Almost 1.5 years ago, I had an encounter with Chipster, actually, lots of Chipsters! Perhaps the following picture might explain a lot more than I could. However, I was not-very-narrowly beaten by another guy who walked away with the MacBook in the competition! Hmph
yes, there’s alot of Chipsters here
At the same time, I wrote another entry titled Lord of Chipsters for the same contest in a different category. It was a comic style story that was pirated inspired by JRR Tolkien’s famous trilogy. Well, I didn’t win that one either, but here’s another picture for you.
Hohoho lord of Chipsters!
But as they say, third time is the charm, so this time around I am really keeping my fingers crossed with the latest Chipster contest I joined. Chipster SuperStar Contest!
First of all, lets look at the prizes:
Furthermore, the grand prize and first prize winners will be featured in the finale movie on TV3, that’s national TV by the way! Winners will be determined by number of votes, so please please go to the website and cast your vote. If you think mine is pretty good, VOTE FOR ME please.
Chipster SuperStar’s very awesome movie making interface
Unlike most other contests involving creations of TVC/movies, Chipster has really made it very simple to participate. The interface is so good I must say I am very very impressed (speaking from a guy with IT background).
All you have to do is upload pictures of yourself and your friends and crop them with the supplied online tool to create your casts. Next you choose the story you want your cast to appear in (4 to choose from), add in the actors from your cast list, and then come up with the dialogues in comic style, and you are done with the TVC.
The whole process takes less than 15 minutes, very sleek, very efficient!
The only thing left to do is to click the submit button when you’re done, and key in the Unique Code you can find in every bag of Promotional Chipster Superstar Contest Pack. Here’s my Matrix inspired TVC (well since I just went to the hair saloon). Check it out!
The contest runs from 13th April – 8th June, and the voting period starts from tomorrow, 9-19 June. Time to vote, make it happen!
p/s: ok maybe there *might* be some better videos out there, do check them out and cast your votes.
Sometimes last year I went to a Heineken sponsored event at TTDI Plaza. It was a bit of a last minute plan that Horng and Suan ended up joining me to form a team of 3 and participated in a flash game competition, a game that we ultimately won against the other 9 teams of players. I had previously blogged about the game here.
The prize was a 3 day/2 night trip to Krabi for the 3 of us together with some 280 winners and media guests from all over the world during the Champions League week. Mell decided to join us to the trip as well.
Heineken basically booked the whole of Sheraton
We took an Air Asia flight to Krabi last Wednesday and arrived at the destination at around 1pm, bright and sunny. Heineken had apparently booked pretty much the whole Sheraton for the event.
I had previously stayed at the very same hotel (probably the same block), the room was very nice with its lush bed tastefully done interior design overseeing the huge garden and beach. We were each given a hotel room as the winners of the competition.
KY, Mell, Horng, and Suan enjoying lunch
After checking in and got our programs all sorted out, we were treated to the buffet lunch at the hotel. I must say that the lunch was a bit lackluster and I had initially expected a lot more out of Sheraton, but well, at least the drinks was good.
It would have been a lot more awesome if we were able to go to the Duck Noodle place instead but the hotel proved to be too far (at least 45 minutes and probably 800 baht worth of taxi ride) from where the restaurant is located.
kayaking and swimming at Sheraton (pic from Suanie.net)
After dinner, we adjourned to the beach for some fun under the sun. There were kayaking, wind surfing, beach football and a variety of other activities organized by Heineken. Mell decided that she was going to join us in kayaking while Suan was happy to be the photographer. As you can see, Mell did a great job “kayaking”, no?
We then spent some time at one of the two very nice infinity pools, it was both relaxing and tiring. A perfect start of the holiday.
Thai steamed fish, seafood tomyam, and green curry
Not wanting to risk another bad meal at the hotel, we decided to head to town for some Thai food. The taxi we managed to get was actually not exactly a proper taxi, but the lady who runs a massage place just opposite Sheraton. We negotiated with the lady to send us to Aonang town for 700 baht round trip, and we were there some 30 minutes later, it is that far.
