The Last Polka Ice-cream at The Bee Cafe, Jaya One

Bored with the normal ice-cream flavours? Vanilla is so yesterday, fed up with strawberry and just not in the mood for chocolate. Well, I found just the right place or I meant ice-cream to look for a new excitement in the taste of this cooling dessert. The Last Polka.

Last year joining a food crawl with Nuffnang Glitterati Plus members at Jaya One, our last stop is The Bee Cafe. We come not for food but for The Last Polka ice-cream which is sold here on a consignment basis. Online order is still available at the current moment but I read on The Star Sunday Metro that the ice-cream makers might stop online ordering and focus to partner with cafes and restaurants.

Made with 100% natural ingredients, The Last Polka is a French style ice-cream that is quite different from Italian ice-cream that we called gelato. Lee Ee Vee and Tee May Yee added a few twist in making the ice-cream by introducing some unique and local flavours.

One of the favourite is the Teh Tarik ice-cream. Yes, you read that right. Teh tarik. If you feel like having teh tarik in solid form, this one is a must try. Rich in tea and milk. It's even better than drinking teh tarik in a mamak stall.

Teh Tarik ice-cream

My favourite is of course their Guinness ice-cream. Yes, made from Guinness stout. I tasted two cups that day if I remember correctly. Don't worry, I think you won't get drunk by eating too much Guinness ice-cream :p

Guinness ice-cream.

If you think Guinness ice-cream is weird, then wait till you taste Chocolate Five Spice ice-cream. Made with Chinese cinnamon, cloves, and star anise are just some of the spices we use, along with a generous handful of roasted almonds for a balanced finish. Basically it's what we called 五香粉 in Chinese.

Chocolate Five Spice

If you are a fan of Nutella, then you'll be happy to know that there's a Nutella ice-cream.

Nutella ice-cream.

Horlicks seems to be a popular flavour used to make ice-cream. I tried Horlicks gelato before in Singapore. The Last Polka's version has more milk in it.

Horlicks ice-cream.

For the list of flavours available, you can check out The Last Polka website.

By the way, a few days ago while I was surfing YouTube I bumped into this video about sighting of mysterious item on a hill top at Ulu Yam. I watched the video and I saw something symbol like a star. Also, when the camera zoom out, I thought I saw something moved in that direction. Try watching it to see if you can see anything out of the ordinary.

Doing a bit of googling, I found a picture about this mysterious item that is near the hill top but the mysterious thing is that this star like symbol is now on the ground. Is it real?

Okay. Mystery aside, you can by The Bee Cafe in Jaya One to try out a scoop or two of this wonderful tasting ice-cream. You can also find The Last Polka ice-cream at Marmalade, Bangsar Village II.

Address:

The Bee
K-2A-G, Block K. Jaya One
No. 72A, Jalan Universiti
46200 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan.
Tel: (+603) 7960 2160

Other Ppl's View:

A Whiff of Lemongrass
Perut Besi
theNomadGormand
Jackie Loi's Sayang
Joshua Law

Johnnie Walker Black Circuit Lounge KL 2011

Oh. It's that time of the year again. F1 is coming to Sepang again. Which means, it's time to party again with Johnnie Walker Black Circuit Lounge KL.

Question of the day is "What have you done to deserve the rewards of luxury and a successful lifestyle?"

Well, for one, I work very hard. 12 hours a day 3 days a week, so I deserve a bit of luxury in life don't you think? Also, I have this blog that has it's readers, even though it's not many but hey, at least someone reads this blog of mine. I remembered when I first started there's only like 1 or 2 readers lol. So, this can be consider successful life right in a way :P

That aside, let's get back to the party.

Do you know that Johnnie Walker is involved in Formula One? I didn't know about this until I went to Johnnie Walker Black Circuit Lounge KL 2010.

Johnnie Walker is the world’s leading Scotch whisky and has partnered with VMM
because they both share the values of innovation, winning and leadership. VMM is short for Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes the successful F1 Racing team that has Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button as their drivers.

