This is not an advertorial, this is something awesome.

It is no secret than I’m a fan of adidas.
I like their shoes, I like their sportswears, I like the fun bunch of people who work there. Other sports brands have approached me before, but I turn them down because I genuinely like adidas stuff and I enjoy wearing them.

My shoe cabinet is filled with many pairs of their shoes.
Among them, my favourites are the Bounce I wear to gym, the Supernova I wear for my training runs and the adiZero CS that I will wear for my upcoming two marathons in Kota Kinabalu and Singapore.
It’s cool to have so many pairs of sports shoes, but recently I acquired a new pair of adidas that has firmly secured its place as my number one favourite shoes.

My very own custom-made adidas!
They call it mi-adidas. As far as I know, adidas Pavilion KL is the only store in the whole of Malaysia that allows you to personalise your own shoes.

Getting your own custom-made shoes cost around RM600, depending on the design. That works out to be about RM200 dearer than those mass-produced shoes.

The way mi-adidas works is pretty impressive. To get started, I need to make an appointment with adidas Pavilion.
The process begins with a member of the adidas sales staff precisely measuring my feet using this nifty piece of feet-measuring device.

As soon as I stepped on it, the motorised red scanners start moving around my feet like something out of a James Bond movie.
The device measured my feeet and according to the computer, my left foot is US 9.5 and my right foot is US size 10.
Hey, I never knew that my two feet are not symmetrical.

Anyway, I was told my feet are pretty big for a Chinese. And you know what they say about men with big feet? 😉
They wear big shoes.

Not only does the computer measure the size of my feet, it measures my footprint as well. This is to determine the best form of cushioning for my feet.
The red part shows which part of my feet I put the most pressure at.

Apparently, I’m more heavy towards the right hand side.
Again, I have no idea why that’s the case. Maybe my balls on the right hand side is heavier than my left.
So the sales person fed all these information into the computer. Then, it’s time to choose which shoes I wanna personalise.

mi-adidas is only available on certain running, basketball and tennis shoes.
I went for the adidas Barracuda tennis shoes ‘cos although I don’t play tennis, it’s got the most striking design out of all the choices available.
Besides, if I’m gonna wear my custom-mades, I’d wear it more for looks than sports.

The adidas sales staff guided me to select different design and colours for the shoes to my liking.
I designed my shoe based on my two favourite colours of dark blue and white, which if you noticed, are kennysia.com‘s official colours. 😉 I also added a touch of silver and gold for a more futuristic look.
This is my final design.

Almost every single portion of the shoe can be customised, from the skin, to the lining, to the laces and the soles. You can even print your name on it or put your country flag if you wanna.
No need to worry if your colour coordination skills sucks. The computer is able to give a 3D sample of what the shoe would look like in the end.

Once I’ve confirmed, they print out my design and I signed off the order.
That’s it!

All that’s left is to play the waiting game whilst the boffins at the adidas factory work around the clock to create my shoes. Four weeks later, I just pick them up from adidas Pavilion KL.
Behold, the custom-made kennysia.com Barricade!


Mine is the blue one, not the pink one.
Check it out. It’s even got my name on it, so no one would be able steal it and claim it as their own.

Nice eh?
(Hahaha! Geddit? “Eh” in Hokkien means shoes. Nice “eh”! Hahahaha!)
(Ok fine, it’s not very funny.)

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This is what AirAsia’s Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak looks like in the picture.

This is what Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak looks like underneath the lid.

In picture it looks like something you wanna put in your mouth.

In reality it looks exactly like the thing that comes out the other end.

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Check out my new laptop.

It’s a HP Mini. This baby is smaller than a text book, slightly larger than a novel and weighs lighter than a dictionary. Compared to most normal laptops, this gadget is a midget.
For a frequent traveller like me who is always needing a laptop on the go, it is just awesome.

