Can’t believe that it’s new year already! My gooodness! I’ve barely made proper and enough preparation for this CNY. In fact I decorated the whole house on Saturday and went marketing for reunion dinner on Saturday night! What a last minute person I am! Haha!

Speaking about reunion dinner, this year I cooked lesser dishes due to the fact that we’ve booked a pot of poon choy from Dragon-i. It’s not like I’m lazy or what – I’ve actually googled all 8 dishes’ recipes and totally looking forward to cook them! But then we’ve bought the voucher and the voucher valid up to 22nd January, by 2pm! Oh well, will be saving those recipes for next year reunion dinner then!

Yesterday we went up to granny’s place to pay respect to our ancestors. Right after the prayer we had to rush to Queensbays to get the poon choy. By the time we reached home, it was already 3pm and immediately we started the last minute house cleaning. Hung all the last minute decos, bathed Miilo and blew dry him, and mopped the floor, then off to the kitchen to work on the prawns and cutting the vegetables.

Seriously can go mad! I went into the kitchen late, and all ingredients were needed to be washed, cleaned, deveined – therefore with only 1.5 hours to dinner, I felt the pressure in delivering our dinner on time! @_@ Luckily Satkuru came earlier and helped me with cutting, stirring, frying. Phew!

By 8pm, the poon choy was taken out of the fridge and heated. Because it was in frozen state, it took some time for the broth to melt. I took the opportunity to bath and wash my hair. For the past years, I’ve always showered after dinner because we will eat immediately after cooking. So glad that this year I can have dinner in clean and fresh state.

So these are our reunion dinner! All these accompanied by a bottle of raspberry flavoured Zinfandel, yums!

This pot feeds 10 pax, believe me! We couldn’t finish this and had to eat this the next day. Super lavish and satisfying!

Nestum prawn! Totally loveeee the smell coming out from the pan when I deep fried the prawns. So fragrant!

Abalone and sea cucumber with broccoli and mushroom. Everyone’s favourite dish. The secret lies in the sauce. Wahaha!

Happyyyyyy Chinese New Year! May the year of dragon brings lots of wealth, prosperity and great health to all!

Huaaaaaaaaaaaaaat ah!

Yesterday, my dear Satkuru brought me to this coffee shop located at Bishop Street. He went there for food review on Sunday and wanted me to try their coffee as the owner is the best barista in Malaysia.

Since we have 2 hours to kill before meeting up with event planner from Cititel, I agreed and off we went to this quaint coffee shop, Lighthouse Cafe.

Upon entering, my nose caught strong whiff of coffee. Mm~

The place is small but cosy. Dim yellow lights are shined on the wall to create warm ambience. Tables and chairs are smartly placed at both sides, giving walkaway in the middle. If I’m not mistaken, there’s a staircase leading up, but I’m not too sure on that. We walked in and headed straight for the counter. That’s when we heard someone called our names.

We turned and to our pleasant surprise it was EMILY!

We laughed, and I walked to her and had a little chat before was asked to place order. I looked at the green board on the wall behind the counter to see if there are any “Must try/Recommendation/Best” icons beside the drink names.

Can’t recall if I see any but I ended up asking the gentleman behind the counter on what are recommended at Lighthouse. He named me 3 – Butterscoth Caramello, White Strawberry Mocha and Coffee Hazelnut Mocha – if my memory doesn’t fail me on the last recommendation.

I chose Butterscotch Caramello while Satkuru took White Strawberry Mocha. There are cakes displayed at the counter too, but we didn’t take any because the cakes didn’t really thrill me much. Hmm.

We sat at a small round table in front of the counter. Few minutes later Satkuru went to get our drinks and we took a sip. My Butterscotch Caramello is heavenly. Just that after few sips, I was telling Satkuru that I should have ordered it hot rather than cold. He agreed.

The White Strawberry Mocha is nice too, but I prefer mine. I took 2 sips and passed back to him whereas he took 2 sips of mine and concluded mine is rather bitter compared to his. And I was telling him that his drink is rather sweet! Haha!

This place is so cosy that when Satkuru kept pestering me to finish up my drink fast or bring my coffee to the car, I didn’t want to leave! Haha. I just like sitting there, talking to him, taking photo around or just enjoying my coffee, glazing into his face. Ah life~

Of course that didn’t happened. So much for enjoying my coffee in the afternoon. T__________T

This place is highly recommendation for coffee lovers. Even if you’re not a coffee lover, you should drop by and try their coffee. Theirs are good. I like!

The reason why I started my post with I’m not a coffee lover is because, I went to two different places and ordered coffee. Well, the second cup came unexpected but still, two cups in one day! Way too much coffee intake for a non-coffee addict. @_@

After meeting up with the lady from Cititel, our tummies growled and we decided to grab something to eat. Satkuru suggested Behind.50, but I told him to go somewhere else because we’ve been there. Out of the blue he took out his phone and looked for China House on the Waze. The house was located and direction to there appeared. 5 minutes later, we found the place.

