The Mediterranean Journey @ Agua, Penang... :)

Prepare yourself for something REALLY different when you step into this restaurant, located at Straits Quays, E&O Marina, Penang. :)
One thing which stands out from Mediterranean food and local food is the taste, it needs some getting use to. Mediterranean food are cooked in such a way that it's healthy. And of course, the price.This restaurant as I mentioned earlier, can be found at Straits Quays, E&O Marina.And, the service is great! It's probably the first time I've eaten at a restaurant where they change the plates between courses.This is their honey lemonade.

Look at the dish below, it's served with bread. I seriously didn't know how to eat it when I first looked at it. Each piece of meat you see is sliced SUPER thin, and notice that there are lots of veggies on the plate too?
This is how we think it should be eaten. :DMoving on, my dad wanted to try their ribs too. To me, there's nothing better than ribs BBQ'ed' covered with the good old BBQ sauce. :D TGIF's ribs is better any day!

Pork ribs!

But of course, the ribs served here is much MUCH more healty than TGIFs'. But who cares? I'm young! Haha.

The main dish, Paella, which takes 25 minutes to cook.

The rice is sticky, and the rice granules are much much BIGGER than the local rices'. It's their signature dish. This dish orginates from Valencia, served with seafood, chicken and pork.

The remains. LOL.

I guess it's one of their more popular dishes. People who came after us were also seen ordering this. So, give it a try if you have a chance. I don't really fancy it though.
And oh, did I mention the view from the restaurant is great? Shall upload some photos about the view there soon.

Stay tuned! :D

Fun Fair! :D

There isn't always a funfair in town, especially for a small town of Sitiawan. Some more, during festive seasons! Strangely enough, this CNY, there were TWO fairs!

It was a small one though. I was watching the rides, and I felt that the rides weren't very safe to ride on. I mean, if you hear the rides making loud clanking sounds of chains moving and stuff, would YOU feel like riding on it?Or maybe it's just me feeling this. There were still LOADS of people getting on the rides. And did I mention that each ride costs two tokens, which translates to RM 4?

I was dragged to ride on the Ferries' Wheel to accompany my small cousins. Well, I suppose someone has to accompany them. And my, you should have seen how fast it went!
My cousins, by the time spinning for the third time, they were all screaming each time it descended. Me, I could literally feel the inertia of myself when it went down.
There were station games set up there too. Each game cost a whooping RM 4 (two tokens)!And this prizes awaited those lucky ones. I can tell you, the odds of winning have been counted so that few would be able to get these prizes. Sometimes, I wonder, how many of the grand prizes shown do actually get won. Most of the prizes I saw, looked rather battered down, as if it were there for a long time already.
This game main's objective is to roll 6 ping-pong balls into the wooden slits. Each slit has a number value. And the total sum of the numbers would determine which prize you won. For example, 6 balls into the slit with a number value of "1" would earn you the biggest teddy bear there, which is nearly IMPOSSIBLE!
This game, is called "Catching the ducks!". The purpose of the game is to fish a duck at random, and see what number is pasted below the duck. Certain numbers will get you the bigger prizes, others would just give you a small CHEAP toy. I think there were more than 100 ducks spinning, and among the 100, I think maybe about 5 or 6 ducks contain the numbers that is needed to win the bigger prizes?
This game, is called "Hoop Game". I guess the name itself tells it all. You have to hook the hoops into the a hook and that enables you to win a prize. Simple eh? I tried, and I got none into the hooks. =.=
Merry-Go-Round flying version.
Another ride, I guess this was the only ride that was worth the money. My cousin and sis screamed like crazy. It's the only ride I think they screamed! Because it was going round in circles very fast, and surprisingly many times.
You know these machines above you see in the supermarkets which can be ridden for just RM 1 or 2? You need RM 4 to ride it here! CRAZY isn't it? But many people are still seen riding on these rides.

Nothing can match up to the standard of Genting Highlands' theme park yet! ... Or maybe Disneyland theme park will! Waiting for someone to sponsor me there! :D

Chinese New Year's Eve Reunion Dinner! :)

Chinese New Year's eve! :)

The dawn of a new beginning... the Year of the Rabbit.
What I like about this year's CNY, is that my relatives came back from Singapore! :D It's a long time since they last did so. The last I can remember was when I was still in my primary school days (I think).
Only my aunt who is in Sabah didn't make it to this year's reunion. She had came back earlier during the Nov-Dec holidays. BUT, I certainly did enjoy their company. :)
Among all my cousins from both my father's and mother's side, I'm sadly the oldest. I mean, I don't mind being the oldest, but there is a BIG age gap between me and them, at least of 9 years!
Anyway, we had our reunion dinner @ Michelin Star, Sitiawan. Mind you, the service is POOR. But, you can't actually put the blame on them. They are inexperienced, this is their first time handling such a big crowd. This restaurant is not even a year old yet.
A fraction of food served. :)Cod fish! Among the 8 dishes, this was my fav! :)This dish, was, unusual. It's pumpkin paste dessert with coconut jelly. Coconut jelly in pumpkin paste?!? Surprisingly, it tasted okay.We had 2 dessert dishes! It's my first time having a pre-packaged dinner with two desserts. The sesame buns were AWESOME!

Although the service was bad, I think it's still worth going. The food served is good, the price is reasonable. Hopefully, they'll take this time's mistake as a lesson and improve on it the next time. :)

At midnight, the sky was lit up with floating lanterns and fireworks. Ah, this is 100 times better than the ones during New Year celebrations in KL.

Hope we have such a reunion again next year! :)

I'll publish a video of it soon, when youtube processes my video. It has been uploaded all morning, and it still hasn't processed finish the video YET. :@

So, how was YOUR new year?

Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year is just round the corner, right? I assume that all of you just can't wait for the day itself to come, so that your pockets will be lined with the "ang pow" you receive, and use the money to buy the things you have been waiting for ages... right?

But, Chinese New Year isn't just any joyous occasion. It can sometimes be described as running an obstacle course. Curious on what I'm trying to get across? Read on.

Every Chinese New Year, it's no fact that everyone wants a piece of you, and this is worse for married couples. Everywhere you go, be it at your favourite restaurant, or the market, you can't do a simple pirouette without someone asking you to buy some Chinese New Year cookies, or some Chinese New Year stuff.

Every Chinese New Year, us, unmarried people, get our pockets lined (for those who celebrate), and those married, sorry, more holes in your pockets. It's an expensive affair, YEARLY.

But, I suppose to some, it's time for the BIG reunion. Sadly, it doesn't happen in most families. An uncle of yours might be tied up at work in Singapore. Or maybe another stuck in the States and has no means of coming back.

According to the old Chinese traditions, it's supposed to be celebrated with big family gatherings, eating symbolic foods and display of decorations, and not to leave out fireworks... basically, to bring good luck to the year to come, and have fun with loved ones.

Isn't it sad that many are just not following that tradition anymore? I mean, to me, this is real. We only meet once in a blue moon, for certain relatives of mine. I've even met a cousin I've never met before in my 18 years of life while I was in Youthquake!

So, why is the world celebrating Chinese New Year these days? For an income? For money? Or for the joy of family reunions?

A Trip To Butterfly Farm Penang! :)

Went to Penang last Saturday. It was supposed to be a shopping trip for my sis, but it later turned out to be an educational trip. :D

Well, frankly, it was me who wanted to come to Penang Butterfly Farm. I wanted to find out whether they sold specimens of butterflies, so that I can use it for my Biology school project. Whether they sold it or not, I'll come to that part later. :P
Penang Butterfly Farm. It's privately owned I guess. Do you know how much it costs per person??? For a MALAYSIAN adult, it's RM 10 per person, and for a MALAYSIAN kid, it's RM 5. For tourist, they are charged at a different rate. They have to pay double the price, RM 20 per adult, and per kid... RM10.

Going in...

I think it's worth the money though. Where in Malaysia can you find a place where there are so many different butterflies so close to you? Even those rare ones can be seen roaming around in there!

These two butterlies don't wanna talk to each other. :D

One of the butterfies landed on my hand, and refused to take off, leaving my sister itching her hands also have one butterfly on her hand.
There are other things to see too... and not just butterflies. There is a turtle to see, loads of SCORPIONS and a museum of some artifacts that are unknown to me.
More pictures of butterflies.




There is gallery of already baked and preserved butterflies. I tell you, the collections are amazing! You can see different types of butterflies according to color, environment, place of origin, the name it. It's the prefect place for butterfly lovers!
Before saying goodbye.
And oh, they do sell butterfly specimens. But it all costs a bomb! Are you willing to spend between a range of RM 80 to RM 500 for a well-preserved butterfly? T

hey have a store especially for STUDENTS only, you can buy those specimens at a cheap rate of RM 5 to RM 30, but they are not well preserved, their wings are closed (the wings of the insects must be open for the Biology project). You can buy them, but you will have a tough time trying to open their wings as they are all hard and brittle already.

Anyways... going to Penang again later. :D

tao @ E-Gate, Penang. =D

tao! I had the chance to try it (after hearing my mother talk about it for such a LONG LONG time...)! =D My sister's birthday was last Thursday, and my father promised her to bring her to tao at E-Gate for a birthday treat. =)
My mother has been to tao (not this Tao though, the one in Juru), a couple of times already. She went with her friends, and said that the food in tao was not bad.

The ambiance...

Let me tell you how this restaurant works. First of all, it's an eat-all-you-want restaurant. You pay a flat rate, and you only have to pay extra if you want their shashimi (raw foods). And they serve Japanese food, mostly. But, the way of serving the food is a little different. Usually, in eat-all-you-want restaurants, the food is served buffet style, right? But not in tao, you have to order the food, and it will be served to you. Therefore, the food is fresher and piping hot, which is a plus point to customers! =D

To me, the pricing is a little more to the expensive side. It's about RM 50 per person. But, what do you expect... for good food, there is always a higher price to pay. :S But oh well... Let me introduce some of their dishes to you. =D

Unfortunately, I don't have this dish's name. But I can tell you what it is. It's small crabs and prawns fried. You eat it with shell and all. I don't really fancy it... But it was something new... NEXT!

E12 Mussel Spicy Mayo

MUSSELS! Eat this and you will grow muscles! (Joke! =D)This was nice! =D NEXT!

E11 Motomaki Cheese Mayo

This was super nice! It's a MUST try dish. We ordered this dish about 4 or 5 times. And on each dish, there is 9 of them. My sister ate about 10+ of them. =D And oh, btw, Motomaki are scallops! NEXT!
Unfortunately, I don't have the name of this dish... But my mother likes it though.

D4 Crab Meat with Cheese.

Nothing really spectacular about this dish. I couldn't really taste the crab meat and cheese, only the flour. NEXT!

I think the name of this dish is... lamb terriyaki. I can't recall, as it was my parents who called for this dish. But it was quite nice, one of the dishes that you MUST TRY! =D

J6 California Temaki.

This was so-so? I think the one in Kaede is much nicer... =) NEXT!

A1 Abalone.

This was so-so also? Abalone lovers can have a feast here! xD

Penang!

tao! =D I wanna go eat there again, sometime in the future. It's a place for the people with bottomless stomachs! When wanna go eat, must bring friends that can eat a LOT (so that we get our money's worth!)!=D