With an adorable Bulgarian serving me drinks!

Yup, I made a teeny weeny short trip to Penang for this much anticipated event. I was invited for the Penang Food Bloggers Food Gathering held on the 15th August 2009 in a very authentic restaurant called Vintage Bulgaria. For those who are geographically familiar with the Penang, it’s located in Hillside, Tg. Bungah.

Humble on the outside; but get in and you’ll be pretty impressed

There were altogether 3 levels of this Bulgarian Restaurant. The Penang Floggers had booked the entire 3rd level for 30+ pax. Oh and FYI, the dress code was either red, white or green as it was Bulgaria’s national colours.

Prior to the event, I went for a little walk around the whole 3 storey restaurant for a sneak peak at its interior. So guys, Imma take you on my lil visual tour now aye?

Upon entering

The bar

You dine here!

Families enjoying their dinner on both the levels
seperated by a semi-spiral wooden staircase

Very authentic aye? I adore the wooden furnishings, pebble walls and the wheel-shaped chandelier. Makes you feel so at ease – just like in the comfort of your own home. Now, this is the kinda setting that completes a wonderful dining experience.

Street lamps

Couldn’t resis camwhoring with it

Lights, camera, let it roll!

Anyway, remember the adorable Bulgarian that served me mango juice? Well, that’s actually the restaurant manager – Andre. He personally made his rounds to entertain and helped the guests.

The drink that kickstarted the event

We were served an entire set meal which consists of a few choices of entrees, main courses, desserts and drinks. I OBVIOUSLY chose fish as my main course being a hardcore fish lover – but Imma share all the dishes that we had anyways.

The waitress serving our choices of soups

Choices of :
Mushroom Soup served with vintage garlic bread
and
Seafood soup

I preferred the Seafood Soup anytime, very much better than most Seafood Chowders I’ve tried. The Mushroom Soup was not to bad as well, with that piece of vintage garlic bread, they can never go wrong.

Time for the main course!
Here were the choices :

Chicken Stroganov
It was boneless chicken drumsticks cut into strips cooked
with mushroom, cream, wine, herbs and spices

Chicken was relatively tender and I absolutely love those capsicums. The sauce had this tangy and unique taste too. Not a bad choice for poultry lovers!

The Bulgarian Platter
There were a mixed grilled trio of Bulgarian sausages and pork fillet

I found this rather bland, which tasted like almost any other pork fillets and sausages. It wasn’t a favorite among my tablemates as well. It wasn’t bad though as it was pretty filling, but could be better.

Plovdiv Ribs
They were tasty pork ribs grilled till tender

My grandma would love this. Pork ribs had always been a usual for our family dinners back at home, and this one was grilled to its finest and had the authentic taste of how pork ribs should always originally be.

My choice of dish
Baked Codfish with Creamy Mushroom sauce

Two words – AMAZINGLY FRESH. Love the texture too. Sorry but hey, I’ve always been partial to fish. So what else can I say but give a biased opinion about this dish? LOL anyways, the peeps at my table had a bite of my fish and all of them agreed in unison.

But as much as a hardcore fish fan as I am, nothing comes close to this winner

Bulgarian Pork Djolan
It’s their traditional roasted pork knuckles

Succulent, bursting with flavour and unlike any other. All of us gave this Pork Djolan a thumbs up and even requested for more. This was all before I was told that it was an all-time favorite among the previous crowds of customers.

Good till the very end
A must try – no doubt about that!

As a wrap to our heavy portions of main courses, came the desserts. We had choices of Chocolate Soup and Chocolate Creme Brulee. They were both cocoa based, but my choice would definitely be the Chocolate Soup… hands down!

The smooth and creamy taste of chocolate
is now drinkable!

We set to work the cameras, pens, notebooks and our tummies. And even camwhored along the way! Well, all work and no play makes bloggers a dull one, no?

Pic courtesy of Ken

It was in 7pm in the evening and there was a huge commotion at Laundry Bar, The Curve. What could that be? The one and only giveaway was its distinctive bright yellow splashed all over. DiGi Music Unlimited takes center stage today!

I was invited to this launch along with a few other bloggers. We had a pretty good time there – despite the fact that many of us were a lil crestfallen. Apparently the special appearance by the All American Rejects turned out to become nothing but a rumour!

