Archive for November, 2007
i have chanced upon a secret. and a very deeeeeelish secret it is :P
it’s common knowledge that Delicious (1 Utama, Bangsar Village 2) has great desserts, right? and i’m sure most of you also know by now that Delicious is also the proud parent of a new line of delis called D’lish.
the concept of D’lish is fast and healthy; great for the busy and overworked who constantly find themselves calculating in their head the quickest possible solution to the lunch-hour dilemma. with D’lish, you can forget about your usual grab-and-go lunch of sandwiches (bleahhhh) or nasi bungkus (bwarghhhhh), because they’ve brought to the jaded lunching crowd a whole new array of lunch possibilities ready to go in under 5 minutes :)
salads? check.
soup? check.
pasta? check.
sandwiches, but of courseeeee? check.
pies and quiches? check.
nasi kerabu and nyonya mee siam? check :P
the best part is that the heavier stuff like the soups, pasta and rice already come packed in nice and neat microwavable bento boxes, which you can just grab and pay for. no need to wait for them to cook everything, or for you to get back home or to the office and discover that your lunch is one big mess of soggy condensation. wanna eat at the cafe itself? no problemo, the staff just pop the bento boxes into the microwave oven and you’ll be lunching in 2 minutes flat.
BUT ALL THAT IS NOT WHAT I’M HERE TO TALK ABOUT.
i’m here to talk about the besteststestststs part of D’lish, which is :
THE DESSERT
#2 one day’s array of cupcakes at Dlish
#3 sigh dont these look divine!
i’m always on the lookout for new dessert places, and ever since D’lish opened i’ve been a huge fan of theirs. the stuff there is just on par with the excellent quality of desserts from Delicious, not to mention that the opening of D’lish in Mid Valley solved my long-existing problem of never knowing what to eat at Mid Valley. (er.. but now that Gardens has opened..)
Delicious, always more famous for their chocolate cake and banoffee pie, was never well-known for their cupcakes. but what with the cupcake craze that hit KL last year, i suppose they decided to cater to that craze with D’lish - and believe you me when i say they did an extremely good job out of it. they ditched the whole pretty-looking, bad-tasting formula; and instead focused more on developing new combination of flavours using the old Delicious recipes, with only minimal effort being put into the aesthetics.
the result? some of the most scrumptious cupcakes i have ever had.
#4 Raspberry Cheese Cupcake with White Chocolate Curls. even though raspberry is not quite my thing, this cupcake actually made me like raspberry.
#5 Double Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Ganache and Marshmallows. sigh. this is pure heaven in a paper cup. PURE HEAVEN.
#6 Flourless Orange Cupcake with Marzipan Orange and Sticky Date Cupcake with Butterscotch Frosting. the topping on the former just MAKES the cupcake :) the latter is not bad, but pales in comparison to many a sticky date pudding out there.
#7 Rocky Road. several times i’ve gone into D’lish and seen people buying up the whole tray of Rocky Road. my friends all love it, and i do as well, but it can be a little overkill after the first several bites.
#8 Baked Banana Cheese Cupcake with White Chocolate Curls. the name itself just draws you to it like bees to honey (oh hahaha i just watched Bee Movie it’s so bloody funny hahaha please go watch it!), and i absolutely LOVE the combination of the banana, cream cheese and white chocolate. sometimes i eat this and the texture is a little bit off, ie too hard, but other times i eat it and it’s fluffy and just nice :)
#9 Banana Cupcake with Butterscotch Frosting. ooooooooh this is one of my favourites :)
#10 Chocolate Banana Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting. surprisingly i think this is the only cupcake in D’lish with peanut butter. there is a peanut butter bar very much like the Rocky Road though, but i have yet to try that. anyway this cupcake is yummy :) not fantastic, but still yummy. the staff say it’s a popular favourite.
i never got around to blogging about D’lish despite always wanting to. but today i went there for a late dinner and discovered something that made me decide i absolutely HAVE to blog about this place NOW.
because between 9pm and 10pm EVERYDAY, EVERYTHING in D’lish is 50% OFF.