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Johnnie Walker has a cool and inspirational campaign with the Black Circuit Lounge that allows you to experience the lifestyle of Formula One. Which means there's race queen, cars and celebrities.

Girls!

Celebrity!

This year, it will be bigger and more exciting:

Go find out more about this exciting party in the Johnnie Walker FB page that is happening next Saturday 9th April 2011.

One last thing. “NEVER DRINK AND DRIVE.”

Authentic Yuen Long Poon Choy (正统元朗盘菜)

As I've mentioned in my previous post, one of the reason I went to Hong Kong two weeks ago is to attend my Hong Kong cousin brother's wedding lunch ceremony. Due to the fact that his root is the aboriginals in Yuen Long, this mean wedding lunch will be held in his ancestor's village popularly known as "gated village" (围村) in Yuen Long, Hong Kong.

Entrance to the village.

As a tradition, when a son is getting marry in the village, "poon choy" 盘菜 are served to the friends and family during lunch or dinner. Because my cousin will also held a wedding dinner in hotel a week later, so the "poon choy" is held during lunch. Our family from Malaysia chose to attend to this instead of the hotel one. Obvious reason is to taste the authentic Yuen Long "pun choy" that one won't be able to get else where. Those so called "poon choy" sold in restaurants just can't compare with this.

The elderly villagers were invited to join the lunch.

Before lunch, the groom and bridegroom (in the morning the groom went to pick up the bride from her house, actually it's about the same as the Chinese wedding here in Malaysia) will have to go to the ancestral house inside the village to offer incense to the ancestors. Then, it's time for tea ceremony.

My cousin and his wife walking down the alley towards the ancestral house (祖屋).

As you can see the bride here during this ceremony is wearing the traditional Chinese wedding gown. While in Malaysia, we usually see the bride wearing the western white wedding gown instead during this ceremony at daytime.

After the tea ceremony, it's time for the "poon choy" luncheon to start. Each table will have a stove. This is used to heat up the "poon choy" and to keep it from becoming cold. Even though it's spring time, Hong Kong is still quite cold with the coolest that day is around 15 degree Celsius.

We have to wait till the "poon choy" is heated up until boiling only then we can remove the aluminum foil.

It's time to indulged in this, I've been waiting a long time to try an authentic 围村 "poon choy". For those of you that don't know what is "poon choy". Let me briefly explain here. It's a dish consists of many other dishes cooked and then stacked in a specific way inside a very big bowl or pot, whatever. At the bottom, there are fu chuk (dried flat bean curd), radish and pork skin (dish that doesn't have any taste on it's own, it will absorb the juice from the meat stacked at the top). Then there's shitake mushroom, sotong, fish balls stacked in the middle followed by nam yue pork belly (南乳猪腩肉). At the top are chicken cooked in soy sauce and prawn.

The most delicious is of course the dishes at the bottom. I like the fu chuk most because it has absorbed all the juices from the pork belly, chicken and prawn. The bowl is really a very big bowl. The ten of us can't even finish half of it.

The picture is not enough. Let's watch it in High Definition video to do justice to the poon choy 盘菜.

Picture time after such a fulfilling meal.

My HK cousin Elaine. She's the big sister (大家姐) of the groom.

The groom's younger sisters, Christine and Kathryn.

It was fun meeting up with my cousins and families and also get to experience what is it like for a wedding in such a traditional place like Yuen Long village. The best part is of course get to eat authentic "poon choy".

Meeting Up With Karen Kong 龔柯允 in Hong Kong

I went to Hong Kong two weeks ago for about a week there. Firstly, it's a family trip there to of course travel and sight seeing, secondly is to attend my Hong Kong cousin's wedding lunch ceremony at Yuen Long and lastly is to watch 趙增熹分子音樂盛宴 Chiu Tsang Hei Life in Concert. Chiu Tsang Hei 趙增熹 is actually a famous song producer and song writer in Hong Kong. He became very popular with the public after he took the part as a judge for the reality singing contest The Voice organized by Hong Kong TVB station for two seasons.

