Makan-logue #1.: First Coffee House, Ipoh.

So since I am an avid fan of good food, I figured, I might as well start writing more about food and my adventures searching high and low for them. Whats the point of knowing about all these heavenly food but no one to share with, no? My first entry for this very new section of my blog will be the First Coffee House in Ipoh.

  

Honestly, tell me, where can you find a full three-course meal with a vintage, 30s restaurant ambience and feel all for only RM 12.90! At First Coffee House, you can. Here's my take on this restaurant.

I first come to know about this place when my friend Jo Yi, told me about how cheap and worth it this place is. The first thing that came into my mind when I entered the restaurant was how old-school it was. All the workers there are all about 60-80 years of age. A friendly uncle even told me that he had been working there for about 20 years now! And being the always-nostalgic me, I started imagining how many young dating girls and guys who will be about my parents age now.

First up, Starters.

For starters, you'll get a bowl of mushroom soup with hot steamed soft bun with butter. I usually leave the butter out (cause I hate eating chilled butter) and the bun goes perfectly well with the steamy-hot soup. Pretty much enough to fill me actually, but believe me, this is just a small portion of it.

Next up, the Main Course.

As for the main course, you'll have a wide variety to choose from, such as the Chicken Chop, Mixed Grill, Lamb Chop etc. My choice, a Half Spring Chicken as my main course. Yes, HALF a chicken served with fries and coleslaw. The chicken is perfectly fried leaving the skin perfectly crisp but the great thing about it is, its meat is still succulent and juicy on the inside. Going through the chicken requires patience skills as it can be pretty messy with all its chicken juices flying everywhere.

Jo Yi's Chicken Chop. 

I tasted it and it was pretty good. Not perfect to my liking cause I always preferred grilled chicken chop, but really, it definitely did not disappoint me.

My oh-so-awesome half spring chicken.

This is a MUST-TRY!

What's the perfect way to end a perfect meal? The perfect dessert.

You are given a choice between having the ice-cream, creme caramel, coffee or tea. And to make things even better, you can have two from the choices given above. I choose the ice-cream and creme caramel. I have a sweettooth and I am a huge fan of creme caramels. I know of this other place in Ipoh which serves the best creme caramel and it is super kind to your pockets. I promise I'll write about it in my future posts. But anyhow, the creme caramel served by First is actually pretty decent. And the special thing about it is that they put in small coconut bits. I'm not a big fan of coconuts, so this isn't my favorite but rest assured that its creme caramel is very soft and smooth, perfectly done.

Black coffee. 

This is definitely not mine.

Ice cream with coconut-creme caramel.

So, if you are looking to enjoy a whole three-course meal but is low on budget, make sure you stop by First Coffee House not only for a great meal but for a trip back to the olden days. Oh, and First also have catering services if you wish to throw a party.

My take on First Coffee House, Ipoh?
Ambience: 6.5/10
Food: 6.5/10
Price: 9/10

First Coffee House/ Catering
61 & 63,
Jalan Dato' Onn Jaafar (Cockman St.),
30300 Ipoh
05-2410286, 2412329
012-5051913 (Sow)

of what was supposed to be.

Okkay, so, I just wanna rant alil' here about missing out soooo many things last weekend and this coming weekend. I don't usually like to rant, but what-the-heck, I'm alil bored now doing what I'm stuck with instead doing what I want to! Okay, so lemme tell you alil' of what I've missed out so you'll understand my pain.

#1. Hennessy Artistry April 2011.

Yes. Did anyone tell you it was last weekend? All 3 days of jam-packed H-Artistry from KL, Opera all up to my hometown, Penang's Voodoo and Mois Club? An all expense paid trip to Penang (oh, how I miss the food there) and also partying all night all three nights long with the bloggers? Ok, here's a picture of what was supposed to be.

Oh, please ignore the absence of my legs and my cropped-out half head.

See! I fit the picture nicely! 

#2. Maroon 5 live in KL!

arrrghh! Adam Lavigne. Seriously, before I go further, believe me when I say, this picture below, is suffice for me to feel sucky for not being able to see him live in KL.

This is a picture of him taken to promote awareness for testicular cancer.

Did i hear oohhh and ahhhssss?

I told you so.

Anyhows, this picture depicts what was supposed to be. 

