Transformers! Pt.2

I finally got my hands on a couple of Transformers toys the other day. After the Transformers movie, the hype ensured that all the toys based on the movie flew off the shelves and were never to be seen again.

Luckily I was at Toys R Us at Subang while they were in the midst of restocking. WOOT!

Without further ado, presenting...Autobot Jazz!

Box front

Box back

Secured tightly

On the underside too!

Jazz breaks out

Side view

The 'energy sword' mounted on his spoiler...weird place to put it

PIEW PIEW LAZAR KANNON!

Let's get ready to transform!

Done!


Here's looking at you Decepticon!

With power sword and shield

Power sword close up

Shield close up. The shield is actually his boot + spoiler

HAAAAAAAAAAAIYAH!

Autobot I am!

I like:

1. Fairly complicated transformation procedure compared to the old Generation One toys.
2. Well articulated.
3. Feels solid without any loose joints.
4. Automorph technology! In Jazz's case his head will automatically pop up when the whole windscreen + roof portion is pushed down to form his back.
5. Accurate colours and nicely detailed.

I dislike:

1. Minor paint problems (one of the fog lamps was smudged and there was a random orange blob near one of the headlights).
2. Slightly confusing transformation instructions especially when transforming the arms.
3. Weird place to store his energy sword in vehicle mode. On his spoiler? Er...

Overall it was great though...since it's only RM49.90. Sure brings back memories of the days when I used to play with my Generation One Transformers!

Oops I did it again...I mean oops I forgot to pay duty!

I was digesting my daily dose of Malaysian local news when I came across this (hilarious) piece of news.

I forgot to pay duty, says politician

By SIRA HABIBU

ALOR STAR: “Oops, I forgot.”

This is the excuse given by one of the prominent politicians who have flouted Customs regulations by using a duty-free Nissan van on the mainland without paying duties.

“A Customs officer did remind me sometime this year to settle the duty by end of this year but I forgot. Thank you for reminding me,” said the politician when contacted yesterday.

The politician took the duty-free van from Langkawi about nine years ago. He said the van was actually used by the spouse for commercial purposes. The van needed to be overhauled several years ago and was sent to the workshop for repairs.

“However, many of the car parts were stolen and as such we had left it in the workshop for years,” she said.

The politician promised to send a letter to the Customs department soon to resolve the matter amicably.

“I will pay the duty,” he said.

Another prominent politician who was implicated said he had submitted a letter to the Customs director-general stating his intention of paying duty and keeping the duty-free Harley Davidson.

It was reported in The Star on Monday that two prominent politicians were among several VVIPs who have yet to pay duty after the vehicles were taken out of the duty-free island.

They are among the 79 people who have breached Clause 21 (1) of the Customs Duty Order (Exemption) 1988 by keeping vehicles away from the duty-free island for more than a month in a year.

So can I use the same excuse next time when it's time to pay my taxes? "Oops I forgot to pay my taxes! I will pay them now! Thanks for the reminder!"

Like our dear Prime Minister once said "Law is law" right?

Source of the Star article here.

Of donuts, zombie sheep and Korean food

I'm pretty sure most of you have heard of Dunkin' Donuts. For years this franchise was the to-go place for specialty donuts. But now, a challenger has arrived! Presenting...Big Apple Donuts!

Located at the Curve just behind TGIF, this place has been attracting customers ever since it opened. One glance at the variety of donuts on offer would convince you to at least buy one donut and sink your teeth into it. But once you do that, one donut might not satisfy your mounting cravings! Be warned! LOL!

Wei Siong and I dropped by to grab a quick bite to eat last Sat. This being the second time we had donuts from here, we decided that one definitely wasn't enough and we got ourselves a box of six.

Clockwise from top left, Bananarama, Homer, Iceberg, WitNut (x2) and Say Cheese

I choose Bananarama (chocolate topping with a creamy banana center), WitNut (white chocolate topping with peanut butter filling) and Say Cheese (imported cheese shavings with white chocolate topping).

