Springtime in Paris

Ah, Paris Fashion Week, how I wish I could be there.  But, I've got more important things to do -- lots of follow-up with my Spring '12 Biohazard Collection.  Still, I love to look at other collections and as a designer, it's kind of fun to see who is doing similar things to you and what trends are emerging as the shows wind down. 

I tend to have a short attention span and a I hit a saturation point very quickly.  Also, I look for new things and gravitate away from labels that have become too attainable or mainstream.  That's the snob in me!  Recently, I've discovered Carven, an old French label started in 1945 by Madame Carven Mallet.  Not much has happened with this brand in the past 20 years, but when designer, Guillaume Henry stepped in a couple of years ago, people took notice.  Henry, who previously worked with Paule Ka (love) and Givenchy (love love), seems to be just what Carven needed.

All photos: Style.com (Marcus Tondo / GoRunway.com)

The Case Of The Missing Slippers

When Jam, his friend and I visited Phnom Penh in Cambodia for 3 days, we stayed at this hotel called Asia Hotel.



Guess what? Our stay here was fully paid for by a nice friend in Phnom Penh. He also acted as host and tour guide during our 3 days in this capital city of Cambodia. When we entered our hotel room, I saw something on the table.



Wow! They were fruits and tidbits courtesy of our good friend! Nice.



The room was huge! Too huge for just 3 people. But I loved it!



The room came with two bathrooms so we did not have to fight when it was time to shower or use the toilet. I did not take any photos of the bathrooms, though but they were clean.

There were three beds in a row. Beside each bed was a pair of slippers. One pair for each of us.



My stay at this hotel was pretty pleasant. Except for two interesting events that took place in this room. The first is the case of the three female hookers, which I shall blog about in a future post. The second is the case of the missing slippers.



Every night, before we jumped into bed, we would leave our slippers by the bed side. One morning, right after I woke up, Jam complained that his pair of slippers was gone. He searched around and eventually found his slippers in the waste paper basket near the bathroom!

Jam immediately asked if any one of us had thrown his slippers into the waste paper basket. His friend denied doing any such thing. I of course did not do it so replied in the negative. Instead, I jokingly told Jam that perhaps he had a bout of sleep-walking during the middle of the night and threw away his own slippers!

Jam's friend then suggested perhaps someone came into our room while we were sleeping during the night and did it. But we had locked our door from inside and it was not possible for anyone to come in. And even if it's true that someone had managed to enter our room, nothing was stolen from us. Why would he or she went through all that trouble just to throw that pair of slippers into the waste paper basket?!

It did not make sense. The only conclusion we could come up with was this - it was the work of a mischievous ghost! What other explanations are there?

The next night, we had an interesting case of the three female hookers in our room. More about that soon. Luckily, none of our slippers went missing that night.

Steamboat Dinner At Jade Pot

One fine Sunday night in September, I met up with my regular blogger and Twitter friends for a steamboat dinner at Jade Pot Steamboat Restaurant in Jalan Klang Lama, KL. It was also an opportunity for us to celebrate Mooncake Festival and Saucer's birthday.



Since there were 8 of us, we opted for 2 sets of the set menu for 4 pax priced at RM89.90. We also ordered 2 types of soups for an additional RM8 - Tom Yam and Head Fish with Yam.

Ooh! Look at the cute teapot!



Before long, all the raw ingredients were on the table ready to be cooked in the steamboat pot!



While waiting for the soup to boil, we ate the deep fried dumpling with minced meat first as it was the only dish that was already cooked.



These were some of the raw items in the set that we ordered.


Deep fried bean curd skin


Fresh fish balls


Stuffed bean curd


Dumplings

There were squids, shrimps, mushrooms, pork slices, eggs, noodles and vegetables too but I did not take photos of them.

The steamboat meal also came with 4 different sauces for us to choose from.



I found the tom yam soup really nice with just the right amount of spiciness and sourness that befits a tom yam soup. The fish head with yam soup was also good - tasty and full of flavour!



However, later after the dinner was over, a few of us experienced excessive thirst. We suspected that the soup must have contained lots of MSG - no wonder it was so tasty! MSG is not good for health so I was not too pleased about it


Adrian scooping up some cooked food from the steamboat pot

For dessert, we were served with Ai Yu jelly, which was pretty refreshing.



After dinner, we celebrated Saucer's birthday and surprised him with a birthday cake from PJ Hilton!



