Saturday 30 June 2007

Vampy's Favorite Cheesecake....


Nothing melts better than a rich, creamy and deliciously mouthwatering cheesecake, don’t you agree? Well, of course that is solely my own personal preference towards cheesecake. Of course there are people out there (I called em;’ “outcast”) who dislike anything with cheese. The thought of cheesecake just freaks them out! I have a friend who couldn’t care more for cheese/milk. The sight and smell or even the tiny thought of it made her puke! Yes it is that extreme…… Imagine, it took her years to finally bought her first yoghurt, and that my friend is not even the pure yoghurt. It’s more like a drink with thousand of other “mixes” that lessen the milky taste. No matter how I beg or tempt her to the ‘dark side’, she just wouldn’t budge!

To those Extreme Cheese-hater, I gave up trying to convince you. But, to those who are open, you have to try this cheesecake found in Singapore called N.Y. D.C For cheesecake lover, this is a must and not a “to-be-missed” events in your calendar! Some of my friends even labeled me as an obsessive-compulsive N.Y.D.C lover! Every time, one of them makes a trip down to Singapore, I would pester and remind them to eat the cheesecake there. They even made a joke of sending the entire cheesecake by courier….Hahaha…But, hey I don’t mind as long as it still tastes good right?

I will guarantee you that once you try this soft, and creamy cheesecake, you will never look back and will crave for more and more….. It’s like an addiction that is hard to kick off. And the next time you sit down at the Secret Recipe (no offense), I can bet you would compare the taste of it! You might ask, do they pay me to promote so strongly for them? Well, hell no I don’t get a single cent, nadah… zip!I just want to share with you my great experience there. Besides, it’s a cool place to hang out as the ambience is suitable to have our daily gossips/group meetings and tea-breaks. It’s sort of like a fusion of Chilli’s and Starbucks environment. Yes, they do serve great western food like their pasta, pizzas and burgers. Oh and for non-cheesecake lover, you are in luck, cos’ they do have other desserts. And the “killer” dessert I would recommend is their heart-melting Mudpies top with ice-cream.

Yummy…however, I must admit that best brownies & mudpies I have tasted so far are actually at the very heart of KL itself. It is non other that our Chilli’s “Molten Chocolate”,T.G.I Fridays “Mudpies” and last but not least Outback Steakhouse “Chocolate Thunder From Down Under” (made our of pecan brownie topped with rich vanilla ice-cream and hot homemade chocolate sauce, whipped cream and chocolate shavings.) . Many of you might not hear of the Outback Steakhouse’s dessert… but I could assure you that once you tried it, you will definitely call for 2nd serving!

Of course my love for Chilli’s “Molten Chocolate” cake is always my first choice! I would go to the extend of pretending to be either my birthday/ my friend’s birthday just to get a free cake! (Girls and boys, please do not try this at home…. Hahahaha… ) Who can say no to this? Well, as the saying goes, “we always have a little room for dessert ain’t it?” Well, this statement probably applies to most of the women. Men can do with and without this god-forbidden dessert! They rather indulge in their beers! Let’s just put it this way, women have sweeter tooth than the men. That’s why we are sweeter and nicer. Ha! Oh oh, better stop my “sexist” comment now cos’ I have a bunch of male counterparts who is reading this right at this moment and will probably go on strike!


Monday 25 June 2007

FRIM Green Day Festival-17th June 2007

It has been a week since they last published on the Star newspaper about the “Green Day Festival” at FRIM celebrating the world environment day on June 17, 2007. “Tsk Tsk” to those who are not aware of this and “Kudos” to those who care and loves our environment. It has been awhile since I rough it out in the jungle or even going up the mountain that I love. So, when I read about the Green Day Festival in which they promised loads of activities, fun games and tons of food, I got so excited and dragged my friends along.