The Bananarama was pretty good with the chocolate topping meshing well with the banana cream while the Say Cheese proved to be surprisingly tasty as the mixture of (salty) cheese went well with the (sweet) white chocolate. But the star has to be the WitNut. Smooth white chocolate and creamy oozing peanut butter won over my taste buds there and then. Heck it even beat out the Duran Duran from my first foray at Big Apple!

Wei Siong had nothing but praises for his selections too. So all was good. We then proceeded to watch...zombie sheep devouring hapless humans.

Imagine Dawn of the Dead with the zombies replaced by sheep with the gore turned up a couple of notches and you'll have Black Sheep. With special effects provided by Weta Workshop and a generous helping of comedy, this film is great! Of course the amount of gore makes this film unsuitable for those who can't stand the sight of blood. But for those zombie movie fans, go and catch this while it's still showing!

Prime says show me the buffet!

So after 90 minutes (approximately) of zombie sheep action, we walked over to the latest restaurant to open at the Curve. Presenting...Shilla Korean Buffet!

As was with the case with Big Apple, this was our second time here. This time around we had extra company which included Jasmine and her family plus a family friend. Would the experience this time around live up to the first time?

Oysters as appetizers

Complimentary cheese baked scallops with fish roe. They didn't serve this the first time around.

Assorted ebiko sushi, whitefish sashimi, smoked salmon, steamed prawns and California maki

As befitting any self-respecting buffet, Shilla provided an array of both raw and cooked seafood. There was also sushi, maki and sashimi provided. Most people would start comparing this place to Shogun as Shogun's menu is also a mish-mash of Japanese, Korean and local favourites.

The sashimi at Shilla consists only of red tuna and whitefish. The salmon they offer is smoked, so I'm not sure whether that qualifies as sashimi or not. Shilla loses out to Shogun on variety here but trumps Shogun in terms of freshness and size. The whitefish and red tuna here taste fresher and you get bigger slices. It's comparable to Shogun when it first opened, but sadly Shogun's standard has dropped since then.

As for the sushi and maki, they were average, on par with Shogun. Once again though, if you are looking for many varieties of sushi and maki, you're better off dining at Shogun.

Shilla beats out Shogun in the shellfish area by offering raw oysters, something which Shogun doesn't have. However if you are expecting 5-star hotel quality oysters, this is definitely not it. For starters the oysters aren't laid upon a bed of ice. In our hot and humid weather, this is a big no no as they'll lose their freshness quickly. The result? Oysters with a strong briny taste (seng in Cantonese). Make no mistake, the oysters have not gone bad, it's just that they are not as succulent and tasty. Strangely the cheese baked scallops and oysters had the same strong briny taste too. Freshness problems? And I can't shake the feeling that the raw oysters were much better the first time around...even though they weren't on ice then too.

The large prawns however saved the day as they were fresh, crunchy and certainly not overcooked. Served cold, the prawns helped wash the briny taste of the shellfish away. The prawns here are a tad bigger than those served at Shogun too. They also have shrimp served in a spicy sauce if you don't want to get your hands dirty peeling prawn shells.

Beef ribs

More beef ribs, with beef bulgogi in the background

Grilled chicken, beef slices and (sliced) beef ribs

Moving on to more hearty fare, we come to the meat section. Korean food emphasises a lot on beef and Shilla does not disappoint. The star of their meat section has got to be the beef ribs, both stewed and grilled types. The ribs are tender and infused with flavour (which resembles char siew slightly). The grilled beef slices this time around failed to pass the mark, being slightly burnt, lacking in taste and overly tough. Totally opposite from the first time. The grilled chicken is a new addition to the menu, and it's just average (it tastes like the beef ribs, so I guess they used the same or a similar marinade).

Crabstick roll and prawn tempura!

Shilla does have a small selection of tempura. The prawn tempura is a regular on the menu and it's great (especially when it's freshly fried). The batter is full of flavour, which means you can skip the tempura sauce. The prawns could have been bigger though. The crabstick roll is another new addition (they call it crab meat roll...lol) and it's surprisingly tasty. Just imagine a crabstick wrapped in cheese and seaweed and coated with batter. The mixed vegetable tempura from our last visit was missing and its absence was sorely felt.

