riseaboveFriday. 27 April.7.45pm (15 minutes after arrival time for 1st ever food bloggers’ gathering at Sandias, Damansara Heights)

Late!!! SMSes lambasted me from all directions.

7.55pm

No carpark! I drove past Sandias and saw lots of beautiful people.

8.03pm

Threw car on an illegal yellow line, jumped out and did the 100m dash to Sandias. I was too dishevelled to feel jittery, but butterflies came back as I made it past the front entrance. Nigel spotted me first and greeted me with a loud yell and a big warm hug which immediately melted my fears. Makan kakis, WMW, Precious Pea, Boo_licious and FatBoyBakes appeared soon after so I knew I was in familiar territory. I also managed to locate my Shah Alam makan kaki, Riz, and his friend, Adly from FriedChillies. Citygal kept to her perfume promise, while Jackson kept to his….other….promise. I shall never wash my cheek again.

8.30pm

martell
Started warming up. Thanks Martell and Kenny Mah for constantly replenishing the fluid supply on our table. SC and SF seemed totally entertained by the banter (which progressively became louder and sillier with more Martell) going on in our little corner. The conversation was so loud that I had a hard time hearing Mei Yen, Bob (Mei Yen’s fiance) and Tim at the other end of the table. No, it wasn’t because my ears needed cleaning.

Between 8.30pm and hmmmm….11.00pm?

Ate a bit and photographed a bit. These are some of the pics I took (staying true to the code of ethics, I didn’t photograph faces of food bloggers!):-

timlow
Serious foodblogger Tim from 3-meals nursing his Martell.

SC
The very sweet SC from Food4Thot enjoying her Taquitos Fritos.

rizainuddin
The whacky Riz Ainuddin from The Connoisseur in Me with his Postre Helado de Limon.

nisa
Kenny’s lovely dinner date, Nisa, proudly displaying her Pollo a la Castellana.

kennymah1
Kenny Mah dipping his tortilla.

jackson
A very happy Jackson from Living in Food Heaven.

11.00pm

Left for The Attic, feeling a little hungry, but looking forward to the choc & cheese cake from Just Heavenly promised by Nigel.

nigel's cake
Perfection in a slice. I relished every bite.

12.00 midnight

As the hours went by, the night grew a lot more decadent. My code of conduct at The Attic does not allow me to elaborate further.

2.00am

Left The Attic in an intoxicated state, thanks to a sensational cocktail – In Bed with KC (or is that Casey?). Who would have thought Tabasco sauce could do more than make Mary all bloody? Ask for that cocktail the next time you’re at The Attic. If you’re a masochist. It burns.

3.30am

Jumped into bed.

Saturday. 28 April.

9.30am

Woke up with a hangover.

12.00noon

Met up with Jason, WMW and Precious Pea for lunch. Made a pit stop at Precious Pea’s place to see her new prized possession. Pumpkin is hyperactive and absolutely adorable!

pumpkin

Baby walrus or dog? You decide.

1.00pm

Made our way to Kin Kin Restaurant for their famous pan mee. By this time, everyone was ravenous, having skipped breakfast to pig out in the afternoon. The pan mee was worth the wait.

kinkinpanmee
I must be a masochist. Why else would I continue eating the chilli despite seeing warning signals – burning throat, beads of sweat forming on my nose, tears torrentially pouring down my face?

2.15pm

Being the gluttons that we are, we made our way to Nam Chuan in Lucky Garden, Bangsar for a second round of food. Parked car, illegally, on yellow line near the roundabout at Lucky Garden.

sarawak laksa
Sarawak laksa.

hakka abacus seeds
Hakka Abacus Seeds.

charkuayteow
Char koay teow.

At this point, Nigel graced us with his presence.

3.25pm

Reminded food bloggers that we were attending “Readings” at Seksan’s in Lucky Garden which was scheduled to start at 3.30pm.

3.30pm (scheduled start time for “Readings”)

Made frantic call to Kenny Mah to find out where in the world Seksan’s was.

3.31pm

Parked car, illegally, behind someone’s house, thereby effectively blocking the entire back alley. Greeted by the man himself, posing in his free Martell Rise Above T-shirt from the night before.

martellriseabove
Ladies and gentlemen, to vote for contestant No. 9 in Who Wants To Be The Most Diversified Jack-Of-All-Trades-Master-Of-ALL, dial 1800–12345. Call charges will be RM25.47 for each vote that you make. All proceeds will go to the Foundation For The Hungry Food Bloggers Who Also Need Yoga Lessons Desperately.

3.35pm

kennyReadings
Kenny went up first with his reading of I Am Woman, Is This Missing You and Only The Greatest Gets To Go. Wow!! Wow!!! Wow!!!!! Picture’s a bit blur. I had the cheap seat.

Jerome Kugan went up next. His heart wrenching renditions inspired WMW to start singing about food throughout our journey back. I think she deserves a spot in the next Readings session. Can Sharon Bakar please take note? TQ. 🙂

By this time, having had quite a big dose of intellectual nourishment, we were feeling hungry and ready for dessert, so we hopped and skipped away to my car as we headed to our next destination.

4.20pm

Home is where the heart is, and boy, were we at Home! Bakerzin at Bangsar Village.

bakerzin4

bakerzin1

bakerzin2
6.00pm

dance4

Rushed frantically home. I was meeting my family members at 7.30pm for a night of culture.

7.30pm

Dang. We got our meeting place all wrong. They were waiting for us 25km away from where we were. So we agreed to meet up at MATIC instead.

dance3

8.30pm

Dance begins. Peace and quiet for 2 hours.

dance1
Note: Complete food reviews will follow in due course. This is just a teaser. I am still a food blogger at heart although I am contemplating moving to the dark side.

Other reviews:-