Coffee, Pretty Please | Pulp by Palpathea, APW Bangsar

I just had a thought. It isn't exactly an elaborate one but it is enough to have me wondering if life works in the oddest possible ways.

For some weird reason.... Whenever I am at home and have already made the decision to stay at home, there is literally nothing in the world that can get me out.  I mean the world could be ending and I still would be adamant about staying indoors, mainly hidden in my room till everything ended. Spoken like a professional hermit.

But when I am already out however, I find that there are too little hours in a day that I can spend with whomever that I am with or where I am. Which was the case with Reubs & Leena. I mean, midway through lunch, these two were already talking about bringing me over to APW. Obviously there is zero complaints coming from me since it has been so long since I last saw them and I have already made up my mind on spending the entire day with them beforehand anyways.

Just don't make up plans last minute expecting me to go along with it, especially when I'm already at home or have made up my mind to go home. I'm an introvert and need proper mental preparation if I am to go/be out. #justputtingthisouthere

More adventures together please!

So, Leena told me about Pulp having really good coffee and plus, considering the fact that it was a weekday, she presumed that the space would be pretty empty. Something she really wanted while she finished up a bit of work. Meanwhile Reu could try to get in a little bit of studying (because I kind of forced him out xp) and this gives me a chance to finish my little side project.

APW was a mere five minutes walk away from Naj & Belle and since we were all super stuffed, walking seemed to be the most obvious choice. Plus we all knew how hard it is to get a parking around that area of Bangsar so it was a good idea to leave our cars at PAM Centre and make our way over to APW on our legs.

Thankfully, the weather was on our side too considering the hour of day we finished our brunch. I mean, in Malaysia, that is a rare feat. It was humid but at least there was no sun and super minimal breeze. Are we lucky or what?

No surprise that we managed to get a table almost immediately after arrived at Pulp. Though there were still a lot of people having their lunch and coffee fix there - some were even office workers. Maybe they have more freedom than I do so they take the opportunity to work outside of their designated office seat because it gives them an energy boost?

Because Coffee is all you need to survive the day.

Anyway we got a really nice table at the corner of the cafe, set our stuff down before making our way to the counter to order. In truth I was a little at a lost when I saw the menu because one part of me wanted to gravitate to my usual order of Cappuccino, but I already had that moments ago and another part of me wanted to try something different.

In the end I took the cashier's recommendation and ordered Pulp's In-House White Cold Brew which was served in a very nice bottle I must say. I find it quite funny that there's a 'do not remove from the property' printed on the label because sometimes, people need to be told embarrassingly enough. So don't go getting any ideas and decide to be sneaky. Please be civil human beings everybody.

As for the coffee, I quite liked it because the White Cold Brew was very creamy without being overly milky if that makes sense. Like a very smooth Latte, a super OP version you've ever tried before, without the taste of coffee being overpowered by mediocre milk. This did make me reconsider changing my regular order of Cappuccino to Latte instead. That's if I can get coffee as good as the ones you get at Pulp.

Whereas Leena ordered the opposite of what I had which was the In-House Black Cold Brew. I'm not one to drink black coffee because most of the ones I've tried before usually have a sour taste which I can't seem to appreciate. I had a sip of the cold brew and thought that it was actually pretty good. There was no sour after-taste and I could still smell the coffee.

Reu Reu however went in a very different route and order Iced Mint Chocolate. An odd selection but it was pretty good. The mint flavour was pretty pronounced even though the chocolate was super thick. Though I probably would not order that when I visit Pulp - coffee will always be my go-to beverage.

Chocolate Truffle Cake

We spent a good few hours there and I oddly enjoyed the feel of just chilling at a cafe be it to do work or just to be for a while. I loved those few hours that we were there especially because Pulp plays really good coffeehouse jazz musics.

Midway through the day, we decided to get a Chocolate Truffle Cake as a treat to share between the three of us. Not being much of a sweet-person I only had a few bites of the cake and in truth, it is pretty good. Just maybe a tad bit too rich for a single person to finish it on their own.

While Leena was finishing up her work and Reu was studying, I was just chilling. Though really I was trying to finish up a wedding invitation I was helping my friend to do and I was taking really long because in truth, I've never done graphic designing before. I've never even studied the basics except for a little tricks which I picked up from youtube videos. I basically self-learned Adobe Illustrator and also Photoshop - so to have someone trust me enough to design their wedding invitation was freaking amaaaaazing. And stressful.

Also, to have someone trust in whatever little skills I have in wedding planning was the biggest honour I am ever going to get. Though this, I will have to talk about in another post or else this one is just going to be all over the place.


Anyway, evening approaches and we finally decided to take our leave. Leena had another engagement to get to so we all thought it was best to call it a day. But not without taking many many pictures to commemorate the day.

Going for a little bit of a glamourous Beegees-esque shot here.

I kinda am loving the hell out of this picture which was taken by my friend who is one of the co-founder of Makirito. It's basically a giant burrito but sushi-style which sounds hella good because I love anything sushi-related. I have yet to try it out yet but this also means that I will have to drop by APW again soon to try out the other restaurants there.

