Happening - A Laughing Affair

by pEANutbutter

Figure 1: The interior of The Bee, Publika.

It was definitely a good laughing affair at The Bee, Publika last Friday (20th April). I haven't laugh out loud in a very long time. Mr. Douglas Lim was an act to be reckon with among the local comedians in Malaysia, and on top of that, he was a good singer. But if want to compare to Phua Chu Kang, Gurmit Singh is a better singer. When it comes to joke, they are in a different league as Phua Chu Kang was more of a family comedy.

Figure 2: The jokers.

Anyway, back to The Comedy Club event @The Bee, Publika. The acts of the night was Douglas Lim, Paul Myrehaug (Canada) and Jen Brister (UK). The ticket was priced at RM63, inclusive of a drink (which is actually beer, something like Guiness Stout). We was there quite early, so we get to choose where we wanted to sit, either at a dining table, chairs right in front of the stage or on bleachers. I would avoid sitting very close to the stage as I refuse to be a target for impromptu standup comedy. True enough those who was seated around the stage, especially the bleacher was a clear target. If I was the comedian on stage, I couldn't help it eaither targeting the three men that was seated on top of the bleacher as they are three very tall men, one was even bald, and everybody in the room could see them. Paul Myrehaug couln't have describe it more perfectly when he says they look like the muppets way up there.


The first act of the night was Paul Myrehaug. His joke was more on sexual conquest and drunken intoxication. His accent was quite hard to catch, but still manageable. Jen Brister was towards mother's, as a british (although she doesn't look like one as her mother was a Spaniard) targeting their metric system, and also lesbian joke (which she openly admits she is one). Again, her british accent was also a little hard to comprehend, but nevertheless, still enjoyable. However, her ending was a little bit too draggy when she demostrate how the butcher is slicing hams after she had asked for 4kg of it in Australia (because the British doesn't use grams or kilos). So she go on and on and on for almost 5 minutes.


Then comes the act of the night, Douglas Lim. He is a malaysian, so definitely we are more inclined to relate ourselves with his joke. He covers politic, racial and ends the night with a very good rendition of Beyond's song (I not sure what is the title of the song) in the spirit of bringing back the glory days of Cantopop and mock the current craze for K-Pop. Wish I could have recorded it, but video cameras isn't allow. However, I think some audience did recorded it. Look out for it on Youtube. That song really bring back memories of my childhood. The starting of the song was mocking K-Pop, but he ends it singing the real thing. A really good performance. The first two act almost make me regret paying a total of RM136 (inclusive of booking fee) for two tickets. But Douglas Lim definitely save the day. Nevertheless, I wish he could be a little bit more friendly. Not sure whether he has stage freight or pre-show jitters, as the moment he walk into The Bee, he wasn't smilling or looking around. I wouldn't say I am his die-hard fan, but I do inspire by his work starting from way back during his days in Kopitiam. Overall, it was a good laugh.


Note that one has to have an open mind when going for standup comedy. They could touch on race, your mother, politic, ideology, religion, etc. But it was all only for a good laugh, no offense.


Food & Beverage

Figure 3: The Bee burger

As I had state earlier, each ticket is inclusive of a beer. As for food, there is limited options as I think it's their strategy to cope with the crowd for the night. We ordered Bee's Burger (an in-house specialty I assume). It's beef burger, nothing special actually. I find it quite salty. It comes with pickles, tomato, cabbage and lots of shorstring fries.  It cost RM33. (Rating: 3/5)


We also ordered lemonade (as I don't like to drink beer). Normal lemonade. No comment. Cost RM6.90. (Rating: 3/5)

Figure 4: Nutella 100g ice cream in cup.

Lastly, a friend highly recommended their homemade ice cream particularly Nutella and Guiness flavour. But I wasn't daring enough to try Guiness, so I settle for Nutella. It's homemade ice cream from The Last Polka. I find it a little bit too sweet, but it is full of chocolate flavour. Cost RM 9.30. (Rating: 5/5)


Overall rating: 3.7/5


Coordinate: 3.171133,101.66748

Living - Earth Day

by pEANutbutter

Today is Earth Day. Remember to do something good for Mother Nature. Plant a tree, separate your rubbish, switch off the light you don't need. It don't cost anything.

Food Review ~ Jade Pot Restaurant

by BUTTERfly

My first food review. Its been delay for quite some time as I'm too busy indulging myself in God's greatest creation, FOOD! My belly has been victim to my addiction, but I think of it in a good way. A bear need a belly. Skinny bear aren't cute. Period.

Figure 1: The soup base. On the left is the Jade Pot Superior.

