Month: September 2008

The Dumpling Teahouse

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the dumpling teahouse

The Dumpling Teahouse is an eating establishment specializing in beef noodles and dumplings. It’s located near Mitsu Shabu Shabu and the interior is not air-conditioned despite the split units visible from the exterior. I’ve been there twice and they never bothered to switch on the air-conditioning, probably due to a lack of customers.

the dumpling teahouse sign

The good thing about The Dumpling Teahouse (besides the cute name) is the relative privacy of the place. It just doesn’t draw a huge crowd although the beef noodles are pretty good. I’m not sure if it’s due to poor advertising or just plain bad feng shui, but the place never really took off. 😉

teahouse interior

Geomancy Sifu: Your walls not good. Bad for luck. Money all flow out like water in the river. You should turn on air con. The ceiling fan blow all your money away!

teahouse fan

Geomancy Sifu: OMFG! You got a big fan as a decoration some more! No wonder la. Money all fly away.

teahouse beef noodles

Geomancy Sifu: Nevermind, I eat your Beef Noodle (RM 5). Payment for services rendered.

teahouse beef

Geomancy Sifu: Your beef chunks very big. Soft and tender too. Soup very spicy. I like. Increase man’s vigor. Noodles also curly, flat type. Good for longevity.

teahouse dumpling fried

Geomancy Sifu: Bring some Chives and Pork Dumplings (RM 4.50) for the leng lui here. Can choose fried or steamed izzit? I want fried. Eh, wait, Chiew Fong (Autumn) doesn’t eat pork. Nevermind. I eat. Quite tasty.

teahouse dumpling steamed

Geomancy Sifu: She half vegetarian, so give her Mushroom Chicken Dumplings (RM 4.50). What la, you guys all pork and beef one. Steamed, not bad. Had better though.

teahouse chiew fong

Geomancy Sifu: Your beef noodles good but your dumplings so so only. I suggest you rename the place to The Beef Noodle Teahouse.

teahouse bulb

Geomancy Sifu: Hmm…your 9 mm (bulb) is like a guiding light in the night shining bright. Eh, sorry, I rap.

Credit cards – boon or bane?

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visa gold

I have just received another credit card – it’s a Petronas Visa Gold card from Maybank with no annual fees for life with no conditions. I didn’t apply for it since I’m not a big fan of filling in forms, but someone from the bank called me and told me I qualify for one and asked if I was interested. I told her I don’t like filling out forms (seriously, I hate doing that) but she can go ahead and fill in my particulars for me if she needs the quota, I’ll just make sure there is no High Risk Credit Card Processing wherever I decide to use it

Well, I got a call yesterday saying that the Petronas Visa Gold is ready to be picked up. I’m actually quite lazy to do stuff like that as well, I remember a HSBC credit card that I never picked up coz the place is too far away from where I work. My girlfriend wanted to go to the bank though, so I decided to pick this one up during lunch. I figured it’ll be useful for gas since I pump petrol at Petronas and it’ll soften the petrol price hike with the points for redeeming petrol vouchers.

dapple

However, I have noticed that I always tend to overspend, which is why I don’t carry credit cards in my wallet anymore. I used to have several cards from different banks and ran up a huge debt when I started working. I have to admit that I was never any good at budgeting and I always spend way beyond my means. The amount of money I have in the bank at the end of the month is always in the single digits. Seriously.

Nowadays, banks are overenthusiastic in giving out credit cards – cold calling and going to the extent of filling in all your details for you. It seems that Classic (Silver) cards are reserved for students and fresh graduates starting work since they don’t even offer those anymore. They are very keen on giving out Gold and Platinum cards with high credit limits with impunity, which is great for the bank, but bad for the holder. I can see the potential of overspending on this card already.

I was talking to my girlfriend last night about going on a trip this coming holiday. She likes the beach so I was thinking either Krabi, Bali or Macau. Macau was my choice since there are casinos there and I have this inappropriate romantic sentiment that I’ll beat the house odds and win the trip costs back. 😉 It’s seriously a bad idea though, coz no one ever beats the house.

girlfriend

Bali would cost around RM 2,500 for the plane tickets alone for the both of us ex-Sibu and I think the total trip would probably hit the RM 5,000 mark easily with hotels and food. I shouldn’t even be thinking about it considering I can’t afford 5k right now (since I don’t have that much disposable income in the bank, and thus will be flying on credit).

…but the fact that I’m even considering it seriously is a testament to the fact that credit cards with high credit limits causes people like me to overspend.

I should be dating an accountant, the last girlfriend I had would have knocked me upside the head (coz she’s good at budgeting and all that) for even considering going on the trip. Oh wait, my current girlfriend is technically an accountant too. 😉

Oh well, I’m thinking about Krabi, Thailand. It’ll be cheaper than Bali and I haven’t been there before.

Hmm…should I or should I not?

