Sesame Restaurant in G Hotel

As promised in my earlier post, it is now time to review the food that we had at Sesame restaurant. Actually there are 2 restaurants even though there is only one entrance. When you first walked in, the restaurant is known as Soy. You need to walked to the end of the Soy restaurant, and you will see a new area and that is where Sesame is located.

From the Sesame's menu, it is mainly chinese food ala-carte. You need to flip to the end of the menu to go to the set. Of course, the more you flip, the more expensive the set is. The cheapest set is RM68++ per person for 5 course meal. The rest of the set is 6 course meal and the cost range from RM88++ to RM128++ per person. The naming of the set is quite funny though. It is called "Sesame's Tasting Menu". It really gives the impressions that we're doing food tasting for wedding dinner selection :P

Both of us opt for the 6 course meal. But we were so busy eating and talking that I forgotten to take photo on some of the food. Anyway, lets start with the appetizers.

Both appetizers came with 2 items. I ordered Sichuan Chilled Smoked Duck and it came with jelly fish stuffed with tuna mayo, served in japanese cucumber ring.

My hubby ordered Nutmeg Mayo Prawns with seasonal fruit salad and crispy rolls with sesame and tomato salsa. The naming is very long, but we liked the presentation and the taste. Very unique.

Next is the soup. Basically both of us ordered shark fin soup but there are some slight difference in the side ingredients. I personally feels like it still tastes like the normal shark fin soup that we had at expensive chinese restaurants.

OK, I forgot to take photo of the next meal :(, so we'll skip that (psst... mine is baby lobster and it is very nice). Following that is fish. I had grilled cod fish while my hubby had baked tuna. Nothing to shout about for my fish but it is really fresh. My hubby liked his tuna alot because it is cooked the same way as chinese herbal chicken wrapped in tin foil. Since its fish, the meat is juicier. Yum yum...

Again I forgot to take photo (ahhhhh). If I can recall correctly, I think it's rice. Finally it is time for desert. Well, I think it is just a simple desert nicely presented. I ordered green tea tiramisu and it really goes down well with the rest of the food that we had earlier. Not too sweet, just nice. My hubby had Gula Melaka Crème Brulee, but he does not have much comment on this, so I can't really says anything about this.

In summary, the ambience is really nice and the food is great. The waiters and waitresses are very friendly and helpful as well. It is a sure recommendation.

Romantic Evening with Hubby

Since my hubby is such a good dear for buying sooooooo many gifts for me from his recent trip (besides being a good and caring husband), I wanted to treat him to a nice romantic dinner for our wedding anniversary. So, with my sister's help and contact, we booked for dinner at Sesame restaurant at G hotel. Plans were made with the hotel coordinator on the table decorations, menus and a surprise for my hubby ;)

Finally the day came, and I went home earlier from work to get my hair done first (I'm bad at blow-drying my own hair). We left home about 7.15pm but only reached the hotel at 8.10pm due to the bad jam. Both of us were very hungry then.

I mentioned my name when reached the restaurant, and the waiting lady brought us to our table. On the way to our table, few waiters were standing in line and wished us happy anniversary. My husband were already surprised then. Our table were nicely decorated with some rose petals and marble stones neatly arranged on the table. There were a greeting card from the hotel in the middle of the table wishing us happy anniversary as well.

My hubby excuse himself to the restroom first. When he came back, a waiter brought a bouquet of flowers to him. To my surprise, my husband then presented the flowers to me and wished me happy anniversary. It seems that he had arranged for the flowers to be sent to the restaurant earlier as a surprise for me. But how did he knew which place we are going, since I never told him at all until the time we left our house for dinner. Later that night, I found out that he and my sister had been talking to each other as well. Ahh, the little devil... she ended up becoming the middle person for both of our surprises :p

The food is very nice and well presented. My hubby likes their creativity in making and presenting the food. From the menu, it looks like the normal chinese 8-course meal that we usually eat during wedding dinners. But when the food came, my-oh-my, it just got you thinking you're eating some western fine-dining food. Anyway, I'll do a separate post on the food later.

The waiter then brought over my surprise to my husband. It was a blueberry cheesecake, with 4 candles marking our 4th anniversary. We then blew the candles and cut the cake together. But we asked the waiter to pack the whole cake back instead of eating it there, since it is quite late and we still need to pick William up from my mother's place. Back home, I surprised my hubby again with another present. He really had a very big grin on his face that night, and I really enjoyed our evening together :)

Front and Back

These past two weeks is a bad week for my car. It had two minor accidents, and both was when my car in a standstill. These two drivers that banged my car are sure "some" drivers.