I got to know about this concert from Karen's Facebook Page. She's one of the performer in the concert. The concert consists of 8 female singers, Chiu Tseng Hei told the media that he also plan to do a male version of the concert. The concert I watched have Kay Tse 謝安琪, Kit Chan 陳潔儀, Ella Kong 官恩娜, 鄧小巧 (finalist of The Voice season 1), 王嘉儀 (finalist of The Voice season 1), 邵美君 (a talented musical actress that can act and dance) and of course, our very own Karen Kong. Secret performer is Miss Chan Chan 陳潔靈. The concert was great and I like the way he rearranged some of the songs. Oh, Hacken Lee was one of the audience on the night I watch.

Andy Lau was not there but he sent his regards.

Apart for watching the concert, I was also able to meet Karen Kong after her performance. Thanks to Ardiles Nip one of her fan from Hong Kong that managed to alias with her manager to arranged this short meet up with Karen. For those of you that don't know who is Karen Kong, she's actually a Sabahan but now based in Hong Kong mostly. She made a breakthrough there when she successfully PKed the finalists in two different episodes of The Voice. I've know about Karen even before that.

Picture taken in Feb 2009 outside Studio V in 1 Utama.

I can feel that her hand is very cold when I shook her hand during the meet up. I think that's why her singing is a bit shaky during her parts. It's about 15 degree Celsius that night in Hong Kong and they still blast the air con like nobody's business.

With Karen Kong after her performance in the concert.

Group photo. The one in green sweater is Karen's Malaysian friend that is now working in Hong Kong. He came to the concert to surprise her.

In short, the HKD$400 I spent for this concert is really worth it. I also bought Kit Chan's latest album and also Chiu's intrumental album (songs that he composed for movies). Here is the video of the Finale of the concert.

Beyond The Still: A Short Film by Visual Story

From the first time I met Nigel Sia, I come to know that he can take very good photos with his Canon DSLR camera. He then moved on to do videos. He is very nice to helped me on my Rihanna's Umbrella video 2 years ago when I have to do it for an advertorial. I know nuts about video editing then. He quit his job and is now a full time freelance photographer and videographer. Some of the wedding videos he and his friends shot are very good, might even gives Kidd Chan a run for his money :p (just kidding). If you are getting marry and haven't get photo/video arrangement yet for you wedding day and dinner, you can starts by looking at Visual Story.

Recently he shot this short film "Beyond The Still" with Joshua Ong, Ren, and Joshua Wong. This short film was shot using solely Canon DSLR cameras. I will say, it's actually very good. Maybe not a Wong Fu Productions yet but given time, these guys could be our very own local version of Phil, Ted and Wes.

Do go watch it in YouTube so that you can like this video. I'll save it and watch it again on the Nokia E7 that can play HD video, my laptop's screen just won't do justice to this short film. Also, they made it to the final selection for The Star In.Tech competition.

Please help vote for Team: Visual Story here if you think that this video is good.

By the way, these are some of the behind the scene photos shot by Jason Lioh.

After looking at the gorgeous girl video, maybe I should buy a Canon DSLR, since my Panasonic Lumix Digital Camera was stolen when I was in Hong Kong :p

P.S. Remember to vote for Team Visual Story here.

Maxis10 Nokia E7 Review: Frequently Asked Questions

Alright, this is the last of my Maxis10 Nokia E7 post. After, going through all my review post on Nokia E7. Some of you might have questions that you want answered. So, I compiled these question that might be in your mind here on this FAQ post.

1. There's no mention of the processor speed and RAM size in the specification on Nokia website, what is the processor speed and RAM size?

While, I won't be able to answer this question straight out because I too don't have any official source about the processor speed and RAM size. Through some digging (Googling to be exact), according to a previous release to the news, Nokia E7 uses ARM 11 680 MHz processor and comes with 256MB of RAM.

