Ups & Downs of Year 2009

I reckon this will be my final post for the year 2009. This year has surely been a blast! I'm thankful to God on how the year has been & I am looking forward to a new year of hope & joy.

As I browse back on the food I've eaten, placed I've traveled, & the people who made this year an awesome one, all I can do is to just smile & thank God for all the blessings. Food, adventure, friendship - makes life so much more worth living!

"Good food eaten alone doesn't taste as good when we're with good friends, don't you agree?"

I had 117 blog posts for the year 2009 - PerutBesi Ruth sees it as an achievement despite her busy schedule :) For the year 2010, I plan to give the blog a slight uplift. It may not be the best in design, but I just wanna keep it simple, clean, & easy to read...await for that....hopefully I can get it out by the end of January 2010 cos I'll be working on a different shift for a period of time in January! *gah*


Some of the many lovely memories of 2009:

January
Langkawi trip with church friends, Meet up with close friends Fern & Mabes in JB, CNY with Aaron, Ling, & Theng at Italinnies & Dim Sum in DJ

February
Bloggers' gathering at Carlsberg, Trip to Ipoh with TRAC MYF, Jeff's farewell, Valentine's Day home-cooked dinner in Kuantan

March
BOYW Retreat at PD, Dad's birthday, Grandaunt's birthday, & Lunch with church friends at Wendy's

April
Korean lunch at Nak Won with Anne & her colleagues, Dinner with Aaron & my Kuantan family, Tong's farewell, & Home-cooked lunch at EB's

May
PJ Trinity's church camp at Fraser's Hill, Ondre-Ondru program, Birthday lunch with Aaron, EB, & Junie, & BBQ with colleagues at Kryslynn's

June
Dinner at Kuantan's Sendo No Ya, Food tasting at PJ Hilton's Genji, Dinner with high school friends at My Elephant in PJ, & Lunch at Delicious, Bangsar with Jacjac, Junie, & EB

July
Zen Star Chef Search, Haagan Dazs' new ice cream flavor launch, Lunch & casual interview with Kuantan's Hai Peng kopitiam's owner, & Dinner with uni friends at Do Rae Korean restaurant in Puchong

August
Floria Putrajaya '09, Trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Company dinner, & Colleague's birthday celebration

September
Dinner at Alexis before Jacjac left for UK, Trip to Singapore with mum, Dinner at Chilli's with Aaron & Aunty SC, & Bloggers' gathering for theQguides.com's launch

October
Special dinner with Aaron at Leornado's, Food tasting at Dubrovnik with bloggers, Home-cooked dinner at Jody's, & TRAC MYF's visitation to Penang Wesley & Penang Trinity

November
TRAC MYF's Visitation to JB Wesley, Lunch at 1Malaysia in Kuantan, Wedding dinner at The Westin, Trip to Kuching with Ling & Theng

December
Uni friend's wedding in Kuantan, YLDP 2009!, Lunch for 2 at Sherwood in Kuantan, & Aaron's cousin's wedding dinner in Kuantan

The year 2009 just ended so fast. There was much work done, a great collection of food tasting events & bloggers' gathering, trips to different states in Malaysia with TRAC MYF, family, & friends, & no doubt, quite a bit of weight gained as well!! *lol*

Of course there were some bad times throughout the year, but the many joyous occasions & events made the year a great one on the overall :) Truly all praise be to God for His blessings! I'm really thankful for the people whom I've met & whom I got to spend time with throughout the year 2009.

PerutBesi looks forward to a new year specially dedicated to her family & friends!

Happy New Year to all PerutBesi readers!!

- Ruth

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N.E.S.W. - West (Kuantan)

Dates: 13-15 November 2009, Friday - Sunday
Venue: Sherwood, Jalan Teluk Sisek, Kuantan
Occasion: Dinner with siblings
Overall comment: Sherwood is one of the finest places for western food in Kuantan. Prices of food at this place is no doubt higher than anywhere else in town, but it is worth paying the price for the food quality you get ;)
Halal: Yes

West refers to West Malaysia. Kuantan is located in the East Coast of West Malaysia, but I'm going to share this as one of my last few food posts for the year 2009. I've been somewhat too busy & unbothered to eat any good food. In fact, at times, I would even not bother eating properly! *sigh*

Do enjoy this post & if you're in Kuantan, this is one place that I will recommend & you'll not be disappointed with what you get :)

Lunch/Dinner at Sherwood, Kuantan

The interior of the restaurant
They sell meat, sausages, cheese, & imported items here. This is one of the very few places in Kuantan to get such goodies :)

Garlic Bread
Yums! Fragrant garlic butter on crispy oven-toasted baguette

Smoked Salmon Salad
Yeap, this was my dinner! I didn't want something too meaty or too heavy, so I thought a salad would be good...mana tau the salad came in such a large portion. I reckon the price speaks for itself...above RM20+ for this dish. Me likey except for the dressing, which I found over-powering; honey mustard dressing. The salmon was good!

