Zestful One

Indian Food at Kashmir Cafe, SS 3

Posted by IcedNyior on May 29, 2010  |  4 Comments

Thanks to Marc_ky, a few bloggers and I were invited to Kashmir Cafes for a food review of their restaurant. Kashmir Cafe was formerly located further down the road and was closed for a couple of years. Now the family members of the previous owner decided to revive this restaurant, preserving the original recipes and creating a new look.

* Warning : mouth watering pics & descriptions ahead*

The shop looks new and the interior is clean – something that (unfortunately) some other Indian shops lack. The shop is equipped with a couple of LCD Screens (think footie nights!) and electric power plugs along the wall (think #mobileoffice!).

The boys (frm left) Harinder, Azri & Marc_ky looking hungry. In the right photo, the guy in the MU jersey is Sashie (sorry did I spell that right?) the owner of the shop and all the other bloggers/photographers with big cameras.

We started off my having some Lassi (RM3.50 each). Besides the usual mango (the ones in yellow) and plain lassi, they also had:

• Kiwi Lassi – which i ordered – which was slightly greenish in colour with specks of black seeds in it,
• Guava/Soursop Lassi – very yummy
• Citrus/Citron Lassi (in pic. Enlarge to see orangey bits)– tastes limey/orangey with bits of rind, very good!
• Salty Lassi – plain lassi with salt that Harinder ordered but I didnt quite like
• Strawberry Lassi – which I didnt try but the rest said was nice

For our first dish, we had Banana Leaf with Briyani rice. They serve three different types of briyani here – mutton, chicken & plain. The rice is all cooked together then for the chicken/mutton ones, its later cooked again to ensure the flavors all blend together nicely. Another reason why they cook it separately is so that the oils and fats from the meat does not get into the rice.

The prices for the mutton, chicken & vegetarian (plain) briyani are RM12, Rm10 & RM8 respectively. A banana leaf set is RM 5.50. Make sure u ask for more pappadums. They’re my favourite. The Acar is really good too.

One thing you MUST ask for is the Fiery Crab Rasam (left pic) = RM1.60. Its so much different from rasam-s at other shops where it tastes watered down. This one tastes peppery with the crab-y taste. Very good

Now THIS, for me, was the star of the whole meal. This is the mutton bone curry. Imagine all the succulent bone marrow and pieces of mutton and potatoes all cooked in a rich curry. There’s a catch tho, this special curry is only available on Fridays – Sundays. When we went on a Sunday evening, they had only own bowl left! It was so good we scraped every bit of the curry to put on our rice. (pic frm : Azri)

Another specialty they had was the prawn ball curry. Prawns mashed and rolled into balls and cooked in a slightly sour curry. I’m personally not a big fan of seafood curries so I thought this was okay.

Just as we thought we were done, we got served the Kashmir Special Chicken Masala Thosai (RM 5.50). This is a long stretch of thosai wrapping chunks of chicken masala. The pic on the left shows just 1/4 of the whole thosai so u can imagine how big it is. Perfect served with that minty sauce. Very generous with the fillings. The boys couldn’t stop talking about it. Esp Nigel who was raving non-stop (he even tapau-ed. hehe).

For dessert, we had Kesari and Wajik. I really like the fact that the sweets here are not overwhelmingly sweet like in other indian shops. It was also very pleasant to wash down the hearty meal with a cup of spiced masala tea. (pic by Azri)

Oh yes, as a parting gift, Sashie’s sister – who is a baker – gave everyone a cute special Kashmir cake :D She also served us some Cheesecake. I doubt this is on the menu but I’m sure you can order it from her if you’re interested to get cakes.

Okay, so who’s game to go to Kashmir with me next weekend? Look our for the green sign (pic by Harinder)

Kashmir Cafe
58, Jalan SS3/31,
SS3,
Kelana Jaya,
Selangor.