Apparently Proof + Wine is pretty good from what I've read from bloggers and heard from a few friends - so I definitely have to drop by once more someday to try all the restaurants there. There's Breakfast Thieves, Kaiju, Proof + Wine and Makirito.

More food adventures with my pretty brunch gang, I think yes!

Can't believe I'm going to say this but we've actually known each other for quite a long time. Has it already been six years since we all met in college? Where has the time gone?

Mandatory 'not-looking-at-the-camera' shot which 99% of Instagram girls do. I mean I personally love this angle for me so you can't see how chubby my face actually is so I see no reason to keep this photo.

Can you tell how amazing my friends are at photography?

Is this my natural expression? 

So I was editing my pictures and as I close the tab of my previous photo, I am ambushed by this very unready photo of myself. It was clear that I was dying from the heat and just.... I can't even explain this expression but I find it so funny that I can't not share it.

And because it is practically blasphemous to not have my photograph taken at the infamous stairs of APW, I had to have a mini-shoot there. Plus I have an amazing photographer with me that day so it would be foolish to not be taking advantage of the moment while I could.

After all, who knows when will be the next time I will be back here. So here are some gratuitous photos of myself which Reu took for me hence the fact that it looks really good. The photos I mean, not mean.

Pic Credit: Reu reu

Pic Credit: Reu Reu
Dress & Bag from Zalora
Shoes from H&M

Now after months of procrastination, I finally got this blog post up and in the meantime I actually had so many odd little adventures along the way. Which I guess is good for me to attempt to keep this blog alive despite how little effort I have been putting into this space.

So let's hope I manage to keep up this random interlude of updates now.

❝She's mad, but she's magic.

There is no lie in her fire.❞ 

- Charles Bukowski

Until next time darlings.

   

Escape into the City | Naj & Belle, Pam Centre, Bangsar

Here here!

Let it be known that this introvert here was daring enough to take a step out of her comfort zone and did something different for once. (;

Though to be honest, it is not like I went cliff diving or anything like that so it isn't that big of an achievement. I mean, yes, I finally took a day off work and it is not because I am super sick which requires me to stay home to rest.

There are no words that can express just how much this day was needed.... Though it took quite a bit of courage from me to take a day off from work and I am glad that I did. And once I had the idea in my head, I just could not stop thinking about it.

Luckily for me, Leena had the day free to work from anywhere she chose and Reubs had no class as he was studying for exams. What better company than these two to go on a mini-adventure with me on a Friday afternoon.

Technically it was supposed to start out as a nice brunch session with Leena first and Reubs will meet us after his errands were done. But it comes as no surprise that I woke up later than was intended because I so smartly slept super late the night before - stayed up late to catch up on my reading.

So our brunch date ended up being a lunch date though by Malaysian's timing standard, I wasn't all that late. Even though I did make Leena wait for me a little longer than I was comfortable with. ;-; Plus, by the time I arrived and found a parking, Reubs arrived no more than ten minutes after me. I guess in a way..... It was perfect timing?

Image Credit: VMO Rocks

Naj & Belle is located at Pam Centre, Bangsar. Not going to lie, I find this place very unique building and I personally love the architecture of it. So it is no surprise that Naj & Belle has made itself home in such a unique place.

I really love the interior decoration. Simple and minimalistic with a touch of class with marble table-tops which honestly could never go wrong. There is also a slight industrial feel to the atmosphere which I believes comes hand-in-hand with Pam Centre's exterior design.

I wish I took more pictures of the place but I did not and..... My camera died after taking no more than 3 pictures of our food because I had not realised the night before that the battery was next to empty. So it blacked out and was rendered useless after.

Thus, a lesson was learned - always check camera battery the night before an adventure.

Feeling like indulging that very day..... I decided to order the Sirloin Steak Sandwich with a sunny side up egg and a side of fries and was somewhat disappointed. Although the portion was larger than what I'm used to seeing, I honestly would not repeat my order if I ever to drop by Naj & Belle again. Though to be fair, I do like the roasted capsicum jam as a condiment to the hot shoestring fries even if everything else was lackluster.

And because I have not had my caffeine fix yet at that point, I had to order a Cappuccino or risk falling asleep mid-conversation with my friends. It's pretty good though not the best that I've had. But when you are desperate, anything goes.

Leena ordered Benny the Bull and let me tell you, this was much better than what I had for sure. Braised beef cheeks served over Brioche toast with Hollandaise sauce with crisp battered onions topped with arugula. Once again the portion was larger than usual and when the dish arrived, we were pleasantly surprised by it's presentation.

The beef was so perfectly tender and the sauce that it was braised in was so so so so good. Putting every ingredient plus both sauces into a single mouthful is a great way to start your brunch. Definitely would give this an A+ for presentation and mainly the flavours.

Reubs made the best decision of the day by ordering this dish - New Moussaka. This is probably the best dish out of the three that we ordered from the menu. The sauce that the meat has been cooked in was super flavourful from all the herbs used in it, meat was tender and the bechamel sauce added another layer of indulgence to the dish.