I love the MacBook Air, but it’s too expensive and too powerful for what I need to use it for.
I like the Asus EeePC too, but it’s too small, too weak and too cheap-ass looking for me to wanna carry it around.
The HP Mini strikes the balance. Not too fast, not too slow, not too expensive, comes with heaps of storage space, but most importantly, impresses me enough on the cool factor to wanna show it off.

It comes with all the bells and whistles including a miniscule webcam, which HP has cheekily hidden underneath the flush black surface of the inside.
That could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it. Just be careful if you’re the kind who like to stay the same room in the same hotel all the time.

Despite being slimmer than Kate Moss on diet, the thing that immediately sold me on it was that the laptop’s keyboard is almost as big as a full-sized one. That to me is obviously very important.
Typing on the HP Mini is a joyous experience that I seldom experience with other implementations of shrunk-down keyboards.
It’s also spill-resistant, which is a good feature to have if you have the tendency to shoot liquid everytime you use your laptop.

Of course lah, the HP Mini ain’t perfect. If I really wanna nitpick, I’d say the only real complaints I have are that the trackpad is ridiculously clumsy to use, the acrylic LCD screen is annoyingly glaring, and the boot up time to Windows Vista is still a little longer than what’s comfortable.
Run too many intensive applications at once and the HP Mini slows to a tortoise crawl.

Obviously, this is a low-powered laptop. Everytime the HP Mini lags, I was brought back to the reality that it was never meant to function like a normal full-featured laptop.
But hey, if all you need to do is surf the web, browse for photos and update your blog, then those are small concerns to most people. It is still an excellent unit for people like me who need a midget laptop easy enough to carry around, without paying the price tag of a full-powered machine.

Don’t ask why I’m dressed like Harry Potter

The HP Mini is just one month old and is still in such phenomenal demand that it triggered a worldwide shortage. The first batch arrived in Malaysia last week, and was almost for its launch.
Lucky for me, I happen to be one of the few to own one right now.

And I’m happily lugging it with me over my week-long Gawai break to Bali. 🙂
To all kennysia.com’s Iban readers, gayu-guru gerai-nyamai.

A couple of people have requested that I write something the latest car audio that I purchased.

I was actually kinda reluctant to blog about my car audio. The reason for that is that I know when compared to others, mine is really nothing to brag about.
I don’t understand why people are so interested in my car audio really.
Somehow, guys always like to get together and compare the size of their equipment. Somemore they always like to ask each other about how big their woofer is.

So people keep on comparing and upgrading.
Hust when you thought you’re walking around with the biggest woofer in town, someone else comes along with a woofer twice your size.

That’s one reason why I didn’t really wanna blog about it. Another reason is, I don’t really like cars.
I know.
Shock. Surprise. Guys by nature SHOULD love cars. Heck, there are even guys out there who love their cars more than they love their women.
I don’t know if anyone noticed, but usually the more a man loves his car, the bigger his car’s back hole is.

That’s definitely a source of concern.
I don’t like cars and I don’t know know a lot about cars. In fact, I’m really quite noob when it comes to cars and car audio systems. If I blog about how much I spent on my car audio, someone like Paul Tan is probably gonna come along and say “OMGWTFBBQ! YOU GOT PWNED. N00B! LOL!”

At the same time, I’m very happy about my purchase.
Guys blowing a big sum of hard-earned cash on boys toys is the same as girls spending money buying new underwear for themselves. Whenever we get a new toy, we get a rush of happiness and self-satisfaction going through us that closely approximates orgasm.
Not only that, part of us feel like sharing the orgasm with everyone else.
So here is my orgasm.

My brand new Alpine CDA 9887 head unit.
I’ve never used Alpine before this because they are usually ridiculously expensive. But I do know they’re good because they supply to the likes of Mercedes-Benz and Aston Martin.
The Pioneer unit I used before this was good too, but compared to this one it’s crap.

Having a detachable faceplate is one security feature I demand for any head unit that I buy.
I learnt it the hard way after having my car window smashed, dashboard ripped open and head unit stolen.