Gimme that!

Sorry – I totally lost the plot
NO ONE TOLD ME WE WERE SUPPOSED TO MAKE A FACE!

They fed us well
and pumped up good music.

That’s his REAL height
/smirks

There was a light dinner buffet with yummalicious dessert! Perfect for all the sweet tooths out there. Check out some of my faves of the night

Loved the capsicum, sausage & tomato combo

Yummsters go to the mini chocolate brownie & cheese tarts

Despite having a wide variety of other food which was enough to go around. Nigel seemed to be on a very strict diet. His entire plate was empty except for a single stick

I wonder who he’s trying to impress?

My, what thick Dolly Parton lips ya’ got there pal
Sexxay can I? haha

Caprice was in the house to kickstart the event with an opening performance! His usual crew of masked men in formal – semi formal attire would break those beats with their show-stopping dance moves.

I wanna go
DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN
A remix of Akon – Right Now (Na-Na-Na)

This is where I shut my ears as an entire hoard of tweens would
prolly go gaga over him whenever he has a performance anywhere

Still, I must give him a thumbs up for
having a really good on-stage personality as well as having his
own interactive methods of crowd control. Kudos!

Then Albern Murty came upstage to give us an introduction! Pretty nice name if I have to say so myself. Anyhoos, he’s the Head of Products & Segment Marketing. Three cheers for ya!

Together with the Head of Segment Marketing, Mr. Koay, the both of them started giving a pretty good sharing session on what this new entire digimusic.com.my was all about and what privileges & benefits it has in store for its users.

THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Music is love!

Those fab songs matches his bubbly personality!

Soon after that, we had a group tour on those DiGi Music Unlimited kiosks. It was a laptop and we were asked to compete against one another to see which group manages to follow all the instructions to download and share music in the fastest time.

Say HELLOOOO to Group 1

On our marks, get set…. GO! GO! GO!

Ohmy. What a candid.
Gahh. Pardon the stupid expression.

Being 2nd place didn’t win us anything
but we’re all still winners at heart!

An Afro-Chinese. What ever happened to the Yellow Fat Man?
I ate him whole

The students were all rounded up into the holding room – where no parents walk the earth. LOL anyway, what else could we do in that room other than to adjust our robes, chat, adjust our robes, make-up, adjust our robes, camwhore, adjust our robes and adjust our robes.

Darn those oversized garments!

Ron, Hermione & Harry

Myself with the MILF
Kindly ignore the oversized robes which make us look 100lb heavier.

Hey! I just noticed this multi-racial photo!
Malaysians : Chinese, Malay & Indian

One of my fave lecturers – Mr. Irwan
He’s so bubbly I tell ya, but remember to run a mile as his
moodswings can put a thunderstorm to shame

Myself with ex-‘Blondie-Shake-Head’ Kumar
and Leo tumpang glamour in the background!

Mr. Mark trying to pick up a fight when Kumar
made fun of his extra-shiny and polished head

I have a strange tendency to play with my lecturers’ motar board
Damn what dya call that dangling mini-broom again?

I’ve always thought ONE Enrique was enough
Dubbed the ‘short Chinaman with funny hair’ by Mr. Ken

During the graduation rehearsal & the ceremony itself,
we cannot deny that at some points, it bored us to tears (and hunger)
But Keira and I kept each other company
as we were placed nearby in alphabetical order

wheee! I love my sunflower bouquet
Thanks mom!

Communication students walking the aisle
That’s me on the left if you hadn’t noticed.
heh.

Once we sat down, it was the series of long speeches by the principal, a minister of something-something, the president of the IMI Switzerland thingy and many other VIPs. Sorry for not remembering as I completely tuned out during the formalities – having only 3 hours of sleep the night before. FML

Then we were signalled to turn around and give
a welcoming applause to our parents

One by one, names of students were called out from various diploma/degree programmes under many departments such as the school of Engineering, Science & Technology, the school of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts and the school of Arts & Social Sciences to receive their scroll.

i can haz scrollz

The next moment made mom & dad proud.
One student will be chosen from each school to be called on stage to receive an extra award. With joy, I was selected to be the receipient of the Book Prize from the Department of Mass Communications. Couldn’t have done it without my lecturers Mr.Mark, Mr. Ken, Mr. Irwan, Ms. Felicia, Ms. Ruby, Mr. Shen-Hoei, Mr. Aaron, Ms. Goh and Mr. Soohoo. My grattitude goes out to all of you!

