Midori Traveler's Notebook . 手帐日记

I'm not updating my blog for almost a month now, and it's a brand new year with the same old me; I'm not going to write a post to summarize what's happening in year 2014 as I'm not good in doing so, so let's just forget about it. Since this is the first post for this year, I think I'm going to write something different, how about the present that I bought for myself, which I madly in love with it right now but ain't sure if I can keep going with it or not. 

将近一个月没更新我的部落格了，在这一个月内送走了2014年，展开了全新的2015年，我还是依旧一样的我。看着大家一个个都写了篇2014年的总结，本想说也来一篇，但碍于我的文笔有限（其实是太多事情了，很难在短短一篇中述说清楚），所以就放弃了。今年的第一篇文就来点不一样的，就写写我送给自己的圣诞礼物吧，虽然不懂我能坚持多久（就怕自己的三分钟热度又犯了），至少现在的我还蛮喜欢这份礼物。

I always have a thing with notebooks and stationery, can't help but keep buying more even I know I might not using all of them in one time. The paper quality is very important as I don't like the ink smear on the paper or see through from the other side of the paper, some of the notebooks I got failed me. I keep searching a good quality notebook and finally I found the Midori Traveler's Notebook (TN) from Tabiyo. I got really excited when I received the parcel from Tabiyo, all the items I bought are perfectly pack in a box and they comes with a Traveler's Times newspaper; yet it's all in Japanese and I don't know how to read it but looking at the photos itself make me happy enough. 

我是出了名的笔记本/文具控，每每看到对了眼的笔记本都会买下它们，但很多都变成了自己的收藏品，有时会不舍得写作或作画，感觉我的字体会毁了整本书的美感。通常我买笔记本最关心的是里头纸的品质，不喜欢笔墨水在纸上熏开或者透过纸的背面，这样会影响我写作的心情，哈哈。一直想找让我满意的笔记本，但往往都会失望收场，直到我在Tabiyo买了一本Midori Traveler's Notebook，又称手帐。我想你是无法想象当我收到Tabiyo的包裹时刻的那兴奋感，毕竟这是我人生中第一次砸了这么多钱在这一本手帐上。Tabiyo的人都好好噢，把我买的东西包装得美美的，还附送了一本Traveler's Times的报纸，虽然里头都是日文我看不懂，但单看照片就让我很高兴了。

I bought some masking tapes too, one is the limited edition masking tape from Ojisan 20th Anniversary Series, there are a few choices to choose from but I like Ojisan (M-Medium) 1995 the most. To be frank, I have no idea who he is when I bought it, so I google-d and knew that Ojisan is actually a fun character to illustrate a pocket diaries, and it was debuted in Midori's 1995 pocket diary. The Ojisan (M) 2015 masking tape is kind of cute as well, but too bad Tabiyo do not sell it. Another masking tape I got is the Reindeer Christmas Set of 2. I always love to use masking tapes as it does not leave any stain after peeling off, going to purchase more on next round.

除了手帐，我还买了些纸胶带，最喜欢的是Midori欧吉桑20周年纪念的限量版纸胶带，Tabiyo里有几种选择，但我还是钟情于1995年的欧吉桑纸胶带，如果有2015年的欧吉桑纸胶带会更好。在购买的当儿，根本就不懂欧吉桑到底是何人，纯粹是喜欢纸胶带的图案；搜索了才知道原来欧吉桑是笔记本系列中所设定的角色，首次亮相是在1995年Midori所推出的笔记本当中。这个大叔有点可爱，是不? 另一种是圣诞驯鹿的纸胶带，一套有2卷。我会喜欢纸胶带的原因是把它从物体撕下来后不会留下任何的痕迹，而且这种纸胶带用手撕就行了，不用剪刀，适合懒惰的我，哈哈。家里本来就有几卷的纸胶带，是从大众书局买的，我想以后会还是会陆续增加纸胶带。

Next up, the Midori Traveler's Notebook. The package come with a printed postcard that guide you steps to enjoy or customize our own TN, and a self-made bookmark. I only got the starter kit that comes with a leather cover (you can choose Black or Brown, obviously I got brown for mine), a cotton bag for you to keep your TN in case you don't want to have scratches on the leather, a 003 Refill Blank Notebook and a spare rubber band. I top up a 002 Refill Grid Notebook as I know my handwritting will be very messy if I write on a blank page. I already started to write things on it and I'm in love with it especially the paper quality, so nice that I do not face any ink problem with it, another plus point is the TN is light in weight, so that I can bring it anywhere I go. 