2. I have limited data usage because I uses Hotlink and I don't plan to actively uses the data. Is there a way to turn off data when I don't need to data connection, so that I can use save the data cost?

Welcome to the club. I use Hotlink too and I only activated the 100MB/2weeks for RM18 Internet Mobile plan during the reviewing period. I found some apps I installed are using the data even if I've exited the apps. What I do is, go to Settings > Connectivity > Settings and set the Data use in home country to WLAN only. So, all any other connection will be denied except for WLAN connection. Don't worry, you still can receive SMS and voice call.

3. Is the battery life good on Nokia E7?

Well, I'll have to say that it very much depends on your usage. I tried once that I have 3G connection and then playing Angry Birds non-stop for two hours, 40% of the battery gone. If I just use it normally and not much 3G Internet connection activity, the battery can last me for a whole day.

A tip to save battery is to change your connection to GSM mode instead of 3G mode when you are not using Internet connection. I think 3G use up more energy, I have no real fact to support that though. You can go to Settings > Connectivity > Network and change the Network mode to GSM.

Better yet, click on the battery icon on the main screen, and Activate Power Saving mode. E7 will automatically changed from 3G to 2G and other settings to save power.

4. Is the camera on Nokia E7 good?

Well, it can take photo up to 8 Megapixel, which is more than enough for most but the downside is that it only has a fixed full focus lens. So taking macro shot will sometime turned out not very well because shooting very near the subject will not turn out clear. For wide shot it do quite well if you have a steady hand, I love the picture when watch on a 40" HD TV.

While the photo camera is not too impressive, the video camera really takes good 720p HD video. Playback of HD video on Nokia E7 is also very good. I used it to watch HD drama series while traveling on bus or train. Click here to watch the HD video I took of the Hong Kong Disneyland parade while I was in Hong Kong last week.

5. What is the pricing structure like for Nokia E7?

The Recommended Retail Price for Nokia E7 is MYR 1,995 but you can get it at cheaper price if you sign up for the Maxis package here. Nokia E7 will only cost your MYR 1,499 if you sign up the 24 months plan.

6. I am a blogger too. I want to be able to do phone review for Maxis10 Reviewers Programme too but I don't know how to start?

It's quite easy, submit your application here and if you fit the criteria, you'll be called up for one of their future Maxis10 review. Better yet is to follow Maxis Twitter Account because any new phone up for Maxis 10 Reviewers Programme will be announce there.


Hope this will very much answer some of your questions. Any questions regarding the feature of the Nokia E7 can click here and go through my Maxis 10 review posts.

Maxis10 Nokia E7 Review: Social Networking

After a few posts of work, play, a guest review, and a 9-to-5 video. It's time for me to review something that I used most often on Nokia E7. Social Networking tools. The tools that I used most are Twitter and Facebook. On addition to those two, I also occasionally Plurk and Weibo. With Nokia E7, I can download Whatsapp free from Ovi Store.

Yes. You read it right. Whatsapp is free from Ovi Store and no jail breaking or whatsoever needed. So, now I'll be able to chat with my cousin sister Elaine from Hong Kong using Whatsapp. She use her iPhone 4 and I use Nokia E7.

The Twitter and Facebook app from Ovi Store is a bit too simple for my liking but I do like the fact that it's very Twitpic friendly. I can upload a photo and publish it on Facebook and Twitter on the same time by choosing All Activity which will linked up both Facebook and Twitter status updates. For normal, Twitter checking and Facebooking, I still prefer Snaptu.

Also Weibo has their own app for Symbian ^ 3 phones. I really like their app design. Also, when you took a picture with Nokia E7, the Weibo app will asked whether to publish it on Weibo. This feature is not available when I installed it on my LG GW525.

In short, on Nokia E7, not only you can work and play but stay connected with many Social Networking sites by using hundreds of apps available out there. Gravity is one that is quite good for Twitter and Facebook but have to pay one lah.