First accident:
Happenned at Bkt Gambir slope traffic light (many accidents had happenned there). I was on my way to my mother's place during weekend and William is sitting at the back. We're going uphill and the traffic light went red. I stopped behind one Proton Saga. Then I notice the car is reversing down toward my car. I honked non-stop, but the car still coming down and it hit my car. When the traffic is green, we stopped by the road side. The guy driver came down from his car, and asked me "got hit your car meh?". I was so angry and scolded him. If never hit my car, you think I'm so free to stop by the road side and talked to you ah... Then the guy says sorry and explained that he did not notice his handbrake was not pulled up properly. After some careful check, there's some slight scratches on my car bumper which is not very noticable. I let the guy go after he apologize few more times, plus William is starting to cry for me inside the car.

Second accident:
Happenned yesterday evening on my way back from work, on road alongside Crystal Point going towards the big roundabout. It was the usual jam, all car stopped and suddenly the Toyota Vios behind my car banged my back bumper. I was thinking "damn suei". The driver (girl this time) came down and apologized. My license plate is a gone case. In the end, she gave me RM20 to compensate for the license plate.

Hopefully the second accident will be the last accident.

What a Girl Want?

My hubby is currently on business trip to US. Well, Colorado Spring to be exact. Lots of people to came to know about this, kept saying "wah! he went at a very good time". Reasons being it's the sales season. Few sales are ongoing continuously, Black Friday sales, Thanksgiving sales, Christmas sales... Furthermore, his convoy purposely made the trip so that they had at least 3 days free over there to do shopping!

Before he went over, I told him no need to buy so many things back. Just buy one nice top for me and some baby clothes for William will do. The conversion rate is not that cheap. But then... he had shown thru video-call that he had bought lots of things for me. He said that the sales there are gila-gila, and super cheap. Discounts on top of discounts. Each time on the video-call with him, I kept telling him "don't buy already, it's more than enough and do not overspent". But in my heart, I was soooooo excited. Can't wait for him to come back next week to get hold of all the things he bought for me. I guess this again proofs that what a girl says and think are totally different thing.

Mini Lokap

I would say my William is such a free baby, able to roam around the house but at the expense of our freedom. We need to keep a lookout at where he's going, what he's holding and what he's throwing. My husband is trying to teach him the meaning of the word 'No' and 'Cannot' but with little success at this moment. Our baby will just look at you, smile and turn back to do whatever he wanted to do.

So we ended up introducing a mini lokap for William. Whenever we warned him not to do, and he still do it, he'll end up inside his play pen aka toys treasure. He seems to develop some anxiety over his play pen, cos sometimes when I carry him and walked near the play pen, he would just cry out. But when he's in a good mood, he can stay inside there playing nicely and will just call out for us when he's bored afterward.

Play with Mr Pooh first

Let me out, or I'll throw more things on the floor

Let me out!!

What is Pete?

Do you know who Pete is? Well, he's a Disney character that is always the bad guy or some would say, enemy of Mickey Mouse. All these while I never bothered what Pete is, and thought that he's a black bear or dog or something. The rest of Disney characters are easy to identify, eg:
Mickey & Minnie = mouse
Donald & Daisy = duck
Goofy = dog
Clarabelle = Cow

My hubby & I were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse shown from Astro Playhouse Disney Channel with William last night when my husband suddenly says, "Pete is a cat!". I was surprised by his sudden remark, and questioned him why he says that. He replied "You see ah, the rest of Mickey's friends are animals that had no problem with mouse, but Pete always have problem with Mickey. Same like cat and mouse. And checkout his ear... is a cat's ear!". Then I said "sure or not....". Few moments later, Daisy Duck in the show says "oohh... that fat cat!". Well, I guess that mystery is solved....

Now, some other things puzzles me as well when I think about:
1. why goofy can talk but pluto can't? both of them are dogs
2. why the rest can talk in proper tone, but donald has very strong duck "accent"?

He's Finally One

My baby boy is now finally one years old. This also means that I've breastfeed him for one year already. Haha... now I can claim for a Master cert in breastfeeding :)

Dunno why soooo many people today...

Although he's already one, he still only has 2 front teeth at the lower gum. The rest are still not popping out yet. In fact, we did held a small birthday celebration for him last friday night, and though he seems to be clueless about what's happening most of the time, he smiles happily when everyone sings birthday song to him. His biggest breakthrough on that day was able to climb the stairs all the way up to first floor by himself. But it has been a problem to us as now he's wanting to climb up every single minute he's downstairs... sigh...

The angpow is mine!!!!