The Alpine unit I bought comes packaged with an external bluetooth device. The bluetooth factor was what attracted me the most because I listen to a lot of music and podcasts from my mobile phone.
The bluetooth thingy also doubles up as a handsfree kit so I can answer my phonecalls while I’m driving. There’s a cute little microphone that I mounted behind my steering wheel.

All up I paid around US$525 (or RM1,680) for those two online. When I picked up my package from the post office, I was also asked to donate RM90 to Malaysian Customs.
Paying RM1,770 for a head unit is probably a little excessive, but yeah I’m crazy like that.

This is the VSL monoblock amp which I bought locally for RM900.
An idiot like me have no idea anything about amps. All I know is that the bigger it is, the better. And this is the biggest amp they had that falls within my budget.

This 12″ woofer from Pioneer was the final piece of upgrade I bought for my car. This baby is capable of handling up to 1200W, but costs me RM400 for the privilege of having my whole car shake when I play some big bass music.
The guy at the garage also charged me another RM150 for wiring, enclosure and installation. Fair enough, since he did quite a good job at it.
At least now, I got one tricked-up car audio system and a subwoofer strong enough to blow panties off.

I especially love it when I put on some hip-hop music and turn the volume right up. It’s like I got the whole Zouk happening in my car, and everyone is invited. The audio quality is the simply best I have experienced, and I haven’t even finished tuning it yet.
The delivery was so crisp and clear, it sounded as if Mariah Carey was in my car singing next to me.
It makes me really happy. But it also makes me so sad because everytime she sings Touch My Body, I turn around and she’s not there for me to answer her invitation. 🙁

All together I paid RM3,200 for my new toy.
Die lah confirm I’ll be eating grass for the next three months.

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This is one of my favourite movie scenes in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.

John Travolta’s character asked Samuel L Jackson.
Travolta: You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jackson: They don’t call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?!
Travolta: No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn’t know what the f— a Quarter Pounder is.
Jackson:Then what do they call it?
Travolta: Royale with Cheese.
Jackson: Royale with Cheese! Hahaha! What do they call a Big Mac?
Travolta: A Big Mac’s a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac.
Jackson: Hahaha! What do they call a Whopper?
Travolta: Dunno man. Didn’t go into Burger King.

McDonald’s is the ultimate symbol of globalisation taking place. In virtually every country in every single part of the world, you are more likely to find a McDonald’s outlet than a Malaysian embassy.
I travel a lot, and I make it a point to go to a McDonald’s restaurant in every foreign country I visit. It’s always fun to spot the subtle differences in their restaurant menus.
The thing I like most about McDonald’s is that whilst their traditional menu is pretty much the same worldwide, they usually have special menu items to cater for different tastes in the different countries.

Like here in Italy, there’s a McFlurry made with Baci chocolates.

McSawadeekap

In Thailand, they have the Samurai Pork Burger (basically pork burger in teriyaki sauce).
In South Korea, you can get a Bulgogi Burger.
In India, there’s even something called a McSurprise Burger.
What’s in it? I don’t know. It’s a surprise. If I tell you then it wouldn’t be a surprise.

When I visited Egypt last year, I laughed my backside off when I found out their grilled chicken foldover is called McArabia.
In New Zealand, they have the Kiwi Burger that is not actually made of kiwi bird meat.
And if you ever go to the Phillipines, you can try out their McSpaghetti.

And how could I possibly resist my all-time favourite McDonald’s menu item, the Fan-tastic Rice Burger, which was sadly only available for a short time in Hong Kong and Singapore.
It’s this really delicious burger that uses rice patties in place of buns, and in between them are some shredded beef or chicken that oozes with yummy gravy. I still dream of that taste in my mouth after having tried them 2 years ago.