Rosti!
Except for the slightly burnt top, this rosti rawks! :D Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside - oh, for the love of potatoes!

Mixed Grill with Black Pepper Sauce
Don't be fooled by the seemingly stingy serving. It's pretty filling! Loads of meat (chicken, beef, lamb) on the stick & you have potatoes, corn, & veggie to accompany the meat...how does that sound to you? Something healthy? ;)

Rib Eye Steak with Red Wine Sauce
The steak was not too bad, but sadly, the sauce wasn't "umph!" enough. I'll still give it a pass :)

Fettuccine Carbonara
I'm just enjoying this pasta thanks to the generous amount of mushrooms. Apart from that, I think this pasta isn't all that "wow".

Aaron & I went there another time last weekend, 27 December 2009. He was craving for some good western food, so it was no doubt Sherwood once more! :)

Mixed Fruit Juice (RM5.30/glass)

Cheese Salad with Italian Dressing (around RM5.90/serving)
We haven't had a cheese salad before, so this was interesting, though not very tasty. It's just slices of cheddar cheese with loads of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, & capsicums, drizzled with Italian dressing. I thought it wasn't the right dressing for such a salad, but we had a choice of Italian, French, Thousand Island, & Honey Mustard *shrugs*

Loin of Lamb with Mint Sauce (around RM38.00/serving)
I thought this was good :) Four pieces of nicely done lamb chops with appetizing mint sauce just fills the glum, rainy day with rainbows...hahaha...

Pizza Pepperoni (RM28.00/pizza)
Best pizza you will ever get in Kuantan! You MUST eat it while it's piping hot :D The crust was crispy & the toppings were generous! Just love the cheese, pepperoni & tomatoes covering the whole pizza *drools* The pizza could fit 3-4 people (if there are other dishes), but it fed the 2 of us to satisfactory!

Map to Sherwood, Kuantan

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If you happen to be in Kuantan, do try out this place :) I don't think you'll be disappointed....if you do, tell their chef! :D


Sherwood
No. A-19, Jalan Teluk Sisek
25000 Kuantan
Pahang Darul Makmur.
Tel: (+609) 566 3968
Website: Click here


Ratings:
Presentation: * * * *
Price: * * *
Environment: * * * *
Taste: * * * *
Service: * * * 1/2


Overall:

- Ruth

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N.E.S.W. - South (Johor Bahru, Day 2)

Date: 7 - 8 November 2009, Saturday & Sunday
Venue: Johor Bahru, Johor
Occasion: Visitation to the youths in JB Wesley

I've been MIA for weeks, almost a month! It's been a crazy time for me since the last time I blogged. The national youth camp, YLDP2009 has just ended last weekend & oh boy, it was great fun, yet very tiring! As the chairperson of the camp committee, I was pretty much "mandated" full responsibility of how the camp goes on the overall. It was a great lesson for me to delegate & work with the rest of the fantastic team that I had :) Kudos to all committee members, helpers, & speakers of YLDP2009! Truly, to God be the glory :) Amidst all the planning for the camp & also for the session that I was to speak in, I had my office work to tie me down...this was another mad chapter of life in November 2009 'til now.

Every night, my project member, CR & I will have to work overtime just to get more things done. The whole project is under-staffed :( Only 2 fellas working full time on preparing the data & all things for almost 100 testers who will be testing on the system come 4th January!! *faints* Total madness. I'm dead tired.

*****
Anyways, for the last part of this JB trip, I'll only share on a not-too-bad place for lunch - Sedap Corner @ Pelangi Mall. Yau Voon from JB Wesley & the MYFers took us, the TRAC MYF committee, out for lunch. It was good food & good fellowship :)

Prices of food at this place is reasonable (just like the usual cafe prices), starting from around RM6.90 for a bowl of noodles/plate of rice. The food tastes quite delicious as well, so it's actually worth eating here. Apparently, this outlet at Pelangi Mall is just a branch & the food at the original Sedap Corner (Jalan Abdul Samad) tastes better :) If you have a chance to try, do let me know what you think about that place!

Sedap Corner at Pelangi Mall

Left: Langkawi Sunset (RM5.00/glass) & Sri Bayu (RM5.00/glass)
Langkawi Sunset is a combination of passion fruit, strawberry, & soda, while the Sri Bayu is a mixture of blue lime, passion fruit & soda.

Gooey "blue lime" mixture
The soda drinks reminded me of McDonald's Sprite + Blue Syrup when they had some launch for the Finding Nemo series...nothing much to shout about :P

Sedap Chicken Plate
Deep fried chicken with rice & curry. If I'm not mistaken, this platter costs less than RM10 & the chicken tastes not too bad (although it was a lil dry for the breast meat) :)

Roti Jala (around RM7.90/set)
Three pieces of roti jala with a generous bowl of chicken curry. The aunty who ordered this said that it was good :D

Nasi Briyani (around RM10.90/set)
Spice-fragrant rice with chili chicken & pickles. Those who had this said that it wasn't too bad...