现在才要介绍最重要的 - 手帐。除了手帐，Tabiyo还很细心的准备了自制的小书签和一张类似明信片的卡片，上面有指导我们该怎么搭配手帐。Tabiyo有卖很多不同类型的补充本和附件，但我暂时只为自己买了starter kit，选了褐色的皮革外套，还附送了一本空白补充本（共64页），一条捆绑手帐的橡皮圈和一个棉织的保护套，如果你不喜欢你的皮革外套有任何的刮痕，你可以用这个保护套来收藏你的手帐。自己添加了一本格子补充本，我不太会在空白的书/纸写字，字会越写越歪，不好看。我会赶紧用完空白的补充本然后以后只买格子或线条的补充本，因为以后之需要购买补充本，所以这个Midori手帐就算是一次型的投资。纸的品质超好的，没有那些我说的问题，而且最重要的是加了补充本的手帐不会很重，可以无时无刻的带出门。

I love the quote: For all the travelers who have a free spirit. Other than travel tips and bits, I'll treat it as a functional notebook to record my life and planning, TN is a reason for me not updating my blog that often these day, I'll still updating my blog no worry. 

对我而言，手帐除了记载旅行时的点点滴滴（我想以后旅行完要PO部落格时会比较容易），我还会把它当成计划本，日程本，还有其他记录等等；这是为什么我在这PO文的次数变少了的原因。好喜欢这本属于我的手帐，大爱♥

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Love to get good news from friends.

Of Bluish Moment . Soul Cafe

I couldn't catch up with the cafe list which shared among the blogsphere or elsewhere, they are blooming in the island with uncatchable speed until I feel fed up to go and explore anymore, nah just kidding. Since I can't go so many cafes in one time, so I'll just choose the cafe I like and put them at Top 5 list after crawling some food blogs; I'll still visit those cafes which are not in the Top 5 list in the future, I hope. I think it was quite some times me and BenDan last visit new cafe/restaurant, that's why we thought to visit 2 cafe in a day. We went to Soul Cafe which located at Jalan Kek Chuan, in the mid of colorful houses. 

I like the interior where it gives me a feel of earthy; it becomes a platform for photographer's masterpiece, you can view the artistic photos hanging on the wall while enjoying your meal over there. If not mistaken, they will change the photos from time to time. 

They place one plate of coffee powder on each table, this is why you can get the coffee kind of smell when you step into the cafe. People tend to bring their gadget or laptop to cafe/restaurant and sit there for hours, this is why WiFi also play an important roll to attract people for visiting; the password is available for diners so that you don't need to ask from their staff.

Passion Fruit Smoothies | RM13

Wanted something chill that day and it served in the camera lens, glad that we shared it that day as I don't think I can finish it by my own. I like the texture of the smoothies where we can still have the bits of passion fruit seed, with right amount of sweetness and sourness, it a little tickle our tummy, quite savoury and I can't wait for our main course to come.

Homemade Creamy Mushroom Soup | RM11

Every soup comes with a piece of garlic bread that placed on the stone-kind of plate, I dipped it in the soup for photo purposes. Laugh. Mushroom soup is like everyone's favourite soup, it is so creamy and rich with generous amount of mushrooms! I like it were they spill some olive oil that a little bit enhance the taste, will definitely go back for this.

Creamy Pumpkin Soup | RM9

It's quite hard to find a place that serve good pumpkin soup, I once had nice pumpkin soup at Smoky Jack (the restaurant is shut down few years back), but the pumpkin soup here totally rock it, better than the one I had. Roasted almond flakes are added in the soup; the soup is pretty creamy and thick with the cream added in it. The pumpkin soup is kind of sweet which might come from the pumpkin itself. 

Cute bowl design. That's the stone-kind of plate I mentioned earlier, not really user friendly I think, waitress have hard time to put it on table or take it up because of its weight and thickness.

Linguine al Carbonara | RM15.90

Linguine al Vongole Pesto | RM18.90

There isn't much choices of food in their menu but I read plenty of good reviews on their pasta, temporary there are only 5 types of pasta available in the cafe, more to come I hope. Most of the shops served pasta in angel hair or spaghetti, but I prefer linguine or fettuccine nowadays, penne are welcome too. The Carbonara is topped with pork bacon and mushrooms that cooked in olive oil, it is very creamy with the cheese that added in the pasta, thumb up for this. You won't feel greasy with the amount of cream and cheese they added, it makes you want for more.

As for the linguine al Vongole Pesto, it cooked together with white wine and some basil leaves, luckily the basil is only the side flavoring agent, I can't really stand the taste if it is too strong. Clams are fresh and I think there are more than 10 clamps in this plate of pasta; overall it is quite good, my favourite of the day! As you can see, the price is quite affordable with this quality food, worth it~

Location

12, Jalan Kek Chuan, 10400 Georgetown, Penang.

Business Hours

11am - 11pm; Closed on every Sunday

Contact Number

+604 226 8200

Facebook

Soul Cafe

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Christmas is coming but why I don't get the feel yet?

