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...