The Best Coffee Jaunt in KL

Hubs - the coffee addict, as all his friends know it, is extremely fussy over his coffee. His favourite is black, plain espresso with hot water. He is so fussy, I'd let him add his own water. Too watered down, he'll complain, overroasted , complain again.. Haih.. hard to please this fella. Lucky I don't serve him coffee at 

home. He serves me instead :D :D

He's found He's found this jaunt - Spazzio's at Pavilion KL, and he's hooked. Spazzio serves illy beans and Rohit, the  barista makes a perfect cuppa with passion -  americano, espresso, cappuccino, latte, you name it, he presents every cuppa with excellent showmanship. Here's to show what he did with our servings of cappuccino and latte we had :

 

The beautiful froth doesn't go down after a a few sips. A cappuccino can only be perfect if the foam is firm and not watery. Milk foam is created by steam and milk and it takes skill to get it right. Too much steam will cause milk to be watered down and tasteless and lack of steam doesn't bring up a good foam. So, it's really a balance of skills and Rohit does it so well

 

Rohit makes a mean and thick latte, creamy, milky and with sufficient caffeine to jolt you back to reality, unlike some latte which tends to make me fall into la-la-land. Latte makes me sleepy, except this one.

 

I had a cappuccino and a latte.. and oh.. have I mentioned ? They are running a promotion now , from opening till 6pm, you get a free pastry or another cuppa coffee with every coffee purchase. Good eh ?

Rohit says 'hi'

So, if you yearn for a good cuppa, go to Spazzio and look for Rohit. Spazzio is at Level 3 Pavilion, exit Tangs Department Store from the Ladies Dept and you'll see Spazzio right across.

How to Shop In Peace

Drop the hubs and kid off at sand art area.

Choose and pay for the biggest and most complicated piece

 Guaranteed peaceful shopping for at least 1 hour !

9th Anniversary

Today marks our 9th wedding anniversary. 

16th December 2001 - hubs and I tied the knot. 9 years has passed with a blink of an eye. Time passes by fast when you are having fun right ?  :) :)

We should be celebrating our union but after 9 years together and many many nights of baking fruitcakes, all I want is some quiet time together and a good rest.

The first few wedding anniversaries were celebrated with much anticipation, having a nice dinner somewhere.. notably Ma Maison, Federal's Revolving, Chalet and Chalet Suisse with us 'cling' - ing our glass.

 

Then came the little one, the joy of our lives, the purpose of many things we do. The dim lighted dinners slowly faded away. We felt guilty leaving her behind and any celebrations  is always a threesome affair.

Last weekend, we were back to the place where we held our union for another occasion. Amber knows we celebrated our wedding there and hubs took her for a long walk up the stairway. Feels so nostalgic, he says..  9 years ago, walking up with me and now, holding her little hands up the stairway..

Happy Anniversary and any day is just as special as long as 3 of us are together, safe, healthy and happy : )

My daughter and Me

Most daughters will have a very good relationship with their mothers but my Amber has always been a papa's girl. From birth till now, there's no guessing whom she is closer to.

Papa is her playmate

She looks up to Papa

She wants to marry Papa ( I put a stop to that !)

She brings socks to Papa every morning

She dances with Papa

She request to dance with Papa everynight, a trade off before she agrees to go to bed

Papa has the energy to 'wheeeee her up in the air' like this :

She demands plenty of affection from Papa and will not hesitate to say " Love Papa forever" everyday.

With me ?

She doesn't show as much affection with me as she does with her Papa but she'll always look for me, shout for me when Papa fetches her home.
She doesn't shout for hubs if I fetched her home instead.

I still come secondary after Papa. She does not realise we parents are smarter than she think and I know it when she say something in purpose, with hidden meanings.

She'd say things like :

- Love Papa forever, Mama also (notice it's not the other way round, as in Papa also?)

- Amber is Bumble Bee, Papa is Optimus Prime, Mama is Megatron (she thinks I'm st****) -- this one hubs and I die laughing and I'll remember till old.

- Playing doctor, she'll pretend to feed us medicine. Nah Papa, eat medicine, your medicine sweet. Mama's medicine is bitter.

and many many more instances. I've always been placed secondary. I know she loves me very much but she thinks she can get away bullying me. Oh .. and she told her childminder once,. I like to bully my mummy because my mummy doesn't cane me !