NO JOKE. SO ONE CUPCAKE IS NOW ONLY RM 3.25 !!!!!!!!!!!!!
that was just such unbelievably good news to me, i was practically bouncing off the walls. then i started wailing at the waiters for not ever telling me beforehand despite me being a regular. eh RM 3.25 for one of D’lish’s cupcakes is extremely worth it okay. if you’ve tried any of Delicious’ or Dlish’s desserts, you’ll know what i’m talking about. if you haven’t, well GO TRY ONE and you’ll totally agree with me. i promise :D
okay so yeah that was the good news i wanted to share with the world, that D’lish cupcakes (and everything else they serve) are actually 50% off after 9pm :P as a lover of all things sugary and chocolatey, i just had to spread this bit of joy. forget that Starbucks latte lah… you can buy 4 cupcakes with the money you would have spent on your coffee. that said, i heart Starbucks and always will.
sigh. cupcakes.
D’lish
- Ground Floor, Mid Valley (opposite Starbucks)
- Ground Floor, Bangsar Village 1 (next to Village Grocer)
10am - 10pm daily
November 15th, 2007
if we can talk the talk, we can most definitely walk the walk, and walk the walk we did. some 40,000 Malaysians (and even some tourists!!) turned up at the BERSIH rally yesterday to submit to the King a memorandum demanding clean and fair elections.
from frail old men to ardent university students; from demure head-scarved women to activists, people of all ages and races took part in this peaceful demonstration - wearing yellow, walking proud and making a strong collective statement. shouts of ‘Hidup Rakyat’ and ‘Daulat Tuanku’ rang throughout the massive crowd that marched to the Palace that day, sending the message to the government that enough is enough, we know what you do and we refuse to be slapped around anymore. rakyat juga pantang dicabar :)
as we all know, many warnings and threats were used by the government and the police and even our Prime Minister (what happened to wanting to listen to the truth?) in the days leading up to this demonstration. the idea was to make people fear their safety so they wouldn’t turn up for this protest, but 40,000 people were brave and passionate enough to stand up for their countrymen and what they believe in. this is truly the dawn of something great; we’re no longer succumbing to scare tactics, and this is a HUGE step out of the blind fear that Malaysians have been groomed to live in ever since May 13.
it was really, really amazing being part of this march :) i was just awed from start till end - at the sheer size of the crowd, at the camaraderie displayed by all, the successful execution of this demonstration, at everything. i remember very clearly the moment we turned the corner at Pasar Seni and saw the first long line of yellow-clothed people crossing the bridge and marching towards the Palace. we couldn’t help but let out whoops of joy! it was the most inspiring sight ever. there is just so much hope for Malaysians.
we took the route from Pasar Seni towards the Palace, and we were safe the entire time. but unfortunately the crowd coming from the Masjid Jamek LRT station was tear-gassed and shot at with water cannons by the Federal Reserve Unit. incredibly reckless of the police to do so because this rally (despite what the mainstream media will have you believe) was PEACEFUL from start till end.
Pak Lah said a couple of days ago that whenever demonstrations happen, chaos usually ensues and thus the police have to ‘take action’ and then take the ‘blame’, when it is actually the fault of the people for causing the chaos. well, the only violence that occurred yesterday came from the cops - firing tear gas, water cannons and beating several protestants including reporters - and that was without warning or provocation. sigh see lah how can you say the rakyat wrongfully blames the police now. you cant help but get angry listening to news like this. but thankfully, other routes and the assembly point in front of the Palace - where the police just stood by the side and watched over the crowd and DID NOT INTERFERE - was violence-free. okay, good. we were actually very pleasantly surprised :)
but shame on the mainstream media. shame. shame. printing distorted facts and half-truths and cooperating in lying to the public. coal in your stockings for Christmas this year.
eventually all 40,000 people from the 4 different routes converged at the gates of the Palace at Jalan Istana to await the handing-over of the memorandum to the Agong by the rally representatives. while waiting, we all got to feast on the sight of FORTY THOUSAND PEOPLE (sorry ah must keep saying because i damn cannot tahan some quarters say 4000 people only please lah dont make me laugh) gathered together for a common purpose. it was really cool. you look around and you see all these CIVILIANS! your neighbours, people you pass on the streets daily, the guy who sells you your morning newspaper, the uncle from the kopitiam, your bus driver, your former schoolmates… all clapping each other on the back and smiling and congratulating each other for being there that day. sigh. so nice. i swear to you it was the most patriotic situation i have ever been in. there was just no segregation at all in the crowd; if only we were all like this every day.
my favourite parts of the rally :
- i stepped on this guy’s slipper and he almost fell. i was extremely apologetic and kept saying sorry to him over and over, but he turned around, smiled at me and said, “it’s okay, girl, it’s okay. we are on the same side.”