Of Steamboat and Dim Sums

I bought a Groupon deal for dim sum meal at Jade Pot last year. It was really good,  definitely a good deal. RM10 gets me 5 meals. I can't remember the exact meal, but it does consist of siew mai,  Hong Kong's style chee cheong fun, porridge, etc. Didn't take any picture the first time because once my eyes set upon the meals, let's just say the rest are history.

So when I chance upon Groupon offer again, I took the opportunity to buy more. This time, they offer cash voucher instead which excludes service charge. This means the service charge has to be paid separately. They also offer cash voucher for steamboat. Both at 50% off.

Excitedly, I make my way to Jade Pot the moment they open their business for the day on a Saturday to savor their dim sum again. Funnily enough, the restaurant opens at 11.30am. Maybe they cater to brunch dim sum meal instead of breakfast. However, the second time around, I crash and burn.

Figure 2: The combination platter consisting of two of each type.

The dim sum wasn't like the first time at all. The chee cheong fun wasn't translucent with the right amount of oil. It was thick and sticky. Then the porridge kind of diluted. Their fry wu kuok (not sure whether I spell it correctly) was bathing in oil when it's cool. I actually invited a friend along, so it was quite an embarrassment. I can only conclude that maybe due to the crowd and the fact that they just open business for the day, could be the factors that contributed to the poor quality. I will still recommend dim sum here, but only if the crowd is manageable and you are lucky on that day. The service is pretty poor this second time around too as they couldn't cope. So do expect waiting. 

Get Down to Business
This post is going to be about their steamboat instead. Honestly, I was a bit hesitant after the dim sum but since I bought the Groupon, not going to let it go to waste. So dragging pEANutbutter and flyingraKUN along, we head for a dimsum meal. I came out unscathed, and feel the food was above average although it wasn't excellent. Here is the breakdown of what we ordered:

Figure 3: Clam (lala)

1. The soup, an in-house specialty call Jade Pot Superior Soup was really good. It's sweet and rich. Upon further inspection (and with confirmation from the waiter), it's actually ABC soup, but a real good one.  The Tom Yam soup wasn't bad either. And the best thing of all, it's refillable, free-of-charge. Highly recommended. There is 3 types of soup in total which you can choose from. (Rating:5/5)

2. For the Combination Platter, one can choose 6-, 8- or 10- combination. You can also order all this individually, but I opt to have the 6-combination as I wanted to try a little bit of each. There are a total of 11 types of balls and dumplings to choose from. For Combination Platter, they will give you 2 of each balls and dumplings that you choose. What I ordered in the 6-combinations are denoted in Figure 1. I think it's made by the in-house chef, not something which you can buy from the processed food vendor. (Rating:5/5)

Figure 4: Enoki Mushroom and Pork slice

3. There is a few option for seafood such as clam (lala), fish, etc. I only order the clam as the fish is very pricey (Imagine eating fish in Tai Thong). However, the clam wasn't that good as there is a lot of sand and it wasn't fresh. (Rating:1/5)

4. There is also a few options for vegetables and mushroom which you will find in a typical steamboat restaurant. I ordered the Enoki Mushroom. Can't say much about the mushroom as I overcooked it. (Rating: Inconclusive)

5. We also order thinly sliced pork meat (it's like bacon). Just boil it few seconds as it was suppose to be eaten medium rare. (Rating 5/5)
 

Figure 5: Hong Kong noodle

 6. For me, a meal wouldn't be complete without some carbohydrate. Jade Pot offer a few typical options of noodles for steamboat, but a Hong Kong noodle caught my attention since I never heard of it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't any special than a typical yee mee, except for lighter color. I also kind of feel the noodle has stale (or masuk angin, if you know what I mean) so when you cook it in the soup base, the texture wasn't solid. But it could also be the noodle's texture is meant to be that way. (Rating:2/5)

7. Since it's a steamboat meal, I ordered Chinese Tea (good for detoxification). It came in a funny but cute, kidney shaped teapot. Although the food is pricey, but the tea was reasonably priced. Hot water is refillable, free-of-charge. (Rating;5/5)
 

8. The service is good when there wasn't that many customer. But when it's pack, the waiter and waitress consciously ignore your call. Well, there are normal human beings, like you and me. I don't think they are paid well anyway. So, be a little patience. (Rating:3/5)

Figure 6: The kidney shape teapot

9. A few type of sauces. One particular sauce which look like thousand island sauce but it wasn't. It taste horrible and smell weird. Chilli flake was alright. As for the rest, we didn't try. (Rating: 2/5)

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Environment
It was quite a pricey steamboat as it's ala-carte, not the all-you-can-eat buffet style. However, the restaurant ambient is nice, it's quiet and they are quite attentive with their service (again, I emphasize, this depends on the volume of the crowd). The decor' of the restaurant is typical Chinese restaurant (ie: Tai Thong, Oversea, etc). They do have space for private dining. I would say it's an excellent place to have a quiet family dinner.