In Malaysia, the variations in our McDonald’s menu is quite admirable. Not many other places in the world offer Bubur Ayam McD or Ayam Goreng McD as standards on their McMenu.
You can NEVER get porridge or fried chicken at a McDonald’s in Australia. It’s just too weird to picture Ronald McDonald holding onto a piece of fried chicken.

I remember back when McD’s opened their first outlet in Kuching, and this was before they have Ayam Goreng McD on their menu. I brought my mom along and for the life of her, she just could not understand why a fast food restaurant does not serve fried chicken.
To her, that’s about as inexplicable as a kopitiam NOT serving coffee.

I haven’t been to a local McD’s in ages. But having visited so many of their outlets all over the world, I must say I’m impressed with how well our outlets measure up.
Nowadays you can chill out and even watch late night football at some McD’s outlets.

Many of their more popular outlets have gone 24 hours. Some even have a 24-hour drive-thru service.
And if you’re really lazy, there’s even McDelivery 24 hours available at certain locations.

I popped by McDonald’s at Sunway Pyramid recently and I noticed they now offer this McSaver menu everyday promotion.
Looks like the guys at the golden arches are getting generous, slashing prices off their best-selling items to help us save on the costs of living. As if McD’s aren’t cheap enough already.

The prices may be slightly dearer in Sabah and Sarawak, but there’s a good variety of great deals on the McSaver menu.
Cheap snacks like French Fries, Drinks and Apple or Banana Pies are only RM2 each. And if you add a ringgit more, you can get items like the Cheese Burger, Bubur Ayam McD, Nuggets, 2 Pies or even the Sundae at just RM3.

Then there’s the new Spicy Chicken Wrap, which is something unique only to McD’s in Malaysia. Can’t find it anywhere else, and now it’s only RM4.
The best deal from the menu? Most definitely it’s the Filet-O-Fish.

The Filet-O-Fish at McDonald’s is possibly one of the best around. Breaded fish patty on half a slice of cheese, topped lightly with tartar sauce and served between soft fluffy steamed buns. If there’s a better implementation of fish burgers around then I have yet to try them.
These buggers (no pun intended) usually sell for RM5.30, but now it’s going for just RM4 each.

Gotta be lovin’ it. 🙂

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Sometime ago, INTI University College (INTI-UC) invited me over to the campus in Nilai to cover its graduation ceremony for kennysia.com

It’s been ages since I set foot in a campus and my trip to INTI-UC brought back some warm memories of the good old times of my student days.

The trip was also my first time to Nilai in Negri Sembilan.
Nilai is a booming town that is ironically closer to the KL International Airport than KL city itself. I was picked up at the airport by one of INTI-UC’s officers who drove me straight to the campus.
The whole journey took us less than 20 minutes.

Too bad

INTI’s Nilai Campus has been around for a good ten years, and it does show its age.
One of the first things that impress me is how much emphasis is put on on-campus housing, or the “Halls of Residences” as they call it. There’s got to be at least 15 blocks of hostels here of different rates and configurations.
Parents come and dump their kids here so that they can learn how to become more independent. International and outstation students make it their home away from home. With such a large expanse of residential units, the university college can accommodate tons of boarding students.

Confucius is so confusing it makes me confused

Instead of following the usual way of naming their buildings Block A, B, C, D and so on, the Halls of Residence are named after famous scholars. So we’ve got a Block Confucius for Block C and a Block Darwin for Block D.
Maybe it’s to inspire students. Or maybe it’s the work of evil people who wanna make people confused.

The room I was put in was in the “Shakespeare” block. Though old, the unit is large and well-furnished. It comes with an internet line provided free-of-charge, but too bad you can’t download too much data over it.
Fair enough. You’re meant to come here and study, not download MP3s and watch Youtubes dammit.

It’s no five star hotel but it’s a lot better than most hostels I’ve seen which smell so bad not even homeless people would wanna stay in them.
All the creature comforts are concentrated here. There’s an ATM machine, a convenience store, a hair salon, a computer shop and a cybercafe all located in the same area.
It’s not all fun and games here of course. They do have some common rooms here in the Halls to encourage group studies.