P.S. For all Maxis10 Nokia E7 Review posts, you can click here.

Maxis10 Nokia E7 Review: My 9-to-5

Okay. This is something like a Vlog. I made a video showing a day at work from 9 to 5 (actually I work from 8 to 8 lol) for me and what I do with the Nokia E7 in my hands literally. It's less than 3 minutes, so sit back and enjoy.

This is the first time I do video editing. If it's not nice please forgive me :p

To read all the Maxis10 Nokia E7 Review posts, click here.

Maxis10 Nokia E7 Review: Guest Blogger Reviewer

After posting a few review posts on Nokia E7, many of you might say that I must be very bias one lah doing this review for Maxis10. Okay, so I roped in Jackie Loi, whom has been using Nokia phones in the past but is currently using a BlackBerry and a keen supported of Android platform. That's why he also owns a Samsung Galaxy Tab that runs on Android :p

Jackie Loi and Jessica

This is a snippets from his review post.

"Courtesy of Simon, i am given a chance to review a Nokia E7, for 24 hours LOLL..Simon was reviewing it for Maxis10 and i am his guest blogger. Well, now what make u guys think i am qualify to review this phone? since i am such a android fan boy now ;P

A little bit about my experience on mobile gadget (opss), I am not a professional reviewer and all the review i wrote is based on my personal preference. I have been Nokia user since 2003 till 2010. Nokia phone that i have use b4 were 3310, 8250, 6600i, forgot model, forgot model, forgot model and finally, my last nokia phone was my belated N900 :( Nevertheless, i have been watching Nokia Symbian grown until today, so i am actually quite familiar with the UI and etc. Once hands-on on Nokia E7, i get to access ...click here to continue reading."

Maxis10 Nokia E7 Review: Play

In my previous review post of Nokia E7, I wrote about how it helps in office work. Well, Nokia E7 is not all only about work, there's also play involve. Maybe many of you didn't know that apps and games can be downloaded from Ovi Store, the apps store of Nokia phone.

More of you might not know that some of the popular games previously found only on Apple App Store are now available in Ovi Store. Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja now can be found on Ovi Store. I've downloaded three free version of Angry Birds and only left 1 level I haven't beat in Angry Birds Lite.

There are also a lot of High Definition (HD) games available such as Worms HD and Assassin Creed HD. This is because Nokia E7 has a 720p HD screen that can churn out very clear HD quality graphic. I compared Angry Birds on Nokia E7 and my friend's iPhone 3Gs and found that it looks much nicer on E7.

Downloading Angry Birds with Maxis 3G connection doesn't take too much time. I played it while waiting for Jay Chou's concert to start last Friday lol.

I downloaded all free version of Angry Birds that I can find on Ovi Store. Angry Birds Free, Angry Birds Lite and Angry Birds Seasons.

With a 4" HD screen, Angry Birds on Nokia E7 is much nicer than other mobile phones. Of course it only loses to tablet and some 5" screen mobile phone.

Too bad the free version of Fruit Ninja only has 1 level. Kind of bored already. So tempting to part away with RM4 to buy the full version from Ovi Store.

Even my niece Fay thought that I am using iPhone when I show her that Nokia E7 can play Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. Previously she only can play these two games on her grandfather's iPhone 3Gs.

Here's a video of her playing Fruit Ninja on Nokia E7 ;)

In short, those of you who thinks that Nokia E7 is only about work and no fun? Think again. There are load of games that are free and money can buy. Some of it in HD version too.

Next post, I'll rest a bit and let my guest reviewer Jackie tell you what he's think of Nokia E7. Previously he's a long time user of Nokia Symbian phones but has since changed to BlackBerry and a strong supporter of Android phones. So, be very sure of his bias review lol.

To read all of the Maxis10 Nokia E7 review posts, click here.

Maxis10 Nokia E7 Review: Work

The Nokia E7 is a smart phone design to help professionals to be able to continue their work even if they are on the go. Best suited for those that are always traveling from one place to another.