Tom Yam Noodles (RM7.90/bowl)
I thought this was just nice :) It wasn't too spicy 'til you can't feel your tongue, nor was it too sour 'til your stomach cramps....hahaha...you'll find some fish cakes, onions, chicken pieces, & tomatoes in the tom yam (prawns as well, if I can recall correctly) in the appetizing noodle soup!

Nasi Goreng Kampung + Ayam Goreng (around RM9.90/set)
Sam said the rice was really spicy...too spicy for her liking. The fried chicken was too dry as well...

Crunchy Rubies (around RM4.50/serving)
I think that's the name, or if not, it's something rubies la...hahahaa...the youths love this. It's a mixture of coconut milk & pink syrup jelly.

On the overall, it's pretty good. Ah...what a trip. The JB trip was actually my last trip with TRAC MYF *sobs* I've stepped down from my position as Vice President 1 already. The new committee is up & I'm very sure the year ahead will be a very exciting one!


Sedap Corner Plaza Pelangi
Lot 5.03, 5th Floor
Tel: (+607) 335 7614
Website: Click here


Ratings:
Presentation: * * * 1/2
Price: * * *
Environment: * * * 1/2
Taste: * * * 1/2
Service: * * * 1/2

Overall

- Ruth

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N.E.S.W. - South (Johor Bahru, Day 1)

Date: 7 - 8 November 2009, Saturday & Sunday
Venue: Johor Bahru, Johor
Occasion: Visitation to the youths in JB Wesley

It was a rather short trip to JB. Only CQ, James, Samantha, & myself made it for the visitation this time around. We haven't had the chance to visit the youths there, so it was one of the last opportunities we have as a committee to visit the youths. After this year, the committee will be dissolved & a new committee will be elected :) *fresh blood!*

We stayed at Uncle Victor's house & had a lovely time there. Though just a night, the hospitality that we received from the family was tremendous! I give it full star ratings for the 1-night stay! *applause* Oh, how I wish Mabel was there... it was be even more fun to have her around in her own house! *lol*

Uncle Victor & Jeremy took us to one of the best ikan bakar places in JB on the evening that we arrived. Yums! I had my share of chocolate-sauce ice kacang, piping hot barbecued stingray, deep fried baby crabs, & nasi briyani with beef & chicken rendang...oolala...we had SO much to eat! Very blessed.... :)

Make sure you try this place out when you're in JB! I don't have much to share in my JB blog posts, but I'm sure it will be of good information to you ;)

Gerai Yong Yong
This is the drink stall where we ordered our drinks. Friendly service & nice drinks too!

My Favourite Chocolate-Sauce Ice Kacang (around RM2.50-RM3.50/bowl)
One of the best things that you'll find in JB is this dessert. You'll rarely come across it elsewhere in Malaysia ;)

Chi Kung (around RM1.50 - RM2.00/bowl)
It's somewhat like the "lin chi kang", but with added "yellow beans", which are soft & sweet. Nice :)

The Ikan Bakar Stall
Recommended by Uncle Victor who frequents this place :) Their ikan bakar tastes somewhat different. I prefer this to the one we had in Penang!!

Delicious Barbecued Stingray (around RM18.00 depending on fish size)
The sauce is oh, so important. It enhances the taste of the grilled fish much, much more! Spicy, tangy, & slightly 'peanutish'... altogether delicious!

Deep Fried Baby Crabs
You rarely find this anywhere else. More often than not, you'll come across soft shell crabs. This dish is quite different from soft shell crabs. You have to try it at least once :) Me like! Crispy!

Fresh Variety of Fish & Seafood ready to be barbecued

The Baby Crabs - Sample

Sotong Kangkung/Cuttlefish with "Kangkung"
This one's okay. It's not the best, but it's certainly tasty :)

Taufu Bakar/Grilled Beancurd
Quite nice. It's just beancurd grilled 'til it's dry & crispy, then it's smothered with rojak sauce & crushed peanuts. Fragrant :)

Char Kuey Rojak
This one's interesting. They used the normal "Yau Char Kuai", grill it 'til dry & crispy, then cover it with the same rojak sauce & crushed peanuts. It's a nice snack.

Otak-Otak
Nothing beats Otak-Otak Muar, but this one is good nonetheless. I actually enjoyed it very much. It's just a 'lil bit small in size...hahaha... A guy will come by each table with a basket of warm otak-otak & you can order from him directly. It's from a nearby stall & this is their way of selling their otak-otak efficiently :)

Nasi Briyani (around RM6.50/plate with meat dish)
The rice was normal, but the beef & chicken rendang were good!

Acar that comes with the nasi briyani

Beef Rendang
Yummilicious!

Map to the Ikan Bakar place in Jalan Mohd Amin, JB

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Don't know where to head next? Try heading to JB for some food hunting lah ;)


Ratings:
Presentation: * * *
Price: * * *
Environment: * * *
Taste: * * * 1/2
Service: * * * 1/2


Overall:

- Ruth

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