24th Birthday

Finally I have the mood to jot something down again. I have been staying home everyday after graduation and all I do is becoming a chauffeur, a cook, a babysitter and a baker. Okay I actually enjoy doing all these things and I do all of them voluntarily. :P I know, weirdo. 

So I celebrated my 24th birthday yesterday and earlier with parents on Friday. Last year I celebrated it in Singapore, you can read here. This year we had a really simple celebration because well i'm turning 24th (and old) and  I don't really have the urge to have any big or grand or whatever celebration you call it. 

Boyf picked me up at 7pm and we went to Best Western which was just right opposite my house haha. We could actually just walk there but I dislike sweating. I actually bought a dress to wear on that night but the bust size was too big for me. I can like put two more oranges into there so that it won't fall. Anyway, I'm selling that dress off as soon as my friend tries on it and if she can't fit in perfectly.

Okay so enough of my rubbish talk. Here's picture of us while waiting for our food. There's so much on the menu that we couldn't decide. So we agreed not to order the same thing that we savored before and to try something new. 

For starter we had cheese baked mussels which were really good. Kinda regretted we only went for 1/2 dozen instead of a dozen. 

I always loved cheese baked mussels but boyf just seemed to not liking the idea of having cheese on top of them haha but for this one, he had no say about it at all because it was really yummy.

As for starter, we had a bowl of oxtail soup each. Before it was served we were hoping that it won't be as tasteless as we had it at the same place here last night. And the cook did not disappoint us at all. Maybe because it was my birthday haha. 

As for my main course I went for "old man and the sea" with blue cheese which was a combination of king prawns, chicken, fish, and steak. I love it except the chicken because I'm not into chicken breast at all. In fact I hate it. Whenever I eat chicken I always go for drumstick/thighs/wings. No breast unless I'm left with no choice at all. So I finished everything except the chicken. 

As for the boyf, he opted for lamb rack since lamb was the only thing that was not only on my plate. His dish was way way nicer than mine. 

Then here come my birthday cake. I had coffee flavor mille crepe cake as my birthday cake this year. It was ordered online and finally a mille crepe cake after my malacca trip in August!!

And also I got my three champagne roses from the boyfriend too. Posing with it before entering the car i'm such a poser hahaha but who cares i'm so happy I have roses. 

Thanks for everything love. Appreciate it and I'm 24! :)

AlexChen's Birthday!

I particularly love birthday party/bash cause it's damn of a sign of nice food and catching up session. Celebrated one of the close friends - Chen Ming Hui's 22nd birthday with the gang at Daorae Korean Bbq last night. It was my n times dining in daorae, be it KL/Penang/Ipoh, and it is still the best korean restaurant ever for me. At least the taste is authentic and genuine enough. 

The boss birthday. We celebrated on the 6th of December which was yesterday, coincidentally, it was the beginning of the close friendship which took place exactly a year ago when both of us were offered internships placement together at the same place and spending the next 8 months together. Throughout these 8 months, what can I say. We basically know each other flaws pretty well. 

Since there were 8 of us last night, we ordered 4 bbq sets: 80% porks, 20% chickens. The porks we ordered were the marinated pork belly, pork ribs and pork specials. While the chickens were just marinated chickens with sweet sauce. Price range for one set of bbq was between RM28-RM35, which was reasonable enough as it was quite a big portion. 

Serving with 8-10 main appetizers (for free and refillable), it was really good. I myself truly love the kimchi, steam egg and coleslaw. I think we refilled like 3-4 or more times yesterday. Part of the reasons why some of us feeling so bloated before eating some of other main courses. 

The highlight and my personal pick in Daorae would be the bbq pork belly marinated in specially made sauce. Upon bbq-ed, dipping it in two different sauces and wrapping it with super fresh vege was just beyond words. For people who know me well, I do not eat pork belly. But when it came to Daorae, I couldn't help but putting slices of bbq-ed pork belly into my mouth and chew to satisfaction!

We ordered one set of bibimbap as well since it was one of the recommended dishes by the restaurant itself. Serving at RM20 for one, it was definitely worth the price. With the serving size, it definitely can't be finished by just one person. Mixing it with the prepared chili sauce, stirred it with the spoon, and ready to be consumed.

Not missing the Korean pancakes which was omelette-like. I'm gonna try making this when I'm back in Miri as it seems pretty easy, except for the sauce which was their sort of secret-recipe. 

And the most appetizing of all and best served in cold weather/room would none other than the kimchi steamboat. Inside the steamboat were: korean rice cake, korean noodles, porks and kimchi. For a large set, just enough for portion of 8. 

Our last main course was the fried glass noodles which was Alex's most favorite of all. Do not look down on such a small plate of fried glass noodles, it may look normal but it absolutely do not just taste normal. 

It was definitely one hell of a nice gathering and celebrations. 

And the 5 of us called a night off by spending 4 hours in kbox, singing to the heart contentment. 

Happy belated birthday, Alex Chen!

23rd Birthday

Hi bloggie, :)

My birthday this year was celebrated in an extraordinary way. No drinking, no alcohol, no big group of friends but in a different country, with loved and a super nice fine dining experience in Singapore best fine dining restaurant - Forlino Italian Restaurant.

I was super excited flying to Singapore on 14th morning despite the fact that I hate flying, but what made thing better was I was going to meet the bf after 3 hell of weeks in the university. Upon his arrival, we quickly went to the hotel, checked in, hunted for the infamous katung laksa (will blog about it soon) and went back hotel again to get ourselves ready for the night.

<3

Forlino restaurant is situated at the heart of singapore, which is just right next to Fullerton hotel. Considering it is singapore's best restaurants, we had really high expectations on the food and service.

The view from Forlino was amazing. The waiters arranged us a window side seat which enabled us to overlook the fantabulous Singapore night view while enjoying our dinner. We had their degustation menu as suggested each. It was a 6 course dinner.

Bf

yours truly

As for the drinks, I had champagne myself and the boyfriend has margarita which was really niceeee! We were first served with apertura and their complimentary bread as starter. What was inside the apertura was actually super fine tuna with homemade sauce by the chef. It was really nice but too bad, such a small piece of it.

Next, for our second course, we were served with pan roasted goose liver with lambrusco wine and morello cherry which was definitely highlight of the night! Never thought goose liver could be this nice and now I understand why was it so expensive!

For our third course, we were served with black cod cappelletti with spicy broccoli and confit garlic which I never tasted something like this before. It was definitely nice and filling.

Our forth course was boston lobster with silican eggplant "caponata" which was really nice. The caponata itself was nicely made by the chef.

Our fifth course was wagyu beef check with 100% chocolate sauce and red wine sauce. This was the boyfriend most favorite I guess. I was feeling really full since the 4th course already. But oh my, how could I ever resist this?

After that, tadaaaaaaaaa :) my birthday cake with super nice decorations. AAAAWWWW. Super love the decorations on the cake and that guy beside me as well. :P

We were served with desserts as our last course together with one small piece of my birthday cake. It was superb! Our desserts consisted of small slice of my birthday cake, molten lava chocolate cake, mascarpone ice-cream and persimmon coulis!

Bf ordered this as well to go with his coffee, which I didn't really fancy.

It was a really great night with super good food. The total bill for our dinner came to SGD$420, which after conversion, lol, is quite pricey, but IT WAS WORTH IT. Looking forward to another fine dining experience in other lands again. :) :)

Thanks for the present, universal studio and everything, I'm officially 23rd!

Family and bf are always the best! :P