William's first birthday cake

Ok, time for milestones:
1. eating rice now, but mostly giving him soft and easy to chew food (he has only 2 teeth!)
2. able to walk few steps without holding on to anything
3. crying out loud when people do not give him what he wanted (fake cry as do not see any tears coming out :P)
4. clapping both hands, wave bye-bye and blow goodbye kiss
5. shake his head and body crazily when asking him to dance
6. take something and put on his ear when hearing people say "hello, hello"
7. asking people for food by saying "zzzzha-zha". Not sure why he is not saying "mum-mum"
8. pull your hands towards his armpit whenever he wanted you to carry him
9. mimicking car sound when playing with cars
and ofcourse, not forgetting his latest achievement....
10. climbing up stairs

Wheee.... almost up

Little Bean Sterilizer

People will say I'm crazy for buying this, since my baby is already almost a year old and I had been boiling bottles to sterilize it since my baby were born. I actually don't mind boiling the bottles everyday, but my hubby says it took so much time to do this as I used actually quite a lot of bottles per day. The pot is not big enough and that I need to do the boiling process at least 2 times. There was one time I almost forgot about the boiling process, that the water in the pot almost dried up. In the end, he took me to go shopping for bottle sterilizer last weekend and we ended buying Little Bean sterilizer and warmer.

It is the cheapest brand that we saw at Jusco. Brands like Avent and Little Pigeon are soooooooooo expensive. This only cost RM149.90, and it is able to operate as sterilizer, bottle warmer, food warmer and juice maker. I think juice maker is just a gimmick :P

Anyway, when we opened the box at home, there were no instruction manuals at all. We need to rely on the picture at the box to know which parts is used for which purposes. A quick search on the Internet helped us to understand the product better. Amazingly, it actually never shipped with manuals and many people complained bout this on the Net.

I've used it couple of times and dear me, it does saves lots of time. It can fit the number of bottles which I used per day (haha, I put in more than what is wrote on the box :P). Just put in some water on the warmer, on the power, press sterilize option and that's it. Furthermore it auto shut down when done. Ahhh... how convenient. But now I do not have much excuses to complain no time to my hubby already :P

Mommy Wang @ Queensbay

This place mostly serve Taiwanese style food and so far I've visited the place 2 times. The taste is acceptable. My main complain would be their misleading menu as it had already tricked me on both of my trips.

In my first trip, I ordered milk tea and from the picture (with the same ref# as the item in the menu), it has pearl in it. I also asked the waiter whether the pearl is included as shown in the picture, he replied "yes". But when my drink came, it was without pearl. So when I queried the waiter (it was delivered by someone else instead of the one who had taken our order), the waiter replied that he is not sure and need to check with their boss. At the end, the waiter who had taken our order came to apologized, saying that he is new and did not know that pearl is not included. We'll need to pay additional if wish to add some pearl into the drink.

As for the second trip, I ordered noodle with braised pork. However, when my order came, the quantity that i got is a lot less than what is shown in the menu. Another disappointment.

Item shown with 3 big piece of pork and generous portion of sausages

The end result

Tsuruya at Times Square

Oh my!! I just heard the news. Tsuruya Restaurant at Times Square had closed down. Guess must have been due to high rental and little crowd and customers. The management at Times Square better think of ways to increase more crowd.

Mushroom Fantasy

This picture was taken when I was walking back to office from Queensbay Mall after having lunch there. It sure trigger some fond memories of my childhood. When I was very small, I was always excited whenever I see any mushroom sprouting from the ground after rainy days. I guess it was because of my wild imagination as a kid thinking that we're able to see little fairies dancing around mushroom. All thanks to the cartoons shown on TV.

Max Gourmet @ Bayan Bay

This place is always pack during lunch time. In my recent trip over, I've ordered their version of Malaysia Nasi Lemak with Curry Chicken. I've forgotten how much is cost though. It came in large plastic plate with few compartments, and it just reminded me of eating at canteen. The rice is ALOT and though I managed to finish it all, I am extremely full.

The curry was abit too salty to my liking. But they sure not stingy with the meats and potatoes :)

Tsuruya @ I-Avenue

After many years of eating japanese food, I am now able to enjoy eating cold japanese noodle. I remembered the very first time I had it in one of the restaurant at Georgetown more than 10 years ago and it was a very bad experience for me. In fact it was my very first japanese food and I just couldn't accept eating cold food unless it was a desert. I almost throw up eating it. It is definately a no-no for first timer.

Piri Kara Chicken Set - RM 17

Since I already loved sashimi, I was thinking why not give cold noodle another chance. My second try at cold noodle was at Tsuruya located in Penang Times Square early this year, and to my surprise, I liked it very much.

Chicken Teriyaki & Horenso Set - RM24, however changed the spinach (horenso) to black fungus with egg (tamago kikurage) as per our request

This is my third trip to Tsuruya restaurant located in I-Avenue, apart from one time earlier this year at Times Square. I actually preferred this restaurant compared to any japanese restaurant located in Queensbay Mall, but ended up frequent Azuma more due to its location.

