Out Sick

Mr. Happy just had an important meeting cancelled because the client has chicken pox. I told Mr. Happy to stop doing business with seven year olds! Their immune systems are a joke.

Tamarind Spring

Sometimes you need a break from the hawker food in favor of enjoying gourmet delights in the jungle. The place for that turns out to be - Tamarind Spring. Yesterday morning I had an email from the Baker inviting me to join her and her new friend M-bas-E for lunch in Ampang. I told Mr. Happy he was in charge of holding down the fort and he abruptly turned into Mr. Grouchy. He insisted he had been planning to take me to Tamarind Spring for a special occasion. Well, you snooze you lose! I wasn't going to wait another minute. Plus, I hear the place transforms itself for dinner, so I'll be anxious to go again.

Luckily, M-bas-E has a car. She picked us up at Suria-KLCC and we drove to Ampang. The entrance to Tamarind Springs is relatively non-descript and sits above the KDE golf club. When you enter the grounds, you step into a tropical oasis. The restaurant is entirely open air and beautifully constructed. Lunch was pretty quiet, but I'm told reservations are required for evening. I could have spent all day here just looking around.

The food was good, but it's the atmosphere that sells this place. You'll feel like you're on vacation in KL when you dine here. It's a must see for visitors or a special occasion. The price of a main ranged from about RM20-RM30, a bottle of the cheaper wine was about RM120 (not cheap at all, but in KL alcohol is s'pensive!).

We started with a host of hors devours followed by wagyu beef (RM 45), fish curry with wild bananas, and eggplant in coconut sauce. We also enjoyed some icy lemon-lime drinks. All told our bill came to about RM240. We've got family visiting soon, and we'll definitely add this to our list for sightseeing.
If you're going for dinner (bookings start at 6:30) try and get there before sunset to enjoy the views. If you drive a bit past the restaurant you'll see a posse of monkeys that cruise this area. It's fun for a tourist to see, if you live here you could probably skip the primates and make a beeline for the food. Enjoy!

Selamat Datang! (Welcome)

Selamat Pagi, Everyone! (Good morning).

Last night was my final Malay 1 class. I'd signed up for a 30-hour course at the YMCA in the Little India section of KL - Brickfields.


Our class included a baker, a water executive, and a musician with the Malaysian Philharmonic.

We received our final exams (I got an A! But, to be honest, I'm more Malay book-smart, than street-smart.) And we also received certificates of completion.

Mr. Happy did not receive a certificate. He missed too many classes because of business trips. As a good wife, I will try to assist him as he struggles to communicate his thoughts, feelings, and desires to people in Malay.

Here is our class celebrating our achievement. Our guru (teacher) is so short!!!


Selmat Jalan! Jumpa Lagi!

Flower Power

I picked up these cheerful little gems in Chinatown on Wednesday. I've never seen two-tone gerber daisies. I love them! I also picked up a bunch of orchids. All for about $3 US. When I got them home, I realized that no vase had made our relocation to KL. Luckily, my Ikea pitcher worked just fine. I gave the flowers to Mr. Happy :)

Suzi's Corner

Holy Cow! We just devoured some of Malaysia's best steak at Suzi's Steak Hut in Ampang Point. It's slightly more upscale than most of the hawker centers in town, and boy can she cook a piece of meat.

I opted for the sizzlin' tenderloin with garlic sauce (on the side). The meal came with fries, some veg, and a roll (bread in Asia!!). This was the top priced steak at RM 32. Our table also ordered another tenderloin with pepper sauce and a rib eye with garlic sauce AND pepper sauce.

The meat is served on a cow!

Mr. Happy indulged in some onion soup, a salad, and a bowl full of thousand island dressing. He also had some roti, but I forgot to take a photo. There was a good amount of vegetarian food on the menu, so no one has to starve.

A Tiger at Suzi's will cost you RM 6 and you can bring your own wine (corkage fee RM10). You may see the odd rat roaming around the parking lot, but hey, this is KL!!!

Our First Visitors!

Someone finally came to visit us! Mr. Happy’s aunt and uncle from Perth had a 30 hour layover in KL on a flight from Thailand. We made sure they enjoyed a true KL experience – eating, drinking, and shopping!

First stop – Chow Kit Market. This is the wet market where the locals shop – fruit, veg, chicken, fish, spices, clothing, cakes, you name it! We enjoyed a jug of coconut juice and the Aunt bought some shoes.

Next stop, Sungei Wang Plaza, the bargain hunters mall on Bukit Bintang. Be forewarned, you’ll probably need to ask directions for the exit because you get LOST in this maze like shopping mall. We bought some clothes, wine glasses, and a tea urn. Yes, a tea urn.

After lunch we hit our roof deck for happy hour.

We enjoyed an early dinner of Indian food at Ghazal on Changkat Butik Bintang before our guests caught their plane back to Australia.

It was mostly a carefree evening. But some of us did have to make some tough decisions.

Cape Town is Calling

My friend DMWT (Don't Mess With Texas) – who you might remember from my postings Me-like-a Malacca or Kickin’ it in the Kitchen – found out she's leaving KL! Her husband is being transferred quite unexpectedly to Cape Town. Their five years in KL has now been whittled down to three months! We are very sad to see them go, so we decided to drown our sorrow in cocktails and food.

The Baker invited a group of us over to their place for some gin and tonics. We took a group shot on the balcony which has a view of the KL Tower. Unfortunately, the photo only has a view of us.

Then we headed down to Jalan Alor - which is the hawker heavenly paradise just off Bukit Bintang. There are dozens of small restaurants with outdoor seating to choose from and they all compete for your business. We ended up at the very end of the road. I'm not sure what the actual name of the place is, but we call it the Mickey Mouse restaurant because Mickey is on their sign for some reason.

We ordered food until we ran out of space at the table.
Hopefully DMWT and Mr. DMWT will visit us soon for another meal. Good luck in Cape Town!

(Slow down, Mr. Happy!)