Telephone: 03 – 7873 6622
Email, Facebook, and Foursquare

Business Operating hours: Daily 7.00am till 10.00pm

The Body Shop Malaysia 2010 Sale + price list

Posted by IcedNyior on May 21, 2010  |  8 Comments

Yes ladies! Its here! Woot! From 21 May to 13 June 2010, all the West Malaysia outlets are on sale (refer here). Not sure about Sabah or Sarawak though. I first found out about it from the shoppingnsales site and later got a list of the items on sales from Miu.

Besides the items mentioned above, there are some Sets (eg, 3 x mini body lotion in nice bamboo/woody box) on sale for 50% or less. I popped by TBS outlet in Bangsar Shopping Center (while dragging my colleague along) and got my Body Shop Fix.

My Haul

Pomegranate Body Polish (200ml)

• Retail price : RM38.00
• Discount : 70%
• Price after discount + 10% members = RM 10.26

Body & Shower Gel – Peach & Raspberry (250ml)

• Retail Price: RM24.90
• Discount : 50%
• Price after discount + 10% members = RM 11.20

Body & Shower Gel – Cassis Rose (250ml)

• Retail Price: RM29.90
• Discount : 50%
• Price after discount + 10% members = RM 13.45

Body Puree Wild Cherry (forgot the volume)

• Retail Price: RM45.00
• Discount : 50%
• Price after discount + 10% members = RM 20.25

Pressed Face Powder – 04 (not in pic)

• Retail Price: RM63
• Discount : 10%
• Price after discount + 10% members = RM 51.03

I bought a total of 8 + 1 (for colleague) items amounting to RM150+. Some other Items that I remember:

• Body puree raspberry – 50%
• Body & Shower Gel (400ml) Pink Grapefruit – 50% = RM22+ or so
• Mandarin Orange Shower Gel + Body Lotion set – 70% i think
• Bath lily, scrub = 10%
• Soaps – 10%
• EVERYTHING in the store is on sale, at least 5%
• These makeup items pictured are 30%-50% off. Lip glosses, the multi blush, etc. Other makeup items all 10% off
  

The sale will be until 13 June and applicable for everyone.
Members Special : On 21-23 May, all members get 10% off already discounted prices.

Note that the member’s special is calculated like this:

If the item RP is RM10 the discount is 50%,
The price will be RM 5 minus 10% member discount
TOTAL= RM 4.50

Not a total of 60% discount on the item. Remember this, because I did some miscalculation in the beginning. Also a tip, choose an outlet that is less crowded. I remember how packed it was at the Midvalley outlet during the last sale. I swear it was madness.

So tell about your haul :D

——————-

Decided to update with more price lists from readers :)

• tea tree cover stick for RM16 (50% off) and pomegranate body spray for RM10 (70% off) – chloe
• Tea Tree Facial Scrub = RM20 – @junw3n

LifeCode Anti-Aging Review

Posted by IcedNyior on May 17, 2010  |  No Comments

A few bloggers were selected to join Miu of PlusizeKitten for the Venus 0.8 Project on LifeCode Anti-Aging International Berhad. The people at LifeCode specifically opened the area for us on a weekend to accommodate us.

The lobby is a comfortable sitting area with lots of seats and little tables. This leads to the treatment rooms and also the spa area. Life Code has a spa under the same company called The Asia Spa, which is an award winning spa.

Top left picture is the ingredients used in the spa treatments – ground ginger and the like. The special function of this spa is that each room has a pair of beds and a private toilet and bathtub. Yes, individual toilets.

After the tour, we were asked to put our items into a locker before going for the Miracle ST (Super Tourmaline) House Rejuvenation Therapy room. The ST House has electromagnetic gemstones embedded in the wooden benches, the ceramic floor, the multilayer ceiling cabinet and the bamboo walls.

The black panels in the photos are ceramic balls that are embedded with electromagnetic gemstones. If you have backache, its perfect to lean against those balls to sooth your back. The room also has a essential herbal mist coming out of the holes at the side and also a quantum skin activator at the top corners.