Recreation-wise, students are spoilt for choice because there’s a gym, soccer field, squash courts, badminton courts, basketball courts, pool tables and even an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Something interesting I heard about the swimming pool. Over there, every Thursday night is Ladies’ Night.

Unlike at the pubs, Ladies’ Night there isn’t a time where all you lovely ladies out there can pop by and get a free drink. Ladies’ Night at the INTI swimming pool is the time where only girls can use the swimming pool, and no guys are allowed.
So guys, remember to pack your binoculars.

Right across the road from the Halls of Residence, linked by an overhead bridge, is the campus’ illustrious academic wing.

It feels a little bit more “authoritarian” over here. Nestled among nicely landscaped gardens, the long corridors, brightly lit classrooms and uptight labs give it a feel of campus life.
The environment here is lovely. The acacemic wing of the campus is kinda similar to what you see in those Taiwanese college drama series like Meteor Garden.
Without that stupid boyband F4.

It is very quiet. There isn’t a lot of things to do on this side of the campus ground apart from going to classes, going to the labs and using the library.
Come to think of it, there isn’t a lot of entertainment or distractions around Nilai in general. The town is isolated from all the entertainment and shopping malls of KL. Depending on how you see it, that could be a good thing or a bad thing.

Optimus Prime learns how to write

If your purpose of going to college is to study, then it’s a good thing.
If your purpose of going to college is to party, it’s a bad thing.

Like most private university colleges in Malaysia, INTI-UC’s main attraction is its 3+0 degree programmes where students can study at INTI-UC and graduate with degrees from UK’s Coventry University and University of Hertfordshire.
They also offer degree transfer programmes where you can do part of your studies at INTI-UC and complete the rest overseas.

No doubt INTI-UC has a peaceful study environment and the students there do really concentrate on their studies. Many of them come to Nilai to study only and nothing else.
It is very obvious, because they all have that look on their face that screams, “I’M A VIRGIN.”

Sorry for being mean. 😛 But of course, not all are like that.
Some of the students are kinda cool. I spotted this bunch that looked like they should be accompanied with some hip hop music from P Diddy.

Nilai is very laid back. Even without modern day entertainment outlets like cinemas, shopping malls and nightclubs as distractions, the students here sure come across as a happy bunch.

They spend most of their free time participiating in club and society activities. Through these they get to know lots of new friends.

I think I might die of boredom if I ever live in Nilai. But boredom isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
When you strip away all the superficialities of a big city, I guess you bond with people around you a lot better.
Some graduates I spoke to really cherish the new friends they made there, to the extent that they said their time at INTI-UC is the best time of their lives.

Nilai residents’ most favourite past time is staring blankly at plants and watching them grow

No ,I did not graduate from INTI-UC. But my short trip to the campus brought back nostalgic memories of my student days.
Although I’ve been out in the workforce for almost 5 years now, it was during my uni years that I’ve grown up and learnt the most.

Things hadn’t always been smooth sailing of course. I remember the nightmares chasing assignment deadlines, working on Matlab, making friends with Ohm’s and Kirchoff’s Laws, learning everything about FIR, FFT and DFT until I wish the lecturer would just bloody STFU.
Yes, it was torture. But it was worth it.

I left my uni a much mature and better person in the end.

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Remember the push-up underwear for men I blogged about some time ago?

Well, I was in Singapore again recently, and I decided to visit the New Urban Male store and give this push-up undie a try, just to see how effective it is.
Yes, I know. The things I do for my blog.

A pair of push-up undies like this normally costs SGD$32.90 (RM75) but lucky for me, New Urban Male was running a buy one get one free promotion when I was there.
I think they’re trying to clear their stock because apparently Singaporean men don’t need help to push up their package. Either that, or they figured out that stuffing a banana down the undies is much cheaper.