I'm all hyped up, at the front rows, ready with my camera, shouting "I love yous" like any other crazy fans.

#3. Cherating, Pahang.

Ahhhh. Shoot me already. Going on ranting about all this actually made me feel worse. So yea, I'm gonna miss an all expense paid trip to Cherating this weekend, yes, all thanks to exams again. You all know how much I love the beach and I have always wanted to go to Cherating because it is the one place in Peninsular Malaysia that I haven't step foot on just yet. and ah, its so close, yet so far, for me now.

How I wish I can be there to witness the sunrise with my own eyes.

So yes, I have been quarantined in Kampar for 2 weeks now and one more week to go before I can go back to KL. And the reason of me being MIA and updating so slowly(well, I know normally I update super slow as well) is simply because I'm kinda like the boy in this picture.

Yes, exam blues. I have one down, four more papers to go. So please do wish me luck. I'd be MIA, left stucked and abandoned in Kampar till 9th of May. Till then, I at least have these to accompany me:

#1. Flood.

Yes, my neighbourhood, got flooded, total-blackouts, and even thunderstorms in the past week. Interesting, no? Where else can you see a policeman, pants all rolled up, holding his shiny black shoes walking aimlessly?

#2. Thor.

I've watch Thor. Haha. Many of you who think that I am left to rot in Kampar, I'm sorry, but I just can't let my social life die like that. So yes, I've watched the latest Marvel movie, Thor. 

I would say, it was a let down. I expected better but it's storyline is alil' too cliche and alil' boring, I dare say. Not really good. I mean, what did Natalie Portman do exactly which caused Chris Hemsworth such a drastic change? Kinda illogical, seriously. But if you do plan to watch it in the cinemas, make sure you stay till after the credits; like how the past Marvel movies are, they have a little extra at the end. And Imma spoil it for you, the trailer is about Thor appearing in the remake of The Avengers! This, I have to watch. Oh, and I can't wait for the upcoming Captain America too!

#3. Being an iPhone dork.

Ok, so, many of you might not know that I've dropped my iPhone 3G into the toilet bowl last month. Yes, I'm not kidding. It literally went into the pool of clean water. So yes, being an Apple geek, I got myself a new iPhone 4 immediately. And if you are wondering, what happened to my old 3G? I decided to give it alil' surgery myself in hopes to fix the only problem to my phone (the non-functioning backlight) before I sell it off. Behold the pictures below and be prepared to be amazed.

The skeletons of an iPhone 3G. Its actually pretty easy. See those orange stickers, those are labelled stickers with numbers. Just follow the stickers and you're safe. So I opened it, blow-dry the phone alil' and put it back together. And taa-daaa...

The backlight came back on. I'm so proud of myself. =)

#4. Justin Bieber ala Malasie.

 Yes, I might not have front row passes to Maroon 5, but I do have 24/7 passes to a Bieber show. The fake one that is. So here's a vid of her entertaining me during our study breaks. Please clap afterwards alrite?

Talented isn't she?

Who am I kidding? I'd do everything to go for Maroon 5, Cherating and H-Artistry! Ahh, but what-the-heck. I'm sure there's lots more to come. So I'm signing off now, needa get back to my books. Be prepared for many more posts to come. I'm gonna continue my long belated birthday posts and share a little about the delicious food spots that you guys must go. I promise I'm going to update more often now with my internship at Advertlets coming. Toodles, love.

melaniehwa.

melaniehwa's randomness # 3.: the Royal Wedding live telecast!

It has been every girl's fairy tale to marry a Prince and it is definitely a fairy tale come true for the beautiful Kate Middleton. Witness the live telecast of the fairy tale wedding right this instant at Westminister's Abbey (a place that I MUST visit, one day) by clicking this link now! Now, now girls, don't be sourgrapes. Though we girls couldn't be the girl that the Prince Charming chooses, we should still be happy for the newly weds. Oh, btw, I think its sad that the Prince is balding now. He used to be every girl's Prince Charming. Oh well, I guess, its good for the-soon-to-be Princess Kate Middleton, if not most girls from all around the world would have started to plot against her. Do also read more from the CNN's liveblog about the union of these two lovebirds.

The place where all fairy tales, come true.

the Westminister's Abbey.
I die die must go this place!

Some pictures taken live from the wedding ceremony.