Anyway, I haven’t given my girlfriend an official sixthseal.com moniker yet – I’m thinking Dapple (20% related to her name) or Melody (near 100% translation of her Chinese name). The relationship will remain under wraps until further notice due to prevailing circumstances. 😉

Aho Mee Sapi Nasi Ayam Restauran

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aho restaurant

Aho Mee Sapi Nasi Ayam Restauran (Literally: Aho Beef Noodles Chicken Rice Restaurant) is one of the best places in town to have beef noodles. It’s a halal establishment operated by Malays and as the signboard suggests the two flagship dishes are the beef noodles and the chicken rice.

aho interior

The place tends to be a bit packed during lunchtime and parking can be a bit of a problem. I went with Autumn, who doesn’t eat beef (or pork for that matter). I’m not a big fan of chicken rice but I love beef noodles. Aho does a very good version of beef noodles, Malay style. I just love the chicken shaped menu for chicken rice and the cow shaped version for beef noodles. Heh!

aho beef noodles

I had the mixed beef noodles (RM 4) which can be ordered with the noodles in a separate bowl (dry) or mixed into the soup (wet). Soupy dishes during lunch isn’t really my thing, not just coz of potential Splash Damage (TM), but coz it increases the body temperature at the warmest time of the day.

aho noodles

Thus, I ordered the dry version with the noodles on the side. The noodles are mixed with Essence of Cow (TM) – it’s so full of mooing goodness, you can taste the beef in the noodles. It’s delicious!

aho beef soup

The soup is even better – you can opt to have certain parts of the cattle or a mixed bowl, which has everything except the genitalia (that part is reserved to make Sup Power). Aho does a very good beef noodle soup. It’s hearty and has that elusive umami taste to it.

aho chicken rice

Autumn had the other specialty of the house – fried chicken rice (RM 4). Aho serves fried chicken instead of the usual steamed or roasted chicken.

aho chicken

However, they do a very good version of fried chicken – it’s not over fried, so the skin comes out crispy but the inner parts are still tender and juicy.

aho us

Aho Mee Sapi Nasi Ayam Restauran is a great place for beef noodles and chicken rice. The restaurant name can a bit of a mouthful though (pun intended) so we just call it Aho. 😉

Moo…

Sarikei road trip with Autumn

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road trip

It’s the long Merdeka Day weekend and it was decided that a road trip is due to bring Autumn to check out the legendary Big Prawn Assam Noodles in Sarikei. She hasn’t tried it before and it’s a public holiday so down we went. We got some much needed rations for the one hour drive down – this is Autumn’s favorite vegetable crackers.

pumpkin

She was tempting me during the drive down…

cucumber

…with various different crackers

potato

…from a repertoire of herbivore food

carrot

…like carrots

long beans

…and long beans. It’s really hard to drive with someone feeding me random bits of vegetables. The long beans threw me off a little due to the phallic shape too. 😉

oat congee

We stopped at the intersection before Sarikei to have some food since it was already past lunchtime. This is mixed oat congee (from a can) which tastes better than it sounds. We’ve been eating this for lunch for quite a while now.

congee inside

It’s really good, comes with a folded plastic disposable spoon and is full of constipation solutions (otherwise known as “fiber”).

me eating

I’m not a big fan of Healthy Stuff (TM) but I have been having a host of health issues lately (not just ED, but constipation to boot :p) so I’m trying to get more fiber into my diet.

me autumn

Anyway, after the brunch inside my car, we weren’t really that hungry anymore so we walked around Sarikei town and did a bit of the tourist camwhoring thing. There’s not much to do in Sarikei except walk around the (only) supermarket – Ngiu Kee.

4114

After an hour or two of this, the QAG 4114 arrived at Glory Cafe and parked in its usual spot – right in front of a yellow fire hydrant. 😉 Oh, this is becoming something of a recurring joke.

noodles

Autumn was a bit apprehensive about the Big Prawn Assam Tom Yam Noodles, but after a sampling of the rich broth, she was sold.

antenna

It turns out that Autumn is really good at peeling the antenna of the big prawns as well. She claims it’s a trick she learned from eating prawns during her youth. I can’t do it myself…

peeled

…but she was kind enough to peel the antenna for me. Thanks Autumn! 🙂

us

I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like the great noodles over here. It’s really worth the drive down if there’s a long weekend or holiday and you haven’t got anything better to do. Cheers!

Cosa Nostra

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cosa nostra

“Our thing”

right hand man

Of course, being the Capo di tutti capi requires the obligatory female companion and a very strong right hand man. 😉

HDS:

2002: University life. This was when USB cell phone chargers were a bit of a novelty item. Old skool. 😉
2003: I moved into my place in KL – it’s a small bedroom costing RM 350 per month. It fits one bed (single) and one desk (small).
2004: Limited Edition Shell mineral water and a post about the new employees at work. I was dating one of them (there’s only one female) and this was the relationship that taught me it’s a Bad Idea (TM) to be dating someone in the same office.
2005: Witty (IMHO) post about oyster pancake.
2006: Project MISER. The start of the popular Project MISER series of posts where I attempt to survive on just RM 250 a month. There are three posts.

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