Saucer, the birthday boy and his birthday cake. Happy birthday!



The durian cheesecake was very delicious and full of durian flavour. I loved it! Priced at only RM35, it is PJ Hilton's cake of the month. I wonder if it's too late to order this cake now since it's almost end of the month!



After the cake, it was time to celebrate Mooncake Festival with what else, but mooncakes! All of us brought one mooncake each so that we could share all the different flavours of mooncakes!



Except for me. I decided to be special and not bring any mooncakes! I brought taro instead. I was not really into mooncakes this year - it's rather strange and I do not know why!



Unfortunately, we were too full to eat any of the mooncakes and ended up cutting them up and bringing them home to be eaten later.



Although I was full, I nevertheless ate some of the mooncakes and did not bring any back. So much about being full and not into mooncakes. Haha!



We took some group photos. Here's a funny group pose. As usual, I respect my own privacy and have my face blanked out.



It was so much fun dining with this group of blogger and Twitter friends! I had a great time that night! Let's do this again, guys!



But please, no more steamboat at Jade Pot. Unless they get rid of the MSG!

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BIOHAZARD VIDEO!!

It's here, it's finally here!  Hope you guys enjoy it... feel free to share!  Isn't it incredible what a little crowdsourcing/fundraising can accomplish?  Thank you to everyone who contributed, supported, participated and rooted for me!!!  I'm so happy with the result and so grateful that you guys all helped make it happen!

STACY LOMMAN : NEW YORK

SPRING 2012 : BIOHAZARD COLLECTION

An Unfortunate Accident In Siem Reap

Something happened during my last night in Siem Reap. I was involved in an accident!

Right after we returned from our Tonle Sap cruise, Jam, his friend and I went out for dinner. We had BBQ Steamboat at a stall by the road side not far from our hotel.



After the pretty good meal, we went to the Siem Reap Night Market. There were really nothing much to shop there as most of the things there could also be found at the Old Market (Phsar Chas).



Since it was almost 10.30pm, we decided to go for a two-hour massage at one of the massage outlets in the night market. The massage was not fantastic but it was good enough to soothe our tired bodies after a whole day out.

Besides, it rained heavily halfway and it was so nice to hear the sound of heavy rain while being massaged that I dozed off. By the time the massage was over at around 12.30am, I was all refreshed. But the rain continued to pour outside and although our hotel was not very far away, it was quite impossible to walk back to our hotel in the pouring rain!

Luckily, the massage lady helped us get a tuk-tuk driver. We had agreed on the price, which was USD2. This is how a tuk-tuk looks like - basically it's a two-wheeled carriage pulled by a motorbike.


Image courtesy of Cambodia Uncovered

Because of the rain, the driver had covered all four sides of the tuk-tuk to prevent us from getting wet inside. So there we were, inside the tuk-tuk, happily discussing about our massage experience just a moment ago.

Jam and his friend was sitting next to each other directly opposite me. My back was facing the motorbike driver in front. And then it happened.

I did not even know what hit me! It was over within seconds! I found myself lying on top of Jam and his friend. I remember thinking, what the hell happened? Where am I? What am I doing here on top of my friends?

Then slowly it dawned on me - Oh my God! Our tuk-tuk had overturned! It's incredible that I had no recollection whatsoever of that moment when the tuk-tuk flipped over. One moment I was chatting with my friends, the next moment I was on the ground!

And then I remember asking how to get out? How to get out of this thing? Help!

Slowly I crawled out. There were some local people helping us. The driver came to us and kept saying sorry. Once outside and standing on the wet ground in the rain, we saw exactly what had happened. The tuk-tuk had ran into an oncoming motorbike in the opposite direction. The motorcyclist was still sitting on the ground, groaning in pain.

I think I was still in a daze. I checked my backpack to see if everything was still intact. I hoped I did not break my camera. Please no! Luckily, my camera was inside the backpack at that time.

Then the most funny thing happened. It was the most hilarious thing that happened, according to Jam and his friend. After the local people helped the motorcyclist back on his feet and helped get the tuk-tuk back up, I quickly handed USD2 to the driver. I thought he was about to leave and so I paid him.

But guess what? We have not even reached our hotel yet so what the hell was I doing paying him the money? Much later, Jam and his friend told me they were shocked by my action. In fact, Jam had even thought of not paying the driver at all after what he did to us!