Sounds cool right? It was cool if we didn’t party the day before..... till 2am that is! We had to dragged ourself from the comfy bed and get our butt to FRIM by 8am! Can you believe it? They published events like the “5km Forest Run” and “Canopy Walk” (in which each individual need to pay like RM5.00 per event). The person, who did the registration for me, told me I need to be there by 8AM cos the race will start at 8.30am! So obviously, we had to wake up at 7am to be ready. Boy, i had such difficulty of opening my eyes.....even though the alarm was ringing non-stop. There was even a slight moment that I thought of forgetting the whole thing and continue my sleep. Let's not forget the night before was also raining... so can you imagine how hard it was? Now I understand why bears choose to hibernate during the winter .....cos i would too!

Anyway, I arrived around 8.20am and there was a slight jam. I had to parked all the way to the outside and walked in for another 15 minutes. For a minute there I thought I made a mistake on the date cos there was no proper signage or a hint of any festival going on. It was just like any other normal days that you see people walking up and down. Anyway, when I finally saw a “mini” signboard pointing us towards the event, I breathe a sigh of relief! So, I fastened my pace and went to the area where it said “Registration”. I went over there and asked those volunteers to participate in both the run and canopy walk. And to my surprise, they told me registration is close cos I was late. The time marked 9am (Our normal Malaysian time) in which we were suppose to be there by 8am. They said the run was going to start soon and was only limited to 100 participants for both the run and canopy walk. I looked over to where the run was suppose to start and counted around 40++ participants only. Then I told them I called and registered earlier and fight my way through! It was either my strong debating skill or they were just plain “tidak apa” attitude that got us our ticket for both events. They gave us a yellow band to wear that looks like this. (Yeah I know it look a bit ‘cheapo’).


Anyway, I proudly slid through my wrist and was ready to join the run. Then I heard a loud horn. And Voila! the race was on and everyone started to run like a bunch of mad cows. And when I did joined them eventually (Had no energy to run, so I just did my power walk), all the participants who was running for their life just now…..was now seen walking and chit-chatting among their “cliques”. I guess it was too stupid to run cos it was going up the slope and into a muddy jungle full of rocks and tree branches. It would be stupid enough to run in such condition. So, then it makes you wonder why they even bother calling the event as a “Forest Run” in which it should be a Forest walk”? Don’t they know that with this kind condition, it is difficult to run? Who is going to pay for our medical bills if we trip or just roll over each other? Does the RM5 cover it? Hmmmm…

Another funny thing that I noticed was that there were other people who walked along trail with us without the yellow band! There were also people coming on the opposite of the jungle as well, and without the band! So, it made me wonder why I paid the RM5 and even begged the volunteers to let me participate in the event, when clearly you can still join in without paying! But then I thought to myself that my RM10(for both events) is going to a good use....contributing to whatever environment it is meant for(Hopefully)

Then after the run, I finally went for the canopy walk. Yes, I have never been to a canopy walk in my life and this was one thing that I most look forward to! Did I tell you that I’m afraid of height but it was sort of a personal challenge to me if I get through it (plus getting to see the nature from above). However, getting up the canopy walk was no easy ride either cos you gotta’ trek all the way up like going up the Batu Caves stairways! It was a solid 20 minutes trek up and boy, was it a good workout.So I would recommend to anyone who wants to build their stamina to run up and down every weekend on this trail. HAhaha…


Anyway, when I finally got to the planks hanging above the grounds, the scenery was breathe taking. The air was fresh, birds were chirping and the monkeys were "mating" (i heard extremely loud mating sound so they must be "ahemmmm"). You could just stop the time and not think of your life back in K.L. It was kinda therapeutic and relaxing in which I would say better than yoga. However, my excitement turned to disappointment as the walk was really short. Also, I found out that there was another group of family who were able to walk on these planks for FREE.......Again without paying the RM5.00! They managed to talked their way through acting innocent and pleading. Hmmmm…I should have used this excuse earlier and I would have save my RM10.00. NO, I have to be noble and save the environment, so it was for a good cause!

Sunday 24 June 2007

Vampy's PIzza Hut Experience!

Today I had my experience of doing a take-away from Pizza Hut after a long long time. The last time I did my take away from Pizza Hut was back at my high school days. I still remember their famous “delivery songs” –7552525, which surprisingly is still stuck in my head. But after Dominoes and the rest of the Pizza parlor like 2 in 1 Canadian Pizza came into the picture, I sort of have other options of not eating Pizza Hut.

