Frontera Bar & Grill serves a wide range of premium and super premium 100% blue agave tequila. This here is the official Frontera Margarita Man, who has served thousands of margaritas during his tenure at the bar.
The Speedy Gonzalez is a cocktail with Red Bull, watermelon liquor and Sauza 100% pure blue agave tequila. It’s under the Hornitos label and packs a real punch. The Red Bull (caffeine and Taurine) gives a slightly stimulating aspect to offset the CNS depressant qualities of the Sauza Hornitos tequila.
Watch the Speedy Gonzolez being made live! You can’t taste the alcohol inside, and the stimulants make you feel like you’re not feeling the alcohol too, but you are – a drink to watch out for. 🙂
The Patron Spirits Company also makes coffee liqueur, which I didn’t know until I went to Frontera. Dubbed the Patron XO Cafe, it’s like Kahlua, except this coffee liqueur weighs in at a whopping 40% alcohol! It can be sipped neat and taste a hell of a lot better than Kahlua.
Frontera Bar & Grill also makes a mean B-52 with Patron XO Cafe instead of Kahlua. This doubles the alcohol content so I think it should be dubbed the B2 Spirit “Stealth Bomber” instead. It’s a shooter with B-52 “Stratofortress” ingredients with the Kahlua substituted with the premium Patron XO Cafe.
The tequila based drinks at Frontera is sweetened with agave syrup instead of sugar syrup so the taste of agave is preserved. It’s really a good concept, and a great place for tequila based cocktails. The unopened Gran Patron Platinum at the front costs RM 1,400 per bottle. Larry didn’t let me taste it though. 😉 It’s understandable – he hasn’t had the chance to sample it himself.
Tequila is underrated in Malaysia due to the non-premium brands flooding the market but tasting the premium and super premium brands has given me much respect for this drink from Mexico.
I have been playing Tiger Fantasy League this season as a previous post indicated. Since then, the team is progressing really well, despite very little micromanagement during the week I was volunteering for charity work. I attribute that to a solid lineup selection in the starting stages. 🙂
The Nuffnang mini-league (nuffleague) currently has 19 active players, 15 of which I am thrashing. I’m ranked at #4 with 118 points (a very auspicious number) with a global ranking position of 431.
Tiger Fantasy League also allows transfers during the football season:
I’m replacing Slyvain Distin, who’s the worst player in my team. He conceded 8 goals for crying out loud!
I’m taking in Lucas Neill from West Ham United instead. I’ve watched him play and he’s a bit of a dark horse that I’m betting on for Hull City v West Ham United on the 19th of October.
The transfer system is a very nifty feature as you don’t want to be stuck with your initial lineup if a player has injuries, red cards or other handicaps that would slow down your team’s progress. Likewise, if you have been eying a particular player who has been performing well during the season, this would be a good time to snap him up into your team.
I have been thwarted by KY, Geno FC and ShaolinTiger.com Team but the English Premier League is still far from over and I vow to exact my vengeance with the fury of Manchester City thrashing Portsmouth 6-0 last month.
My sister just had her second wedding reception last night at the Grand Jasmine Ballroom in RH Hotel, Sibu. The KL wedding reception was held exactly one week ago and last night’s festivities were for the bride’s family and friends.
The Grand Jasmine Ballroom was used since we had 40 tables seating 10 people each. Both Jasmine 1 and Jasmine 2 were used to accommodate for the wedding. I just found out that each table costs over RM 450 so that’s about RM 18,000 for the wedding reception alone.
Gifts were respectfully declined and my parents did not accept any ang pows at all. My parents wanted this to be a casual get-together for friends and family without the traditional trappings of Chinese wedding banquets. It’s giving back magnanimously to the Sibu community to commemorate the wedding of their daughter.
The sales personnel of the local newspapers were politely kept away from the ballroom area to prevent their hard sell advertisements from bothering the guests and we roped in relatives to do the seating arrangements and ushering duties.
