Extract from The Star:

PETALING JAYA, Thursday August 19, 2010: PAS is blaming Valentine’s Day and New Year celebrations as among the main causes of baby dumping in the country.

PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan said the occasions were celebrated in an extreme manner and encouraged liberal socialising and free sex, which resulted in the act of dumping babies.

“Baby dumping is rampant especially during the months of July to September – the months are dubbed the ‘baby dumping season’,” he said yesterday.

He said there had been 15 cases of baby dumping between July and yesterday.

“It is an indication that the ‘mating season’ occurred during the New Year celebrations. We expect more cases between now and September,” he said, adding that the high number of cases of couples caught for khalwat (close proximity) was recorded during carnivals including the Merdeka Day celebrations.

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We have decided, in a show of deference to our political leaders, that we will not be celebrating Valentine’s Day next year for fear of getting an unwanted baby in July. *counting with fingers and toes* Yup, that’s about right.

(Note: I wanted to paraphrase the story, but I thought the original was funnier. The subject matter is certainly not a funny one. Baby dumping should be addressed at its root, and my heart goes out to the innocent lives that have been affected.)

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I promised, in an earlier post, that I’d talk more about the Six2Twelve event which I attended recently.  Six2Twelve is “a collaboration of culinary expressions” by Aubergine Catering and Fluid Alchemy.  It is held once in a couple of months at different locations around the Klang Valley to showcase their creation and passion for food, drinks and entertainment.  The players:

Aubergine Catering – in simple words, boutique caterers.

Fluid Alchemy – mixologists with passion (and good looks).

Nook Florists – the neighbourhood flower shop.

The place:  Nadayu, Taman Melawati.   The brochures paint this place as a gorgeous residence consisting of luxury bungalows, definitely a place for the well-heeled to live.  The place is still in the early stages of development with a couple of show units, an office and lots of cleared land.

The setting was perfect for a party.  It had rained earlier and the grass was slightly damp but still okay to walk on with stilettos. The skies were painted a light shade of purple and orange as we arrived just on time to enjoy the sunset.

From the moment we stepped in (or out, whichever way you look at it), drinks and food were showered upon us that made the feast for the prodigal son look miserly.  Ben from Fluid Alchemy and Timothy from Monin (did I mention their good looks?), were fabulous at multitasking, i.e. chatting/flirting/mixing all at the same time.  They correctly anticipated that Bald Eagle wanted a real man’s drink and fixed him something with some 1800 Tequila Reserva Anejo (100% agave aged in oak for up to three years) – potent stuff that pushed my eyeballs to the back after I took a sip of the drink with its smoky bitter flavours.  For wimps like me, they made me two lovely cocktails, a Pear and Spice Mist consisting of Indian spice reduction, vanilla syrup, fresh pear puree, cloudy apple juice and Sagatiba Pura Cachaca, and a Ginger and Citrus Cobbler made with Bentong ginger, Sagatiba Pura Cachaca and citrus juices.  Ben proudly showed me the ingredients, some of which were hand blended by him for quality control.  You can’t trust some of the blends that you buy from the market.  My mother-in-law blends her own spices and curry powders too; no Baba’s or Alagappa’s for her.  But enough about my mother-in-law.  Plus points for Fluid Alchemy – an ability to concoct a variety of cocktails upon request and an ability to stay cool under pressure.  They did a outstanding job that evening.

Aubergine Catering sources local ingredients and creates dishes that work synergistically to accentuate the flavours.  Canapés were served, all expertly prepared by Jessica and her crew.  Most of the canapés had an Asian twist, inspired by recipes from around the region.  Prawn and watermelon, duck rillette with balsamic reduction, salmon roll with peanut sauce, aubergine with butter fish and sambal sauce and tiny bowls of Vietnamese beef noodles, they all packed a punch with every bite.  I had no qualms lifting the palm-sized bowl of noodles to my mouth to slurp up the last bit of delicious soup, oblivious to the amused looks on the other guests’ faces.  In some cultures, that practice is synonymous with giving compliments to the chef, and I meant exactly that.  I’m not sure if I should be presumptuous, but I think it is safe to say that Aubergine caters to the slightly more affluent crowd where attention to detail, uniqueness of product, and good service are all important and expected.  David and Jessica, the husband and wife team behind Aubergine, are warm and exuberant people with a passion for their business.  I’ve made David my friend for life because he wears cool shoes.