Namoo Korean Dessert Cafe . Gurney Plaza

[ This restaurant had closed its door to public ]

I just realized that I never blog about my food experience at Namoo, the Korean dessert cafe, when I browse through my photo albums. I once crazy about this cafe when their first outlet opened at Kuala Lumpur, because there isn't much Korean restaurant available in the island that time (around 1-2 years ago) and this Namoo cafe is a photo-worthy place. I still remember that I was so excited about it when they have their second outlet in Gurney Plaza, and I went there twice but never blog about it. Don't ask me, I don't know why either. Before it is too late, I think I should just put my both visit in a post here. I went there again as I feel that their food is quite okay (not too bad), but with higher spiciness level compare to other Korean restaurants.  

Something keep bothering me when I were out for food hunting, where to place my bag? Namoo is so nice to prepare a hook under every table for ladies to hang our bags! I didn't realized it until I was using the napkin lol. 

Yuza Tea | RM9.90 . Green Tea Latte | RM9.90

I don't really bother what to order for my drinks whenever I'm in restaurant/cafe unless they do have their signature beverage stated in their menu; if not I'll just order something I like. Moreover, I can't really finish a glass of drink after the meal, so I prefer to share drinks with my accompany, only if they willing to share lol. I ordered green tea latte for my both visit to Namoo, not too bad but not the best that I had, I like it as it comes with strong milk taste. From the menu, the only special name I found on it is yuza tea which is actually honey grapefruit tea, quite special and not too sour. 

Chicken Nuggets | RM12.90

This is nothing related to Korean food lol. Just wanted to order this to share with my accompany while waiting for our main course, ended up this came after our main course. The deep fried stuff never goes wrong and I don't think it needs any special intro here. The chicken nuggets came with vegetable salad and the portion can fit 3-4 pax if you all just want to have a small bites. 

Kimchi Soup | RM17.90

How can I not order Kimchi soup in Korean restaurant, so I ordered this on my first visit; I also added RM2 for the Korean rice. I was quite impressed with this as the kimchi stew is so rich and 'thick', you can imagine the spiciness level by looking at the soup, I was sweating non-stop while having this. So it is highly recommended to add-on a bowl of rice so that you can counteract the spiciness of the soup. You will get numerous of kimchi, tofu and chicken sausage slices in the soup; I can't finished that bowl of kimchi soup btw. 

Bibimbap | RM18.90

Maybe it doesn't look like a bibimbap for you as normally bibimbap should served in hot stone which cost RM20.90 in Namoo. I ordered the bibimbap which served in normal bowl as I don't want the rice stick on the hot stone after awhile and wasted some portion of the rice. And, sometimes if the chef over-heated the hot stone, your bibimbap turn out too hot to consume and might hurt your tongue. Yup, I always think too much when I dine, is it good or bad? You can choose either beef or chicken for your bibimbap, it came with only 1 side - kimchi and the chili paste is separated in another bowl, you can just pour the amount of chili paste you like in the bibimbap. Is it quite good but I don't really like it when they put so many bean sprout that a little bit spoil the taste (my thought). 

Sweet Chili Omuto | RM20.90

White Cream Omuto | RM19.90

There are some choices of omuto or pasta listed under their Korean Western categories, which is a good move for people who can't really accept traditional Korean food. For omuto, you can choose either chicken or prawn, obviously we chose chicken against prawn, they came with 2 sides which are kimchi and salad. Both are quite good but I prefer the white cream omuto as it is quite special compare to the normal chili paste for omuto, don't you think so? We only had main course but no dessert for both visits, so I can't intro their signature dessert here lol. 

Location

170-G-40, Plaza Gurney, Persiaran Gurney, 10250 Penang.

Business Hours

10am - 10pm (Daily)

Contact Number

+604 226 4810

Website

www.namoo.com.my

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Keep calm and Move on.

Always have a Plan b . Ipoh

I'm back with more food post! We checked out the Lost World Hotel earlier before the time reach noon as we were thinking not to reach Penang too late, to avoid traffic jam I guess or any other reasons. Before we left the town, we decided to have lunch at Plan b, which I waited for so long after my last visit to Ipoh, glad that we can make it this time. It was a total disaster to locate a parking lot nearby the restaurant as everyone were out to hunt for their lunch as well.

I like their menu, especially the wooden plank as the base for the menu, next would be the typewriter font printed on the menu.  

The restaurant is rather empty when we were there, it seems like we were the first customer of the day. So we just pick the seat we like (always go for sofa seats) and enjoy the moment. The restaurant is quite spacious and divided into few sections, indoor where you can enjoy the air-cond during broiling weather, outdoor where you can dine with trees and breeze around you. If not mistaken, their kitchen is 'hiding' somewhere else where you can't really find it, I saw waiter/waitress served food from outside. 