It was a huge task since there were 400 guests from various groups (church, organizations, corporations, family, schools and friends) to be seated at their designated tables.
I was slated to be the MC of the night and there were two main events that I had to coordinate – the entrance of the bride and groom from the flower arch down the red carpet lined with flowers and all the way through the second wedding arch before being seated.
The night’s festivities began with the bride and groom walking in before being seated at the main table.
There are ten seats on the main table: 1. Alvin Ng (groom) 2. Poh Yih Jia (bride – my sister) 3, 4: Mr & Mrs Poh (parents of the bride) 5, 6: Mr & Mrs Ng (parents of the groom) 7: Paternal grandmother (of bride) 8: Maternal grandmother (of bride) 9, 10: Poh Huai Bin & Doris (brother of the bride and girlfriend)
I started off with a short welcome speech before showing a presentation of my sister’s progress throughout the years. The bride and groom came on stage to acknowledge the efforts that went into the events management aspects. My sister did a great speech thanking my parents for her upbringing, waxing nostalgic and generally trying to be a tearjerker. It’s a good thing some sand got into my eyes. 😉
The good Reverent said grace before dinner and the first dish was served.
The interesting bit and the flagship feature of weddings at The Grand Jasmine Ballroom is the presentation of the first dish. The lights went dark and music started playing as a parade of waiters and waitresses choreographed a candlelit performance while carrying the first dish before serving the dishes. It’s quite unique and novel.
There was the time-honored cake cutting ceremony by the bride and the groom after that, followed by the champagne pouring ceremony, some kissing action from the newly weds and a toast led by me where everyone raised their glasses to bless the holy matrimony of the bride and groom.
This is a group photo of the immediate family at the main table. You’ll notice that there are only eight of us – my paternal grandmother went to the washroom and there was an empty seat meant for my maternal grandmother. Unfortunately, she had a bad Alzheimer’s attack before the wedding and couldn’t join us. Both my grandfathers are deceased, both coincidentally from lung cancer.
The food on the main table is served individually for some reason, instead of being a communal dish.
I have yet to figure out the reasoning behind this.
I went up and sang The Wedding a.k.a the “Ave Maria” song with my mom before the end of the night.
I actually sang it twice, the first one was dedicated to my girlfriend and I did a solo on that. My apologies for subjecting everyone to the auditory assault – I don’t sing well, but I sing with my heart. :p
The wedding reception ended at 9:30 pm and our relatives stayed back and helped clean up the place. Doris is seen here feeding me fake champagne – it’s a actually a prop that expels confetti when pulled.
There was just one major blunder at the wedding – the three-tiered wedding cake was not sliced and distributed by the RH Hotel staff after the cake cutting ceremony, which they were supposed to do. We all forgot about that since we were busy with other stuff and only realized it when it was still on stage when I thanked the guests for coming. Oh well, at least it was all packed up and given to relatives so it’s not that bad.
Congratulations to Alvin Ng and Yih Jia on their wedding. I guess I’ll have to start to call my sister Mrs. Ng now.
Kenko Reflexology & Fish Spa is a relatively new concept spa and reflexology center offering the unique doctor fish treatment for your feet. Doctor fish spas have sprung into popularity last year and a lot of people have been to Kenko Fish Spa, which has outlets throughout the Klang Valley.
I went to the Kenko Fish Spa in Pavilion, KL to experience the doctor fish spa. It costs RM 38 per person for a 30 minute session inside the doctor fish spa pool. I’ve been keen to check out the doctor fish ever since I’ve read about it on several blogs – it sounds interesting.
You are given a tag to clock in the Kenko Fish Spa area, and an attendant will direct you to the pre-treatment area. The tag initiates the start of your timing block, and allows you access to the general doctor fish spa pool. There are also private rooms if you’re more inclined to enjoy the fish treatment in seclusion.
