Healthy Pasta Recipe - Tomato Based

Due to my food restrictions, I've been looking out for some healthy pasta recipes which I can cook.

I managed to find my whole wheat pasta and low-salt tomato pasta sauces from Cold Storage. I bought Preggo's Heart Smart Pasta Sauce which is made up of tomatoes, onions and garlic. It has low salt and has been approved by the US Heart Association. The sauce was a little pricey RM12 for a large bottle but I was lucky as I got the whole wheat pasta free together with the bottle!

Anyway, my recipe does not have any added salt or sugar as the sauce would have adequate seasoning.

Ingredients for 1 person's portion:

• Whole Wheat Spaghetti (I got San Remo) - 1 portion
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Onions - 2 small red onions or as many as you like
• Cherry Tomatoes - 3
• Heart Smart Onion and Garlic Pasta Sauce - 5 tablespoons
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 1 tablespoon
  
• Parsley Flakes
  
• (optional) - Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Boil the spaghetti in hot water. The pasta will take around 8-10 minutes to cook since it is whole wheat. If you have specific diet restrictions, cook the pasta until aldente, i.e. still chewy and not too soft. Drain most of the water from the pasta.

2. Heat the pan with extra virgin olive oil.

3. Cook the onions and then add the garlic. Garlic tends to burn easily and so, do watch the heat of the pan.

4. Once the onions and garlic look soft, add the pasta sauce and keep the pan to medium heat.

5. Add the cooked pasta and some of the pasta water to make the sauce. Mix well. (Optional - You can add salt and pepper for taste at this point)

6. Add the cherry tomatoes and turn off the heat when the sauce and pasta has mixed well.

7. Sprinkle the parsley flakes.

8. Eat and enjoy. ;-)

There is also an optional step to this recipe which is to add a bit of skimmed or low fat milk to make the sauce creamy. Also, since this is a vegetarian dish, you can also add meat to the sauce too. The important step is to brown your meat first and then cook your sauce in the same pan.

Also, if you want to add more interesting flavours, here are my suggestions:

• Toasted pine nuts
• Fresh parsley instead of dried parsley flakes
• Fresh basil
  

Finally.. Here is the result of my quick recipe...

Looks good, right? ;-)

Dim Sum @ Taman Desa

One of the favourite things which I will miss is having dim sum... Not that I have it very often but just that being on a strict diet (and exercise regime), I don't think I'll be having dim sum so soon.

Anyway, after this dim sum lunch last month, my parents and I agreed that we can't have it too often as the stuff we order makes us feel too bloated after eating it.

We ordered all the usual stuff and we typically like the steamed stuff more than the fried stuff. We even ordered the pork and century egg porridge to share amongst us.

Dim sum is great to be shared with 3 people as the dishes come in threes which is just right.

The "Loh Mai Gai" was pretty ok. It wasn't too oily and I like that there was enough meat and mushroom filling proportionate to the amount of glutinous rice.

BBQ Pork Buns are my favourite. Since there were three served, each pork bun is not too large and just great for a taste. However, since we were already quite stuffed by then, we struggled to finish the buns.

One of my favourite dishes is the Har Gao or steamed prawn dumplings. For me, this is the epitome of a good dim sum. The skin of the dumpling should not be too thick or thin so that the prawns would not be too dry when eaten. Besides that, the prawns must be fresh too or else, the dish will be bland and tasteless.

I love steamed fish balls. This fish ball was quite good as it wasn't too hard and the texture was just right.

For me, no dim sum is complete without the Hong Kong styled Chee Cheong Fun. My parents wanted to try the BBQ pork and so, we had the pork variety instead of the prawn.

By the time we finished our meal, we were really full. Thank goodness we decided to have some hot Chinese tea to wash away all the fat and oil, though, the food was not all that oily.

I can't really remember the name of the restaurant but it is in Taman Desa, near the field where the dogs are being trained.

It will be a very very long time before I can head back to this restaurant again. Aside from dim sum, the shop does sell some noodles too.

My Health Scare

I'm finally well enough to touch the laptop. I don't miss it much for the past few weeks as I had to rest and it was a welcomed relief.

My silence is evident that I definitely needed to get away from the laptop and work. And I did.

It has been a couple of weeks since I had my health scare.

On 21st October, I went to SDMC (formerly SJMC) to see a doctor based on the recommendation of the family GP (General Practitioner) the night before as I had extremely high blood pressure. I went to see the family GP as I had been coughing very badly and found it hard to breathe.

When I visited the doc at the hospital, he was concerned about my BP and ordered some tests. I went for my chest x-ray and ultrasound scans first. I even had my blood drawn too. When the x-ray results came back, I had to be referred to the cardiologist.