So this is the undie. It’s black. It’s a brief.
It looks like any other undie except for this little strap.

What the strap does is that it holds the “man fruit” in place.
Like this.

Theoretically, using the strap will push up the “man fruit”, making it look like a “brinjal” when in fact you got a “long bean”.
I don’t know how well that’s gonna work, so I went into the changing room (after I paid for it of course) and tried it on.

This is me before I wear the push-up undies.


This is me after I put on the push-up undies.

Is there a difference? I can’t tell. So I asked my female friends what they think.
Yes, I know. I’m a lucky guy. It’s not everyday you can ask girls to comment on your “man fruit”.
Here’s what they say.

Nadnut: Is it already on? How come like nothing one?

Estee Teo: Wow! Really got big difference leh!

Huiwen: OMG! HAHAHAHAHAHA OMG!
To be honest, it was kinda strange and uncomfortable walking around with a strap tied around my groin like that. My dick felt like it’s a pet animal, and I’m taking it out on a walk with a leash tied around its neck.
What’s worse, within a few minutes after I walked around wearing the push-up underwear, my dick starts to feel a little numb ‘cos the blood flow to my dickonosaurus is restricted.

Anyway, I decided to take it out for a real world experiment.
So there I was, standing confidently alongside the walkway at City Link Mall, wearing my C-In2 Push-Up Underwear, equipment strapped in, proud and hanging.

To my utter dismay, almost every girl who walked passed didn’t even BOTHER giving me a freaking glance to my pushed-up man fruit!

Even the middle-aged aunties who walked past couldn’t care less about my dragon balls!
That’s ridiculous. I am so disappointed.
What for I buy this stupid push-up underwear if none of the girls are giving willing attention to my willy!?
Then, just when I was about to give up, something happened…


WTF!
RUN KENNY, RUN!

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OH.

MY.

FREAKING.

GAWD.

It’s an iPod!

A phone!

An internet communications device!

kennysia.com never looked so good on a phone.
Well, technically it’s not a phone yet. Because some dude at Apple think its so smart to hold the phone hostage until you sign some 2-year plan with an American service provider. Everything else works fine though.

This is the same phone that people lined up for hours in front of the Apple store on the day of its launch. But thanks to the good guys at IT Fusion in Kuching, I managed to get my hands on an actual Apple iPhone, months before its official release in Malaysia.

Google Maps on iPhone. Anyone knows which location this is in Kuching? 😉

My eyes literally lit up when the boss said to me, “Take your time to do the review. Just return it to us when you get tired of it.”
Thanks Moorey. Problem is, I don’t even know when I’m gonna get tired of playing with the iPhone!

Watching a video on the touch-screen iPod.

Everything is so beautifully implemented. Even without the phone feature, the WiFi websurfing and iPod feature is enough to blow me completely away.
I almost needed a fresh pair of pants to complete this review.

The graphic is crisp. The usage is intuitive. The touchscreen is responsive. Its addictive just running through all the functions.
I gotta say, using the iPhone is the second longest workout my fingers had gone through.

Yeah baby, so I got the iPhone now.
Who wants to touch me?

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We take a break from our daily adventures on kennysia.com to bring to you this special message from our sponsors at LG Mobile.

Say hello to the new LG Shine! 🙂
Following the footsteps of the popular Black Label Series line of fashion phones, this baby is set to get heads turning from the style conscious crowd.

Unlike most phones out there made out of cheap plastic, this silver number is sturdily constructed with stainless steel, which actually feels amazing to hold on my hands. On top of that, its sleek and slim profile is sure to grab the attention it is designed for.

Indeed, the LG Shine is too beautiful to look at. I made the mistake of bringing the phone with me to Penang, and the girls I was travelling with can’t resist just picking it up and playing with it (eventhough they all unanimously hate my ringtone, “Beatbox Acappella”)
You know how sad your life is when your phone received more attention from the females than you do.