 Prince William (center) arrives with his brother, Prince Harry.

The famous handsome David Beckham arrives with his beautiful wife, Victoria Beckham.

oh, and did I mention how simply gorgeous Kate's wedding gown is? It is designed by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. Look at it! I would die for that wedding dress.

On a side note, please tell me someone noticed the similarities between Kate Middleton and the American Nickelodeon star, Amanda Bynes! Look at this picture!

Check out the live stream link NOW as the ROYAL WEDDING commences!
Congratulations to the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!

melaniehwa.

280311: I'm finally Legal! 2.0

And so, the awesome birthday celebration continues! I'm not kidding when I said, I have some awesome friends, that I would give up everything and anything for. Continue reading my five-part birthday posts to know why.

Friday, 250311.

Well, I rushed back from Kampar cause Josh told me that the Advertlets team will be having a small dinner celebration for my birthday. And feeling contented and happy that just after a short time working with them; they are such a great and supportive working family that I have learn to love.

So yeah, that day, I actually arrived 2 hours late to my very own party. Ok lah, it was my fault. I left slightly late, as usual, due to my really terrible make up skills trying to get ready and then, added up with the usual KL traffic, AND I got lost! So after 2 how hours of driving, I arrived at The Hills, and I really liked the place as soon as I first laid eyes on it. It was a beautiful place to dine in with your friends or with someone special. And so I was rushing up the stairs, hoping to catch up for lost time, it was to my surprise that all of my friends from secondary school and also my close friends were there. I was speechless, I would say. Here's some of the pictures.

I love this shot, I dunno why.

Here's how blur I looked when I first got there.

and I saw this...

My friends from my secondary school and my close friends!

Here's the evil mastermind behind everything, meet the famous Josh Lim.

Also, meet MYNJAYZ aka Jason Ong, Josh's partner in crime.

Thanks Azrin for being there though we just briefly met and also thanks for the awesome pictures!

  

Meet Rick, definitely one of the few friends that I would cherish for life. 

I have your back, dude.

and meet Annie! My sweetheart!

and the Birthday cake came!

It was a pleasant surprise all thanks to Josh and Jason. Thank you guys who helped out in making this day happen, thanks to those who were there, thank you Annie, for that  ching-a bracelets, special thanks to Josh and Jason especially for all those extensive invites to most people on my FB and to whoever I know, for picking out the perfect birthday cake (my fav BR very berry icecream cake), and for going through all those hassle just to make this 21st a memorable one for me. Sorry I couldn't put everyone's names and pictures up. You know who you are.

Group shot.

ps. pictures thanks to Azrin and Jason.

melaniehwa.

280311: I'm finally Legal! 1.0

As of the date above, I've officially turned legal. Yes, I know many of you might not know this, but I am only 21. So the big TWO-ONE, everyone say that it is a big deal turning 21 and I guess, I couldn't help but to agree. This birthday, I would say, is the best birthday ever up to date. This is because, I got to spend it with the most important people in the world, that is my family and my friends. I've always felt that regardless, the things that I have in the world, people who are dear to me are what matters most at the end of the day. So here's the first part of my very belated five-part birthday blog post. haha. This is so not to bore you with the excessive awesome parties thrown by my awesome awesome friends and family.

Wednesday, 230311.

And so, I have been bugging my foundation friends in Kampar for ages now to have a BBQ dinner that we use to have so often. Not only was there good food, but I always loved the time that we spent together doing crazy, out-of-mind things which cracks everyone up. And guess what? They were so kind to have one small BBQ dinner for me despite their heavy workload from college. I really did enjoy the short gathering with them despite not being as closely in touch with them as I wish we were. Anyhows, here's some pictures of that night.

Thanks to WWW, YMC, Edward and Tayshawn, not forgetting Janell. Thank you guys, for knowing that I've been wanting to have a BBQ party and having it for me. Thank you for going through all those trouble. Thank you guys who took a few hours off your hectic schedule just to entertain me, especially you Tayshawn (I sure hope your report went well). Thanks to Janell and Rick, for that beautiful striking red purse (you guys knows what I like best!) Thank you guys for cracking me up always with the crazy things you do (real life WAR one day k? I mean it!) Thank you guys for listening and being there for  me last year, when I was down. So yes, next up, Edward's bdae! Any plans guys?

melaniehwa.