This is for my family, my lecturers and myself bwahahahha.

Looks like being a nerd in college paid off!

I know a few of our juniors are reading this right now too. Heyya loves, you’ve only got a few more semesters to go, so ace your exams and get that boom boom pow going! Work hard while you’re at it. But don’t forget to party harder! Woots

Quote of the Day
by Mike’s Mom

“Mike, before you return your gown you better make sure
you take picture with us first ah!?! I want ah!
Remember, you know? Must ah!”

We were all then rounded up like sheep again to the stage for a
large group photo with the principal and the VIPs
Can you see me & Abigail posing?

Once I exited the grand ballroom, there were big smiles plastered across my face the moment I saw mom, dad, goddy, both my grampers and my kakak. They showered me with two bouquet of flowers and an enourmous graduation teddy!

I swear I will build muscles by the time I get home. Carrying this everywhere I went was an uphill struggle as dad wanted agazzilion photos of me with the family, lecturers & friends.

I had to walk everywhere like this
… no thanks to dad!

I was touched, as grampa came all the way for my graduation – being a person which prefers to rest at home 24/7. I hardly express the soft side of me but… I love you gung-gung! Shuddup don’t laugh wtf.

Always loved you and always will.
Your presence at my graduation means so much.

Out of so many photos of me with both my grampers, I chose this one. Why? Because it thoroughly depicts their individual characters which are so fascinating, yet ones which I’m so fond of. Lemme show you what I mean –

Gramma always seem to have something to talk about
Grampa always looks elsewhere when his photo is taken

Both my folks & I
Living under the same roof & tuning in to nag.fm for 20years of my life
I’m more than ready to face university now, thanks mom & dad!

The Godmother, affectionately known to me as Goddy.
A prominant maternal figure in my life &
one who whips the asswipe outta me.
Fierce at times, but adorably cute when she’s tickled.

Thanks for piling academic pressure on me yet
approving of my constant partying
You never thought I could balance both – and I proved you wrong didn’t I?
If any mom rocks harder than her,
I’d have to pierce my nipples & tattoo my nose

The nanny, of which I call ‘kakak’
She’s been with us since I was a kid of 3.
That makes it 17 years now, can you bloody imagine that?

Definitely part of the family – love her to bits.

The motley crue.
Wished Uncle Mike was here to complete this wacky tribe!

I have an idea, let’s just all say ‘hello’ to Uncle Mike
in a form of a teddy.

SPOT MEEE! SPOT MEEE!

All’s well ends well. I’m glad I’ve finally graduated from the school of hard knocks! Well truth be told, college life wasn’t really that bad. It was fun at the same time. I will never forget that carpark Uncle who scratched people’s cars & our Maggi Goreng in that mamak store at the open aired carpark. Damp & oily noodles but still loved by our batch of Communication students.

I honestly wonder why.

Next stop – Moving my sweet and sour arse into The University of Melbourne to take on a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications (Hons.) majoring in Journalism. Let’s rock Down Under yo. G’dday!

Gahhh my chinese name -__-
Photo Creds : Daniel Ong

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FELLOW CLASSMATES WHO COMPLETED THIS JOURNEY WITH ME. MY SUCCESS IS YOURS & YOURS IS MINE AS WELL
we did it!

I‘m pretty sure those of you who are familiar with the American Top-40 music charts or even MTV music would have defintely heard of Boys Like Girls. For those scratching their heads thinking who I am rambling about, fret not.

They are such heartthrobs! An American rock band from Boston with their 1st self-titled album in 2006 and is now on tour promoting their 2nd studio album, Love Drunk. Boys Like Girls have also recently toured across USA with emo-rock band Good Charlotte.

Ta-daa! There they were in the flesh yesterday at Sony Centre in The Curve, Damansara for a meet-and-greet autograph session with their fans! Hordes of peeps, consisting of mostly young teenaged girls (and their apprehensive parents LOL) holding posters and CDs were flocking the entrance.

I also dig similar Alternative Rock music like the All-American Rejects, Greenday, Fall Out Boy, Nickelback, Secondhand Serenade and Switchfoot.

