Deeparaya

A very Happy Deepavali to all my Hindu friends and Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri to all my Muslim friends. May you find peace, happiness & enlightenment in this festive season.



A kolam made from colored rice displayed at the foyer of my workplace.




Decorative Raya items at The Curve

Sigma 70-300mm 4/5.6 APO Macro lens

Test shots using the Sigma lens on its macro & zoom features.



View of the swimming pool from my balcony on the 21st floor



Macro flower shot courtesy of Jagdeep last weekend



Crumpler logo on buckle

Oriental Pearl Chinese International

After getting the Sigma 70-300 4/5.6 APO Macro lens last week, I had no opportunity to test it until today. DPNikon had earlier emailed the regular TT session guys about this event which was a subsidiary body beautiful title under the main pageant. All shot at ISO800 without flash. Hannah Tan was one of the judges. She's so sporting. The photo guys were swarming all over her after the event. I got a shot too....



Esther Ke (China) and Yue Xin (Hong Kong)

Wang Zheng Hua (China)

Mia Wang (Malaysia)

Maggie Choong (Malaysia)

The delectable Hannah Tan...

Fatty Crab

After all that shopping for a camera, it was time for some dinner at Fatty Crab in Taman Megah, PJ. Place was crowded even on a Thursday evening. They have 2 other branches at The Mines & Pandan Indah. The chilly crab was fiery & the Melbourne folks had to take a back seat. Another version of steamed crab was less crippling of their taste buds! The steamed garoupa, teochew style, was fresh but a bit on the sour side. The chicken wings were very well marinated & one of the best around. Fried rice rounded off the meal.

Fiery chilly crab

Steamed crab with lots of roe

Steamed garoupa teochew style

Camera shopping

Juck Len & family were in town for a short vacation from Melbourne. He has set his sights on getting a digital camera, a compact point & shoot for a start. Shortlisted to 2 models i.e. the Canon Ixus 55 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC FX9. YS Photo had the most competitive price around & after some comparison on features & picture quality, the FX9 with 6 megapixels, was the winner.



Juck Len & Randall at the camera shop checking out the FX9

Buddhist temple

Heritage doors in Taiping

Memorial Prayers

Performed memorial prayers for my mum at the Buddhist temple. This is the 14th year anniversary.

Breakfast at Prima Coffeeshop

Just 2 doors away from Public Bank Taiping branch, this coffeeshop seems to be perpetually crowded. Taipingites are essentially meat lovers, most will customers will have a side order of roast pork to go with their noodles.

Seafood koay teow soup

Koay teow soup with chicken slices

Popiah - not so good, though

Wanton noodles again !

Hokkien prawn noodles

New Bee Guan Seafood

One of our usual haunts for tasty homestyle food at reasonable prices. Located at a corner shoplot along Tupai Road on the way to Pokok Assam, business is brisk & sometimes we have to wait quite awhile before food is served.

Steamed catfish

Kung po cuttlefish in yam basket

Fried assam prawns

Stir fried leek with tofu

Tong Ah Wanton Noodles

Trips back to Taiping has always been to look up old favourite food. Tong Ah is an old stall in Taiping located quite near to the market. I remember my late grandma used to insist that her wanton noodles must be from this stall. The proprietor has surely been at it for more than 30 years. Lai Ping was not satisfied with the noodles at Pun Chun (at a stopover in Bidor) which are frequently inconsistent in taste. Of course, the best in Taiping was from Tai Chien coffeeshop but it's not available anymore since the proprietor has passed on. Tong Ah's noodles has that springy texture but the sauce could do with some improvement.

Lady minding the stall for more than 30 years

Wanton noodles Taiping style

Kanna Curry House

My favourite destination for banana leaf rice. Located along Sec 17/45 in Petaling Jaya, this outlet has recently expanded to 2 shoplots. Very efficient, the staff are specialised in their individual tasks i.e. placing a banana leaf on your table, scooping giant helpings of rice, choice of curries, the various vegetables, papadum, fried salted chilles, fried bittergourd. These are the standard items. Extras will be the curry chicken, prawns, curry squid etc & deepfried seafood items. The fried seafood is freshly prepared and comes piping hot. Recommended items would be the fried tenggiri slices and the dried mutton rendang. Naturally, all this is best accompanied with some freshly "pulled" teh tarik...



