This is not at advertisement.

So I had this long battle with dandruff, as in I don't always have it, but I'll have it on specific spots during specific seasons. Also, recently I've been sleeping with my hair wet because I've been really busy. This aggravated my dandruff problem, but I'm glad that I have found a permanent solution for it. Well, at least I've stayed completely dandruff free for two weeks now! =)

So recently while browsing around for shampoos, I came across this:

CLEAR for women-- Extra Strength. RM 12.90 from Checkers

It has been in the market for quite some time now, but I've never tried it simply because I gave up on dandruff shampoos because they don't really work for me. You name it, I've tried it. Including Head and Shoulders Brand which many say seems to work perfectly well for them.

I actually bought this with minimal expectations, just as a normal shampoo, not expecting it to even reduce my dandruff, not to say eliminate them. But I was surprised.

Within two days of usage, my dandruff was completely gone. Though I credit a huge part of this to the shampoo, of course I made some changes also like bathing earlier so that I don't sleep with my hair wet. I do still sometimes sleep with my hair not completely dried out, but it's fine =). No dandruff the next day!

I also only shampoo my hair once (the directions of usage suggests twice ), but it was apparently sufficient. Of course this is not the holy grail to all dandruff problems as the solution will vary based on the cause of your dandruff. I massaged the scalp of my head while shampooing to ensure my scalp is clean, especially in the dandruff prone areas =). That's all. Just thought of sharing.

Have a great weekend! 

Food Review: Garden Seafood, Section 27, Shah Alam

So I was being adventurous the other day and decided to "venture out in the unknown" and stumbled upon this seafood shop-- Garden Seafood. Address and GPS Coordinates as below, credits to http://www.otaiselangor.net/2014/06/garden-seafood-seksyen-27-shah-alam.html#.VA2HicKSyDA.
Address: Lot 298, Jalan Kota Raja A 27/A, Taman Bunga Negara, 40400 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia; GPS Coordinates: 3.011760, 101.561460.

When I arrived at this place, the first thought that came to mind was that this place is really nice, and it gave you the "resort feel", as if you are on a vacation. I shall let the pictures do the talking.

At first glance, the restaurant did really look "posh", but we were surprised to find out later when looking at the menu that the prices are rather reasonable.

I actually forgot most of the prices and names of the dishes we ordered because this post is a few weeks backdated (I have poor short-term memory), so information for this post will be to the best of my memory, but I may be wrong as well. Rest assured, all the food were good, and I will revisit this restaurant again =).

This, if I remembered correctly was the Chicken in Special Sauce or something around those lines. I remembered clearly though that the waiter mentioned "san bei ji" when repeating the order. This was around RM 15 if my memory did not fail me.

This was the Nyonya Steamed Red Talapia @ RM 5.50/ 100 grams. Ours costed RM 33.50. I would say this was the highlight of the dinner. The fish was really fresh, no hint of mud taste at all, and the nyonya gravy was really well blended and tangy. Almost perfect, in my opinion! They also included generous amounts of long beans, lady's fingers, as well as brinjals/ egg plant in the dish. Sooooo good with rice!

Next up is the belachan fried paku-pakis. This was really tender to my surprise, because as you may be able to see from the picture, there were some parts of the stems that were rather large in size. So I thought they might have been "woody". But I was wrong! Really enjoyed this dish. It wasn't too salty or spicy. This was RM 12, again, if my memory did not fail me.

This was recommended by the waiter, but I really have no clue what it is called. I think it was House Specialty Toufu or something around those lines. This dish costs RM 16. For this dish, I have to point out that there were only 4 pieces of toufu... And the size is like the normal house specialty toufu size. I can't help but feel it was a tad bit pricey for toufu. If you do the math, it's RM4 for each piece of toufu. Yes, I know the dish comes with black fungus and thinly sliced gourd (I'm not sure what the name of the gourd is, but it's something you can find at mixed/economy rice shops). So yeah. Don't order this dish. Though it tasted pretty good, I just felt like it wasn't really worth the money. 

Maturity

" A mature person is one who does not only think in absolutes. They are able to be objective when deeply stirred emotionally. They have learned that there is both good and bad in all people and in all things. They walk humbly and deal charitably with circumstances of life, knowing that in the world, no one is all knowing. They know that all of us need both love and charity".