That was the first scare but I was staying calm.

The cardiologist saw me, had my BP checked again and immediately asked me to stop all movement and ordered that I be admitted for full bed rest as my BP got very high and my heart was not doing so well. He had me go for an echo-cardiogram test.

I did not expect to be admitted but to be sent home with medication and perhaps a couple of days of MC.

Instead, the doctor ordered me to be admitted and have full bed rest. That meant that wherever I go, I have to be pushed in a wheelchair.

For that 1st night, my BP had a lot of difficulty being stabilized, so much so that I had to be given medication under the tongue to get the blood pressure to go down. My systolic BP hovered around the 200 region which was major cause for concern.

The blood pressure eventually did drop after I did some relaxing breathing exercises and bed rest. I ignored all phone calls except for those from my family. Some folks from work did come to visit but not my PM. She kept calling and probably wanted to ask about work or when I would be back. Not once did she visit me while I was at the hospital.

By Thursday, my BP was nearly back to normal and the doctor ordered a CT scan of my kidneys. Even then, my other PM called me just minutes before I went in to ask about work when I've e-mailed everyone about the status the day before I was admitted into the hospital.

Anyway, the CT scan was quite interesting where I ended up having an itchy allergic reaction to the dye. I had to take an anti-histamine which made me sleep. However, I did not realize that the nurses had twisted my IV needle in the back of my hand too tightly that I was bleeding for a bit. By the time I was ready to head back to my room, there was a small pool of blood on the floor and a slight pain in my hand.

Then, I had a call from the hospital telling me that they need to draw more blood from me as they did not have enough for a test. They wanted me to come in but I told that I'm already admitted in the hospital. Hmmm... Nevertheless, I gave them my room number so that they can come the following morning to get my blood.

I had a lot of visitors and was shocked that the customer came to visit too. My best friends dropped by, and one even sat down for 1 hour to give me a scolding. She had the biggest scare of her life as she said that she never expected to visit me at the cardiology ward.

I finally got discharged that Saturday and the doctor gave me 1 week to rest at home. I had an appointment to see the doctor again the following week. The doctor even assigned me a nutritionist to help me educate me about managing my conditions. Aside from the mandatory diet control, I've got to slowly get back to my exercise regime which cannot be too vigorous.

As of today, I will have a few more appointments with the doctors for the next few months before I return to the family GP for follow-up consultations.

I'm currently still resting as the doctor has given me another week off after I complained about feeling dizzy and being prone to black-outs due to my blood pressure falling very low.

However, I'm finding it hard to rest properly as I've to help out with the twins who are really a handful now. They cry constantly, cannot decide if they want to eat or sleep or burp or cry. They cry even when they are feeding!!

The biggest lesson learned is that I've not been taking good care of myself. Not enough "me-time" and too much "work-time". I'll always remember the look my family GP gave me about my attitude towards work. He said, "It can wait. Your health can't."

Hope that most of you know about your "numbers". No, this is not how much $$ you have in your bank a/c, your stock portfolio, # of skills/work experience you have but the following:

• What is your waist-line, BMI (Body Mass Index), % of fat?
• What is your blood pressure (during rest)?
• What is your heart rate (during rest)?
  
• What is your cholesterol levels?
• What is your fasting glucose level?

These are just 5 basic "numbers". If you have not done your annual health check-up, please do so.. especially when you are approaching 30 or above it.

After my scare, most of my friends are planning to do their annual check-ups and some will be doing their blood test for the 1st time.

To my friends, and colleagues who prayed and visited, I thank you guys for keeping me in your thoughts. I'm feeling much better now and am getting on track to being active again.

I've got to learn to manage my stress levels better as any stress will cause 3 things to happen: 1) increased heart rate (which is bad), 2) increased blood pressure (which is very bad) and 3) increased blood sugar (which is very very bad and may cause my kidneys to tapao if not managed well).

Take care all!

Happy Festival of Lights!!

Wishing everyone and their families a Happy Deepavali or Diwali!!!!!

Sorry-la... No photos this year as I didn't manage to go out to take photos of those beautiful kolums...

Trip to Bukit Tinggi Part Trois (Three)

This is my last post about Bukit Tinggi... I think 3 posts is enough to talk about a single place, right?

Anyway, I've been gone for the past few days as I've just been swamped with work. I've been running around in between meetings and also picking up some work as a colleague has gone off for her break for about a week.

I just realized that my little camera has just about turned 1-year old. Hence, my journey into amateur photography has just reached its 1st year anniversary!

