Masak Masak.

 If you're looking for a place to host a one-of-a-kind party or team building, try Masak-Masak at Ben's Independent Grocer, Publika! Ashley is a genius for scouting this place to host our beloved Jun Yee's Bridal Shower. Usually people have their Bridal Shower partying in a club or hotel doing naughty stuff, we opted for a theme called "Stepford's Wives" instead. Probably because we are all aunties already, instead of getting drunk and make a fool out of ourselves, we learn how to cook instead for her Bridal Shower, FML.

In our best outfit to bring out the best wifey in us.

Stepford Wives Beauty Competition.

And the winner is non other than the bride-to-be!

Prize giving ceremony. Katrina looked like a Datin here.

APPETIZER: JUNIPER BERRIES PAN SEARED DUCK SALAD

The salad tasted super awesome! I didn't know salad could taste so good, especially salad that I made myself LOL. Because the dressing is made of orange marmalade, it tasted super sweet together with the lychees, oranges and cherry tomatoes. The duck was delicious as well, I don't eat duck usually but when it mixed together with the salad, I just om nom nom nom nom nom.

My cooking partner of the night, Jannifer!

Jannifer did all the heavy duty cooking, while I chopped and mixed. I thank God she knows how to cook!

MAIN COURSE: GRILLED SPICED CHICKEN WITH SAFFRON RICE

This chicken is so easy to cook. Just season the chicken with spices and we can actually put it in the oven to cook. But since we are so gangho so we wanted to grill them first and finish off in the oven for about half an hour. The saffron rice was prepared by the staff. By the time we finished everything and started to dine in, the dish was already cold, boohoo.... =(

Us with our dish and the "elegant" bride-to-be photobombing us behind.

DESSERT: MINI APPLE TART TARTIN

It doesn't look very appetizing LOL. The picture doesn't do any justice to the apple tarts at all. I would prefer it without Brandy, it made the tarts tasted rather bitter which is not very much to my liking because I don't like liquor.

Paired the hot-from-the-oven apple tarts with cold vanilla ice-cream, heaven! YUMS! 

You can judge from Daniella's orgasmic face.

We took 4 hours to cook a 3 course meals, IN HEELS! By dessert we were already burnt out zzZZZzzz. But what's good about paying money to cook is that we don't need to do the dishes LOL!

Here are some photos of us goofing around while cooking. I think we mostly burned our energy by playing around instead of cooking.

Don't piss me off or I will chop you to pieces and sell you to the pork stalls at pasar pagi.

Ashley Ramsay in the house.

Cucumber Claire attack!

Katrina's achievement of the night, peeling apple without breaking the skin off.

It's either she didn't want to get her hands oily or she had no confident in her cutting skill.

Daniella and his Lady Gaga photobombing antics. 

And Daniella with his Karl Lagerfield photobombing antics.

8 and a half women LOL.

Love this picture of all the Stepford Wives + 1 Stepford Husband behind.

All of us with the master chef!

We had so much fun that night! Thanks Ashley for organizing the party and a huge congrats to Jun Yee for getting married! Finally there is a man in this world who wants to marry her LOL! There is no one else happier than me to see her getting married! From constantly whining about being single to falling in love and killing me with her lovey dovey look and now signing off her lifetime happiness to a good man *sniff sniff* 

Here is a dedication for you, for your love in everything and everything that is affected by your positiveness and kindness.

2nd Wedding Anniversary

How time flies. Seemed like it was just a few months a go  I blogged about my 1st wedding anniversary. Today, I'm already blogging about my 2nd wedding anniversary. Where did all the time goes?!

This year, my wedding anniversary coincide with the public holiday of Hari Raya Haji. So we took the opportunity for a short road trip to Malacca for food! Decided to stay at a very British inspired hotel, The Sterling after contemplating a few good hotels. This hotel caught our attention for it's quaint concept, location and price. It was situated nearby the Jonker Street and opposite of the hotel is the famous satay celup, Capitol! The price is quite reasonable as well. The room I got is called Leyton & Stoke Mandeville.