The Damage

	Breakdown							MYR
1.	Soup combination (can pick 2 types of soup):							15.00
	a)	Superior Jade Pot (House specialty)
	b)	Tom Yam
2.	6 combination platter (2 of each type)							16.80
	a)	Fish Balls
	b)	Meat Balls with Duck Egg Yolk
	c)	Siew Mai (Jade Pot specialty)
	d)	Meat Balls with Mushroom
	e)	Prawn Wantan
	f)	Dumpling (Har Kau)
3.	Thinly sliced pork							7.90
4.	Clam (lala) - small portion							6.00
5.	Enoki Mushroom - small portion							3.40
6.	Hong Kong noodle (lighter color yee mee)							5.50
7.	Chinese Tea (2 pax)							4.00
8.	Service Charge (10%)							5.86
							TOTAL	64.45

Figure 7: Variety of sauces

Figure 8: The weird thousand island sauce

Coordinate:
3.08634,101.673092

April 2012 Events

	Happenings
1.	Comedy Club KL @ The Bee, Publika, Solaris Dutamas
	Friday, 20th April, 8.30pm
	Featuring Douglas Lim, Paul Myrehaug and Jen Brister
	Ticket: RM63 (inclusive of a drink) at www.ticketpro.com.my

      Shopping
1.   Sportware Warehouse Sale (Up to 50% discount) @ Hotel Sri Petaling
      12-22 April 2012, 10am-10pm
      Featuring product from New Balance, Admiral, Adidas, Nike, Reebok, Puma and many
      more.
      Coordinate: 3.06914,101.690049
2.   BookXcess "World Book Day" Sale
      20th April - 1st May 2012, Level 3, Amcorp Mall
      Featuring discount to their already low-priced books (all brand new)
      ~ 20% discount on titles by Anthony Horowitz
      ~ 50% discount for second book purchased for coffee table books on architecture &
         design, art & photography, automobiles and history.
      ~ 20% discount on all fiction titles on April 23rd.
      ~ 30 - 60% discount on more than 60 selected titles
      ~ RM20 gift voucher for purchase more than RM200 in a single receipt
      ~ Contest: "Caption your Favourite Book the Way you Like It"
          i. Snap a photo of yourself with your favourite book
          ii. Caption the photo in 15 words or less about what you like best of the book
          iii. Post it on BookXcess Facebook wall (during promotion period)
          iv. Photo with the most "likes" would get RM30 BookXcess voucher.
          v. Top 3 photos would also receive RM150, RM100 and RM50 BookXcess voucher.
       Visit www.bookxcess.com for more details.
       Coordinate: 3.105153,101.647074

Shopping - Sportwear Warehouse Sale @ Hotel Sri Petaling

by pEANutbutter

I was passing by Hotel Sri Petaling one fine day when I notice there is a warehouse sale for sportwear right at the heart of Sri Petaling. For your information, Sri Petaling Hotel rents out their space for this kind of sales quite often. Past warehouse sales includes Levi's, Hush Puppies, baby products, home furnishing, etc.

As for the sportwear sale, its typical of any warehouse sale. You will find all the odds in fashion (ie: stuffs that got you thinking what was the designer thinking). But you may find something you like if you look hard enough.  As for buying shoe,if your feet is not of common size, it's going to be tough to find the right design with the right size. If it's an appealing design, definitely it's snap up fast.  I would prefer not to buy shoe (especially sport shoe) from warehouse sales as the shoe could be very old stock thus the sole and rubber could be crispy. For sport shoe, I would pay retail for brand new freshly baked as I consider it an investment for the next 5 years and beyond (my last one lasted me 6 years before the sole came off). But if you are the kind who worn off your sport shoe very fast, better wait for Jusco sale or the like as I has my doubt over the genuinity of the product offer in warehouse sale.


Coordinate:
3.06914,101.690049

Twitter @ peanutbutterflyrakun

By pEANutbutter


Finally a Twitter account for the blog. As much as I like the whole title of peanutbutterflyingrakun, but I have to settle for peanutbutterflyrakun instead as Twitter has limits for the amount of alphabet for your username. Regardless on the downside of this, it still works. flyingraKUN just have to settle as flyraKUN. 