Food Review: Coffee Coffee, Sunway Pyramid

Coffee Coffee opened its 3rd outlet in Sunway Pyramid quite sometime ago (the first is in Bangsar and the second SS15), but I've never tried any of their drinks or food till today. No specific reason, I guess over the years, I just blindly stuck to Starbucks XD.

Was feeling a little stressed out, so I decided to go for their peanut butter drink -- Peanut Butter Coolist. No pics cause I finished drinking before I managed to take a pic. Hahaha. It was priced at RM13. The barista suggested that I add a shot of coffee to my drink and I happily obliged. I was thinking peanut butter coffee... Sounds doable... So, why not, eh? The additional shot of coffee cost me RM2 btw.

Anyway, I was disappointed with my drink. The shot of coffee was rather overpowering when put together with the peanut butter, and I wasn't able to taste the peanut butter at all; not even a tiny hint of it. My drink just tasted like iced cappuccino. However, if you are viewing it from a cappuccino perspective, then I would say that the drink fared very well. It was better that Starbucks in my opinion.

So yeah, that was my experience with the Peanut Butter Coolist. Perhaps next time I shall order it without the coffee shot =).

The Body Shop Malaysia Annual Sale

To be brutally honest, I've purchased more Body Shop items as gifts than for my personal usage. Stuff that I have tried from Body Shop previously include the Vitamin C Daily Moisturiser SPF 30; it wasn't that great at its best, and left my combination skin rather oily. Anyway, this post isn't a review post for the Vitamin C moisturiser, so I shall not divulge too much details on it.

Body Shop Malaysia had it's annual sale just few days ago on the 16th - 18th May whereby there were discounts up to 70% for their products, with an additional 10% for members. It was a bargain that was hard to resist, and even though I tried to 'psycho' myself before making my way to Sunway Pyramid's Body Shop outlet to ONLY buy things that I need, I succumb to their great discounts anyway.

This is what I ended up with, after much exercising of self-control. I fail, I fail. Hahaha.

Peppermint Smoothing Pumice Foot Scrub, RM 10.80 (after 70% + 10% discount). 

Original price: RM 39.90.

I used this already and I would say it's really good at the price of RM10.80! Manage to remove quite a significant amount of dead skin (I think) cause my foot is really soft and smooth now! Dang, I think my foot is smoother than my hands =.=". Sobs.

Japanese Cherry Blossom Eau de Toilette, RM 37.35 (after 50% + 10% discount).

Original price: RM 83.00.

I have always loved everything from Body Shop's Cherry Blossom range, so when I saw this at such a huge discount, I really, really couldn't resist and just had to purchase it! Hahahaha.

 Sweet Lemon Body Whip, RM 21.60 (after 50% + 10% discount).

Original price: RM 48.00.

I bought this under slight peer pressure! >.<. I mention slight peer pressure because while I actually really loved the smell-- it's very refreshing as with most lemon products in general, I didn't actually need it. Tried the tester that was available in the shop and it was pretty lightweight and not sticky, so I was sold =).

So yeah, that's it for my Body Shop Annual Sale haul. Shucks, I think I overspent this month with Mother's Day and all. Oh well...

Some other information regarding the sale: plastic bags were provided free of charge that day. Also, I'm not sure if it applies to all outlets (but I guess it would make logical sense to be so), Body Shop was quite strict on their membership discount whereby they requested your I.C/ Driving License as proof of your membership =).

Till next time!

Pakej Komunikasi Belia MyEG: Free Ninetology Smartphone

So sometime ago, there was this application opened for Malaysians aged between 21 - 30 years old whom are earning less than RM3000 to apply for this Pakej Komunikasi Belia, whereby the government would give you a free Ninetology Smartphone if your application was successful. Of course if you have previously applied for the RM200 smartphone rebate scheme, you are not entitled to this package.

Anyway, after months of waiting, finally on  6th December last year I got an SMS that went like this from 66688: "Kpd pemohon smartphone PERCUMA sila hntr salinan KP anda ke Attn: Mkt Dept MyEG Services Bhd Lot 5.01 KPMG Tower Bandar Utama 47800 PJ. Tarikh tutup: 13 Dis 2013".