- this man brought his very young son (about maybe 6-8 years old) along with him to the rally. the kid was sitting on his dad’s shoulders and shouting Daulat Tuanku (long live the King)!
- throughout our march to the Palace, the cars that passed by would wind down their window, honk like crazy and roar encouragement at us while giving us the thumbs up. one guy yelled, “you are my heroes!” so inspiring :)
- the Unit Amal volunteers from PAS who directed the crowd and traffic were extremely nice and warm that day. as people walked past, they smiled at us and shook our hands and thanked us for being there. so this is a big THANK YOU back, Misters Unit Amal, for being such amazing and selfless people! Malaysia needs you.
- i saw these blond, Caucasian backpacker tourists asking route advice from the Unit Amal people! they weren’t wearing yellow, BUT they were wearing yellow ribbons on their shirts :) :) :) thank you tourists, for caring for our country.
- we walked past Pos Malaysia and there were all these staff gathered outside on the balcony. they cheered us on. we cheered back. they cheered even louder! aiyah why you all never take leave!
- texts from my friends and family and Martian saying how proud they were of me :) thank you guys. wish you all had been there to share the experience with me.
- when the memorandum was accepted by the Agong’s secretary, the crowd cheered and started dispersing. then the Muslims were chanting prayers in unison. it was such a comforting sight to behold.
pictures! :
#1 : walking from Pasar Seni in the rain
#2 : the bend before hitting Jalan Istana
#3 : cops stationed near Masjid Negara
#4 : the very patient and peaceful crowd at Jalan Istana
#5 : my ONLY yellow t-shirt - a Jaga Jazzist shirt from their last concert in Singapore. ‘what we must’. apt, eh? :)
#6 : me and Daniel and Jason, who both took very good care of me :P such great company.
#7 : rakyat being rakyat :)
#9 : BERSIH shirts and headbands
#10 : sigh this is the road i take to Bangsar all the time. this road will never look the same to me again.
#11 : YB Lim Kit Siang <3!
#12 : these ladies look like they wouldn’t hurt a fly. yet they were there beside us roaring with so much zest.
#13 : crowd
#14 : this tiny section where i was probably already held more than 4,000 people. what is our Inspector General of Police talking about when he said only 4,000 people attended the entire rally?
#15 : i asked these guys for a picture, and the bald guy said, “of course you may. we won today.”
this rally was more than just a demand for fair elections, it was more than just a lobby for indelible ink and abolition of postal voting. it was about the people’s dissatisfaction and their awareness. it was about democracy, it was about justice. it was a call for complete reform. and i hope this call is heeded. it NEEDS to be heeded.
that day, we were all living breathing proof that Malaysians are NOT ignorant, lazy or scared to make a difference. just look at us! we are so aware of what is going on despite them trying so hard to conceal the truth from us, and we dragged our butts out our of comfortable, SAFE homes and out into the highways and pouring rain to make our voices heard. see :) we’re not so bad after all. there is hope.
accounts from other bloggers :
Bersih.org’s blog
Jeff Ooi
Haris Ibrahim
Daniel Bong
November 12th, 2007
are you wearing yellow today? =)
edit : i got a Shoutout widget so i can post updates directly from the scene of the march. check back periodically for new updates :
For more info, go to Bersih.ORG - People’s Gathering to push for Clean and Fair Elections in Malaysia
November 10th, 2007
sometimes at night, when i’m alone and in bed, i cough up my heart just to take a look at it. it’ll be there in my hands, pulsating and alive, red and bleeding all over the goddamn place. it makes me curious, this thing that seems to have a life of its own; not a part of my body, but a completely separate entity that seems to be superior to all the other parts of me.
and so i’ll watch it. watch it beat, my own heart in my own hand. dub-dub. dub-dub. there are times when it seizes up in panic and i can feel it contracting violently against my palm, and i look at it with much sadness because i understand what it’s trying to do. i’m sorry, heart, you cant be your own shell. you can’t retreat into yourself. it’s just not possible to be both the core and the shell. someone needs to be your shell, but it simply can’t be you.
