there would be people ordering beverages ... and sometimes, there would even be queues.

I still love the taste of the tea .... but I thought the pearls weren't as tasty as before. The popcorn chicken was also a bit too salty.

But I just loved the location .... really prime for people-watching, and to spend some time in solitude.

Chicken With Basil On White Rice

And so I had forgotten all about lunch, and by the time I remembered, the food court was already packed with people. Actually, I did not know what I wanted to eat. I walked along the row of stalls .... back and forth .... and I still did not know what to eat.

Finally, I stopped at this booth called Rama 9 at Food Republic, which sold Thai food. I think the menu was not very friendly and it got me confused as the items did not really match the food platter samples on display. There were set meals available for RM13.90 but they did not appeal to me.

I stood there for a long time ..... and after some inquiry with the staff, I decided to have Chicken with Basil on white rice. It was RM9.90 per serving. I paid the lady, and she called out my order to the lady behind her who was the main cook. I waited for some five minutes .... and then my food was served.

Chicken with basil on White Rice

There was a ball of rice, a spoonful of stir-fried cabbage and carrots, and 2 slices of cucumber as garnishing. The chicken looked really nice, and  promising a really satisfying experience. Shiok as some people would say ...  

Unfortunately, taste wise, it disappointed big time. It was a neither-here-nor-there kind of dish .... not spicy enough, not sweet enough, not salty enough, not tangy enough ...... flavours were definitely lacking here. I regretted ordering it. I ate the pieces of chicken and some vegetables, and left most of the other stuff untouched.

OPI E79

This is the second colour I'm trying out from the OPI Euro Centrale Spring 2013 collection.

OPI E79 : A Woman's Prague-ative

This was a shimmery copper shade. I can't say that I like it much .... but it was a refreshing change from the 2 blue hues which I had worn for since the past 2 pedis.

Shopping Spree

Sometimes, I can walk at the mall for the whole day and buy nothing. Sometimes, I want to buy something but can't find anything that suits or that I like. Today, however, I'd gone beserk. My buying spree yielded 5 tops, a skirt, a pair of shorts and 2 pairs of shoes.

Not sure why I went ahead to buy so much today .... Maybe I happened to see the pieces that I liked. Maybe I wanted to be drastic. Maybe I wanted to change my image. Maybe I wanted to downsize. Maybe I was deprived of shopping for the past 6 months. Most probably, I was being emo and I wanted to make myself feel better.

Goodies galore .... 

I'd even forgotten to eat lunch as I was too preoccupied :P. At one store, I must have spent at least an hour in the fitting room ... with the sales assistant bringing me pieces and pieces of clothes to try on. She must have made at least 5 rounds with clothes which she thought I might like, and of multiple sizes to find the best fit. I was really sick of oversized clothes and was determined to find something that fits. Hmn ... in the end, I settled with 3 pieces.

At another shop, there was practically no one working there .... and I could just pick whatever I wanted off the shelves and tried them to my hearts' content. Finally, I too, settled with 3 pieces.

One pair of shoes I had wanted to buy since 6 months ago .... and now it was on 40% discount. Of course, I had to buy it. I had originally wanted the beige pair ... but today, I opted for the black one. After that, I just happened to walk into another shoe shop ... and fell in love with a pair of peep-toes .... and I bought that in beige.

Yeah .... well .... I did feel great buying all those stuff .... what did they say about retail therapy? Sure, it burnt a hole in the pocket .... but well .... that hole made me feel damn good.

Real Badminton

Badminton. How many of us play this game? I know of some avid players in the family, Dad being one of them. Dad used to play the game with his colleagues weekly. In my childhood, Bro and I always play it in front of our house in the evening.  I'm not very good at it, but at least I know how to hit the shuttlecock. It was a form of exercise for Bro and I in our younger days.

Badminton is quite popular in Malaysia, looking at the existence of private badminton courts in many neighbourhoods. Anyone can book a court for an hour or two, and then gather a few friends to enjoy a game. Any average person in Malaysia would probably be quite skilled at the game too! I remember on a few occasions in the past that my friends and I play the game at the court near our house ... just to sweat it out for a while.

Nowadays, I do not venture to the courts anymore. I can still play the game anytime I like though .... not physically, but virtually on my iPhone. Lol.

For the past year and a half, bro has been developing an app based on the badminton game. It would be a 3D mobile game, simulating a real badminton experience. Real Badminton, its name. He was doing it part-time at home, and it was not an easy feat. Throughout the year and a half, bro often stalled as he came across problems with the script.

Mom shook her head in disapproval, worried that Bro would just be wasting his time and effort.

Why badminton game? I asked him.

There weren't many 3D badminton games on the App Store, except for one called Super Badminton. Having played that, Bro felt that the experience was not real, and not satisfying at all. Why wait for people to develop the game when he could do it himself, Bro reasoned.

Bro's biggest achievement would be to work out a mathematical formula, so integral in the development of the app. Gradually, the game started to materialise ... and Bro was testing it time and again to fine tune it. Then, there's the graphics and the music .... all required plenty of work done.

I myself was a guinea pig who had tested many versions of the earlier app. But I sucked at the game. Too difficult to play, I would wail invariably. Who would want to buy such a difficult game? Only you know how to play it, I gave Bro the feedback he needed.

Bro did not say anything .... but continued to work on improving it. Initially, he had wanted to release it in time with the London Olympics ... when the whole nation was rooting for Datuk Lee Chong Wei at the finals of the Men's Singles.  Alas, it was not to be ... as Bro was too preoccupied with work and family.

Finally, on 24 April 2013, Real Badminton was released on the Apple Store at USD$2.99. It's been more than a month now ... and according to Bro, sales has been quite positive. It even reached no. 1 in the Malaysia App Store, for the paid app in the game category. Not bad eh?

I'd just played the official version yesterday ... and it was a much improved version than the ones I had tested earlier. It was much easier to play ... and I felt excited when I managed to hit the shuttlecock on screen. Lol. Then it was quite exciting to play a match against a virtual player ... cause like in every game, you anticipate winning. I found myself cheering when I won ... and swearing when I lost. Lol. It was rather fun in that sense.

It's my game ...  

Yeah, I win!! 

Bro is now developing the HD version for iPad and iPad Mini. Why not try out the game yourself? For more information, here are the links :
1) Website : real-badminton.com
2) Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJAN3NEe3lj507et32Gtg_A?feature=watch