Located at Beach Street, China House is easily identified from rows of heritage buildings no thanks to the 3 bold signboards bearing the words, Shopping, Art + Theater, and Food + Drinks.

While crossing the road, Satkuru constantly asked me if the place is opened as it looks dim from outside. I told him yes, and dragged him in. Haha.

Unknowingly we walked into a gem. A rather expensive one, lol!

Upon pushing the door, very strong coffee aroma greeted me. Way stronger than Lighthouse Cafe; so strong that I could even ‘smell’ it in my mind. Immediately I thought to myself, wow the coffee here is so good! I must try!

We walked straight to the back of the building. To be frank, we were quite surprised to know that this building is that long! A bar adorned with coffee grinder and machines and alcohols is on the left side of the area while tables for two are on the right. The gap of 3 feet between the bar and the tables allows guests to walk in and out of the cafe and for the host and attendants to serve food and drinks.

Beyond the bar, one can find two long tables at both sides of the walkaway. Many types of cakes, pies and breads are placed on the left table while books and magazines sat on the right table.

Further down, a big antique brown cupboard which stores the belonging of the host and attendants acts as a divider for the vast space. Behind the cupboard, two more tables can be seen there.

We didn’t stop there, we continued walking and we found ourselves at the supposed open-air middle courtyard (the Hokkien people would call this place Am Ceh) which is already covered up with plastic transparent roof sheets.

A long table for 14 pax is smartly positioned in the middle of the courtyard area, decorated with potted plants and framed photographs. A blackboard is nailed to the wall and I can’t help to notice the troll drawing that someone left there. I pointed out to Satkuru and he laughed. Lol.

At the supposedly kitchen area, one could find 2 more tables and roughly 4-5 bookshelves placed against the wall. As much as we wanted to sit at the courtyard and the back area, the tables were all occupied. T________T

We didn’t walk furthermore as we thought that’s the end of the building. But from what I gather, there is a back courtyard which link to another two buildings! Argh! We should have walk out of the building to the courtyard. Huhu.

We walked back to the front of the building and decided to sit at one of the tables placed parallel to the bar. I didn’t realise/notice the mahjong paper which is clipped to the table, but I was very excited when I saw a glass filled with canyons on the table. Then it made me think THIS is the place where my friends posted up photos of them drawing on table with crayons! Haha!

Obviously I grabbed the crayons and drew on the mahjong paper. Wahaha.

Menus are given to us and there isn’t any sign of “Must try/Chef Recommendation” icon on the menu. Satkuru immediately checked Foursquare for tips. Among so many tips, we spotted Vingie which stated overpriced. This tip trembled us a little, but since we had already seated down we thought why not just try the best in the menu.

And we did. We ordered a cup of coffee, a glass of chocolate, 2 slices of cakes and their famous homemade ice cream as they’re highly recommended on Foursquare. He didn’t really see any of the mains mentioned in the tips therefore didn’t go for main course.

My coffee came with a cup of gula melaka. Happily I took a sip. It was bitter like mad! So I quickly add in two spoons of gula melaka and stirred. Took a sip and it was still bitter! I pushed the coffee aside and went for Satkuru’s iced chocolate with chocolate ice-cream. It was heavenly as the chocolate ice-cream is so rich! Yums!

I so wanted to swap my bitter choco with Sat’s choco, but I knew he wouldn’t let me. Grr. In the end I just accepted my bitter coffee, added few more spoons of gula melaka and that’s it. I didn’t want to put much of sugar because I’m afraid I’ll get diabetic out of it, lol!

I can’t help but to think that the person who recommended coffee in Foursquare is either a bitter-lover or plain lazy in mentioning the full name of the coffee. Hello, there are few COFFEES on the menu and your suggestion on ‘coffee’ is killing me. Grr.

I had terrible headache after drinking the bitter coffee. By the end of the meal, I told Satkuru that I have to say NO to coffee and cakes for at least a week. My appetite for these (coffee and cakes) are totally ruined. T__________T

As for the cakes, mine is delicious at first but as I dug on, the bitter coffee spoiled the whole appetite and making my eating experience very torturous. Thus, I ate because I didn’t want to waste food, not because I truly enjoy it. That’s totally not the propose of me entering this place! T__________T

I think Satkuru enjoyed his meal as he didn’t have bitter coffee to go with the cake. Blek!

Immediately after finishing my cake and coffee, I asked for the bill. It took them quite some time to give us our bill because we were told they didn’t have a proper cash machine yet and everything is done manually.

Guess how much our bill amounted to?

- One piece of RM50 note and a piece of RM1 -

Oh well, someone gotta pays for the ambience.

After Satkuru proposed in mid-July, we didn’t really start planning yet because we thought we should get a date first before asking around. Well, hungry ghost month started in August, so it’s a big NO getting wedding date in that month and my good friend, PeiKei advised that it’s better to sought date after the hungry ghost month. So we waited.