Noodles with black bean sauce

I presume that both the noodles with black bean sauce and the anniversary noodles are unique Korean dishes. Didn't partake of any, but Wei Siong preferred the noodle dish above as the anniversary noodles were pretty bland. And yes, Shilla does have kimchi. A couple of types too. Be warned that their traditional kimchi (red in colour) is coloured red for a reason. It is extremely spicy!

Tea is served!

The standout in Shilla's dessert section is the chocolate fondue (fountain). Kids would have tonnes of fun here (adults too I reckon). The only drawback is...you only get three types of fruits to dip into the chocolate fountain. They served kiwi, honeydew and mini tomatoes (so uh...tomatoes are fruits or vegetables?) this time around. Well I suppose you could always dip the cakes into the chocolate fountain or cover your ice cream with melted chocolate for variety. =P

We did notice Koreans dining here, so I guess this means the Korean food served here is authentic. Ever seen any Japanese customers at Shogun? =P The original price is RM56++ per adult for dinner, but when they opened they had this 15% off the total bill promotion going on until end of September. That promotion has been replaced by their Ramadan promotion which cuts the price down to RM46++ per adult. So if you peeps wanna give this place a shot, now would be the best time to do it.

I would give Shilla a 7/10 for this second visit. They definitely need to hire more wait staff as it's plain to see that the current amount of staff can't cope with the increasing crowd. Even the manager had to step in to collect dishes and serve tea. Also, the quality of some of the food offerings appear to have deteriorated. The first visit here would have gotten a rating of 8/10, honestly.

Would I return? Yes, just to give this place another shot after all the hype has died down. I just hope their food quality doesn't decrease further as the amount of customers increase. Oh yeah before I forget, Shilla is located just above Eden at the Curve.

Uno!

Uno! I'm pretty sure everybody has played this famous card game before. But today we are not going to discuss about how to play or even how to win. This post is about Pizza Uno, formerly known as Pizza Italia.

This restaurant specialising in Italian cuisine (as if their former name wasn't obvious enough) begun as a branch in Taipan (USJ) a long way back. Their second branch was at Centrepoint and then they expanded to Puchong. The branch at Centrepoint has existed since I was a student at KBU (way back in 97) and it's still going strong. Says a lot about their food now doesn't it?

Wei Siong, Andy and me were late today afternoon for lunch. And it was pretty good (yes a much overused term I know).

Beef ragout with their home made fettuccine

Beef bacon, smoked salmon, mushrooms and tomatoes on bread

Greek (mussels, prawns, olives) pizza

Beef lasagna

A slice of lemon does make plain water seem fresher!

I had the beef ragout (RM22 + RM2 for the handmade fettuccine option), Andy had the beef lasagna (RM18) while Wei Siong had the vegetarian version (RM16). The bread thingy and pizza were shared.

The beef ragout was truly tasty, filled with bite sized beef chunks and crunchy mushrooms smothered with a thick tomato sauce. No complaints from Wei Siong and Andy concerning their lasagnas which were covered in cheese.

The appetizer was well...average I guess with the mushrooms being on the salty side. Nothing special about that one. And it costs RM9. The pizza was pretty crunchy but the toppings were certainly not on the generous side. In fact, we only got one mussel each! For RM21 I certainly expected more.

Overall we enjoyed our meal. The general ambiance was good making a nice cosy place for a chat. Their menu is pretty extensive too, and I'll probably use that as an excuse to return. Must try different dishes mah!

Ah yes, one thing I would like to highlight is their lack of plain water. All they serve is mineral water, although they don't mind you sharing a bottle with your friends. But come on, is plain water that expensive?

Oh yes, photos courtesy of Andy's kickass new digital camera. =D

24 incher!

Andrew has been bugging me to post this pics of my latest acquisition so here they are. 24 inches of viewgasm!

Before

Setting it up!

All done!

After