Aubergine
Tel: 03-4107 5894 / 019-365 1877 (David Nathan)

Fluid Alchemy
Tel: 016-494 9760 (Ben Ng)

Nook Flowers
Tel: 014-368 1044 (Brenda James)

Although this sounds suspiciously similar to Eat Drink KL‘s blog name, Eat, Drink & More is Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ new one-stop online portal offering food and beverage concepts and more within Asia Pacific.  I was there along with the blogging glitterati – Masak-Masak, Paprika, Adly and Fatboybakes, and online restaurant reservation portal tycoon, Jek Tan.  The event, which was held on January 13, 2010 at The Westin, brought together 5 restaurant concepts under one roof – Favola and Latest Recipe from Le Meridien, and EEST, Prego and Qba from The Westin.

1. Spectacular in spectacles – L-R: Lady Cornelia, me and Paps
2. Favola logo in The Westin
3. Favola’s spread at the launch
4. The 2Ms – Martin B Jones (VP F&B, Starwood AP Hotels & Resorts) and Me
5. Tapas at Latest Recipe
6. LM Eye Openers on Ice by Jean Georges Vongerichten

A good variety of bites were available at our first station, Favola. Favola recently replaced Al-Nafourah in an Asia-Pacific-wide change in Le Meridien’s branded concepts.  The restaurant serves simple, classic fare at very reasonable prices.  (More in a future blog post.)   One which stood out was the grilled aubergine parcel with tuna, pinenuts and raisins and drizzled with vincotto, which I thought was a rather innovative use of ingredients for presentation.

Aubergine parcel

We then moved to Latest Recipe‘s station which featured, among others, one of Jean Georges’ creations, the LM Eye Openers – basically fruit juices with a punch (not the alcoholic kind).  Latest Recipe is a buffet type restaurant with new and old recipes from the East and West, but there is also a Jean Georges Signature Breakfast (ala carte) which, the management has assured me despite my protests, is still available.  To digress a bit, Bald Eagle and I went to Latest Recipe about a month back for the Signature breakfast, but were disappointed to find out that not only were the waitstaff not knowledgeable about the menu, there was also no sign or information available on the Signature breakfast.

1. Me and Lady Cornelia’s new best friend
2. Is the size of one’s pepper mill any indication of ummmm…?
3. EEST at The Westin
4. Latest Recipe at Le Meridien
5. Favola
6. Pretty pastel coloured macarons

Our third station was EEST, an Asian concept restaurant with five kitchens – Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai and Malay. Here, we were showered with Kobe and foie gras, tiny taro baskets, dim sum and Wagyu rendang with rice in a rolled (like kacang putih) pancake package.   All very interesting twists to traditional dishes, some working better than others.  Prego and Qba were our fourth and fifth station, and again, we were amazed at versatility of the chefs in finding fun ways to present their food.  Prego is a casual dining Italian restaurant, and as we arrived, loud sounds of an inconsistent rendition of (maybe) Happy Birthday reverberated, and all I could think of was TGIF (the restaurant, not the phrase).  Qba is hot hot hot, a Latin American bar & grill which also houses an impressive Cuban rum and cigar collection.

Eat, Drink & More’s website was launched yesterday, so I decided to give the website a go just now.   The search box is good as it allows one to choose a venue or a location quite easily, and it is only a 2 or 3 step process for one to locate something in one’s own city.   Unfortunately, the search box caters primarily for Starwood’s “branded concepts” (eg. Favola), i.e. a concept/venue which is consistent in quality and has comparable appeal and vibrancy with another similarly named concept/venue in a different location, so stand alone (non-branded) restaurants (like Prime) will not be as easily located in the search box as compared to “branded” restaurants.

After locating a restaurant, one can make online restaurant reservations here by clicking on the button.

What I like about it is that last minute bookings are accepted.   What I do not like about it is that I can’t make a booking if I choose to dine alone.  “The hotel does not confirm single diners over the internet.” Despite the shortcoming, this is a website that I will definitely bookmark for future use.  Just as I’m supportive of theQguides, an independent online restaurant booking portal, I am all for the metamorphosis of the way we do things if it allows me to be more efficient with my limited time.

Thank you, Cheryl Lum, Director of Communications at Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur, for your kind invitation, and congratulations to the teams at The Westin and Le Meridien on your excellent execution!

eatdrinkandmore.com

Note: Some pictures are courtesy of the management