In September, Satkuru came to me with 3 dates. No, he only gave me one date. I accepted the date tho I was thinking why not letting me know all 3 dates, just in case we couldn’t secure venue on the chosen date. But since we have more than a year to go, I’d figure out we should be able to get one and started telling my close friends to save the date!

At the same time, we began to write out guestlists before inquiring on the venue. The reason why we listed down because I’ve read in MalaysianBrides forum that there are brides who had to change the venue because the number of tables increased and the venue couldn’t hold that much.

To all the brides to be: read a lot. Especially these forums.

Our initially list, or rather MY initial list came to near 800 guests. Satkuru freaked out stating why there’s so much people in my list. As we’ll be holding joint dinner, he said there’s no venue in the island that could hold more than 100 tables. So, I told my parents that we had to cut down the lists and the lists went down to 85 tables for both side family and friends.

In October, we began venue-hunting, asking around for venue to hold 85 tables. The first choice would be the moral uplifting society; but the place is booked on the date we wanted. We weren’t surprise when were told that as Penangites love to hold weddings here.

So, we went to Long Say Building at Burmah Road as the building looks grand too. To our dismay, the hall is small and we estimate the hall can place 30 tables at its maximum.

I sent email to Sunway Carnival Convention Centre as I read that it can put up to 100 tables. Satkuru emailed them too, and one Saturday, we decided to drop by to see the table arrangements as there was a wedding that day.We were pleased with the hall; tho the deco that comes with the package looks basic, but because the place looks grand, it looks grand overall and is up to our expectation.

We love this place BUT, it’s expensive. If this price being offered in island, then it’s okay but this convention centre is in Butterworth. We truly weren’t expecting the price to be that high. Gosh!

Next, we went to SP Setia Clubhouse as I saw good comments in some forums that I read. The clubhouse is located uphill, and we were quite impressed with the clubhouse and it overlooks the east-southern side of Penang and could even see the second Penang bridge.

Before coming, we knew that this place can hold up to 70-75 tables, but we came anyway to see how big is the hall and see if could squeeze in more.

The hall is indeed big, but then could only hold up to 50 tables if not mistaken. Can’t really remember now cz we went to see in early October. The rest 20 tables will be placed outside, at the foyer. But imagine the potongstimness of having to sit ourside the hall?

So we bid this place goodbye and went to scout more.

We were figuring – if we do our wedding at community hall and decorate it to what we want, then it would be more memorable to us. So we asked around for hall. Among the halls that I’ve called to inquire about is Han Chiang High School. After being transfered around to few teachers, I asked in my broken mandarin if the hall is available on the date I wanted.

He replied that someone already paid deposit for the hall. “But we have a stadium. Do you want to book the stadium?“, he asked in Mandarin.

Shocked from knowing there’s a stadium in a school and just before I could reply him, he said, “Oh, got people placed booking d. Sorry.”

I felt like I was being played. Feeling a little furious, I said thank you and ended the call. Grr.

Later that day, I found out that there’s a convention centre that belongs to the Sunshine group. Curious on where is it located, I called up the number. A lady answered and told that the hall is actually situation on the 4th level of the Sunshine Square building. I was even more joyous when she told me the hall can fit up to 120 tables!

Surprised and excited at the same time, I asked for appointment to see the hall that evening. She told me there’s someone actually booked the hall already, but yet to pay the deposit. I told her, if I like the hall and paid the deposit that instant, that means the hall belongs to me right? She couldn’t answer and said best if she could ask the person that has booked the hall. Alamak!

Still, I went in to see the hall that evening with Satkuru. It was soooo spacious, but old – as Satkuru said. As the hall only used and seen daylight when there’s event, the place is quite dusty and smells weird (hapak smell). The chandeliers are dusty and the old white cloth that hang in the ceiling still there, making me wonder if they would ever change the cloth. Overall, I’m okay with this hall, just that it needs a little makeover (that’s where the hall decorator comes in). Satkuru on the other hand, dislikes the hall because it looks old and smells weird, lol! He was pleased to know that the person who booked the hall paid the deposit few hours earlier – a good reason to decline the place.

Then I was thinking, if we get a hall, yes – we can decorate the hall to our preferances and can a good caterer for our food. But then, we’ll need to find we need to spend time and energy looking around again. Why not just do at hotel that provides venue, deco and food? Satkuru doesn’t want to get wedding planner; he feels if were to find wedding planner, might as well do at hotel.

Few calls were made to hotels – Cititel, Paradise Sandy Hotel – all booked. Evergreen Laurel Hotel, G Hotel, Gurney Hotel – can fit up to 60 tables maximum. Royal Hotel can fit 23 tables only! Same goes with Hard Rock Hotel for only able to cater up to 26 tables.