The service is absolutely great. Unlike some hotels, the front desk staff look like we owe them a million dollar. But the staff in The Sterling greeted and served us with a million dollar smile. Although we just had a duffel bag, the bellboy (I should call him bellman because he is old) insisted on helping us carrying it to our car.

What do you do when you have settled down in the hotel room? SELFIE!

Happy 2nd Wedding Anniversary, hubby lou!

When there is good lighting, it means good selfie.

After selfies, we took a 10 minutes walk to Jonker Street for food.

It's time for the husband to invest on eye cream =_____=

The husband syncing his action camera with his phone, totally ignoring me.

The weather in Malacca is always humid because it's located next to the Straits of Malacca. So it's like heaven on earth when you down a bottle of Coca-cola. Aaahhhhhhhhh........

And Cendol Gula Melaka too!

For dinner, we wanted to try the famous satay celup, Capitol which is just located behind our hotel. We considered ourselves lucky to be staying so near to the famous cuisine until we saw the queue! Spot the arrow, that's where the queue started, WTF!!!! I have never seen such long queue for food! I wonder how awesome the food is since tons of people are willing to wait to such extend. For people like me who has zero tolerance in waiting, I bid Capitol goodbye and off to Jonker Street again for street food.

You don't say?

I raise my hands and legs and whatever that I can raise to agree.

Nothing beats the heat like Somersby Apple Cider!

I had been pestering the husband to take me to the Hello Kitty guesthouse. I saw online that it has a cafe too but I was disappointed when the front desk lady told me the cafe is no longer operating. I WANT HELLO KITTY FOOD!!!!!!!

So we went to try the famous mille crepe cake in Malacca, Nadeje in Mahkota Parade. Haven't heard about this place until my friend told me about it. He said Nadeje is "the place" for mille crepe. We shall see.

Original flavor.

Gula Melaka.

It's too creamy for my liking. It took away the texture of the layering. I couldn't feel the layers of the crepes because they're all moisten by the cream. You don't call it a mille crepe if you can't taste the layering of crepes. I have tasted better mille crepe.

Still holding on. Never let go.

I always think a watch is the perfect gift for your lover. It symbolizes the precious time you spend together.

Ended our anniversary road trip with a sea of clouds. 

I love you.

Dust mites attack in Starbucks Malaysia.

Few days before my birthday, I suffered from a skin allergy all thanks to the unhygienic of Starbucks. Here is the full story which I posted in Facebook and garnered an overwhelming attention.

On the 12th of January 2014, I visited a Starbucks outlet in 1 Utama and sat on the rattan chair provided outside. Within 10 minutes, I felt some tingling sensation on my thigh area. After that, red bumps started to pop up on my thigh's skin.

The itchiness started to get extremely severe by midnight and when morning arrived the next day on 13th January 2014, what looked like horrible huge red bumps evolved into gigantic red patches that ooze blood when scratched.

I consulted a doctor and I was told that it was a skin allergic reaction caused by dust mites. While researching online, I found that dust mites don’t bite. Their bodies, secretions and faeces contain particular proteins that can trigger allergic symptoms to people. This traumatic experience has lasted for 3 days, while writing this I am still suffering from the allergic reaction. I have sleepless nights, distressing itchiness, unable to be present for work, emotional and physical pain and worst of all, while filing a complaint to Starbucks, the reply from them just added more suffering to me.

I could not believe that an international F&B company such as Starbucks could be so negligent and sloppy with their reply that they could actually replied me to have a "Grande Day" after I told them about my misery. They did not even have the courtesy to apologize nor added in a point of contact to follow up on this matter. It has already been 2 days since the email was sent and I have not receive any follow up on emails or phone calls regarding this matter from them.