I honestly tell you that I had second thoughts before sending my photostated I/C cause, hello, who in their right mind does that with all the identity theft that is blooming these days? Anyway, I eventually just crossed my photostated I/C with two diagonal lines. Had to wait another 3 months before they finally called me up on 24th March to tell me that I may collect my free smartphone at Menara KPMG. But, hey, at least I got the free smartphone as promised!

I present you... the Ninetology Pearl Mini =). Image not mine as I didn't know how to take a good shoot of the phone.

Image credit: http://amanz.my/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ninetology-pearl-mini.jpg

Food Review: Dubu-Dubu Urban Korean Food, Sunway Pyramid

So in conjunction with Mother's Day, we decided to treat my mum to a meal at Dubu-Dubu, Sunway Pyramid. I've previously been here with a friend, and I personally liked the food, so I decided to make another visit. Dubu-Dubu is located in the Marrakesh, lower ground 2.

I used to buy gifts and all for my mum when I was younger (I'm still not that old =P). But I guess she has everything she needs, and me buying her more stuff is really a waste, if you put it crudely. How many perfumes can one use? How many bags can one carry at one time? Shoes? You just need one pair that's really comfortable. Flowers?... I guess I sorta grew out of it as I got older and realise that money is difficult to earn. Oh well. Hey, I still love my mum, okay!

I digress. Back on topic, I've never been to Korea, so I don't know how 'authentic' Korean food is supposed to taste. Hence, my views are solely based on my Malaysian taste buds.

Beef Honey Garlic Bulgogi (chicken is also available) (set), RM 20.90.

The portions were rather generous. The dish came with a generous amount of meat and onions cooked in  honey garlic sauce which was pretty similar to the ones that Pepper Lunch provides. The side dishes were not really worth a mention. Only the kimchi was good. The other two were just normal. The sides dishes comes at RM2 with the (miso, I think) soup [ala carte is RM18.90]. So, if you wanna save RM2 (I know it's not that much), please, by all means, just give the side dishes and soup a skip. You're not missing anything.

Seafood Soondubu Jigae, RM 18.90 (set).

The Seafood Soodubu Jigae set comes without the soup cause it's already soup-based. Why have two soups, right? This was a little spicy, and the taste was just like those typical Korean spicy soup... While it's a good dish to try out, nothing to shout about again =).

Beef Dol Sot Bibimbap, RM 19.90 (set).

This came with the sauce (no idea what is it but taste like the sauce that you put into the kimchi) and raw vegetables like carrots and beansprouts (tauge). I'm personally not a fan of this. I think it's because of the raw vegetables. I'm not sure if other bibimbaps are like this because I've not eaten other bibimbaps before, but for someone like me who doesn't really fancy raw food (vegetables included, unless it's salads), I will not order this again. If, however, you are a fan of bibimbaps, then I guess it should be okay for you.

Chicken Dak Galbi, RM 18.90 (set).

This was my favourite among all the dishes! The chicken is cooked together with cabbage and broccoli, and comes with a few pieces of the fresh Korean rice cake! =D. Teehee. I don't know how to describe the taste, but it's pleasant. It tasted a little bit like our Chinese soy bean paste/ taucu, but nicer than that. A quick search on Google led me to Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, Dak Galbi is cooked with chilli pepper paste... And I was right! The chilli pepper paste is usually added with soy bean paste. Hehe. It's very, very mildly spicy, if any at all.

Roasted Barley Tea (cold), RM 3.50 (refillable).

This is similar to the burnt rice tea, but the 'burnt' taste is less prominent as compared to the burnt rice tea. So, if you don't really fancy the burnt rice tea, this is a lot milder.

Also, you might wanna note that Dubu-Dubu is offering 10% discount for Sunway Group/ Sunway Education Group staff =). The discount is not applicable on weekends and public holidays though >_<.

Update (8th September 2014):

Dubu-Dubu is currently having Lunch Promotion whereby you can order certain food for RM12.90 (RM 14.95 after tax and service charge) which are normally priced higher in the ala-carte menu from 10.00am to 3.00pm. More the details in the attached photo below.