As for E&O Hotel, though I would loveeee to host my wedding dinner there, but it can only put 40 tables in the ballroom and if insists on 60 tables, then they’ll place the extra 20 tables at the deck. Both of us don’t like this type of arrangement and the price is exorbitant, so gotta say bye to this lovely hotel.

I came to know Red Rock Hotel through Daphne. She attended her cousin’s wedding at this hotel before and recommended this hotel for they serve good food as well as able to accommodate lots people too. So I called them up and arranged time to look the hotel. The hotel’s lobby is small, but that’s okay as there’s another entrance leading directly to the ballroom. When we entered the ballroom, we were at awed. The ballroom looks grand and there’s a large, beautiful chandelier in the middle. We felt in love with the ballroom.

BUT, again there’s a but here. This ballroom can fit 55-60 tables comfortably. Our hearts sank.

“Then what’s the maximum tables that can be put in, in this ballroom?” Satkuru asked.

“70 tables, BUT (again) there’ll be no walkaway in the middle. Plus it’ll be very cramp” he explained.

I told him my friend told me can fit more than 80 tables. He explained that, that’s achieveable with 60 tables in the ballroom and 20 more at the side foyer. The doors at the side will be dismantled on the wedding night.

I was thinking, if only the wall separating these two can be knocked down. At least, guests sitting at the side wouldn’t have to stretch their neck to see what’s happening on the stage. I jokefully told this to the marketing lady the second time we went there to see the table arrangement hours before a wedding dinner starts.

Few hotels we didn’t call in because of our unpleasure dining experience with them before. Satkuru believes that if we were to look for a hotel, at least the food should be okay and not making the guests running to the toilet after the meal.

Halfway looking around, mum called me up telling me that her godsis recommended Ming Garden at Penang Times Square, saying that the food is great, the place is classy and most importantly can put up to 120 tables! Immediately I googled up this restaurant and called them to ask if the date I wanted is still available. Sadly, the lady told me it’s already taken up and suggested me to do luncheon wedding instead. –”

When I told mum that the place is not available, mum asked me to try Hei Yeong Seng Chinese restaurant at Penang Plaza. I called that restaurant too, but again the place taken up.

I was thinking – is the date we chose REALLY THAT HOT? –”

Not giving up, I googled around again. This time I called up Tanjung Bungah Hotel, as I was drawn to the “Wedding by the beach” package. When inquire about number of tables, the hotel event guy told me “normally 20 tables.” I was like it’s a beach and there shouldn’t be any restriction what, but I didn’t voice that out. I just asked how about 80 tables and he told me it can be done since they did for 70 tables before.

Again 70, not 80!

However, he did mention that the price for that package had increased, so additional few hundreds per table on top of the package mentioned there. The new price will put a strain on our budget but the pro is the wedding is by the sea, super romantic!

Told parents about this, their worry is – what if it rains? Even Satkuru agreed with my parents. Oh well. There goes my dream. T_____T

Seeing that it’s really hard to secure a venue, Satkuru told me to cut down the guestlists again. He’s right, we have no choice but to do so since it’s hard to get venue in Penang though we still have a year ahead! Some restaurants and hotels suggested to do on Friday night, but Friday night will be super jam and we don’t want to start the dinner late. Though there’s a thought of doing separate dinner on Saturday and luncheon on the actual day, then luncheon which normally starts at 12 noon, might start late at around 2pm because of the tea ceremony. And I don’t like the idea of rushing on my big day because want to make it to luncheon.

Guess what, I’ve called up Berjaya Hotel and was told that the date is still available, but could only fit in 70 tables. Grr. Gonna see the ballroom tomorrow, yippee!

However, it was on Saturday the 15th and I was still in Laos on 15th.

After couple of email exchanges and with a phone call from Emily to Vin, the founder of Qyzzy.com, the session changed to Sunday 16th! Immediately we sent back our RSVP.

On Sunday, off we went to Penang Times Square for a little tea-time session! We reached Times Square 15 minutes late due to the heavy rain around my area.

There was Red Bull Monkey Run event going on and I was so tempted to walk over and watch participants completing the obstacles. But since we were already late so we rushed to Z Classroom as fast as we can.

Z Classroom’s tagline caught my eyes: Z Classroom, where you learn.. how to drink. Couldn’t help to think if we would be serving beers later. The thought was of course dismissed as we were invited for a tea-time session, not drinking session, lol!

Vin was introducing Z Classroom to the bloggers when we reached. He was mentioning on able to charge phones on the shelves if our phone’ battery were running low. We quickly ‘blended in’ and attentively listening to him.

Then he suddenly did a quick ice-breaking, quickly introducing everyone to everyone! I lost part of my voice by the end of my trip and realise I couldn’t really speak aloud when was asked to introduce my website to them. In fact, I was struggling. Ah, so memalukan.

T___________T

He then introduced the owner, Kelvin to us. Kelvin greeted us, said thanks and then passed over to Vin back.