So here is a toast to our twitter account. Any updates on this blog will be tweeted after this. Good luck to us. Or shall I say Good Tweet to us. 

Adventure ~ F1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix (23 - 25 March 2012)

By pEANutbutter

Free ticket from company prompted me and flyingraKUN to jump into the bandwagon of life on the fast lane to Sepang International Circuit to watch F1 race live. It was a last minute bonus. Thanks a million to my boss!

Figure 1: The F1 ticket courtesy of my boss.

The Essentials

As it is the middle of March where Malaysia normally experience her monsoon season, it's essential to know what to bring. Most of the things needed is available on sale at the circuit, but of course its going to be double the prize. So this are some of the items:

1. Umbrella - shield yourself from the blazing sun or when it rains. 

    Good to bring your hat/cap too.

2. Towel - to wipe your sweat

3. Ear plug and earphone - yes, i mean both! the sound of the revving 

    engine will kill your eardrum. I got a massive migraine after the race 

    by just using ear plug.

4. Hand sanitizer - good to keep your hand clean when you eat food 

    as it's hard to get proper table and chair to sit down and eat

5. Small bottle of handwash - they don't provide soap to wash your 

    hand in a proper dispenser. The same thing the last time I was here

    2 years ago.

6. Cash - I don't see any ATM around. Even if they do, it may run

    out of cash with approximately over 115,000 spectators attended 

    the race as reported by TheStar. Only certain items can be bought 

    using credit card like merchandise, etc.

6. Sunglases.

7. Hairband for those with long hair.

8. Anything that you are comfortable to walk in as there are going to 

    be a lot of walking.

9. Some reading material in case bored.

Figure 2: Sepang circuit area

Food & Beverage

Outside food and drinks is not allow in. They will check your bag. They do sell drinks, food like pizza, KFC, local delight, etc. Here are some of the items we bought:

1. Pizza (RM35.00) - 1 regular pizza with 2 bottles of water (plain water) from Pizza Hut

2. Nestle cone ice-cream (RM5.00)

3. Plain water in 500mL bottle (RM5.00)

Before I enter the circuit area, I drink up a 500mL bottle of Gatorade (which I bought from outside). It really helps to hydrate me the whole day.

Parking

Figure 3: The ticket pricing for F1 Petronas
Malaysia Grand Prix
Source: www.malaysia-grand-prix.com/

Arriving there at 9am, we park at area Bay4 (RM10.00/day) which is approximately 500m walk to the main entrance of the circuit. Since it's early and the crowd is still small, we decided to take the chartered bus to the entrance. The funny thing is, we has to change to another bus halfway through to reach the main entrance. For those who plan ahead, they can actually rent a nearer parking space for 3 days right in front of the main entrance. It cost RM53 and the presale is only until 18th March. Since I got the F1 ticket on 23rd March itself, I didn't manage to get this parking. The good thing about this is you get to secure a space for yourself for 3 days without the need to rush with others. So you can go anytime you like. You may also get there by public transport. More information on this, check out www.malaysia-grand-prix.com/

Seatings

We was seated at the Topaz area at the grandstand which apparently cost RM773! The seat has very nice view. Its not at the start/finish line where the pit lane are located. Its located at the corner before the race car turn into the pit lane or cross the start/finish line. Although you may not be able to see the start and end of the race, but sitting in this area provide you the best view for some action as it has some cornering while on the other hand, the start/finish line is just a straight road. During the race, we did witness some overtaking, etc.  Regardless of where you sit, you won't be missing anything as a giant screen shows all the action. 

It rains heavily after the race started briefly, thus race was interrupted and delay for about one hour. The road was still wet when the race restarted. We was so close to the racing car that when it race pass us, we can feel some droplets of rain water from the road. So you can imagine how fast the car is.

Highlight
1. Merchandise of any of your favorite team.
2. Showcase of some Mercedez Benz in line with Petronas partnership with the team.
3. Autograph session with the drivers - the line is super long. So, if you really insist,
   start queuing from 10am although the even starts at 12pm. No kidding. 

The race ended at around 6.45pm. The traffic out of the circuit is quite bad, but it was manage well by the traffic's personnel. We was diverted to the town of Sepang so that we will not be clashing with those traveller heading to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). It's a longer route, but one has to bear with it. A wiser choice is to leave the circuit before the race ended. But of course, once your there, might as well stay until the end or it won't serve the purpose and effort you made. Overall, it was a great experience. But deep down, I still prefer Motogp. 

Figure 4-1: A view from my seat (left side)

Figure 4-2: A view from my seat (right side)

And lastly, a video I took during the race. Pardon the shaky hand and amateur video. Cheers!