Cyclist, Get away to Penang Island

Alright, here's a very old story.
Though it was a significant life time story from 2014.

It was an impulse decision to join Rachel in participating the Cycling For A Lane in Penang Island 2014. Signed up in March, and left it behind my mind until June.

It's fate and luck that when I first join Pickle & Fig, I've met Uncle GC and Uncle Larry, who are regular customers, at the same time, cyclists.

Putting on my cycling gears!

Uncle GC is very friendly. He introduces me to the bike shop in Bandar Utama where good and warm service is provided.

Explore cycling at least once in your lifetime and be glad about it!

As part of training, also Uncle GC and Uncle Larry's usual cycling route, we cycled all the way from PJ to Klang, along the Federal Highway.

Bah Kut Teh breakfast on Sunday morning

One day before the event, I drove Rachel to Penang.

It was 350km drive without a stop!

Following that day was time with Rachel's family in Penang Island

and not to forget... Penang street food!

The stalls are by the road side.

Managed by the locals, which is a different scenery from how it is in Central Peninsular Malaysia.

It feels good.

There you go, my first cyclist suit.

Still can't believe I've done it months ago.

Staying overnight at Rachel's grandparents' place that night, all comfy and cozy. Thank you so much for having me!

We woke up early the next morning, had some food then got on our bicycles only to find ourselves arrive at the starting point right after the gun was shot.

Regardless, let's hit the road!

At my first stop

We went off different speed in the beginning.

Hence I was on my own, staying strong with my earphone on.

At some tourist's spot.

Towards the end, when I started to feel like I couldn't continue without a proper rest,

I decided to stop for...

ABC ice

I'm never born an athlete. 

Coming this far, to finishing Half Marathons and now,

round the island, 82.8km,

I earn this medal with pride.

CFAL 2014

Keep the spirit up!

On 17th August 2014, I round Penang Island in bicycle, accomplished!

City Kaffa @ Bandar Botanic, Klang | Thursdvy @ TTDI | The Grumpy Cyclist @ TTDI

Hey there, it's been a while.

Espresso * Wandering mind * Music

Other than getting a new part time job, I've been hopping around KL.

Are you ready?

Go!

(Ops, this one's from Klang)

City Kaffa @ Bandar Botanic, Klang

City Kaffa

City Kaffa, located in Bandar Botanic, Klang, run by two gentlemen determined to bring coffee culture up in Klang, much inspired by the coffee culture in Taiwan where they have spent few years in. 

My usual order of espresso with desserts

They charge reasonably. Sandwiches are also served here with some unique combination of fruits, light and refreshing.

I've always love a combination of bitter and sweet.

Feel free to have a chat with the barista or cafe owner. They love sharing their love for coffee.

City Kaffa 城市咖啡 (site) 

Address: 98-1, Jalan Mahagoni 1, Bandar Botanic, Klang, Selangor.

Thursdvy @ TTDI

It's easy to remember when you shouldn't be coming to this place, their weekly day off is Thursday.

May issue of Time Out Kuala Lumpur

 This place is well known for the unique interior design. It's cozy and spacious with the warehouse-like theme.

Had my Ristretto as usual, with something sweet

Fairly charged,
RM10 for a lovely brownies topped with ice cream

I'd enjoyed a nice week day night out here. It's a place to revisit!

Thursdvy (foursquare)

Address: 22, Lorong Datuk Sulaiman 1, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur

The Grumpy Cyclist @ TTDI

I visited The Grumpy Cyclist on a Saturday afternoon.

Sitting by the door, the cutleries and drinking water are all self-serviced.

It's the kind of weather make you wanna sing:

"It's a beautiful day and I can't stop myself from smiling"

especially when served with this! 

Oscar Egg 

It's runny inside the thick layer of egg,
aromatic with onions and mushrooms. 

It's known for being cyclist-friendly,
offering services for bicycle. 

It's something different as well, with the interior designer. You'll find shower here.

 

 

 

I had my late lunch, followed by espresso with desserts as usual. 

Gorgeous "Blondie"
with texture like chocolate brownies, the generous amount of pecans give texture and aroma 

The Grumpy Cyclist (site)

Address: 36, Jalan Datuk Sulaiman, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.

cheers,

Dé Coffee Room @Cheras with Catherine

It's a nice little cozy cafe, located in Cheras.

As it is located off main street, look out for the Challenger Sports Center in Taman Cuepacs, it is right next to a mamak place.