The treatment lasts 30 minutes and we started to sweat. These are the toxins coming out of the body so we had to wipe it off constantly. We were also required to drink at least 4 glasses of the provided active micro-dew beads purified water.

After the treatment, surprisingly it didn’t feel sticky at all. In fact it felt rather refreshing even though we cannot take a shower in the next two hours. After towelling down and changing, it was the makeup and skincare session.

Chris our friendly trainer demonstrated with the Life Code Instant Face Lift Gel. The gel is water based and super absorbent. With just a few strokes and giving it 3 minutes to fade into the skin, there’s a significant decrease in sagginess of the face and also wrinkles.

(Photos of makeup by pinkylicious) Makeup by Life Code is designed to repair skin as well as make yourself beautiful. The eye shadow contains natural extracted anti-aging Hyaluronic Acid that can lift up and firm eye bags.It also refines fine lines around the eye and eliminates deep wrinkles.

The lip glosses are my favourite. The gloss is blended with natural organic skin firming ingredients and herbal extract, it plumps up your lips instantly and fills in all the wrinkles. I mean seriously my lips look plumper.

After the makeup and skincare session, we proceeded to Rasa Sayang downstairs for some Malaysian food.The private room we were in was decorated almost like a balinese style. The food was vegetarian briyani which was quite nice.

All in all, it was a nice experience at Life Code and I really want to thank them and Tammy for this opportunity. Are you interested to try? The ST House treatment costs RM150 per session but if you mentioned that you read this blog, you can get your first session FREE. Just contact Life Code service line 03-2289 0888 between 10:00am – 7:00pm Monday to Saturday (non-public holidays). Enjoy!

Disclaimer: All my reviews are written based on my unbiased review.
To see the full disclaimer, please read this.
Photos are all by Miu unless stated

Movie Review : A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

Posted by IcedNyior on May 13, 2010  |  No Comments

One…two…Freddy’s coming for you…

I’ve always thought that kids had the creepiest voice, especially when they do that sing-song tone over and over again. Or laugh in a creepy way. Well you are going to hear a lot of that in this movie.

First and foremost, I must admit that I have never watched the first (original) version of this movie. Yea, I’m serious. My parents didn’t believe in letting their children watch horror/thriller movies. I’ve also not watched Edward Scissorhands…but that’s a review for another day.

Thanks Advertlets for tickets to the pre-screening
& Diese of BaYnN.com for her photo of the tix

Okay, back to Freddy:

This story tells of a group of teenagers who all have the same recurring dream. Its about a man whose face is disfigured, wearing a red striped sweater, a tattered fedora and instead of fingers, he has long, sharp blades on one hand.

These teens dream that he is trying to murder them in their dreams, and more often than not, the dream becomes a reality and they end up dead in the exact same way they were dreaming about.

As one by one of the teens unexplainably turn up dead, the other surviving teams band together to try and find out the the answers to their questions while trying hard not to fall asleep. Who is this Freddy? Why is he killing them?

As they dig deeper and deeper, they realize that all of them share a dark hidden past, kept secret by their beloved parents. And everytime they close their eyes, Freddy gets closer and closer.

The film stars Jackie Earle Haley (Ros as Freddy Krueger and Rooney Mara plays Nancy Holbrook, loosely based on the character Nancy Thompson in the original movie. I noticed that Katie Cassidy who acted in the TV series ‘Harper’s Island’ also had a role as one of the teens.

The beginning of the movie was a bit slow but it picked up towards the end, when the characters were getting desperate and chasing for time before their body could not handle it and started shutting down.

The music really lends the perfect environment for a horror movie. I thought the movie did have a few “sudden” moments. But personally, I didn’t think it was as scary as some Japanese, Indonesian or Thai horror movies I’ve watched. I must say the Asians does it better.

He looks more like The Mummy than a burn victim no?

Go watch the movie if you want to see how this remake compares to the first. Some parts of the story is different from the original. Think of it as a reimagining of the original, not the same story re-used. I think this movie better for the DVD collection.