you know how we always figuratively say to our loved ones, “you have my heart”, or “i’m giving you my heart”. i’ve always been extremely liberal in giving my heart out to people. in hindsight, rather foolish isn’t it? it’s not like i have that many hearts to give away. i keep telling myself that i’m good with picking the right people to give my heart to, but there will always be anomalies. we cant predict everything and expect to always be right. and that’s when i get my heart handed back to me in yesterday’s dinner takeaway paper bag, used and nicked here and there, in a huge shabby mess that drips blood all over my toes as i stand there wondering, what the fuck do i do now?
hello, all. this is the old me speaking. i took a nap this evening and i woke up to this moment of clarity.. a moment of complete, honest, blinding clarity that sparkled like a field full of cheap diamantes. it took 2 seconds for my skin to recognize it’s old friend, for my shell to remember this core that it was BFFs with but then disappeared for a bit. 2 seconds.. and i knew i had the old me back. the old me who is self-sufficient, confident, loved, smart, unafraid, takes shit from no one, loves to laugh. there is always a time to be completely selfless and vulnerable, but that time is not now.
to go through life feeling like you’re constantly running away from hurt is a tiresome and futile flight away from something impending, like a dog chasing its own tail. i’m really tired of it. i’m tired of all these expectations never met, eagerness always shot down. i’m sick of having needs and then made to feel like i’m wrong for having said needs, or that my feelings are nothing, irrelevant, stupid and dismissable. i’m sick of voicing out my concerns, only to have them drowned and forgotten in the fray of fervent defenses and a lot of screaming at me. i just want one big set of headphones that i can put over my ears and thus erase the world from my senses.
the new me couldnt deal with all that shit. i think she was a little bit avoidant and way too much of a people-pleaser, wherever the hell that trait came from. well, fuck other people. the old me is back and she knows exactly what to do - crack some whips, dance the night away, eat good ice cream, and above all, love herself and love life.
so tonight i coughed my heart out again to have another good look at it. hey you, i whispered to it. i grew up a little bit more tonight. it dub-dubed happily back in reply. then i put it back in my ribcage, safe and snug where it belongs best.
November 9th, 2007
“How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?”
- Fight Club
i always scoff at the articles in girly mags that tell us that ‘the occasional fight’ in a relationship is necessary to keep it going. to me, it was always just one of those generic advisory statements that probably apply to only a minority of all couples out there, but not to everyone, and most definitely not to me.
this was how i looked at it - if fights can be avoided, then they should be. why would anyone want to have a relationship that’s prone to fights and disagreements, when they could have one that’s sweet, mutually understanding and loving? why allow dissent to breed when you two can compromise and emerge from the whole deal without having to kick and scream at each other and potentially say things that will come back to bite you both in the ass?
one thing i never understood was how people could fight with their significant others. sometimes i cant even bring myself to raise my voice or yell at my boyfriend, let alone throw things or have a full-blown argument. and at the same time, if any boyfriend of mine even so much as yells at me, he would be kicked out the door and given silent treatment for 20 days effective immediately O_O what i thought was - if you really loved someone, it would be extremely difficult to fight with them over small issues like Friday night plans or the mess in the house. you’d wanna hold them and you’d wanna talk nicely, right? you’d cajole and you’d sweet talk.. you wouldn’t yell at your loved one simply because their feelings are just way too precious to you to even want to risk hurting.
i suppose another reason why i dont do the fighting thing is because i cant stand the idea that my boyfriend and i are capable of disagreeing, and mutually refusing to see the other’s point of view, which is essentially what a fight is. in all my previous relationships, i have never once fought with any of my boyfriends. there have been long term relationships and short ones, but never a fight or even an argument where we’d both be yelling at the top of our lungs and screaming hurtful things at each other. and i was always very proud of this; proud that there were no problems, and proud to be able to say that my boyfriend and i never fight because we’re just so compatible and loving and perfect together that way.
but then i met Martian.