Vin ended the speak by asking if any girls would want to wear this super skimpy dress. He then shot the Q to me and I squeeked nooo, it’s so short! ><

After that, we were allowed to linger around to take photos of the place. I was super proud of my Sony Nex-C3 as they were able to take superb photos at low light without me adjusting any mode or needing to use any flash. Wahaha!

I took few photos around and then was notified that we can go upstairs for more photoshooting. I was like, what? There’s more upstairs? Cool! - and we went up the stairs to this room filled with strong ciggers smell, something that I dislike greatly.

However one cannot break the connection between beers and cigerattes. These two are interconnected, so it’s normal to find such smell there.

One thing that really infruites me is the equation on the wall! E-mc square! I couldn’t help but to say out aloud, isn’t E=MC square? and nobody replied me, not even my beloved fiance. –”

So, I went around taking photos.

The second floors is separated into 2 by a partition. The inner side is turned into a spacious VIP room, good for entertaining more than 10 people in it. It has a big TV on wall, long sofas and a karaoke system.

The outer side accommodates 4 tables and chairs for patroners. There’s another big TV on the wall too.

Then my eyes spotted something interesting. A speaker trumpet! I was posing with it, and someone said it’s from USS! I asked, how you know? He replied, see! The price tag is still there!

Alamak! Haha!

There are also two microphones at the side, so I posed with one also. Passed one to Emily and both of us posed for a picture.

- Satkuru took the photo for us. Still haven’t gotten picture from Satkuru. Aih! -

Then we went down. I realised most of them gathered around the bar around, busy taking photos of something. Curiously I went nearer to see what are they taking photo of. It was the beers!

Vin explained these are the types of beers available there. Then we asked, How about Laobeer? and then we laughed. Couldn’t help but to make some jokes on the beers as we just came back from drinking session in Vientiane. All thanks to LaoLao and Laobeers! Lol!

Did I mention that this cafe has sphere shaped beer dispenser rather than the typical tower beer? Cool right?

Criz came halfway, to pass us the CSL phones that we ‘won’ for writing on CSL post. Super cute ah!

Soon we were served cappuccino, mocha and white coffee. I took white coffee; Emily took mocha and Satkuru took cappuccino. The fragrant of these coffees were too overwhelming, we quickly take photo of the coffees and took few sips.

Ahh~ Heavenly.

Then the cakes came. We were treated to 3 types of cakes. Rum, blueberry and tiramisu. I love their rum and blueberry, but wasn’t really fancy on tiramisu. Maybe because I’ve tasted better other place.

Their rum is heavenly. They’re generous with the amount of chocolate on the cake; and the rum, the rum tastes just nice – not too overpowering, not too lacking. Thumbs up.

Blueberry cheesecake is charming. I think my mum would love this cake. She totally hates cheesecake as she cannot stand the cheesiness in it and this cheesecake doesn’t have that cheesy texture in it. Maybe I can bring her there one day.

Tiramisu. Like I said earlier, I don’t really fancy tiramisu. Upon first bite, all three of us looked at each other and agreed that it lacked of something. Something we couldn’t explain. However as I dug on more, it became nicer and nicer. Weird, right? Haha!

As we’re eating our cakes, we were talking and socialising with other bloggers as well. Z Classroom’s owner, Kelvin also came by and talked to us. We asked him few questions regarding this cafe and found out that it opened in mid August. Also, he mentioned that Z Classroom is his 2nd outlet! His first cafe is the Z1 Cafe. We were marveled as he owns two cafe at such a young age! Kudos to him!

Vin came over and didn’t know how, we started playing Jenga!

Boy, it was such a nerve-wreaking time. My hand shook uncontrollably, so much that I couldn’t place the block nicely! Haha!

We played two rounds. First round was toppled down by Emily. Second time, Vin’s unsuccessful pull caused the tower to fall. It was a big relief to Emily and I when the tower fell before our turns.

Then it was time to go. We took group photo and bid goodbye. We also took photo with Kelvin. ^^

Thanks to Qyzzy.com for inviting us. We had plenty fun mingling around.

Obviously we didn’t, lol!

So we bear the discomfort and prayed that the traffic would be clearer when we got out of the congested area. Luckily it did got clearer.

Still by the time we reached Straits Quay, it was already 8pm. Satkuru was already there, so I called him to meet us at the centre atrium. Then we directly headed to Blue Reef for al fresco style dinner.

We quickly ordered our food and while ordering, my bro and I struggled on checking onto Blue Reef on Foursquare due to bad 3G connection there.

For your information, you’ll get free soft drink upon checking in Blue Reef on Foursquare and show the crew the ‘special’. So, do remember to check in! However this special only valid on weekdays!

In the end, only my sister, Satkuru and I managed to check-in and hence claimed 3 free drinks there! Wahaha.

Since we were so hungry, we decided to blow candle and cut cake first. After all the cake was melting and couldn’t ‘wait’ any longer.