I used to remember dialing their number and waiting for the delivery. At the sound of my doorbell, I would rush out like a sprinter to greet the delivery man. I couldn’t wait to pay him and bite into the hot delicious pizza. I also remember opening the brown pizza box and the aroma was so tantalizing and alluring. As if it was alive and could speak to me, “Eat me Eat me!”. Oh and how I remember me and my sis would gather around the table like small children waiting for their Christmas present to be opened. Hahaaha… it’s no joke cos that was truly how we felt about Pizza Hut back then.

However, one of the thing that made me stop calling for their delivery was their timing. They were always late and made you wait for an hour to get your pizza! By then you probably would have die of hunger. Before Dominoes took Malaysia by storm with their tagline of 30min delivery, Pizza hut used to take their own sweet time to get the pizzas to us. It was really a nuisance having to your stomach grumbling on this side and your pizza is still miles away from you! After awhile, you wouldn’t even think of calling them to deliver cos it’ll be faster for you to walk to the nearest outlet and get your pizza!

Anyway, today I had a chance to pay my visit to Pizza Hut again at Sri Petaling ( I was actually forced by my business partners cos they simply had a sudden cravings for pizza!.) And so I have no choice but to obliged to their demands and took a detoured. The moment I stepped into the outlet I was greeted by friendly staff at the takeaway counter. As I only had like RM25 in my wallet I can’t afford any pizza that cost more than that. As I was browsing through the menu and Eureka, I found a page that states RM17.50 for value meal. Unfortunately when the waiter told me that it was a promotion deal and only valid till 2.30pm, I was so disappointed. I then asked him whether he has any pizza that cost around RM20 and he flipped to the other page to me, pointing out the regular pan pizza priced at RM 24.00. It was obviously out of my budget so I asked again for any pizza that is less than RM 20.00( how very embarrassing…) I could have swear I caught a glimpse of him looking at me in a funny way…. He finally flipped to the other page and pointed out a value meal that cost only RM 21.40! “Comprende!” I would say…It comprise of 2 cokes, a basket of bread sticks, a salad and 1 regular pan pizza.


It puzzled me though as the value meal seems to be cheaper than just now what he pointed to me which cost RM24.00 for just one regular pizza. When I questioned him on this, he was stunned and didn’t know what to answer me. He took the easy way out and said he “don’t know” (our typical Malaysian answers) and said,” Whatever is printed there is there.” His answer blew me away. How can you not know what you are selling? Luckily his supervisor passed by and I asked him the same question. His supervisor was smart enough to answer me that the RM24.00 pizza is for 2 regular pizzas whereas the RM21.00 only has 1 regular pizza plus all the side orders. “Ohhh “ was my answer to him and I asked him why his staff couldn’t answer me this and he just shrugged and smile. Hmmm… and it makes you wonder how good of product training we give to our Malaysian’s workers. It is such a simple question about their products and they can’t even answer it.

I was then asked to wait for my pizza for 15 minutes (Please note, 15 MIN) and I ended up waiting for my pizza for 45 minutes! I was standing at the counter the whole 45 minutes observing what was going on in the kitchen with my pizza and others as well. First, there was confusion between the cook and the waiter in the order. They seem to mix up some delivery orders and apparently repeated a pizza that has already been delivered. Second, the pizza that came from the oven was bloated like a balloon. It looked really horrendous! The same guy who took my rejected it ordered him to make a new one. Imagine if he had not stopped the order, the cook was about to pack it in the box and deliver to the “unfortunate” ones.

However, one should not start opening a bottle of champagne and start celebrating his intelligence as the next pizza that came out from the oven was bloated too. To my surprise, he just packed it into the box and into the delivery bag! Hmmm…so guys and girls who is ordering Pizza Hut, you now know why your pizza looks horrible. Third scenario that I observed that got my pizza delayed was the movement of the kitchen staff was extremely slow. I felt as if I was trapped in one of the “John Woo’s” movies where the people are walking in slow-motion. The way they search for ingredients, the way they spread the ingredients on the dough and putting it in the oven was so slow that I swear I could do just strangle them upside down! The supervisor was no where to be seen.