-__________-
and he just turned my whole world upside down and inside out. i have NEVER met someone that i’m so compatible and loving and perfect with, but who also fights with me all the time.
in the early stages of our relationship, we’d have the occasional argument because i’d say something and he’d disagree with me, and then i’d get pissed off that he disagreed with me and then we’d start to fight. or he would say something mean and i would go WTF YOU TAKE THAT BACK but then he would refuse to take it back and then we’d start to fight. or if i wanted a milo dog and then he would say cannot and then i’d cry and then we’d start to fight. stupid things like that lah =( and it confused the hell out of me at first because i didn’t understand why all this fighting could happen in a relationship where two people loved each other so much.
i really don’t like it when i fight with Martian, because i just dont like fighting in general, much less with my boyfriend, but it just kept happening. and i would get really upset about all the turmoil. for a while i wondered if this was a compatibility issue - perhaps we just weren’t very right for each other if we could keep disagreeing like this all the time. or maybe we were just too alike, because we’re both extremely headstrong, stubborn and vocal about our views. sigh, the other day Jovann voted me ‘Most Likely To Win In A Fight’ on Facebook, and he added a comment saying “she can come up with multiple reasons to argue with anyone if she thinks she’s right”. hahaha that’s actually true, BUT i met my match when i met Martian. cos if anyone can justify the most unjustifiable of things, it would be him. he could sell a supply of McDonalds to Colonel Sanders and have the old man renew the contract each year okay -___-
(one day i must blog about ALL the Martian vs Anyone arguments i’ve ever witnessed. very funny wan i swear)
so yes Martian and i fight a lot. but the coolest thing about our fights is that we always end up so much closer after every fight we have. we will brawl it out and scream and cry and fume and throw things, and then when we’re done, we will stop and look at each other and go.. “awww baby come here” and then we will melt into each other’s arms and kiss and make up wtf.
and then we’ll realize that we’ve learned so much about each other just from that fight - learning how to deal with each other, learning the inner workings of the other person’s heart and mind, and above all, learning how to love each other better. and our relationship just becomes so much more stronger as a result :) it is just so good and comforting to know that after a fight, we will and have always come back to each other, and that our love is strong enough to withstand this trial on top of all the others. sigh it’s like Darwin’s Theory meets Mars & Venus or something.
and not to mention i feel so much lust for him every time we fight and then reconcile. i loveeee the fact that even after a huge argument, he’s big enough of a man to admit he’s wrong, or sometimes admit he’s wrong even though i’m the one who’s wrong hahahaha, and then sincerely want to make it up to me. SIGH. how does one not lust for a man like that. how. how. how.
so i’m eating all my words about how ‘the occasional fight’ is not necessary in relationships. i see now that it TOTALLY is. it helps build your relationship, gives you both a chance to say things you need to get out of your system, helps you understand and appreciate each other better. seriously. how do all these things happen if not by going through fights and then emerging victorious together, as a team and holding hands?
and i must say that Martian has just been so good for me in many ways. i used to be so spoilt by all my previous boyfriends who would always give in to me and never want to argue despite how unreasonable i can be.. and as a result i always expected things to go my way, and this would translate to school, the workplace, society and all other aspects of my life. not a good thing, obviously. so i’m glad i met my boyfriend, who has very lovingly shaped me into a better and more understanding person :) even though sometimes it drives me up the wall like when he refused to let me buy pink curtains for the apartment grrrr.
i’ve grown up and seen how naive i was to think that couples are perfect and ‘right’ only if they don’t fight and are always on good terms with each other. not fighting doesn’t mean a relationship is perfect.. Martian once told me that if i went out with a complete gentleman i would probably be really bored. at the time, i ardently disagreed (and thus another fight ensued haha) but now it’s glaringly obvious that it’s so true. while i would love being treated like a princess, i would probably be really angry at such a boyfriend for not having an opinion or a backbone, and i would also be hurt that he’s so scared of me that he can’t even bring himself to disagree with me.
so i see now that what i used to think was perfect, actually does not exist; but what do exist are relationships that are rough around the edges, yet are centered around two people who recognize the flaws in their relationship and mutually want to work at perfecting it, while loving and supporting each other all the way. it’s all about two people who will always remain excited about each other and never want to give up at what they have.
that’s what exists. and that’s what Martian and i are. and i wouldn’t trade that delicious and loving discord for all the harmony in the world.
that, and make-up sex ROCKS.
November 6th, 2007
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