Dinner at one of those touristy restaurants
Aonang is basically a very touristy town that is much like Batu Ferringhi in Penang. We walked for some 20 minutes and before concluded that there were no “authentic” dining place, so dinner was at a touristy restaurant by the name of Krabi Tour Thai Cusine.
We ordered seafood tomyam, green curry, vegetable, and a Thai style steamed barramundi to go with some steamed rice. The food was quite good (especially the fish), but not to the standard of those Mell and I had at Pradiphat street, Bangkok. It came to about 900 baht, a bit pricey for Krabi standard, but at least it tasted pretty good.
Thai massage is a must, look at Horng’s facial expression when he saw his masseuse
We walked along Aonang for a bit, the town is littered with shops selling a variety of art works, t-shirts, and souveniers. Suan and Horng bought an soft plastic camera underwater casing for 340 baht that turned out to be a very wise investment.
Before heading back to the hotel, we went for a Thai massage at one of the many massage parlors (for 200 baht an hour). I’ve always enjoyed Thai massage, a bit of stretching and human pretzel actions always make my body feel very relaxed and rejuvinated. Horng was a bit apprehensive of his big masseuse but she turned out to be very good at what she does. Suan, on the other hand, complained that her first massage experience did not go so well as the lady was not strong enough.
We then called our taxi and headed back to the hotel to crash, it was a pretty tiring but very enjoyable first day at Krabi.
My ex-housemate, Kerol, came over last weekend to pick myself and Horng up for lunch again last Saturday. As usual, we were not able to come up with any suggestion that could satisfy the girl. At the end, she decided to drive us to one of her favorite lunch places at PJ when she used to work.
The little hidden food court at PJ state located right opposite the big police station (if you have an accident anywhere in PJ, you usually end up there).
old school food court ala Medan Selera style
The place is a municipal built public food court that reminds me of those at PJ old town (with chicken rice), Seksyen 14 (with popiah), and the nasi lemak Tanglin. With plastic tables and chairs affixed on the floor that was as trendy as it was unpractical, especially if you have a larger group of people visiting at the same time.
We located stall number 4 that says Mee Bandung Muar (no I didn’t manage to try their mee bandung, perhaps next time) without much trouble and ordered lunch.
asam ikan pari and telur dadar
They serve three different types of asam fish: kembung (hard tail), pari (stingray), and tengiri (mackerel). But for some reasons, everyone asked for the stingray that day, most probably due to the fact that we’re a bit lazy to have to deal with any bones. We also ordered telur dadar (Malay style omelet) and rice.
the food court is located right opposite PJ State police station
The asam fish itself was pretty nice but I thought it could be slightly more spicy and more sour. I think this suits the KL taste a bit more as compared to the northern version that tends to be a bit stronger tasting. Adding their kicap (slightly sweet version of soya sauce) made it taste quite a bit better though.
Overall, it was still a pretty satisfying lunch for only RM 6 each per person, including rice and egg. Maybe it’s time to try a bit more from the same food court.
Address:
Store 4, Mee Bandung Muar
Medan Selera, PJ State
Jalan Lampan 8/3,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.099046, 101.640412
After writing about the New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice, I got a comment from Mellissa saying that I was conned and that the real deal is at Restaurant Satellite Chicken Rice right next door to the former. Which only means that I gotta give this place a try since this is the lady’s grandpa’s favorite place.
So Mell and I went to the restaurant last Thursday for an early chicken rice dinner after we came back from Krabi.
Restaurant Satellite Ipoh Chicken Rice
The one thing I like about the place is the ample parking space, and since New Restaurant and Satellite basically reside next to each other, the same applies to both. So many good eating places in KL comes with nightmare parking situation (like Ngau Kei beef noodle), and I’m just glad that this one doesn’t.