Though both Tsuruya restaurant (I-Avenue and Penang Times Square) is owned by the same person, the menus are slightly different. In fact, the set lunch in Times Square is cheaper than those availble in I-Avenue. My colleague had a member card so we enjoyed a 10% discount from the total bill. I'm not sure how to apply for member card though (never bothered to ask since she's always with us whenever we ate there :P).

Tenzaru Soba - RM18

We requested some change to the dishes from the sets and the people there are nice enough to accomodate to our needs. I ordered tenzaru soba which ofcourse, cold noodle that came with tempura which costs RM18. I also wanted to have some sashimi, but the available ala-carte are just too big, so I requested them to provide the one that came from set lunch, minus the rest of the stuff (rice, miso soup and fruits) and they gladly attended to my request (charged Rm25 for my sashimi but the set would cost RM30).

Customized Sashimi - RM25

Now, if only they would open another at Queensbay Mall...

OXO Restaurant

A group of visitors came to our office for training recently and we took them to have lunch at OXO restaurant, just opposite our office block. The restaurant had opened quite sometime but I never went there to eat before. Each time I wanted to go, my lunch partners will say it is not nice or there is nothing special (they've went there before).

When I walked into the restaurant, the environment is very warm and cosy. It has a very nice ambience and furnishing. In fact, the owner of the restaurant is the same guy that operates Macedoine (previously in Queensbay north zone but had closed down). From the menu, the choice of food are more and the price had increased as well. I guess that's the downside of people upgrading to bigger restaurant, able to handle more crowd and orders, but price will be higher to cater for more workers and operation costs.

I ordered a lunch set that comes with either soup or salad, main course, desert and coffee or tea. It has many choices for main course, and I've selected the one that consists of chicken, lamb and seasoned baby octapus. The portion is bigger compared to previously in Macedoine (I was never full whenever I ate there), but I would feel it is still not enough for big eater. However, the main course is a bit disappointment. The chicken was not tender and the lamb was overcooked. In fact, the only thing that is nice is the garnishing. However, those that ordered other main courses such shrimp and chicken says that it is nice.

In all, I think I would probably revisit the place again for casual meetup thanks to its cosy environment, but it will not be my first choice.

Desert of cake & biscuit

What Happened to My Post?

I clearly remembered that I had posted my review on Blood+ and Full Metal Alchemist anime here before, but now these posts are no where to be found. What happened? I surely don't remember ever deleting them.

Operation Change Carpet

Our office had changed carpet recently where everyone came back on Saturday to help move things about to make space for carpet laying. Besides changing carpet, we also changed new blinds in certain room, and re-use the old blinds in other rooms that previously without any. Here we also took the change to re-org some of the furnishing. Major change?? My new mini room.

Breastfeeding Certification

Finally got the chance to post a photo of my certificate that I got during the World Breastfeeding Week at USM recently. Have not put in our names yet though. Now if only we have certs for our normal life achievements...

Company Trip to Pulau Jerejak

Last year, our company promised of a company trip "over the sea". This year they fullfills it by going to Jerejak Island (in a way it is still over the sea with the ferry trip). Though my office is only a stonethrow away from Pulau Jerejak, I had never touch foot there before. Most of the people went there will say "it's boring", "nothing much to do", "the food is bad" etc. So when my company decided to go there as a company trip this year, those who knew about it says "aiyah, go other place also better lah... waste money and time only...". So for most of us that is from Penang branch, we never really got excited about the trip.

Finally the day came, 2 days trip from 15th August 2009 till 16th August 2009. The first day itself is very sunny and hot. A bus fetch those flew from JB and KL to the Jerejak jetty from the Penang airport while those from Penang drove and parked our cars there. Everyone met up and took the 11.30am ferry over to Jerejak island. Surprisingly, I had a very good time there. The trip is not as tiring and rushed compared to last year, we had ample time to relax and do some free strolling around the resort. The games that we had were short and sweet. We also had funs from dancing and singing.

The trip so close to Penang island is a blessing as well as I get to go back at night to be with my baby, while the rest stayed overnight at the resort. I went back to the resort the next early morning, and though I'm alone, the ferry trip was even more pleasant with its cool fresh air and wonderful scenary. As the headcount going to the resort is small, we took a small boat instead which I liked a lot (windy and faster :P).

At the end of the day, most of the staff requested to go Bali next year. Let's see what the management can do about it.

William Photoshoot

Here's William first photoshoot done at our home using DSLR camera (not sure bout the brand though). Lots of thanks to Hugo and Wendy for taking these photos. I'm quite happy with the result, very much better compared to the ones I took using P&S, but the photographer is abit dissatisfied. Haha... perhaps that's the difference between photograher enthusiast and none like me. In all, I feel it is still very good in his first attempt. My hubby also impressed with the quality of the photo taken and is considering to buy a DSLR as well. Hey, think u got so much $$ ah??