Picture credits: directly from Dubu-dubu's official website (http://www.dubudubu.com.my/hightlight02.asp)

I took the Spicy Seafood Ramyeon. The set meal also comes with 3 varieties of side dishes/ banchan.

I really liked the taste of this dish. I'm not very good in being descriptive, but if you are someone who can eat spicy food, this is really a noteworthy dish to try out. The taste of the soup is really pleasant... I'm sorry, I don't know how else to describe it. It comes with two large prawns (the size whereby you eat at Chinese Wedding Dinners), and a few pieces of lala as well, which can't exactly be seen in the shot I took... as well as all the items you can see in the picture above. One thing though, was that in Dubu-dubu's official picture, the dish had crabsticks/ filament sticks. Mine came without though. However, two of my friends who ordered the same dish had filament sticks in their dish.

As you would have noticed, Dubu-Dubu has also changed their selection of cold dishes. In my opinion, I liked this selection a lot more. The kimchi remains from the previous selection, but I just wanted to mention that I really liked the cucumber cold dish as it is seasoned with a lot of garlic! (I'm a huge fan of garlic). Also the pickled white radish and carrots were pickled to my liking: neither too sour nor too sweet =).

Food Review: X-Frens Cafe (KU) and Restaurant

X-Frens Cafe's Kemuning Utama branch recently opened near my house, and it is currently my family's favourite outlet to go to for dinner because of its reasonably good cooking and relatively generous portions. For those who do not know where X-Frens is located at, it is opposite Giant Kemuning Utama, a.k.a the row of shoplots there. This post is a collection from the few trips that we made there =).

Wok Fried Egg Plant (Brinjal), RM 10 (small)

To be truly honest, since I ate this quite some time back, I can't really clearly remember how it tastes. I just remember it being a tad bit saltier than my liking. The texture of the brinjal was nice though: slightly crispy on the outside and soft inside. As can be seen, it came coated with fried garlic. I'm a huge brinjal lover, but this was just mediocre to me. Nothing to shout about. One thing I liked about it is that it was significantly less oily as compared to the normal brinjal dishes you will find in the Yong Tau Foo shops or even economy rice / mixed rice shops.

Pork Ribs with Salted Egg, RM 12 (small)

Their salted egg style is relatively different from what you would expect from most stalls. Unlike most shops, this was not the creamy salted egg version. The pork was deep fried, and then coated with salted egg. The texture of the salted egg was dry and powder-like (I guess it was intentionally made that way), similar to chicken floss, but this is the salted egg version. The black colour specs are seaweed cut into very thin strips, if I remember correctly. Again, nothing to shout about. I personally prefer the creamy ones =).

Beancurd with Pumpkin Gravy, RM 12 (small)

This is my all-time favourite dish! But then again, I might be biased cause I'm a huge fan of toufu. The sauce was just right for my liking: a very mild pumpkin taste so it doesn't overpower the taste of the toufu. I think the sauce has some butter added to it as well as it was rather creamy, and had a slight buttery taste (I'm just guessing. I'm no chef). The toufu is also different from the normal japanese toufu; this seemed to have fish paste added to it. Overall, it was a nice dish, and I would order this dish again without doubt.

Nyonya Steam Fish, RM3.50/ 100g for Red Tilapia

Sorry for the lousy picture. I guess it's obvious now that I'm no chef and no photographer as well. Hahahaha. Anyway, this was quite good. The sauce was sour, sweet, and spicy enough for me. All the flavours blended well together and created a really balanced and tangy taste. P/S: the sauce was really good with rice!

Sizzling Beancurd, RM 12 (small)

The sizzling beancurd was cooked using the normal egg toufu (unlike the pumpkin toufu whereby it is added with fish paste). This, similar to some of the dishes I mentioned above, was just mediocre. Nothing to shout about, and I've eaten better at other places, but no harm trying it if you want to.

Marmite Pork, RM 12 (small)

This was normal, similar to most marmite pork dishes you can find out there. The texture of the pork is slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. If I did not mistaken, the pork was slightly coated with curry powder and flour, and then quickly deep fried, before finally being coated with marmite. Worth a try =).

