Road Warrior – I am NOT

26 Monday Nov 2012

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It’s been a tiring 2 months plus of almost back to back traveling. Flying in and flying out. Packing and unpacking (Lucky I have enough clothes to go around without doing any laundry for 4 weeks!!!). From Cold winter to Hot tropical. From posh 5 stars to budget hotels…

I am all burnt out by last weekend when I finally touch down in KL. My traveling schedule has come to an end. Perhaps that is why, my body has finally allow itself to feel the full blown fatigue and exhaustion.

Most people always thinks that road warriors / jet setter leads such glamorous and lucky life. Perhaps they do. But, this is not without a price. Many will lose their health because of the hectic lifestyle, combine with crazy time zone and diet differences. For those who are discipline enough, they will manage it and continue to thrive being a road warrior. I really respect them a lot…

Let me tell you, traveling for work is NOT the same as leisure travel. Most road warrior have time constraint, and not to mention budget constraint (with some company). I remember once, I had to fly and cab for more than 36 hours to reach my clients office, only to dive straight in for a 5 hours meeting. At the end of that meeting, I had literally stayed awake for more than 48 hours (with some minor dozing off here and there). And, when I reach the hotel, I just crashed. That was my worst experience ever. After that, I learn my lesson. I’ll travel one day in advance to rest before heading off to any meetings. I still shudder when I think back on that.

I really respect those road warriors who can just travel non-stop all year round. How do they do it?! Whenever I need to travel, I always felt so uprooted. It’s worst when I have to stay for 3-4 days in one place and then running off back home for another 3-4 days before traveling again. It’s like home has turn into hotel as well (minus the room service).

This would means our home is always in a big mess when we travel. So, by the time we return, it will take us at least 2-3 days to sort everything out. Thankfully this round mum come to our rescue. She kindly offered to help us to ‘restore’ our messy house back to a cozy home. LOL… Thanks mum !!! love you.

I love it when I get to stay grounded and enjoy home. I think I’m too much of a home-person to ever enjoy the life of a road warrior…

Cendol Bakar – Jalan Kuala Selangor, Malaysia

12 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by in Gastronomy, Local Restaurants

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When I was younger, I absolutely refuse to partake on Cendol.

** Cendol is a local dessert here in Malaysia. Sometimes, we have it as a drink. So, it’s a little weird for my oversea friends to see us having our desserts before our meal. hohoho…In it’s most basic form, it consists of ice shavings drenched with coconut milk and gula melaka / palm sugar with heaps of green noodles.

The reason I refuse to take cendol is because of those green noodles, which is basically the ‘main’ ingredient of cendol. Why? They remind me of worms ! hehehe… So, I’ll always have cendol without the green noodle. I know – I’m weird. Thankfully, I’ve outgrown my childish fear. LOL… I do eat them now… but, I usually leave most of them for hubby (never did told him my fear for these green noodles).

On our drive to Kuala Selangor for seafood, we chance upon this Cendol Bakar signage. We’ve never heard of Cendol Bakar (fired / roast). In fact, it did sound bizzare. How to you roast ice?

Hence, we were really curious about it. So, we agreed to make a stop for it on our way back after lunch.

Aside from the ‘bakar’, I was also impressed with the implementation of drive-thru concept for this dessert / drink. It’s truly an smart move. Most people would refuse to get down from their car on a hot day and would rather drive pass this stall (along a main road). By allowing the guest to order from their car and zoom off with this nice cooling drink would be really tempting. So, it’s no surprise this place is packed !

We ordered 3 bowls between the 4 of us. The durian pulut was really good. I don’t really like the one with Tapai (traditional fermented food – sweet and sour alcoholic paste). I guess that is an acquired taste.

So, where does the bakar comes in? Supposely, they roast the gula melaka first before melting it into syrup. Once roasted, the gula melaka taste is more intense and pack with flavors.

I’m not too sure I taste the difference. But, I do give the boss the credit for this interesting method. It sure pulls in a lot of customers to his place and the drive-thru is seriously simple and effective move. Very smart guy indeed. 🙂

BTW, you can get refill FREE of Charge. And on top of that, the owner gives out free bowls of Cendol to handicapped and poor folks. Just bring along your JKM card as proof. We applaud the boss for his kindness and decided not to take the free refill offer.

Les Charlottes en Ville – Lille, France

09 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in France, Gastronomy, Oversea Restaurants, Travel

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While strolling around the quaint town of Lille, hub and I stumble upon this little café / restaurant. It’s a bar / restaurant specialises in potato! Interesting.

I’m not a big fan of potato myself. To me, potato has always been like a supporting actor in a plate. Most of the time, I’ll leave them untouched (and hubby will finish it). Since it was close to lunch time, we decided to hop in and give this a try.

The waitress was a really sweet girl and she helped translate the menu for us.

As I was not very hungry, I went with the Entrecôte grillé, sauce poivre (pepper), crème ciboulette (abit like sour cream but, it’s made with Crème Fraiche drizzled with chives). As you can see, the portion of potato is more than the meat itself.

The steak was done to my liking (Medium Rare) but it was nothing spectacular. As for the star of the plate – the potato, it was sublime indeed. The potato is baked so well that each bite melts in my mouth. It’s almost like eating mash. The taste was so good even without the crème ciboulette. Yumz. This time, I finished up my potato…but, i was kind enough to share some with hub. hehehe…

Hubby had the Salade de Chevre (Goat’s Cheese Salad). The Goat’s Cheese was surprising light, and the citrus sauce went really well together. Aside from the slightly burned toast on the side, it is quite delicious.

For main, hub had the La Montagnarde which was basically, mountain ham with baked potato oozing with melted cheese (similar to raclette). Not a fan of the ham but again the potato was done really well… yum yum.

If you are a potato fan, give this little restaurant a try. It seriously open up my eyes about making potato the main star on the plate.