Thai food anyone?

I have the opportunity to taste good food yet again. Where? Right here in Des Moines. At a restaurant named Cool Basil.

Tom yam soup!

It serves Thai food, and you can choose your level of spicy-ness. There's one star to five star, with five stars as the hottest. Well, compared to the real Thai food's spice, it has been mellow down. But don't be fooled, it's quite hot as well!

The food was good actually. Well, maybe you can say that I am a little bias and not so picky in food as before, due to the food quality here in Drake's Hubbell, but then again, it's good. =p Try it for yourself and you will know where am I in the food critique level. =D

To me, good food and good company over a meal is a must; the food won't taste good without a good company!

Well, you've guessed it, I have got some good friends to bring me for good food, a great meal indeed! Thank you everyone! =)

They even have some cute, small sized pepper and salt shaker!

How cute, right? That's a quarter, so you should be able to know what's the size! =p

Happy Birthday!

Wow, what a coincidence! My 101th post is on my birthday! Wonderful. =p

I know I should be studying for FM, my professional paper, which is on November 7th. But, I just don't have the mood to study now! Reason? Well, maybe it's because of my mind set. Today is my birthday and I don't want to study on my birthday. It makes me think that I am so miserable! But then again, maybe not. Maybe it's because I didn't get my dose of Caramel Macchiato this morning. I couldn't make it on time to get my favorite barista this morning! Erh... Close to afternoon, or rather exactly at noon at that time. Yes, I woke up at 11.30am this morning. Don't blame me! I slept at 2am. =p

I had a long chat with my mum yesterday night, or rather this morning. I realized how much I miss her. I miss those morning where we sit at the dining table and have breakfast; miss those times where we hang the clothes out and rush to collect it when the rain starts to come down; miss those jokes and those times we laughed at each other's mistakes; and, well, it sounds old-fashioned, but I do miss those naggings!

Well, nothing much I can do now, except chat online and look at her through the webcam. Really, technology do bring us closer, in terms of distance and age gap. Not many parents know or are willing to go online to chat and use the webcam; they prefer long distance call, even though online is free! That's the barrier of age gap when we are in the technology age I guess.

Anyway, enough of rantings, let's see what have I done the past week.

I had the opportunity to visit a pumpkin patch, corn farm, etc... It's all in a big huge land, owned by someone who named the place Howell's. It's an eye opener for me I guess. I get to see goats and rabbits and pigs up close; get to feed the goats, who get quite selfish when it gets to food! I also get to see pumpkin patch; get into a corn maze; and for the first time I saw a wild snake! Well, it's a garden snake, a teeny weeny snake, but still it's a nice experience.

Hissssssed!! Come nearer and you are DEAD!

I also get to carve a pumpkin, as Halloween is round the corner. I carved the simplest, most common pumpkin pattern: an angry face. It was fun!

What are you looking at? Wanna fight? *grrrrrr...*

Something else worth mentioning is I finally get to go to the Cheesecake Factory. It's a restaurant, just in case you were wondering why on earth would I want to enter a factory so much. I love cheese; and I have an uncanny craving for chocolate since I came to the States. Guess what? They actually mixed these two together, and come up with the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake. I didn't try that cheesecake, though I did get a bite of their original cheesecake. It's by far the best cheese I have ever tasted. So much for a cheese fanatic eh? But it was really good, trust me. =p I got myself a 4 cheese pasta as well, which also taste pretty good. I couldn't finish it, so end up heating it up this morning for my lunch. =p

Alright, that's pretty much all I have done, except for sleeping, eating, stoning, chilling, and some 9-ball pool. Happy Birthday to myself I guess.

Anyone gonna feed him? *mehhh meeehhh*

Study? Huh? What's study? Oh! The one where I learn stuffs from books? Where I learn stuffs from other people's reasoning? Yeah yeah, I remember now. Oh, you want me to study? Some time later I guess...

Sushi at Des Moines!