At least they’re not like some other threesome lolli-poppish boy band from their American counterparts with sissy looking prettyboys. Whooops. Now, I didn’t mention any names right? Heh. I think you know who they are already

Heck, I’ve always had a thing for piereced and tattoo-ed whiteboys with emo hair. Haha. Every girls has their fantasies, no? Let’s check out these bad-ass cuties in the shots I captured.

That’s Martin Johnson.
He’s the lead singer of the band.

That’s Paul DiGiovanni
He’s the lead guitarist & my fave member!
*swoons*

This is John Keefe.
He’s the band’s drummer

Finally, check out Bryan!
He’s the bass
ist for Boys Like Girls

Sadly though, I didn’t manage a picture with them as they were too busy autographing their younger fans’ CDs, posters, band merchandise and even at the back of their Tshirts!

But behind those eye-candy shots,
lies the gurl and her precious gear

Time for some guilty pleasures! Moments with a group of my best buddies here when I’m so far away from home. We often meet up a few times for gatherings annually, as some of our kakis aren’t residing in KL or Malaysia.

Dim Sum in the morning! FML I despise mornings. I find waking up at an unearthly hour on a Saturday morning by the blaring sound of the alarm clock a pain in the you-know-where.

You guys will prolly kill me after seeing this but but but
I know you’ll still love me all the same!

No worries yea? There’ll be a compensation for ya’ll… of me with my mouth open greedily just like you *grumbles*

So we headed down to DJ for some morning DimSum… who could miss sucha bright yellow corner of a building along the street?

Shot this at a wide angle from my solitary position
It’s the Jin Xuan Dim Sum shop!

Despite finding waking up in the early morning a wretch, I woke up anyway as you can see. *biggrin* Only for the sake of fellowship with ’em SSloves of course!

For this 5th SSgathering, we initially had a very ambitious plan of a BBQ night in Port Dickson and then staying for the weekend. But due to the wretched epidemic of everyone falling sick, some of us caught the bug as well and barbequed food is definitely a no-no for recovering peeps.

So the tribe has spoken and this time, it’s down to the 8 of us.

Of chopsticks and dumplings?
Let the games begin.

So now you have us, the 8peeps who could make it for this round

The rest of de gang, come join us next time!

When the 1st round of food came, it’s time for our nom-nom session!

Hungry lads

The couple of the century
like, yeah. Seriously!

*Gobble gobble gobble*

Better be fast! We eat with the speed of light

Vendearie & I

Cathy & Chris asking for more!

Chris having sand in his pants after not getting what he wanted
(okay, I made that up. muahaha)

Despite waking up so early in the morning
I think I can pull off a happy face too?

United – hand in hand with a plate of Dim Sum

I especially liked the yam cakes, egg tarts and the broth. Chee Cheong Fun tasted alright too! And the yellow Dim Sum is yummy, I love it but can never seem to remember its Chinese name.

FML
God knows why they always do that since our 1st gathering

Be a good little TeckWeng and stay with your woman okay?
DO NOT come near my man.

Ducclebears & I

I spotted something that looks goooooood

I think they have something in their mouths
Chewing halfway!

Okay fine. I know you’re still waiting for this. I’m fair and square! Did not forget okayyyyy. *clears throat* As a punishment of editing the 1st photo together, I now present you..

My unglam moment as well
Hey stop shoving food in my direction!

much love Cathydear!

This photo is horribly unfocused but I like the fun in it

When we all exited the Dim Sum restaurant. It was time for a breakdown. Guess how much our bill was? With the superb mental calculation of stepsunny YingYang, ducclebears Josh and smellyexpired Cheez, our bill was affirmatively RM123.40

1234
Any superstitious peeps in for a lottery?

We bid our goodbyes and exchanged our hugs & kisses just like always.

Nooooo! Not like that!
(Check out the child in the background)

Unlike us babes *cough*
We are slightly less PG13 in public!
(You don’t know what goes on behind closed doors)

Yes dudes. You heard that right.

Bloated. Talk about a friggin’ heavy breakfast

Here’s another one for our collection! Since the beginning and as usual, I have done our family photo. Out of lovvvee babeh… out of lovvveee.

Till our next gathering!
BOOM BOOM SHAKALAKAPOM!