 

I was visiting Catherine in Cheras. We usually hang out in café during university time. So I suggested that she look for a nearby café. She found this place from this site.  

It's year end, christmas time soon! 

Simple menu, they serve coffee, tea and some other beverages.
The food menu is rather limited. 

 

I was already all starving after long hours driving from Klang to Cheras, then to find this location. Time for some food!

Weekend menu: fresh salmon bagel for Catherine 

I had ham and cheese instead.

We both agree that the bagels were good, especially with the sour cream spread. It moistures the taste bud, lightens at the same time flavours the bagel.

Refreshing lemon grass 

 

Cappuccino for me, as always.
Smooth and aromatic.
I'm not professional in tasting coffee but this is definitely not a bad one ;)

There is limited number of tables and seats as well. Not much crowd but some regulars I guess.
I don't recall how many hours we spent there, catching up. It was in all a pleasant experience there.

Just remember, if you ever are trying to locate this place, go off the main road.

Dé Coffee Room (Foursquare)

Address: Lot 997, Jalan Koop Cuepacs 3F, Taman Cuepacs, 43200 Cheras, Selangor.

Large mirror? Selfie time! Haha!

cheers,

Nuffnang Food Festival #NNFoodFest 2013

Both Rachel and I agree that it was an awesome weekend outing, it felt timeless, everything was wonderful and beautiful. As planned, I drove down to pick Rachel up then go straight to Sunway Pyramid after half day work. The event only started at 3pm. We had some durian puffs then meet up SiangYe and friends. I've known SiangYe and KarHong already. It was my first time meeting up Emily and QianQing.

Some flyers and cards together with one cutie macarons from Les Macaroon upon registration

We came on time, no need to queue long before everyone finished registering.

We thought all food booth only started at 4pm according to the schedule. The kind Nuffnang staffs told us we can actually start visiting the booths as some already started serving.
I remember vividly it was Keith who had explained to us when we started tw"eat"ing. Started with Crayon burger, which was serving mini size beef burger. Believe me, most booths are very generous in the amount of food. Although it's mini size, after three booths, we were all already feeling full.

The food

I'd sincerely lost count of the types and amount of food we'd tried. Crayon burger, Ayam Penyet, baked cake from ANDYs, fish cake from AbsoluteThai, Crazy Potato, Nando's chicken, ...
Not to forget the desserts and beverages! Crush Food juice, Yakult, Liquid Nitrogen ice cream from NBrew, cupcake from MasterChef Australia/Astro, Cielo ice cream, ...

Rachel isn't a fan of macarons :p

The cupcake from MasterChef Australia/Astro was delicious
but melt real fast under the afternoon sun... 

Rachel's selfie skill- 10/10
Rachel, me, Cerdwin, Jmin

Thanks QianQing for the photo,
Nando's, Crazy Potato and
a Ninja Joe burger thanks to a Nuffnang staff who had given up to us!
Emily, Rachel and me. 

The people

It wasn't just the gather together with free food, beverages and desserts. It's also about meeting people!

Bumped into Summer with her boy friend while queueing up for Dolcie!
It's been a while after convocation. She stays in Kota Damansara, which means quite a distance from Klang.
Dear girl, I'll be sure to meet you up at I Love Yumcha one day.

We also met DanKhoo, youtuber!

The freebies

It was great that they were distributing free power bank! Too bad by the time my phone battery had gone down to less than 10%, it's already night time and all 100pcs were gone as well. Guess it means I can live without power bank after all?

Planet Popcorn were distributing free pack of new flavour popcorn, it's corn soup flavour. Had a taste just now, omnomnom I like it!

The movie RUSH

It wasn't all for the day. In between two tw"eat"ing session, we went for a movie break with the movie "Rush". Quite intense but very meaningful. There were lessons to be learnt.

source: www.impawards.com

There were horrifying scenes, mind-stimulating scenes, "ganjiong" scenes... though it started off in a very different way.

The "after party"

The night didn't just end there. We went SS15 to meet Rachel's college gang.

Some awesome bunch of people who I start to adore

We ended the night bumping into Jin from JinnyBoyTV, a Malaysian Youtube channel that has been producing quality videos. Sweet coincidence that we visited the same cafe although we don't get to meet him in the Nuffnang Food Festival as he visited Jaya One Bazaar instead.

Hello Jin! I'm quite a fans of your videos!

Hopefully one day we'll be able to meet Rueben in person as well.
Till then.

cheers,