Finally, when I got my pizza, this was how it looks like…. Comments anyone? D

The Humble Me

Hi my online name is better known as Vampynyam. Why Vampynyam you may ask? It’s such a weird name right? Well, vampy for me stands for vampire. Yes, I fell in love and obsessed with Anne Rice’s vampire books. I fantasized of living an eternal life like "Lestat" . And the best part is of course not having to get myself a botox or a facelift! And Nyam is of course my family's name. Yup, I have one of a kind family’s name. And i'm proud of it cos it makes me feel unique. HAhaha...

Each time I meet someone new, the first thing that pops up in their mouth is ,” Wow, what a unique surname you have there!” or “This is the first time I ever heard people having such surname”. So my usual reply to them is “Oh really?” “Do you know that there’s a local junk food also called Nyam Nyam. And then I would go on explaining to them that this is actually not my real surname name. My actual family name is NGIAM but somehow our Malaysian immigration department accidentally changed our family name to NYAM.

Anyway, to cut the story short, if you ever find another NGIAM, he or she is probably a Hainanese. You can never (and i quote and unquote confidently the word "NEVER") a HOkkien, Hakka Or Cantonese carrying this kind of surname. The usual one is always like “Tan”, “Wong”, “Chan”. Hahaha…I’m not being discriminative but look around your friends, how many “Ngiam” do you find. Probably none right? So, now that you know the probability, the next round you come across someone with the same surname just be sure to ask whether he/she is a "Hainanese!" . Hmmm...in that case, I should not be ashamed of my Chinese name rather than changing it and start convincing our friends to call us by our new "name". So it sometimes make you wonder, why we are trying so hard to have a cool English name rather than being proud of our given name. Is our given name really that bad / "uncool" cos' we think that by having an English name, we are above those who calls himself "Ah Boon?"

I guess you guys must be bored reading me going on and on about my family's name so I shall just cut the crap and go straight to the point of why I started this blog. Frankly, this was not my first blog. I did a blog a year ago on fitness (yes, I’m a fitness and health freak! Have to admit that cos my friends always tease me on my protein shake and the no “oil” rule). Unfortunately, it did not even last a week. Call it just plain lazy cos it's not easy to maintain a blog. So bravo to those bloggers who lasted for so long!

The reason I started the fitness blog is to share my experience in my workout and food guide but then without a digital camera, it is bit difficult for people to imagine how a proper workout should be! So, i just threw in the towel... However, lately I just had the rush of starting a blog again due to a friend of mine who wanted to become a famous blogger, (You can check out his site at "Shaky Fish") He insisted me to put it here. Hahahaah). He started his blog and got his group of "followings". I was excited and surprised that there are actual people who do spend time to read about other people's stories! So, just few days ago (10th June 2007-just in case I ever forget this date. ) , it hit me that I should start my own blog too! I want to talk about my own travel experience and food that I love and hate most as well as favorite low-fat cooking recipes.

You can say I am indirectly promoting the restaurants/places without getting paid a single cent. But hey who cares, I just want to share with everyone where to get the best steaks or the best cheesecake other than Secret Recipe (No offense to the fans of Secret Recipe, but if you are a true cheesecake lover, you seriously should consider other options!). Also, I guess writing a blog is kinda “therapeutic” like writing your own personal journal.

Ever since our humanoids have moved into a technology savvy society, blog is “reinvention” of the traditional diary writing. The difference is that diary is only read by the the person who wrote it. Blog is for thousands or even millions of readers around the world. So you could say that it’s no longer a private matters that only the writer know or even get upset when their sisters or brother read on the so called “forbidden” secrets!

So there you have it a little summary of my humble self. I have lots more to say but just in case you fell asleep half way, I had no choice but to cut it short! So, if you are interested in what I write just read my other upcoming articles.