The signature attraction of the LG Shine is its eye-catching mirror-like front facing. Beneath this reflective (but easily smudged) surface hides the phone’s LCD screen, much similar to the LG Chocolate.
When the screen is unused you can hold it up and see a faintly distorted reflection of yourself from its casing.

Once you slide it open, this stunner of a phone illuminates itself in all its shining glory. It’s a really cool effect.
I particularly liked the keypad’s striking blue backlights upon the phone’s silver metallic body. The colour combination made the LG Shine look like one helluva futuristic gadget.

The sliding mechanism has certainly improved since the LG Chocolate. This one whips out steadily without the slightest wobble, culminating with a satisfying snap.
Most navigation are done with the multifunctional scroll button located on the top part of the phone. All other keys on the phone are completely flat except for the grooves surrounding it, which are curved to make them look all the more deliciously sexy.

I flipped the phone over to the other side and was greeted with a 2-megapixel camera with auto-focus, featuring lens by Schneider-Kreuznach. Having used a digital camera sporting those German lens before, I can certainly vouch for its quality.
This photo is taken with the LG Shine’s built-in phone camera.

Look at the amount of detail it captured!
Check out my unedited full-resolution test shot here.

Coupled with the huge LCD screen on the phone, the camera function is a real joy to use.
I’m pleasantly surprised to find how well done the phone’s built-in MP3 player is.

Most phones tend to force you to use their own propietary earphones. But LG Shine thoughtfully included an inline MP3 player remote, which you could then attach a pair of high-end earphones to get even better sound quality.
Storage space is not a problem either since it comes with a MicroSD card slot.

The unit I received came along with a 1GB MicroSD card.
Bloody hell, that thing is smaller than a 5 cent coin. Imagine how much pirated MP3 stuff you could load onto it!

Another software I really like is the Document Viewer. It lets you open up Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint and even PDF files right from your phone.
That kinda functionality is almost making this fashion phone into a smartphone.

Unfortunately, this unit I received is a review test set and honestly speaking I’m kinda sad to have to return it to LG so soon.
The LG Shine fashion phone is now available immediately from your local mobile phone stores. Last I checked, the going price for one of these babies is RM1,200 – possibly even lower if you bargain hard.

I say at that price, chances are you’ll be hard-pressed to find another phone that look even half as good as the Shine.

If you wanna know more, go check out LG Shine’s cool website and get yourself a chance to win a holiday for two to Seoul, Korea.

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Before I left for Egypt, I was in KL for Cheesie‘s 23rd birthday.

Cheesie has been a close friend of mine for quite some time. I only got to know her after I wrote that infamous entry about ‘The Stellars’ about a year ago. What most people don’t know is that a lot of drama has happened as a result of that entry. I was partly to blame.

“You! Ma’am! You want some BACCALA?!?!?”

Anyway, what happened is a long story but suffice to say, she didn’t quite enjoy her birthday at all last year. In fact when I talked to her, she was still upset about what had happened that she planned on spending her birthday holed up at home watching some DVDs.
I reckon that’s no way to spend a 23rd birthday, so this 1st April, I came up with a plan to make up to it. 😉

Those who follow Cheesie’s blog would know that this girl loves good food and she loves the food at Italiannies, having blogged about them many times. After talking to the good people at Italiannies, they generously agreed to host her party!

Being a fan of Italian food myself and after hearing many good comments from Cheesie herself, I was looking forward to visit this fine restaurant. And I must say, I am mighty impressed.
Upon walking into their restaurant at One Utama, it is easy to forget that I am actually inside a busy shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur. The environment is warm and cosy, and the inside is so tastefully decorated that it feels more like Tuscany than anywhere in Malaysia.

I love it how they encourage their diners to share their food. How many restaurants ask you to share?
You might as well share, since portions at Italiannies are famous for being HUUUGGGEEE. It’s almost impossible to finish them on your own.