I am very lucky, I must admit. Lucky in the sense that I get to know all these wonderful people who took me around during the fall break. This time, I get to eat sushi, right in Des Moines, Iowa. The name of the place, Aparre Japanese Steakhouse.

I must say, the sushi are very fresh. Considered the fact that we don't actually get really fresh seafood here in Des Moines, the freshness of the sushi is amazing.

I am not a very very big fan of sushi, but I must say I like udon mee. And guess what? This restaurant actually serve great seafood udon. Amazing I should say. Feeling how tangy the mee is in my mouth couple with the tasty soup, it's a must try for everyone.


Nice wine and pretty girls, what more can you say? Umm... Don't get me wrong, she was our waitress only. =p

When it came to drinks, we ordered plum sakae. We actually had two testers before we made the order. Pear sakae is quite strong, and plum sakae taste milder and sweeter, so we went with plum sakae. Having nice sakae with lovely sushi is really an enjoyment!

The best part is when you get so many people together for a meal. We ordered a party tray, and there were so many sushi in it. That was my first time ever seeing so many sushi in a single tray. And every sushi taste great!

I must say I love oyster, and I couldn't resist the temptation to order kaki fried. Well, not fried legs, that is in bahasa malaysia. But it is fried oyster. Those succulent oyster fried to perfection, dipped with sauce and no fishy smell, it made us order another two portions! Yes, it was superb.

Then came the spider sushi. It is a soft shell crab sushi. This was also amazing.

After all the satisfying, amazingly delicious main course, we had to make room for more! Yes, dessert. We ordered mochi, as recommended by Rachel. It's ice cream wrapped with a skin to make it look like pau. Needless to say, it was amazing as well. L O V E L Y

All in all, this was one amazing dinner I have had. I must say, without regrets, that I live to eat!

M & M: Part 5, Malaysian Food!

We got a dose of Malaysian food at Minnesota as well! The restaurant name is called Peninsula.



This is Pasembur, also known as Indian Rojak. Well, not as nice as SS15's, but still edible.

Cendol! A little too much coconut milk I guess. But still taste good after missing out on it for so long.

I told you she was our model for the trip. Here she is promoting Nasi Lemak.

All the dishes we ordered: Hokkien Mee, Pasembur, Curry Laksa, Asam Laksa, Prawn Mee, Wat Tan Hor, Curry Mutton (they used lamb).

Teh tarik! Oh no! I miss mamak!

That's all for the Minnesota trip I guess. It was a really nice trip, and a very rewarding one too! Once again, thank you to all those people who made this trip possible for me. Love it!

M & M: Part 4

Part 4 of M & M! And there's more. =p




Buildings in downtown are linked by these bridges.

That's the church. One of the many churches around the area.

Some clock above the building I spotted.

Heading back towards downtown.

Some building we passed by.

Rachel. Picture courtesy of Randy.

Picture courtesy of Randy.

Some random picture I took in the hotel room.

Dunn Bros Coffee. We had this the next morning, after having Caribou coffee and Starbucks Coffee on the first morning.

Interior of Dunn Bros Coffee.

CLK!

On the way back. Pictures of lakes is a must if I visit the land of 10000 lakes, isn't it?

Another random lake.

Yet another lake.

Can you see how straight the interstate highway is? It's I 35 by the way.

Next!!

M & M: Part 3, Mall of America

Mall of America, here I come!







The way into the Mall of America!





Bloomingdale's.




Right outside Bloomingdale's.






One of the Starbucks Coffee Co. in Mall of America.

This is just one part of the whole mall.

Rainforest Cafe? Hmm... Did Genting's First World Hotel copied this cafe? No offence, just curious.

Lego at MoA.

Another part of MoA.

Yet another part of MoA.

Some fancy lights.

Get the idea how big the mall is yet?

A shop selling tea, and tea stuffs.


Strawberry chocolate! A W E S O M E

The model of the day, Rachel. Photogenic and pretty, not? By the way, I wasn't the camera man, just that the camera was mine. =p

Theme park in the mall.

All in all, MoA is a great big huge mall, with a theme park in it! If you love shopping, this is the place to be.