Stir Fried Baby French Bean with Salted Fish, RM 15 (medium)

Yes, finally you spot some greeneries! Hahahaha. This was pretty good. The salted fish taste was prominent and significant enough; there were also generous amounts of garlic [and vege...] (p.s: the garlic was nice!).

Squids with Creamy Butter Sauce, RM 15 (small)

I liked this a lot too! The amount of butter was just nice: not too little that you can't even taste the butter, and not too much until it makes you feel full after consuming too much of it. Worth a try as well!

Some other things you might want to know: white rice cost RM 1.50 per serving; chinese tea is priced at RM 0.60.

The shop also sells chicken rice and some other varieties of food during lunch, but I've never tried them before.

P/S: they also have herbal clam soup with chinese wine which is worth a mention! Worth the try if you like herbal/ wine based soup. Somehow I can't find the picture though...

Food Review: Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul, Sunway Pyramid

Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul (cendol) recently opened an outlet in Sunway Pyramid! They are located at LG2.90, in the Marrakesh alley.

The shop has a limited variety of food, but was enough to satisfy my cravings for good Penang Cendol (with or without durian!) as well as Penang Asam Laksa. They also sell Penang White Curry Mee, Fruit Rojak, White Coffee Cendol, Fried Glutinous Cake (apparently a famous Teochew snack, but unbeknownst to my Foo Chow roots), as well as Cendol, White Coffee, and Ice Kacang ice blends.

So I ordered the Penang Asam Laksa for RM 7.90. Please forgive my non-rotated picture. The taste was really rich and the broth was slightly sweet in taste. There were decent amounts of noodles as well as fish in the dish. However, if you are a big eater, then the portion will be rather small for you. Of course the taste can't be compared with the original Penang Asam Laksa in Penang, but evaluating it on it's own, it was pretty well done considering it's a franchise, and I would actually come back for the laksa again.

As I was craving for durian on that day, I also decided to be adventurous and try the durian cendol. No offense to durian lovers, I do enjoy durian, but I thought the durian cendol was a tad bit expensive at a price of RM7.90 as well.

Left picture before mixing them up and the right picture after mixing them up.

I wasn't disappointed! This was really good, and the durian taste was rather strong, with a hint of gula malacca. I also managed to try the original cendol from my friend, and the gula malacca was stronger for the original one (and sweeter as well). The original one also has kidney beans, unlike the durian cendol. A rather good fix for durian cendol cravings I would say.

For more information on the store, you may visit their official website at: http://www.chendul.my/index.html

Update (August 2014):

I was in Paradigm Mall the other day, and had a craving for Asam Laksa, so I decided to drop by the Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul Outlet at Paradigm Mall. Though I have friends who have been there and gave their share of negative comments, I wanted to know exactly how bad it was, so I decided to give them a shot anyway.

I went there around lunch hour, but was quite happy to find an empty table. Seeing so many customers there actually gave me some "hope" that perhaps the outlet is not "that bad" after all. I have to say that they have really friendly waiters which is something commendable. However, the standard of the food was not anywhere near the one I ate in the Pyramid outlet. It was really bland. I ordered the Asam Laksa and it was really watered down. There was also hardly any visible fish pieces. The Chendul was also not as rich as the one in Pyramid, and the Gula Melaka taste was mild and not as fragrant. I also ordered the Fruit Rojak, and that was the only saving grace. It was good, and the sauce was really thick and tasty.

My bad experience with mydeal.com.my

With the advent of the internet, there has been an upsurge in online shopping, needless to mention sites that may sometimes promise deals that are too good to be true. Examples of the likes are MyDeal.com.my, groupon.my, to state a few. This often leaves you questioning if a product is original or authentic.

I wanna talk particularly about MyDeal, simply because I have previously bought 2 items from them, and I realised later that one of the items that I bought was actually fake. I thought MyDeal is a reputable site, so I'm actually rather disappointed that I have to write this because of how wrong my thought was, and also because of my personal values of integrity that I do not wish to see more people getting cheated by them.