I've definitely learned quite a bit during my 1st year but I have a long way to go to perfect my craft. Being the perfectionist, this is going to be a tough journey. So, most of the time, you'll hear me curse and swear when a picture is just not taken correctly in-frame. I believe that the better that you know your camera, the less time you'll spend in front of the PC correcting the photos. ;-)

When evening came around, the courtyard was quiet and still. However, we found out that it's because everyone had swamped the restaurants for dinner. We went down for dinner quite late as we were exhausted after spending some time at the Japanese Village earlier.

We had to wait almost an hour for a table and by the time we wanted to order our food, the selection was quite limited.

The next morning, we had to queue up for a long time for the buffet breakfast. It was pretty good. I was happy to have my scrambled eggs and some beef bacon. (Of course, I would love pork bacon with my scrambled eggs)

After breakfast, we spent some time around the courtyard before we had to check-out and take the 12pm bus back to KL.

The courtyard was quite empty as it happened to be the last day of the Hari Raya public holidays. With the day trippers gone, it was pleasant to walk around the compound as we would not be bumping into anyone.

There were a few swans in the small ponds just near the car park. I was lucky to catch them during the morning feed and they approached us.

It's strange to see one of the black swans sleeping with one leg up...

Before we left, we had a quick stop at the French coffee cafe and I managed to take some pics of the lovely pastries there...

Although the pastries looked fantastic, I couldn't bring myself to spend RM5 for a danish...

The trip was pretty good and I was completely exhausted by the time I got home. I would have loved to have used a few filters as most of the pictures taken were during bright daylight which caused a lot of photos to be "white-washed" or a little over-exposed.

Be prepared to spend a little bit more when you're planning to spend the night at Bukit Tinggi. Also, do bring your supplies of water or snacks as there are no convenience stores open at the resort.

Trip to Bukit Tinggi Part Deux (Two)

A continuation of my trip...

After a hearty lunch, we could not get into our room as housekeeping didn't have it ready yet. So, we decided to visit some of the attractions around Bukit Tinggi.

There are a few ways to get around the attractions, you either drive or take the shuttle or.... if you're really really up to it.. walk. We both decided to wait for the shuttle.

Being the school/public holidays, the resort was just filled to capacity with day trippers. There were not enough shuttles to go around and we had to wait 20-30 minutes before we can get on board one. AND... as usual, with typical Malaysian KIASU gusto, you will see throngs of people rushing to the shuttles to get on board with total disregard for safety... (imagine, seeing people jump up into the shuttle when the shuttle has not stopped properly...)

We took the shuttle to the Japanese garden and really looked forward enjoying the scenery there.

When we reached the signboard, I noticed something very interesting...

Me: *sniff sniff*... Uggghhh.. What is that smell?
EV: Toilet-la...
Me: o_0

Yes, there were so many people that you can smell the toilet as you walk towards the Botanical Garden as you pass the souvenir shop. Ugghh..

Within the Botanical Garden, lies a small Japanese restaurant. I looked at the prices and it is pricey to eat Japanese food in the "mountains". However, due to the big crowds, the restaurant was pretty packed with some patrons enjoying a late lunch or some dessert.

It was a relief to walk around the garden as it had been quite hot and humid after the showers which came down during lunch.

I did not go down the hill due to my knee problems and so, stopped halfway to enjoy the cool breeze and scenery around.

Besides the Botanical garden, there was a small Japanese garden at the other side of this "village".

The Japanese garden is designed in the manner of the Japanese style, using a lot of natural elements of water, wood, stone and earth in order to beautify the surroundings. The feeling you get as you walk around the garden with the tea house is one of being "united with nature".

I wanted to take a photo where I could "freeze" the movement of water and was glad that I experimented with the shutter speed settings of my camera. It is still not quite perfect but I understand the concept of using the shutter speeds to capture movement.

It is a joy to photograph in these gardens and I did wish that I had some macro lens or a superzoom to capture some of the more detailed elements. Oh well...

We left the Japanese village at around 5:30pm as we wanted to catch the last few shuttles back to the resort to rest in our room. Again, we had to face the mayhem of getting a seat on the shuttle when it came...

Now... what was there to do at night in Bukit Tinggi...

Trip to Bukit Tinggi Part Un (One)

During the recent Raya break, I took an overnight trip up to Bukit Tinggi for a short R&R. Well... It turned out to be less R(rest) and more A(activity).

We decided not to drive up as I wasn't familiar with the roads and also, thinking that there would be a traffic jam due to the public and school holidays. Boy, was I glad about that decision. Sure, it was costly to pay RM40 for the 2-way trip (up and down) but it really did save me from the stress and anxiety of finding parking and etc because the "hill" was packed to capacity!!