This year I decided to book a special cake for dad. So, I went for mille crepes!

We quickly lighted up the candles and immediately sang birthday song. Dad made wishes that and then blew the lights off the candles. Then he cut the crepes.

Too bad the crepes was too soft that it couldn’t stand beautifully after cutting them in slices. It would be beautiful, if only it came out directly from fridge.

My, my.. the crepes taste so delicious even tho it was soft. I couldn’t imagine how tasty it would be if eat it right after receiving the cake!

Soon our food came in one by one. We have grilled garoupa with mash potatoes and broccoli and carrot stripes for my sister;

.. grilled salmon with mash potatoes, broccoli and carrot stripes for mum;

.. and different fishes of fish and chips – the Threadfin fish and chip for dad;

… the Halibut fish and chip for bro;

… the Spanish Mackerel fish and chip for bro’s gf;

… and the Garoupa Fish and Chip for me!

Satkuru ordered deep fried prawn and calamari since he tried fish and chip before in our previous visit the earlier weekend.

The food didn’t exactly wow my family but I’m glad that they left the restaurant with full and happy tummies.

Maybe it was the mille crepes that made the tummies happy! Haha!

CSL phone is famous for having dual SIM cards in it, so the CSL Swarovski series phones are no exception too. The web browser for these phones is Opera Mini and using S Push Mail services for sending and receiving mails. The usual and must-have phone features includes MP3 & MP4 player, FM radio, MicroSD card expansion and video and sound recorder.

Besides the mentioned general features, there are also dedicated icons for quick access to Facebook/Twitter/Tagged/Skype and one can download apps from Google, Yahoo, MSN to play with. Since these phones are for the ladies, they come with BMI Calculator and Menstrual Calender functions. An advantage especially in planning trips as we can check our period dates easily using this Menstrual Calender.

The down side of this series is they come with 2.0 Megapixels camera. But why should one complain if one is paying like RM399 max for such a pretty phone? Should be laughing instead right? Haha!

Let me introduce the phones on by one. First in-line, Blueberry Princess 9200. At size, 115 x 59.5 x 11.5 mm and weights only 94g, this princess can last up to 188 hours on standby and can talk up to 454 min. The display is of 2.4″ TFT QVGA and costs only RM299.

Look at the accessories! It comes with a lovely leather pouch too! <3

Second is Sophie G16 (RM399). Sophie is Emily’s favourite. Weight slightly more at 97g and size of 102 x 55.5 x 13 mm, one will only need to charge Sophie after 421 min of talking and 145 hours on standby. Sophie’s display is wider at 2.8″ TFT QVGA.

Next is Emma DS900. Tho she’s the lightest of all (82g) and slimmier at size 114 x 48 x 12 mm, one can talk up to 496 min and last up to 248 hours if left untouch. Her display is smallest at 2.2″ TFT QVGA. Also white in colour, one can get Emma at RM299 only.

Finally, my favourite of all – SHE 9300. Squarish in shape and weight at 110g, this compact powder alike is of size 70 x 70 x 16.3 mm with 2.4 TFT QVGA display. Opens up a keyboard by twisting it 90 degrees, this babe allows one to talk nonstop for 353 min before charging and last up to 264 hours on standby.

Another secret of this babe, there’s a hidden mirror behind it.

What a ingenious way to check out your makeup without having to go to the loo! Best thing is it costs only RM399!

Emily and me with the phones made for ladies! <3

Apart from the lovely bling bling phones, we were given chance to play with CSL Dual Sim MI350 too. This solid smart phone is also known as Switch Dual. At size 114.8 x 62.8 x 14.7 mm and display of 3.5″ HVGA, MI350 comes with 512 MB memory, Li-ion 1500 mAH battery, MicroSD explansion slot and the usual GPS, AGPS, Bluetooth and FM function.

I would tend to check the responsive rate of a phone if I know it is a touch screen phone. So, the first thing I did when I held on this phone was to swipe it left and right. To my pleasant surprise, this babe responsive greatly and swiftly! Thumbs up!

As you can see on the photo above, the phone has Angry Bird app and Cut the Rope app in it! My nephews definitely gonna love this phone as they’re big fans of Angry Bird, lol!

Believe it or not, this sleek design costs only RM699. A bargain for an Android phone. Yup, it runs on Android Froyo 2.2 and it has GPS in it. Good for those who always sesat jalan, lol!

After going through all these phones, we were given a quick briefing on the phones and ended with a Q&A session. Before leaving, Emily, Satkuru and I camwhore with these CSL phones to be kept as memories (since we can’t have them for free, lolhaha!)

To end this post, have a look at these videos below. Those are videos on CSL care centre opening and also interviewees’ thoughts on CSL Swarovski series compiled by Borsch Gang Production – pretty interesting I would say.