But first and foremost, be forewarned when purchasing items from MyDeal because on both of my experiences, the items I purchased were delivered MANY DAYS after the stated delivery period. In fact, they arrived 2 weeks AFTER the stated 21 working days for restocking should the item run out of stock. Needless to mention, one of the items I purchased as a Christmas present could not be gifted because Christmas was way over by then! Thank you, MyDeal. When I questioned MyDeal about their late delivery, they said they were overwhelmed with purchases, hence the delay. But really? Is that even a good reason? Cause well, to me, it's just an excuse. I do not have images of their reply because I bought the item long ago and have deleted my e-mails with them. Also, because I didn't have a blog back then there was no reason to keep the e-mail since my item has been delivered to me, but you decide for yourself if you want to take this opinion into consideration =).

I digress. Anyway, back to my purchase that was not authentic, sometime ago, I bought a Kipling FairFax (medium) from MyDeal. This is the direct link if you would like to have a look at it. http://www.mydeal.com.my/deals/kuala-lumpur/kipling-fairfax-medium-handbag-shoulder-bag-includes-delivery

I'm not here to blame anyone about my purchase that was not authentic, because I know I am responsible for my own actions, but my purpose of writing this post is to raise awareness to the public. To ensure that we get what we think we are paying for. I am truly aware that the deal did not mention anything about money back guarantee (Rule No.1 when buying branded items) and authenticity (Rule No.2 -- but nowadays, there are still companies that say their items are authentic, but are not. I'm not sure if they genuinely don't know, or they just aim to deceive in the first place). I'm still quite surprised that I was cheated anyway (because I'm quite a skeptical person when it comes to purchases that are too good to be true, but I guess the workload during the end of the year caught up with me). Anyway, how did I know the product was not authentic? Upon receiving the product, I was elated at first at FINALLY getting my product, but more because at surface level, it did look authentic. It came with the Kipling monkey, the Kipling tags and what not. But upon close inspection... I was disappointed.

After further reading from the web, these are some information I manage to gather on how to determine if a Kipling product was authentic or not. References from here: http://www.ehow.com/how_7622538_spot-fake-kipling-bag.html and http://fuldashop.tarad.com/article?id=29654&lang=en

1.  The Kipling logo colour should match the bag's body colour, or at least the colour shade should be close to the bag's body colour, but never entirely different.

2. ALL Kipling bags should come with the Kipling monkey, which has a  Kipling name tab sewn on the left arm. Only products that are small in size like wallets, make-up clutches, and limited-edition bags do not come with the Kipling monkey.

3. Kipling maintains it's quality in ensuring that their stitching is perfect. There should be no run-out threads, or even minute signs that show stitching of poor quality like poor thread tension.

4. The interior of the bag should have a tag stating the colour, product code, and product name. Every Kipling Bag made from the Year 2003 and beyond should have this label.

Nooowwww, on how I know my Kipling bag was not authentic, using the above steps, my Kipling bag did come with a logo colour similar to the bag's body, it did come with the monkey and the tab sewn on the left arm. In fact, it also came with the label in the interior of the bag. BUT, albeit my bag's logo being the same colour as the bag's body, other details didn't quite match up. For example, the Kipling monkey was slightly deformed with glue sticking out here and there, the stitching on my bag was rather poor with skipped stitches commonly observed throughout the bag as well as thread ends that were not trimmed. Though the bag contained the interior label, there was no product colour being stated. I also checked the product code on the official Kipling UK website and the product code was wrong-- it was for another Kipling product, and last but not least, the label also stated... Made in China. Yeap.

I didn't regret though that I bought the bag. Because I used RM189 to be a smarter shopper; a more educated and well-informed buyer. And I'm sorry, MyDeal, but the next time I buy something from you, especially if it's 'branded' goods, I will be extra conscious =).

As most people will conclude (including myself from my bad experience), when the price is too good to be true, then the product is probably not authentic. I'm not saying that one is not able to buy authentic products at a hugely discounted price, but if you really want to be safe and ensure that you are paying for what you think you are paying for, then I would suggest you go to the official retailers instead =).

More references here:
Another blogger's experience on late delivery from MyDeal: http://ummumujahidwrites.blogspot.com/2013/10/mydeal-is-scam.html

I have also read on the Lowyat.NET about people buying the Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette from MyDeal which was also not authentic, so here's doing you guys a favour on how to know if your Naked 2 Palette is authentic:
http://www.caughtinadaze.com/2012/06/real-naked-2-vs-fake-naked-2.html