I did not know why but at that time, I thought we had already arrived in front of our hotel! But the fact is, we were only halfway there. The driver then proceeded to take us to our hotel on his tuk-tuk. It must be quite a miracle that his tuk-tuk could still carry us after what happened! Up to this day, I still do not know why I thought we were in front of our hotel. I must have been suffering from some kind of post-accident trauma!

Jam was bruised below his right knee and his friend slightly injured his toes. I was left relatively unscathed. Probably because I was lying on top of them haha! Anyway, thank God all of us were safe!

Thinking back, we had been very lucky to hit a motorbike. Had we hit a car instead, I am quite sure the outcome would have been much, much worse!

Coming Up Soon : The Case Of The Missing Slippers in Phnom Penh (A Ghost Story)

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thousand of anything

thousand of anything

Secret Of Louisiana

Last week, I went with a group of friends to a restaurant called Secret Of Louisiana in Kelana Jaya for some authentic Cajun cuisine.



It was my first time there and I was pleasantly surprised by the nice ambience of this lake-side restaurant. Yes, the restaurant faces the Kelana Jaya Lake so it was a great experience dining there!



Frankly speaking, I was not too familiar with Cajun cuisine although I have heard of it before mainly in American restaurants. Well, that night, I learnt that Cajun cuisine is actually a style of cooking practised by the French-speaking immigrants living in Louisiana, USA.

These "Cajun" immigrants, which were deported by the British from Canada to Louisiana, then adapted their French rustic cuisine to the local ingredients such as rice, crawfish and sugar cane.



The Secret of Louisiana claims to be the one and only restaurant in Malaysia that serves authentic Cajun cooking.

We started off our dinner with Seafood Gumbo, which is sauteed assorted seafood with thick creamy sauce, stirred in herbs, spice and mozzarella cheese and served with a few slices of garlic toasts.

Seafood Gumbo (RM20.90)

It was awesome! I loved this dish very much and could eat it even without the toasts! It seems that Gumbo is a very popular Cajun cooking which usually includes okra (ladies fingers) as a thickening agent.

Next, we had Hawaiian Pizza, which is a thin-crusted pizza, oven-baked with mozzarella cheese, diced pineapples and turkey ham over marinara sauce that is topped with even more mozzarella cheese!


Hawaiian Pizza (RM25.90)

It was quite tasty although I found the texture more chewy than crispy as I would expect from most thin-crusted pizzas. But still, no complaints there! Either that or I was really hungry!

After the pizza, the Blackened Red Fish with Cajun Vegetables came next. The red snapper fish was seasoned with Cajun herbs and spices and served with corn and vegetables.


Blackened Red Fish with Cajun Vegetables (RM39.90)

The fish was fresh and tasty and the blend of Cajun spices made it more delicious!

After that, came the Rack of Lamb, my favourite dish of the night! It was specially selected lamb racks from New Zealand, with special Cajun seasoning and honey mustard sauce, char grilled till medium well.


Rack of Lamb (RM42.90)

Served with baked vegetables and salad, this rack of lamb maintained its moisture and juices well, making it an outstanding dish that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone eating here.

I am a huge fan of pastas and prawns so the next dish was definitely another of my favourite! It's Louisiana Famous Shrimps Scampi, a pasta dish served with char grilled prawns from Sabah, sauteed with Cajun spice, tomatoes, lemon juice, roasted garlic and parsley.


Louisiana Famous Shrimps Scampi (RM28.90)

The pasta was al dente, which is a must for me, and the Sabah prawns or shrimps were huge, fresh and succulent! Yummy!!

I am not a fan of burgers and normally I would not order burgers for dinner. But this Original American Cheese Burger was not bad at all! Thick, pure ground beef served on a sesame bun with lettuce, tomatoes, capsicum and cheddar cheese, this burger was really juicy!


Original American Cheese Burger (RM23.90)

I guess the unique Cajun seasonings and flavours made a big difference to this beef burger!



I enjoyed dining at this restaurant with my friends that night. With its nice lake-side ambience, it's definitely a great place to dine and to chill out.

Secret of Louisiana Restaurant
Block D-01-01, Jalan SS7/13A,
Plaza Kelana Jaya,
47301 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Tel: +603-7875 5230

Business Hours: Mon – Thu (11am – 3pm & 5pm – 12am)
Fri – Sat (11am – 3pm & 5pm – 1am)
Sun (5pm – 12am)

Website: www.secretoflouisiana.com / Facebook Page

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