Free lemonade water will be served once you are seated. You can don't need to order other beverages if you feel that this is enough for you; btw I just like their brown bottles, or I should say I just like everything there!

Butterscotch Milkshake | RM12 . Carrot Juice | RM12

Still, we ordered drinks to share. They do not have much selection for their milkshake, only chocolate, vanilla and butterscotch. The waitress recommended us to have butterscotch milkshake, which is one of the most popular drink in the restaurant. We were thinking: okay, no harm trying new stuff. The drink is really 'mind-blowing', my first time to have butterscotch kind of drinks and I'm madly in love with that, too bad not all restaurants are serving this. It is so rich and creamy, me likey! The normal carrot juice seems to be lost the battle against butterscotch milkshake lol, still it is quite fresh!

 Spicy Aglio Olio Spaghettini | RM16

The simplest dish among the pasta, yet the most challenging dish for a chef to prepare it as delicious as other pastas since the only ingredient for this is only olive oil and chilies, my thought. The portion is quite huge, and looks plain. We shouldn't judge the food by looking at it, even though it looks plain, but it is quite tasty to omnomnom together with some roasted garlic. Yet, if you finish it alone, you might feel that it is becoming quite greasy at the end.

Wild Mushroom Linguine | RM24

BenDan wanted Carbonara so badly but it was not available during the day we visit, I don't know why; so he ordered this at the end. The dish comes with different types of wild mushroom (at least 3 types I think), he is a mushroom lover so this dish a little bit compensate him for not able to get Carbonara. I like the lemon slices they put in the dish, making the pasta taste so refreshing with a bit of tartness after squeezing it. Overall, it is quite good!

Smoked Salmon & Salsa | RM23

Don't want to have the same categories with them, I ordered this instead. When it first served to me, I don't really like the salsa topped on the ciabatta (a type of Italian white bread) and lovely smoked salmon; too much corn and cucumber cubes. I was expecting something more to tomato cubes and lots of sliced onion, that's why I finished them first lol. Oh yeah, the poached egg is awesome, you can see the running yolks after I poked it. The smoked salmon is very fresh, a smart choice to put it on ciabatta as the white bread is not too hard to munch. 

Chargrilled Kimchi Chicken Burger | RM28

Everyone were so excited when this dish was served, I was aiming on the sweet potato fries, too good to have this! I didn't have a chance to try the kimchi chicken tho, my dad kind of finished it quite fast and claiming that it tasted heavenly good. Papa, you should give us try some mah. While he is munching his kimchi chicken burger, he shared the side salad and sweet potato fries with us. Not really like the side salad as it served without any dressing. 

Plan b is under BIG group, one of my favorite group as they have the nice logo. There is a good news to share with Penangites, next time we don't need to drive so far for Plan b, as they are coming soon in Queensbay Mall! Definite a yay from me.

Location

No. 75, Jalan Panglima 30000 Ipoh, Perak.

Business Hours

10am - 12am (Daily)

Contact Number

+605-249 8286

Website

thebiggroup.co/planb

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I want a short trip badly (soon!), a very relaxing one and to throw everything related to work from my mind.

Yet . Another One

Let's have something different today, I'm going to use bilingual in this post. It seems like nowadays I only share post about beer and skittles, there is nothing much about my personal thought. I used to crap everything over here but now I only share good thing, as I think I need not spread my own thing to the entire world, and people don't give a damn on it. I think I grow up a lot lol. Something remain the same is I will definitely have a photo in a post as I realize that readers tend to read your post depending on your photos. 

今天来点不一样的，用双语来PO文。最近的文章都是关于吃喝玩乐的，少了属于自己对事与物的个人感想。在这个部落格，从以前什么事情都宣泄PO文，到现在只报喜不报忧，这样的转变是因为个人觉得没必要什么都写出来让全世界的人都知道，再加上并没有人会喜欢读类似的文章啊。感叹自己成熟了不少，呵呵。唯一不变的是，每一篇文都会有照片，感觉上大多人都只是会先过滤照片才来决定要不要继续读那个文章。

Just wanted to share that I received a postcard from Lindsey all the way from Singapore, glad to know that she was quite enjoy her trip there. I went to Singapore right after she is back to Taiwan, it will be better if I could meet here there. This round I only got a postcard from Gardens by the Bay, the most regret thing is I totally forgot to get some postcards from USS. Then I received this, as a compensation. Thank you!

这是篇短文，主要是分享Lindsey从新加坡寄给我的明信片，想必她一定在新加坡玩得很开心。我去新加坡的时间跟她错开了，不然我想可以跟她见个面也不错。结果这一次的旅行我只买了一张滨海湾花园的明信片，千叮万嘱一定要买的USS明信片却给忘记了。收到了这张明信片就像是种安慰，真心谢谢你。

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Big Hero 6, I'm coming!