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2011/08/csl-blingy-phones/feed/ 1 http://phingelicious.com/2011/08/csl-3s-centre-opens-in-megamall/ http://phingelicious.com/2011/08/csl-3s-centre-opens-in-megamall/#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:43:38 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=3304

I actually plan on waking up late and enjoy my Sunday with my two dogs if not for an email from Criz on Saturday reminding me on the CSL 3S Centre Opening event.

Instantly I called up Satkuru asking him if he really put my name in the list and he said yeah! Told you already mah. I groaned a little.

Oh well, another Sunday filled with activity then.

So on Sunday morning, I woke up at 9.30 to get ready and at 10.15, Satkuru rang my door bell which triggered endless barking from Husky and Miilo. Haha.

We reached Megamall Pinang (which I fondly call it Pacific) and were wondering where is Life One Cafe as we were told to assemble there. Just as we walked towards the front entrance, we saw a long queue and lots men in blue!

As it was still early and there weren’t much shoppers in the mall yet except for those who queued to buy CSL gadgets in dirt cheap price and the CSL employees in blue, which explains why I said there’s lots men in blue. Haha!

Among the ‘blues’, I spotted familiar faces, Emily and her mum!

3 of us stood oddly in the sea of blues, and wondering if we should start snapping around or just wait for awhile. We decided to do the latter. Lol.

Only when Criz arrived and given a little ‘push’ by him, we dug out our cameras and started snapping around.

Believe me when I said snapping around, as we really DID go around and take photos. Including the flowers. Wahaha!

By 11.30, the MC, Adrian gathered all of us in front of this mini stage and welcomed CSL Group Managing Director, Dato’ Dr Eric Chuah, Mr Edwin Gan, CSL’s country manager, media, bloggers and shoppers to this event. He then gave a little introduction and background on CSL 3S Care Centre in Megamall Pinang.

The mic was then passed over to Mr Edwin Gan, CSL’s country manager. He stressed on Switching Era (which made Satkuru twitched a little as conflict of interest, lol) by switching 3 things – mobile to mobile internet, single SIM card to dual SIM card and also unaffordable smart phones to affordable smart phones. He spoke about 3S – ‘after sale Service’, ‘technical Support’ and ‘mobility Solutions-service’ that aims to serve customers from Northern region (namely Penang, Kedah, Perlis). Which drew our eyebrows as why opens a hub in mainland rather than in island. My speculation is that it is strategically plan so for the sake of saving the toll bridge fee for customers coming from other states. Lol!

Anyway, enough of guessing. Adrian, our MC ushered everyone to the entrance of CSL 3S Care Centre for red ribbon cutting ceremony by Dato’ Dr Eric Chuah, Mr. Edwin Gan and 17 Master Key distributors.

I couldn’t get a decent shot of the ribbon cutting as there were already lots blue men and media standing in front of the entrance, clicking their cameras away. The short me couldn’t afford to squeeze to the front and therefore could only tip toe at the back, stretching my hand high up, hoping to take a shot.

Obviously I failed. Lol!

After that, the VIPs went in the outlet to check out the phones.

There are 2 clowns who went around making shaped balloons for kids. The clown in grey even did magic there. He turned RM1 note into a RM50 note! Awesome right!

Daringly asked two beautiful models to pose for me. Wahaha!

30 minutes after the ribbon cutting, they announced the start of the cheap CSL gadgets promotion sale where everyone clapped and cheered. I took few shot and went for the light refreshment served at the side.

There are fried bihun, fried popiahs and assorted sandwiches (tuna, egg and cheese) to choose from. I grabbed the tuna and egg sandwiches which tasted awesomely! Even the orange cordial drink was ‘thirst’licious!

Emily said maybe I was too hungry that’s why I felt so and I agreed. Haha!

As Satkuru, Emily and I were feeding ourselves to the light refreshment, we spotted this lady who’s managing the accessories counter helped herself to a big plate of bihun, 4-5 popiahs and 2 slices of sandwiches. Then she went back to her counter quietly and ate. We couldn’t help giggling at her act. Lol!

Not long after that, we were asked to head to Life One Toast Cafe for light lunch. Initially Satkuru and I thought we were going to do food review there, but were a little surprise that we were served finger food.

We had chicken nuggets.

Chicken picata

Fried fish fillet which was rather salty! ++”

Boxing chicken – actually I didn’t know it is called boxing chicken. Sat, Emily and I didn’t get to sample that because the waitresses only placed one plate on our table when we have like 9 people seating there.

Not only we have only one plate of boxing chicken, we have also a plate of chicken spaghetti bolognese to be shared among 9 people. Again, we passed on the spaghetti and concentrate on finishing the chicken picata, chicken nuggets and the salty fish fillet. +_+

Luckily they served us drinks to wash away the saltiness. Hee!

After filling our tummies, we were asked to review on 5 CSL phones which I’ll cover this in the next post. Wouldn’t want to cramp everything into one you know?