The term 'daddy's girl' is very true and Amber is truly one daddy's girl

She and me, poles apart, we always have differing view and end up arguing. I'd say yes, she'd say no. If I'd say pink is nice, she'd choose purple. If I say strawberry is sweet, she'll insist it's sour. I'd say dress is nice, she'd insist on jeans. I'd say tie up her hair in pony tail, she'd insist pigtails. I'd say pigtails, she'd insist on ponytail !

She's the Opposition Party, always at loggerheads with me. You know what I mean ? Take a look here, this photo describes us perfect :

we can't even agree on directions!!

Many times, it's exasperating having a conversation with her. We'd always end up in a huge argument and yes, she argues, loud and full of words. At 4 year old, she can outdo me !

A couple of time I'd give up and say :
Amber, oh Amber! Wait till you grow up and have a little daughter just like yourself ! *evil grin*

She'd say :
No! My daughter not like me ! My daughter like Princess, Snow White and Barbie Doll !!

Aarrgh !! I want to hang myself !

The Hubs & The Mozilla Firefox

The blurcase, this is too funny, I must put it in record.

Those friends who know us well, will also know how dependent the hubs can be. I'm not saying he depends on me but if there's wifey next to him, he'll always call or shout out for something. Better to ask the wife than to search, more convenient, you know what I mean ?

It happened this morning. Our darn slow internet connection at office is really annoying. I can't read my gmail, unless in html mode, and that's very annoying. I downloaded Mozilla Firefox and that helped.

Then, the hubs had the same problem with his gmail, cannot open, unless in html mode. He wanted to use Mozilla too and asked me how.

I was chewing on my rotikaya this morning and told him .. google mozilla la !!

Would you understand me ? Simple isn't it ? Want Mozilla ? go google it. Simple mou ?

He asked me how to spell Mozilla. ok, fine, some ppl have not used or heard of Mozilla before.

m-o-z-i-l-l-a..



Emm tak geh ????

What I saw next nearly had me choking on my wholemeal rotikaya. I quickly gulped in water before I let myself loose, laughing hysterically. The hubs was angry, said I wasn't specific. I had said google mozilla and he did just that :

www.googlemozilla.com

tsk.. tsk.. tsk...

and yes, it's my fault, I wasn't specific !

Wine Roundtable 1 - 2010

This post is actually for hubs. He wants to tumpang in my blog for his future reference.

We had our first wine roundtable for the year at ES house. A very hurried event since his wife is due to deliver soon (and he had to miss the event of the year - roundtable at the dealers home - which he missed)

Date : 30 April 2010, 7.30pm, present :
hubs
ES
Leonard and family

A pot luck event and we picked up some satay from Zaini Satay.


Our makan for the day : nam yue chicken wings, satay, hokkien mee and braised duck (forgot to take pics)


The palatte for the night :

hubs - San Leonardo 2004, Italian.
Leonard - Godolphin Barossa Valley
ES - Pomerol 2000

Vast diversity ! Italian, Australian and French. As I'm typing this, hubs asked me to add a note:
Vast diversity of wine but unity amongst the kakis!


Our winetables are always a family affair.. :)

Wine Roundtable 2 - was at the dealers on 8 Ma7 2010

Next roundtable - at KK's place - Glenmarie Court. Targetted end June 2010. Benchmark - 300

Wine Roundtable at The Dealers

Last Saturday we went for the 'ultimate' wine gathering for the year. Each of us had to bring our best wine and location this time was at the dealers house. He's such a nice guy for accomodating us, we know if we ever run out of wine, we can ransack his cellar.

We were the first couple to arrive and was greeted by :

Hubs can feel the mood of the night, even before his kakis arrive.


All very premier wines



The dealers home is excellent for wine gatherings. I like his showcase of miniature and aged brandy and whiskies.

Then the 'guest of honour' arrived :


Amber looking at the guest of honour. Look carefully, can see or not ?
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Mr Roast Pig was the guest of honour for the evening. One 40kg pig for us to 'pig out' to the max !

Warm and moist meat, tasty and crunchy skin.

That night, I had a chance to savour different parts of the pig. Above is the rib strips.

This from dunno where.. strictly crackling skin and very thin layer of meat. I also tried the 'cheeks' .. apparently the most sought after part of the roast pig. Very nice and Amber likes it as the skin is not too crunchy and roasted and very biteable.

This is the 'hind' of the pig.

An irresistable piece.