Nokia E7 provides real-time business email with Mail for Exchange – no extra fees and no additional hardware required. You can also setup your personal email account with push mail feature from your Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or whatever email service you're currently using. I setup my Gmail and once activated my mail is being push so fast that I worried that it will takes up 3.9GB of space. That's how much the space my Gmail is occupying. Haha, lucky there's option to set the limit of mails that is stored in the phone mail account.

With Maxis 3G connection the mail was very fast sychcronized with my Gmail account. Sometimes I am quite worry that it will used up my Hotlink 100MB mobile Internet plan that I've activated. RM18 only mah, I'm very kiamsap one :p

In the Office folder there are some preloaded apps that will help those that has to work while traveling. To be a mobile office. One had to have the ability to read and write work related documents on the go. In Nokia E7, come loaded with Quickoffice. You can view and edit Microsoft Office files like Word, Excel and Powerpoint. It says to support up to Office 2007 but I tested with Word and Excel files save with Office 2010 yet it still can be opened. I think as long as the extension is .doc, .docx, .xls or .xlsx then there will be no problem.

The viewable files that can be accessed by Quickoffice are shown.

Viewing and editing Excel spreadsheet using Quickoffice. The 4" screen really make view easier.

Below is a short video on the demo of viewing and editing Word document and Excel spreadsheet using Quickoffice.

For many corporate executive, in their mobile devices usually stores confidential and sensitive materials, such as bidding price, unannounced product pricing and etc. If the mobile device containing this confidential and sensitive data was stolen or lost, then the information might leak out and do a great impact on the company's secret.

Having thought of this, Nokia preloaded F-Secure Anti-Theft service in Nokia E7 smart phone. By activating the service, it can help protect important data with remote device management options such as device lock and device wipe. Locate your phone if it is stolen – see where it is on a map with the theft control feature. Keep important work files safe.

In Nokia E7, you also can connect to your company intranet quickly and securely with built-in Nokia Mobile VPN. You can tend securely access the application and files stored in your company's Intranet.

Oh. There's also Adobe Reader. I found it very useful for me to store my flight itinerary from Air Asia. This can help to save paper and help the environment a bit because now I don't have to print out the itinerary. I can also use Nokia E7 to do mobile check-in, no hassle of queuing up. To bad I still have to print out the boarding pass from the kiosk in LCCT. Air Asia should learn from MAS to provide e-boarding pass.

Viewing my flight itinerary that is in PDF format.

The above are just some of the extensive features Nokia E7 has for people that work on the go. I myself only able to utilize maybe 20% of the features because my work has to be done sitting in front of a desktop in the office for 12 hours a day. I don't have to meet clients and have to reply important emails while I am outside of office.

Check out the rest of my review posts here. ;)

Beastly

Tale as long as time...oh no this is not Beauty and the Beast. Yes, the story is kind of based on Beauty and the Beast but it's now in the modern world. Handsome but shallow and arrogant young man being cursed and turn into a "beast" (ugly?). But I don't think he's ugly at all even after being cursed, he's more like a sadist than a beast wtf.

Before being turned.

Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) after being turned.

Here's the beauty, Lindy (Vannessa Hudgens).

Story is a bit cliche. Well what you expect from a modern Beauty and the Beast remake lol? Acting, the leading actor and actress still have a long way to go.

My favourite character is actually the blind tutor, Will (Neil Patrick Harris). I liked him back in the day when he's Doogie Howser M.D. He's timing in the funny scene or line is just so on. Also, you'll see joke from "How I Met Your Mother".

The witch that cursed Kyle, is Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen). Not too bad but I like her and her sister best back in the days of Full House lol.

Overall nothing too surprising here. Neil Patrick Harris did a wonderful performance. Go to the cinema if you like him and want to watch him on the big screen. If not, maybe there's a lot of other Oscar winning movie up currently :p

Rating: 5/10