There's definitely a twist to the traditional version of Mediterranean Moussaka dish executed perfectly well by the chef at Naj & Belle. It was everything indulgent in the food world put together to form a super beautiful dish that left you hungry for more. I am salivating just thinking about this dish again. It is that good.

And I think it was at this point where my camera made a very sad beeping sound before it's screen turned black. I knew that the battery was completely drained even though I have taken all of four pictures since our arrival.

So all pictures from here on out are taken via iPhone 6 and some aren't even taken with my phone but rather from Leena or Reuben's phone. And truth be told, an iPhone takes pretty good pictures if not the best. There is nothing a little Photoshop colour touch-up can't fix in my opinion.

But you know...... Beggars can't be choosers and just like in life, you have to make do with what you've got to work with. Rather than bitch complain about things you can't change, move on from it and learn your lesson.

And that is Amanda's two cents for this post. Rest assured I'm gonna be including sarcastic advices every now & then. I wonder if anyone can catch it from time to time.

Our spread from a vantage point that is obviously not mine. 

I always have a dang good time hanging out with these two. Then by the end of the day, despite the amount of yummy food we have eaten, I go home with stomach abs just from laughing.

The best thing about our....... Eight years friendship? Is that even though we can go months without meeting and/or talking, every time we do meet, it feels like nothing has changed since college days. Even though we are each busy with our own lives - because work & university can suck up all your time, we still remain as we are.

This makes me look forward to more adventures into the city, exploring new gastronomy places with these two. Hopefully these kind of outings would get me out of my shell more often and I won't be as frustrated with everything that is not going right in my life.

And we call ourselves - Pretty Brunch Gang. 

Of course once our food was gone, sitting comfortably in our filled bellies, and the lunch crowd started filling the restaurant making it harder to have a good chat, we all made a move. The sudden increase in numbers of patrons was

But that was not the end of our day because these two are bringing me over to the new and pretty APW - the place that is full of hype ever since Breakfast Thieves made their home there. Which believe it or not, I have not even visited ever since it had started.

So these two decided to bring me on an adventure there while I am still out. But that will be continued in another post or else this one will have gone on for far too long and plus, there are just too many photos taken from our next destination to possibly fit here without seeming like a crazy person.

Well the quality of my sanity is often times debatable but I will not subject anyone to a discussion on it. Thus I'm ending this post with a pretty (IMO at least) picture of myself.

Pic Credit: Leena

❝I don't need an inspirational quote. I need COFFEE.❞ 

- Found on Pinterest

Onto the next adventure then... (; 

Yes, I am still alive.... Somewhat.

Hello abandoned blog of mine

It pains me to acknowledge the fact that I've left this space uncared for since a year ago. And if we are being technical here, it has definitely been more than a year since my last update. I want to blame it on everything in life from my work-hours to my lack of time and inability to juggle my ever-growing list of hobby.

In actual fact, I've just been very lazy on top of hermit-ing more than usual. I spend most of my time out of the office at home. There was a long weekend once, the Hari Raya Aidilfitri long holiday weekend, where it spanned from Saturday till Tuesday. In total, I had four days of rest. Though in that few days I could have gone on some holiday or adventure, do whatever that I want to do that I usually can't because of work. 

I did none of that. I did not leave my house at all. Instead I spent all four days at home binge watching my TV show, painting and cooking for myself. And when I say I did not leave the house, I really did not. Not even to have breakfast, lunch and/or dinner. 

And weirdly enough those four days to be absolutely therapeutic. I had moments to myself to just breathe and be for a while. I had not had such privileges for months at that point so to say that I was becoming a bit of an over-stressed grump is quite the understatement. But after those few days to myself, I was normal once again. Or at least as close as I could get to being normal.

Because only Eeyore understands me. Truly.

Though I can't believe I'm actually saying this despite me saying that I've been hermitting a lot...... My year of 2017 has been oddly eventful in a rather uncanny way. Too many things has happened for me to properly summarise them into one paragraph of this supposedly short post.

I guess I can only slowly update the happenings in my life bit by bit. That is the only way I know how to keep myself motivated to keep posting on this blog or else my interest in writing is just going to fade out yet again. Though I do admit that I do not write blog posts because I am lacking a lot in pictures, especially pretty ones, for posts because I am always too lazy to take and edit them.

But that's just an excuse and a habit that I have to break if I want to start committing to writing more posts. Not that there is anything wrong with posts that have no pictures. In fact, I don't mind it since I do enjoy reading. It's just that I know most people's attention span for the internet now is growing shorter as the year progresses and we are too spoiled with super HD pictures for more than just illustration purposes.

Luckily enough I actually made an effort when I took a mini-adventure into the city with my friends. It was a day off from work that I desperately needed after working for so long. But that's for another post to be written another day.

Now my mom just finished cooking dinner and there is a bowl of herbal soup with my name on it. There are no words that can express how good it is to just have a big bowl of piping hot home-boiled soup and rice for dinner. Brings me back to my childhood days and it makes me so happy.

Until next time..... :)

Love,