Their ignorance has forced me to take actions in my own hands to bring their attention via social media. I believe that if Starbucks do not even bother to take care of the hygiene of the seats for their customers, I doubt they will even care about what goes in to the drinks and sanitation of their utensils and overall hygiene.

A quick check in Starbucks Facebook page, I realized I’m not alone in this situation. There were many victims before me who had the same experience and treatment from Starbucks. I cannot believe they have not taken any action with all these cases. You can refer to this link for other victims’ experiences.

As a loyal customer of Starbucks for many years, I truly felt cheated and disappointed. Whoever who is reading this, your next visit to Starbucks may cost you more than what you pay for a cup of coffee. Please be warned. 

After posting this on Starbucks page, it hit more than 300 shares. They responded to my post in Facebook and asked me to PM them my contact. 

One of the representative called me after a few hours and made a scripted apology without even offering any compensation for my medical treatment and trauma experience. The excuse was that the case was still under investigation. It is obvious that there are already countless of reported cases of the same matter, why are they taking such a long time to investigate? Or is it just an excuse to pacify me and shut me up? They did not even have the courtesy to write an official apology email instead, all I got was a brief, scripted apology over the phone. In fact, I cannot verify if the personnel who called was from Starbucks Malaysia as he sounded very casual and not professional. As a loyal customer of Starbucks for many years, I am truly appalled and disappointed by the way this case has been managed, by their so-called esteemed company who prides so highly on human rights.

I emailed the Starbucks international afterwards and here how it goes.

They did not reply me anymore after that. Nor Starbucks Malaysia contacted me either. It seems like they have an I-don't-care attitude. Talking to them felt like talking to a brick of wall. I know they are not going to make a formal apology because they don't want to have any black and white proof. Their ego is too big to handle it. If they do, it will scar their reputation. They are just another company who doesn't give a shit as long as they can gain profit from the customers that they don't care. But yet, people are still contributing billions to their business, making them even more arrogant.

Many people gave me their kind regards, but many people gave their negative 2 cents too. They thought I'm just being whiny but the point is, I'm not the only one who suffered. If I'm the only victim, I will say that it was just my luck. But there were so many people who got bitten by dust mites from Starbucks. Note: ESPECIALLY STARBUCKS! The point is proven. They also said I just want to make a big hoo-ha for compensation. Trust me, compensation is the least of my worries, I just want my point to be sent across. The point of Starbucks being negligent in taking care of the cleanliness of their furniture and their non-existent concern for their customers.

These are the comments that I found amusing.

Ng Yu Sheng, do you even know what is private message? It means the message can only be seen by me and the corespondent. So yeah, I'm pretty sure that person who texted me with Starbucks Malaysia account can obviously see the message. And of course, I felt weird why is this guy defending Starbucks like I just killed his pet. I  clicked into his page and saw that he is a barista in Starbucks. This dude should be fired because under no condition he has the rights to respond on behalf of the company he works at. Even if he is in the PR department, he has no rights to comment with his personal account. That is so unprofessional. But of course I don't think Starbucks will fire him because they just don't care about anything and everything.

Woo Wei Jun, of course Starbucks is responsible for spreading dust mites! You think dust mites just pop out from the rattan chair like magic? There is even a reason why pimples pop out from your face! That's because your pores are clogged and dirty! Same goes to dust mites. The reason why dust mites spread in their chair because they don't clean their furniture. The dirty condition of the chair mix with the humid weather is a perfect spot for them to breed. They should have sun their furniture for hygiene purposes. Taking care the cleanliness of their utensils, furniture and premise is mandatory for all F&B companies. You know?

Same goes to Jin Tham. If I'm the only one who had this from Starbucks, fine. But so many people got it, so everyone gotta get an allergy test before patronizing Starbucks? Or everyone should wrap themselves in plastic like how smartly you suggested? Your ignorance and rudeness is one of the reason why the world is such a bad place. God bless you.