His HUGE cellar awed us. Everyone posed to take a picture and we boasted to have been to France and back. 14 rows of shelves. AWESOME !!!

The oldest wine in his collection. 1915 !! Still drinkable too. A collectors piece now. The dealer said the market value is close to 40k or 50k. I nearly pengsan-ed and was mindful not to touch (although itchy hands of mine wanted to hold 50k bottle in hand).

The wines we had after 'pigging out' :

We started with Chilean red, Montes collection - Follie, Purple Angel and 'M' Series. Didn't take any picture. As with any wine tasting, hubs very kan cheong during the start and forgets to snap pics.

Then we moved to :

Hills of Grace 1985

Chateau Pape Clement. Grand Cru Classe Bourdeaux 2006

Latour 1993

We had 2 Grange. What a treat, to be able to compare a 1994 and 1995 vintage. Although a year difference but the taste differed greatly. 1994 is a lot more complex and rich, more 'power' (hubs definition) than 1995.

a Moillard Burgundy... 1980.. We had the 1976 too and it was EXCELLENT. It was aged so well, we had to drink within 15 minutes. Both wines are not for sale anymore. The dealer has been very kind to us. I think we've tasted his 1976 a couple of times.

a 1995 Medoc

The kakis, their kids, the dealer, the bottles, the glasses and decanters. WHAT A NIGHT !

What did Amber do ? She played with her own toys

and played with the other kids...

The dealer had 3 house dogs... very adorable, friendly and kept the kids occupied

and guess who had wine too ?

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Terry ! This pup is very pampered, gets to drink premier wines and hair coiffured nicer than mine. . with hairclips too.

Terry also got 'drunk'

It was an excellent evening with only premier wines and good company. The guys are talking about holding this kinda event maybe once a year.. or once in 2 years.. Very expensive affair to drink premier wines.

Well, all the hubs were so high on wine, they slept in on Mothers Day !

That's why I have nothing to post on what I ate or did on Mothers Day .... LOL !!!

Celebrating Hubs Birthday

This year his only request was to share a bottle of wine with me at Langkawi at our favourite little place - Mare Blu @ Perdana Quay, Telaga Harbour Park. We've been here once on our last trip and this trip, going back to Mare Blu tops our to-do list.

We like the food and ambience here. Highly recommended for anyone visiting Langkawi.

It was already dark when we got there and we missed taking nice pictures of the marina at sunset.

The rows of dining place faces the marina and you can see some very beautiful (and expensive sailboats). Here's one, right next to our table :



Mare Blu


We brought our own wine and paid a little for corkage. We had Taylor's St Andrew, 2000 Shiraz from Clare Valley. Palatable and just nice for our dinner. Not to complicated and not too intense. Just nice.

Service was superb. They decanter-ed the wine for us.

I ordered a fish and chips for Amber, specially fried with breadcrumbs only, minus the egg. The chef did a good job.. not too thick a batter.. I so hate those fish with thick eggy floury and oily batter. This was just perfect :

I forgot about the tartar sauce but she didn't take it anyway. The fish was moist and tasty, hubs and I finished half of it. Half a portion for Amber was already too much.

Our appetizer : mozzarella with grilled tomato and zucchini slices. Yumz !! Did you know Langkawi produces their own cheese, esp mozzarella? No kidding, drive along Langkawi island, lots of 'kerbaus' all around the island.

Needless to say, the salad appetizer was as good as it looks here :)

She ate her dinner without complain and didn't even ask for tomato ketchup !

And..... my platter.. fillet mignon, medium rare with mushroom sauce.

Excellent and perfect ! We were thinking of our fillet mignons on flight to Langkawi . LOL !!!! Really, no kidding, we can't find a place in KL that does a better job than Mare Blu.

Another view of my fillet mignon.

Mine was done medium rare.

and hubs.. rare.. Hubs is really fussy over his steak and he sings praises for Mare Blu, asking any of his friends who visit Langkawi not to miss this place.

Kachingg !! Happy Birthday Hubs.. from your little family.

Complimentary tiramisu.. on the house..

Again.. Amber gets to blow the cake.. and sings the birthday song with hubs and not without telling me again ...

Amber and Papa blow birthday candle.. Mama, you cannot because it's not your birthday. Only Papa and Amber CAN !!

hmmmmppphhh.... she's trying to make me jealous ;)

Telaga Harbour Park, don't miss this place if you go Langkawi.. It's along the same row as The Loaf.