Banana leaf rice



Seafood marinated in curry spices ready to be deep fried



Friendly staff

Ah Lok Kopitiam

There seems to be a trend these days to open kopitiams (coffee shops) in the Klang Valley. Back to basics fare, offering your regular kopi-o, toast bread & kaya, soft-boiled eggs, nasi lemak etc. Probably this was attributed to the success of Uncle Lim's Cafe in Ikano Power Centre, the sister mall of Ikea. Since then, we have had all sorts of uncles appearing. Business people here seems to have this herd mentality. And we haven't started on Hong Kong style cafes.... And so, latest in SS2, PJ is Ah Lok Kopitiam, sandwiched between Coffee Bean and Long Black Cafe. Opened over the weekend, we had dinner at the cafe this evening. The menu is quite extensive, from rice, noodles, porridge to even sirloin steak! I had the nasi lemak which was quite good. Fragrant rice, sambal squid, rendang chicken & the mandatory peanuts & anchovies. Had a go at the toast & kaya too which came in dainty portions. Black coffee was decent. We would come back again.



Nasi lemak with rendang chicken & sambal squid

Robert Harris Coffee

Situated at the new wing of 1Utama, this is a usual stopover for us in the afternoons. Robert Harris is apparently quite an institution in New Zealand, apart from Rolf Harris, Jonah Lomu & the All Blacks...

Charms Cafe

Charms Cafe is located along the linkway between the old & new wing of 1Utama. We like the Vietnamese decor of the eatery especially the quaint lampshades. Our choice for brunch today was the fried chee cheong fun. The cafe is noted for its novel approach towards everyday stuff. The Vietnamese coffee Daklak is our favourite, it has a strong & slightly bitter taste. The coffee is dripped from a special sieve perched on top of the cup. Another Charms outlet had just opened at The Curve in Mutiara Damansara. We'll be sure to drop by real soon!



Fried chee cheong fun



Daklak - Vietnamese coffee



Vietnamese lampshades

TT session at The Curve

Another meeting of PhotoMalaysia forummers was held in Starbucks at The Curve in Mutiara Damansara last night. Treated to some new toys like the Sigma 70-300mm F/4-5.6 APO DG Macro acquired by Shooter couple of days earlier. Awesome reach for sniping! Autofocus is slow in low light but usable. At around RM750-00, quite a reasonable performance. Of course, the highlight of the evening had to be Sunor's Nikon D2X mounted with the AF-S DX Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED. This had all the guys drooling over that set-up. Overall cost should be exceeding RM20K. Quite an eventful outing & met some new chaps from the forum. Kudos to DPNikon for initiating such meet-ups!

LR - logan, cheeshion, chuahlh, shooter, dpnikon, wasabi, timothyc, mydeuter, fahmie, mohamadfazli, elimch, stokie, kvct

Bee Coffee

My favourite kick-start in the morning. A 2-in-1 kopi-o in a convenient coffee bag that you can soak in hot water. Manufactured in Butterworth, I can hardly find it in KL. Have to resort to getting my sis from Penang to supply. Very aromatic & strong Hainanese type of black coffee. The kind you can still get in Taiping for RM0.70 a cup. Directions : Put sachet in a cup. Add 200ml boiling water. Stir after soaking for 2-3 minutes. But I have a better method. Put the water (room temperature) in a mug. Microwave on power high for 1.5 minutes. Add sachet into mug & nuke for another 30 secs. You get a stronger taste. Recently found out they have a website where you can order online too. Not bad for the humble kopi-o. Found its way to cyberspace.

Little Cravings

This outlet in 1Utama, opposite the Giant Hypermart, offers genuinely home-made nyonya kueh. We know that for a fact as the owner is my ex-colleague Mei Lean. Favourite item is the kueh talam, rich & creamy coconut milk topping, definitely worth several helpings!

Good Evening Bangkok

Located in the new wing of 1Utama, this is part of a chain of Thai restaurants in the Klang Valley. The others incude Bangkok Jam in Bukit Bintang, Bangkok Jazz in Chulan Square, Basil in Bangsar Village and another in 1Utama called Just Thai. Decked out in traditional Thai decor, they serve pretty much authentic Thai food. My sister, Beng Choo from Penang was in town and we had a quick lunch there before she hit the shopping trail...



Miang Kam - an appetiser



Clear seafood tom yam soup



Mango salad