Kenko Reflexology & Fish Spa starts the doctor fish spa session by requesting users to wash their feet first. This is not just for hygiene purposes – chemicals from body lotion and creams can contaminate the pool water and probably cause the doctor fish to float belly up. Body lotion is not exactly sauce to complement the dead flesh the fish eats from your feet. 😉
The fish spa at Kenko in Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur features a central pool with larger species of the doctor fish and a trench bordering the perimeter with smaller versions of the Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomus.
I went into the central pool first and the doctor fish swarmed around my feet and started nibbling away at the dead flesh. It felt a little ticklish at first, but after a while, the sensation is actually quite pleasant.
My girlfriend however, nearly screamed when she put her feet inside and quickly jumped out. The attendant kindly told her that the trench surrounding the area has smaller versions of the doctor fish and would probably be suited for the more squeamish ones amongst us.
I joined her at the trench area after feeding the bigger doctor fish in the central pool. I figured it would work better to let the larger doctor fish feast on the larger and hardened chunks of dead flesh on my feet before letting the smaller ones take care of the rest.
The interesting thing about the doctor fish is that it not only feasts on the dead skin and flesh on your feet, but also on your legs. There are signs that warn against putting your hand inside the water, but I did just that and the doctor fish swarmed around it too and started nibbling away at the dead skin. 🙂
Kenko Reflexology & Fish Spa @ Pavilion, KL offers a nice view of the city from the glass panel windows while the doctor fish takes care of the dead skin and flesh from your feet. It’s very relaxing and my feet was noticeably smoother after the treatment.
Due to the popularity of the doctor fish spas, even Sibu has started its very own treatment center…in an inflatable pool right in the middle of a shopping mall. Instead of luxurious wood paneling, you get plastic chairs to sit on.
It’s called “Love Bite Fish Spa Happy Feet” and some enterprising soul charges RM 15 for a 30-minute session inside the stagnant inflatable pool containing a handful of doctor fish. I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly falling over myself to sit down on a plastic chair and put my feet in an inflatable pool in the middle of the mall.
Laksa Shack is a franchise operating along the trend of establishing hawker food fare in the air conditioned comfort of malls. It has outlets throughout Malaysia and specializes in laksa, as the name implies.
Laksa is a noodle soup dish originating from Malaysia and has two major variants – curry laksa and asam laksa. The first one is santan (coconut milk) based while the latter is a medley of sour and tangy notes from tamarind. Sarawak laksa is an offshoot of curry laksa but I tend to prefer the asam laksa more.
Asam laksa has no coconut milk and is based on a fish paste broth with tamarind, which gives it the distinctive sour taste. I find that very appetizing, and it’s served with translucent thick rice vermicelli instead of the thinner version.
Laska Shack is a quick service operation and offers Asam Laksa, Johor Laksa, Curry Laksa, Laksam Kelantan, Tom Yam Laksa, Laksa Nyonya Melaka, Sarawak Laksa and Laksa Lemak Singapore. The soup base is all pre-cooked and kept in heated receptacles at the counter so they just need to pour the right gravy on the right kind of noodles.
I went with my girlfriend to the outlet at MidValley Megamall and we shared a Laksa Set (RM 14.90) which comes with the laksa of your choice, 2 pieces of otak-otak and Sirap Bandung Cincau. The drink (left) is a rose syrup drink with milk and cincau (black jelly). I ordered another drink (right) for RM 5.50 – Ipoh White Coffee Cincau.
This is what the Laksa Set looks like. The laksa ordered separately costs RM 9.90 each and the drinks will set you back RM 5-6 so it’s usually more cost effective to order the popular laksa set. The two pieces of otak-otak came really fast – the operation at Laksa Shack is all very streamlined.
Otak-otak (literally brains-brains) is a fish paste snack wrapped in banana leaves. Laksa Shack offers the steamed version and the otak-otak is (very) highly processed, leaving very little taste, as is oft the case in mass produced bulk food.
The Asam Laksa at Laksa Shack is surprisingly good for a quick service restaurant. The soup base is tantalizingly sour and comes with pieces of fish. I find tamarind based broth to be very appetizing and drank all the soup in the dish.