Next post : CSL Blingy phones

… and I forgot my DSLR. Resorted to take photos using my iPhone only. -.-”

It was so crowded there especially at the entrance since there was only one way in and out. The other entrance was blocked by the temporary stage, hence the terrible human traffic. I felt so uncomfortable when someone’s sweaty, sticky skin rubbed against mine. Luckily the jam was temporary only.

On the stage, local singers entertained all with countless of Chinese New Year songs. I took a glance to see who was singing at that moment (but I don’t know him! ops..) and walked faster to catch up with my parents.

Around the temple were stalls which mostly showcased the Chinese art and culture or things that related to Chinese culture.

I personally like the block shop and wanted to do one for myself, but then there were people queuing around the stall and I didn’t feel like waiting, so I left.

At the side of the temple erected a temporary Chinese paper wall, where people wrote auspicious word on the wall using gold ink.

I wanted to write one, but coincidentally the guy who stationed there was preparing the right mixture of golden ink (as it was too watery) and it took him quite some time to get the right mixture. -.-”

So I left.

As we walked towards the back of the temple, the Chinese exhibition changed to the pasar malam alike.

I like the rabbit coinbox. So adorable! But then mum already bought the adorable tortoise coinbox from this stall last year, so she said cannot!

From the temple, we walked back to the empty space behind that was ‘turned’ into night market. I don’t know if the night market is there prior to Chinese New Year festival or it’s a weekly thing, but it was fun to walk around the night market. It was at the night market that I fell in love with this cute pair of toddler pants.

I didn’t get this of cz, there’s no point of me getting one. So I left! Haha!

The night market disappointed me, as it was rather small. We went back to the temple compound and walked to the other side of the temple where fluffy, cute bunnies greeted us.

The bunnies were paraded to all for sale, and the kids couldn’t stop patting the bunnies’ little heads and stroking their soft bodies.

A little further down, we stopped by a tea stall for a bowl of pu’er tea.

Few walks to my left, I saw rows of handmade tanglung hung on this yellow steel frame. I think the tanglungs were being ‘contested’ as I could see number stuck on there.

I turned right and realised there were a lot of people in the pavilion. Wondering what’s there, I walked in… just to find that there were these paperfold art that I used to do when I was in lower secondary form!

Boy were I joyful upon seeing these, and I took quite a number of photos there. Haha!

We thought that we could exit the temple after walking straight down, but we were so wrong. The other entrance was blocked to give way for the temporary stage, so we had to embrace the human traffic again to get out of the temple. T_T

I wish there were more ‘Chinese’ heritage/art/element/culture paraded at the celebration. The celebration was alright, but there’s certainly room for improvement.

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2011/03/pre-cny-celebration/feed/ 0 http://phingelicious.com/2011/02/straits-quay/ http://phingelicious.com/2011/02/straits-quay/#comments Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:14:52 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=2985 Nobody wants to go out initially but after much pestering, all gave in.

2 hours later, we arrived at the new Straits Quay, admiring the big arch bearing the name at the entrance.

Located in Seri Tanjung Pinang, Straits Quay is one of the project under the E&O Development. There’s a quay, wharf, lighthouse, luxury suites, gym, boutiques, eateries, and errr… fountain in the middle! Rofl.

We walked in and my goodness, the building totally wowed us. The architectural design of the British colonial era totally made us feel like we were in European country. Totally mesmerising!

Feeling hungry, we walked from one end of the building to the other looking for food… and we decided on Weissbrau German Bistro & Bar. Which means the table must have… BEER!

and German crispy pork knuckles! Mm~ Heavenly~*

Not forgetting sausages! *slurps*

Don’t know why we ordered Mushroom pizza too. But, I totally enjoy the pizza. The crust is crispy. Thumb up!

The food is great, but we prefer Ingolf’s Kneipe’s.

After dinner, we lingered the area, checking out the shops there.

However, we left not long after that since the place is still new and there aren’t much to see as the most shops aren’t opened yet. Only ‘candies’ can be found there. Heehee!

Since it was a sunny afternoon, we didn’t object at all, lol.

Like usual, the waiter came.. ordered, bla bla bla… and then the drink/desserts came.

Ice Ice Baby has varieties of drinks, desserts, finger food and courses to choose from. Therefore we always order different ‘stuff’ each visit.

Their courses (baked cheese, fried rice) tasted so-so to me, their stupid ball (I kid you not, that’s really the name of that dish) was seasoned well and I totally love their crepe. Pardon me for forgetting the filing (I didn’t jot down somewhere -.-”) but I remembered the skin was so crispy! Nice!

Price wise, they’re not crazily expensive. In fact, they’re affordable. The youngsters love to gather here, lovebirds would share their desserts here, and not forgetting the factory workers too as it is comparatively cheaper than other place.

As I blog now, I realise it’s been a while since I visit Ice Ice Baby. Maybe it’s time to try other desserts there.

*cue music from Vanilla Ice*