Rating : 3/10

Movie Review : Robin Hood 2010 (no spoilers)

Posted by IcedNyior on May 10, 2010  |  No Comments

I won two tickets for Robin Hood from The Star R.A.G.E. facebook page contest. The question was rather tricky: “How many movies have director Ridley Scott and actor Russell Crowe done together?”

I answered it correctly and I got to watch a few days before the release. yay! So yea, on to the review

Genres:     Action/Adventure and Drama
Running Time:     2 hrs. 28 min.
Release Date:     May 14th, 2010 (wide)
MPAA Rating:     PG-13 for violence including intense sequences of warfare, and some sexual content.
Distributors:     Universal Pictures

I grew up watching the animated version of Robin Hood (played by a fox) and his merry men (played by various different animals) who was the champion for the weak. Stealing money from the rich to give to the poor. The hero in the forest together with his merry men taunting the evil king and his guards.

Now Ridley Scott’s version of Robin Hood is slightly different. It tells of a time of war and tribulation where the king and noblemen became richer and richer while the common folk suffered.  The story opens with the English army marching on their France enemies capturing castles in a forgot-how-many-year campaign by King Richard. Robin Longstride was a lowly archer in that army. Quick on his feet and honest.

This is a story of Robin before the ‘Hood’ – who he is before the legend, how he met his fellow merry men and how the legend came to be.

Russel Crowe carried the role well as the rugged, sword fighting, swift archery, fist punching hero covered in mud and blood, similar to his role in Gladiator actually. I personally thought Cate Blanchett was a tad too old to play the role of Maid Marion, unless the ‘maid’ part was referring to ‘old maid’ hehe! Some more it seems like most of the male characters in the movie wanted her. Weird.

The characters were all well developed, the storyline was interesting and entertaining. The only issue i have with this movie is that its a tad too long. But still worth watching :)

Rating : 7/10

Thanks again to The Star RAGE for the tickets.

Btw the answer to the question is FIVE movies : Gladiator (2000), A Good Year (2006), American Gangster (2007), Body of Lies (2008), Robin Hood (2010)

Life Code Anti-Aging

Posted by IcedNyior on May 5, 2010  |  4 Comments

I heard about this in Tammy’s blog a few days ago – actually she’s been talking about this project for a few weeks now, even before I went to Perth.

At first I thought its a typical spa with massages and steam room, so I checked out their website http://www.lifecode-antiaging.com/

Here’s an excerpt of what they believe in

Life Code Anti-aging is enthusiastic in delivering Safe, Effective, Rapid, Natural products to our customers. Our products range from skin care, cosmetics, to anti- aging cellular supplement. With highly trained management and staffs to provide reliable and professional service, Life Code Anti- aging is marked a world class anti-aging platform which has helped thousands of people in the world to reverse aging within 3 to 15 minutes.

They have four core products, which are:

• BioTRA™ Skin Care Series – creams and gels which promise less lines and facelifts in 3-15 minutes. Yes! That fast
• Cell Regenerative Series – an any aging cellular supplement based on complex royal jelly and other special ingredients
• Organic Makeup Series – makeup and skincare in one, such as anti wrinkle lipstick and lifting eye shadow
• Miracle S.T. House – This is a treatment for whitening, detox, anti-aging and slimming all in one.

I was actually quite interesting in the Miracle ST (Super Tourmaline) Rejuvenation Therapy. It uses chinese herbs essential mist, quantum skin activators, micro elements water and gemstone treatments.

How does this work?

1. The precious gemstones release far infrared and negative ions
2. Quantum Skin Activators will boost immediate whitening and skin rejuvenation
3. Essential Herbal Mist Complex for its detoxifying, anti-cancerous and slimming properties
4. Micro-elements water to avert free radials and prevent cell oxidation

All these combined will give you lighter skin by two degrees in 30 minutes Guarenteed! I gotta try this one!

Also, if you see their website, they have a lot of certifications and quality control such as USA FDA, European EEC, Halal certification and many more. So its very safe for everyone.

Maybe you can go and try it out and tell me your experience? :D