I didn’t quite like the fish pieces though – it seems to be sardine to my untrained palate and sardine is one of the few aquatic lifeforms I do not like to eat (due to taste rather than any sentimental PETA/Greenpeace ideology).
You can probably get better laksa for a lower price at regular hawker stalls but Laksa Shack offers the experience (and convenience) of eating hawker food in air conditioned comfort inside a mall. I have seen this trend take off and I suspect the end is nigh for the novelty value of hawker-food-given-premium-treatment concept eating establishments.
It’s going to jump the sardine soon, mark my words. 😉
I’ve always been a hopeless romantic at heart and I love stuff like couple T-shirts. Levi’s produces designs every Valentine’s Day and although it may seem a little cheesy to some, I, for one, think highly of couple T-shirts. 🙂
I’m not adverse to PDAs as well, and I love to show my affection to my girlfriend. I was on the plane back last night, hugging and kissing her and one person who was sitting at the same aisle probably noticed us doing that but kept his peace.
Anyway, as we were waiting at the airport, imbued with heng tai (brother) courage (someone was driving him), he rolled down his window and said “Eh, never kissed before izzit?” (in Mandarin) before driving off. This is the local equivalent of “Get a room!” which I’ve never really understood. It doesn’t offend me, I think of them as jealous souls who need to get a girlfriend. 😉
I’ve always thought of affectionate couples as adorable, and I love seeing them as it reinforces the “hopeless romantic” Aries personality trait of mine.
I don’t know about other people though, how do you feel about it?
My sister had her wedding reception in Restaurant Oversea at Jaya One in PJ last Saturday. I was in KL for the weekend to attend the wedding – there will be another one this Saturday in Sibu, where I would be the MC for the night. I have been instructed to tone down on my jokes coz I commented about her cleavage in the KL wedding and she nearly went into hysterics and rushed into the toilet to fix her dress. Heh!
My sister is the polar opposite of me, personality wise. 😉
I’m going to cover the Sibu wedding ceremony (which I haven’t figured out how to do while being the MC at the same time) so I didn’t do much at the KL wedding, which was more on the groom’s side, so here’s a montage of the events:
This is my new extended family:
I had a pretty embarrassing pre-dinner moment when the person manning the reception counter was on the phone and couldn’t seat us. I gave an off-hand sarcastic comment to my date and my aunt in KL which I’m sure she heard. I found out later that the receptionist was my sister-in-law. Major faux pax. Not a good way to start a relationship, I’m sure.
This is me. Eating an apple at the Boulevard Hotel studio suite this morning. It sounds like a mundane (understatement of the year) post, which it is, but I’m trying to make it sound interesting. There really is a discrepancy in the picture above…
The Habanero chili pepper is rated as one of the hottest chili peppers in the world. I took the Habanero chili challenge at Frontera Bar & Grill at Jaya One. I ate the entire chili pepper raw in two bites and didn’t think much of it. Larry, the proprietor, told me that it only hits after five minutes…
Jesus Christ, I must admit, the chili started stinging at the 2 minute point and peaked at the 3 minute point. My eyes were watering and my nose was running.
I felt a little queasy after that and my taste buds were desensitized for about 15 minutes, but it was fun, and I would do it again. Take the Habanero chili challenge @ Frontera!
This question was posed to me during my sister’s wedding dinner just now when I talk about my blog.
It startled me coz I’ve never thought about that or seen it that way before. Sure, the free or fee mindset is very rampant nowadays in the commercialization of blogs. Why do I do this for hotels, places, events etc etc without a fee?
…coz I don’t see it as promoting it for free. The world would be a sad place if everything is done for profit instead of passion, if the exchange of currency is involved in every single venture that we do.
Also, I see sixthseal.com as a springboard for me to bigger and better things – I’ve always wanted to be a personality on Discovery Travel & Adventure, going to different places and trying new things, experience new cultures.