By my estimation, one standard meal portion at Italiannies can feed one fat Italian mafia don.
Or two average-sized Malaysians.
Or five Sanjayas from American Idol.

The guys at Italiannies took care of us well. Service was top-notch and the staff are very attentive. As a special treat, they even gave us a preview of some of their new menu items that has yet to come out on the market!
Among the all of us, we must’ve gorged down around 20 different dishes that night. I couldn’t possibly list them all here, but here are some of the highlights along with my honest comments.

While waiting for our meal, we were served complimentary fresh bread with olive oil and vinegar.
This type of bread is called Ciabatta, which sounds kinda crude in Hokkien but really, it’s just Italian bread.

To start with, we have Roasted Red Pepper stuffed with garlic shrimp. I’m not big on eating capsicum that way, but I must admit their presentation is kinda cute.
As an appetiser, this is alright. Tasty and not too filling.

This is Spinach and Artichoke Formaggio, served with garlic bread on the side. The flavour is a bit bland for my liking, but Cheesie finds it yummy since it’s, well, cheesy. 😛
For vegetarians, this is probably a good choice.

Of the new menu items they served that night, their Seafood Risotto hands-down tops my list as my personal favourite.
The risotto they use is wonderfully fragant and the texture feels fantastic on the tongue. Tastes best when eaten hot. One spoonful into the mouth and the combined flavour of scallops, sotong and prawns spreaded out on my tastebuds.

Very, very nice.
If you’ve never tried risotto here before, give this one a shot. This dish is new on the menu and comes with a golden kennysia.com stamp of approval!

For the health conscious, there’s the Sicilian Chicken Salad.
Not my favourite although naeboo wolfed it down like no tomorrow.

Then there’s the Grilled Salmon Oreganatto. Yes, it tastes as good as it looks. The salmon is deliciously juicy and the aroma blends in perfectly with the spinach.
Again, another must-try.

I don’t know how to pronounce “Conchiglie Pomodoro”, but it is shell pasta served with a kinda slightly sourish sauce.
If you like your pasta cute and tangy, then this is one is made for you.

For me, I prefer my pasta in all its creamy and savoury glory, which is why I can’t get enough of Italiannies’ Classic Cabonara. Topping it with smoked bacon is an excellent touch.
They said it’s their best-seller and it’s not difficult to see why.

Soon after we finished our dinner, I gave the Italiannies crew the cue and out they come in full force to present the birthday girl their LOUDEST rendition of happy birthday.
Cheesie got a Strawberry Cheesecake, which was quickly gorged down despite everyone feeling so full after eating so much.

Heh heh.
You gotta hand it to them. This is seriously one damn good piece of orgasmic delight.
The cake, not the male model.

It is yummy. One of the best I have indulged in a very long time.
I’ve always heard good stuff about their tiramisu, but by that time I was already too bloated to gorge myself further. I had to be carried out of the restaurant in a wheelbarrow.

After dinner, we headed over to Laundry Bar at The Curve for some drinkies.

Laundry is normally packed to the brim on Thursdays and Saturdays with fans coming to watch their favourite live bands perform. Lucky we’re there on a Sunday so it’s quiet enough to just sit back and chill out over a few drinks.
We had an awesome-looking Blue Margarita Tower, which is an excellent party drink to share.

As soon as the clock struck midnight, Cheesie officially turned 23 and she received a gift from the bar in the form of a Flaming Lamborghini – a concoction of Sambuca, Kahlua, Curacao and Bailey’s poured over a tower of wine glasses and then set on FIRE!

All in all, everyone had an enjoyable birthday party. Many thanks to Italiannies and Laundry Bar!
To finish off this entry, let me show you one (belated) April’s Fool prank that you can easily pull off on your friends. Next time you are asked to take a photo for your friends, wait for them to pose but instead of taking their photos, secretly switch to video mode and hit ‘Record’.

Watching their reaction = priceless.

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