We took our seats and ordered roasted & steamed chicken for two, a plate of the signature bean sprouts, and a dish of mixed chicken innards that include intestine, liver, and chicken gizzard to go with a couple plates of chicken rice. I don’t think they serve any pork (roasted or bbq) here, just good old fashion chicken rice.
roasted & steamed chicken, innards, bean sprouts, Mell & KY
As it was pretty early and the restaurant still pretty empty, our food came rather fast.
The chicken were smooth and rather tasty (I prefer the steamed), and while the chicken liver might have been slightly too cooked, the gizzard and intestine were nice and chewy in a good way. I do like the seasoning on the bean sprouts and the chili paste more than their neighbour.
The soup though, was nothing to shout about. I wish more places would serve good soup like Yat Yeh Heng chicken rice at Kelana Jaya.
Satellite Restaurant is located on Jalan Gasing, near Fed Hwy
Overall dinner was pretty satisfying, but at RM 27 (including drinks and another packet of chicken rice to go), it certainly isn’t the cheapest chicken rice around town. It’s hard to pick a “winner” between Satellite and New Restaurant, but I gotta say that this place oozes out the feel or traditional chicken rice a bit more than the ultra modern approach of New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice. You can’t go wrong with either one though.
Address:
Restaurant Satellite Ipoh Chicken Rice
103 Jalan Gasing 10/1,
46000 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.107456, 101.65334
Tel: 03-7956 6830
A few weeks ago, I was invited to my very first Single Malt Scotch Whisky tasting session at Carcosa Seri Negara. When I first got the email invite, the one thing that immediately came up to my mind was “is there a dress code?”.
As it turned out, Carcosa was indeed a very apt location for the Balvenie Single Malt Scotch Wisky that we were being introduced to. A very classy place for top of the line scotch to be tasted by the weel heeled in this part of the world who came with their fancy cars (my car was sandwiched between a Ferrari and a Porsche).
30, 21, 15, and 12 year old Balvenie Scotch priced from RM 2000+ to RM 200+
Balvenie is the only distillery that employs their own internal resources in every step of the whisky making process, from growing barley to malting, mashing, fermentation, distillation, to maturation process. Nothing is outsourced, and everything is still done in the good old fashion way. They even maintain the same copper stills by their own coppersmith of some fifty years.
David Mair, the Balvenie Brand Ambassador
Our host of the day was David Mair, the Balvenie Brand Ambassador who flew all the way from Scotland. Throughout the night I did learn quite a bit from about single malt whisky in general, and of course, about Balvenie.
the buffet spread at Carcosa Seri Negara
We were treated to a buffet dinner prior to the tasting session. Most of the dishes from the buffet spread was pretty good, not overly impressive, but not disappointing either. I vaguely remember that the salad prawn was excellent, but the motto of the day was to review the whisky, not the food anyway.
I joined Fatboybakes, Lyrical Lemongrass, and Cumi as the four invited bloggers to be among those who got there with their Ferraris, Porsches, and Rolls Royce. I think we were also among the most misbehaved.
Balvenie Single Malt Whisky tasting session
At the tasting table, we were each presented the four different Balvenie Scotch Whisky, the 12, 15, 18, and 30 years.
KY, Lyrical Lemongrass, Fatboybakes, and Cumi
My favorite? Of course the 30 years old! The whisky is silky smooth with a hint of plum, chocolate, and caramelized pear taste that lingers in your mouth with sweetness. That said, I really liked the 12 and 21 year old too, the 18 though, somehow tasted a bit too strong for me.
It is also interesting how the taste changes if you drink it neat compared to mixing with half a glass of water. The water really brings out the flavor in a good way. Coke, green tea, or orange juice is not the mixers you should ever use for whisky, especially these single malts.
The Balvenie whiskys are priced from RM 200+ for the 12 year old to RM 2000+ for the flagship product. Since the 12 year old is still perfectly drinkable after tasting the excellent 30, I think I shall start from there.
Single and Available,
G21, Ground Floor,
Bangsar Village Shopping Centre,
1, Jalan Telawi 1,
Bangsar Baru, KL.