Colmar Tropicale was a lot smaller than I anticipated but that's because the entire place is just a hotel/resort for the guests to stay before they venture out to indulge in other activities.

This isn't a photographer's heaven but it certainly is a great place to practice my art. I've not done a lot of architecture photography and so, this was a chance for me to try it out.

Both sides of the court yard were lined with small stalls as well as hotel restaurants - Italian (pasta/pizza), a rotisserie, buffet restaurant, French fine dining and Thai/Vietnamese. Limited choice with limited seating. The crowds were so packed on the first day we arrived that we had to wait 30 minutes for a seat at a restaurant and another 30 minutes for lunch/dinner.

I took the view of the entire court yard from the observation tower, which lucky for me, had a lift!! Hehehe... After all, I was lugging my heavy equipment around and so, the lift was a relief!

Some shots taken here are great candidates for my fake miniatures and I can't wait to play around with that. Kekeke...

Food-wise, we were quite limited to the 5 restaurants around the resort, unless we were game enough to venture out to the Japanese garden, where they have a restaurant but the prices were just crazy... So, for lunch, we decided to have the Italian food as reviews said that the food was pretty good.

Portions were quite reasonable for the price we paid. Taste-wise, it was pretty good.

This "blob" is actually beef lasagna. Plenty of cheese and meat although there were not many layers but pretty tasty with just the right amount of tomato.

After lunch, we hung around the court yard for a little while as there was a looooong queue for the rest rooms. Our room was not ready yet and so, we just had to wait until housekeeping could get it ready.

Meanwhile, we planned to head to the Japanese garden and so, there was another loooong wait for the shuttle to arrive to take us there.

Well, good to stop here. I will continue with Part Deux (two) of this little trip... ;-)

You Need To Be More Sick To Get Well Faster...

Geez... This year has been pretty bad for me... Health-wise that is.

I've already fallen sick at least 3 times within the last 6 months!! And each time I got sick, I seem to be taking longer to recuperate. :-(

This time is no exception. I went to see the doctor twice to complain about the medication. Because of my throat infection, he prescribed some antibiotics which I dutifully complete the entire dosage long after my sore throat is gone.

However, this time round, I developed a "side-effect". I started to have diarrhea because of the antibiotics... So, I went back to see the doctor.

Doc: So, what's wrong?
Me: I feel much better, can breathe with less wheezing but I'm having diarrhea. Is it because of the medication?
Doc: Have you been eating out?
Me: No (*thinking* - I thought the doc told me to eat soft, non-oily foods the last time round... )
Doc: Then, it must be the antibiotics. 1 out of 3 people will develop this side-effect
Me: O_O

The doctor prescribed a round of medicine to stop my diarrhea. I still have to complete my antibiotics but will have to treat the side-effect in order to get well.

That's the funny bit about this time's bout with the bug. Am sure my immune system must have had a laugh.

However, on a more serious note, I did complain to the doctor about my breathing difficulties which caused me to feel like shit. He heard that I was wheezing and was afraid that I would start to develop asthma. Genetics may make me pre-disposed to asthma and allergies but I'd guess it had to be due to something else. The doctor also suspected stress which can bring this out. Regardless, I will need to see another doctor for a second opinion.

I have been feeling particularly stressed out and finding it hard to de-stress (i.e. gym) due to work/home issues. Just that when you see the doctor and he mentions a disease which can stick with you for life, or can be life-threatening at any moment; it is a wake-up call.

With the advancement of technology, we're expected to live longer than our parents/grandparents; but if stress is a major factor of daily life, I think many of us are just ticking time bombs where health issues explode out of stress. The sad part is, it's lifestyle-related.

Hmmmm... I need to sleep. Enough talk, I'm feeling breathless...

50mm Fun @ Garden Lifestyle Store and Cafe

Hope that everyone had a great break over the long weekend.

I still have loads of photos to process as I took a short trip up to Bukit Tinggi...

I had some 50mm fun some weeks back when I met up with EV to discuss about the Raya holiday break. I brought my camera and laptop to do our research.

My 50mm which is a prime lens has a very lovely "bokeh" despite having a f-stop of only f/1.8 but it was a steal at RM350 from Canon!

I've been to this cafe previously but never had the chance to try out the desserts. So, this time round, EV and I decided to have a late lunch together with some cakes...

I believe this is the cappuccino mousse cake which was a tad bit dry but quite good. I may be wrong as I can't recall if we ordered tiramisu or the mousse cake.. Hmmm...

The green tea cake was quite good. It came with the red bean paste or azuki bean paste which is slightly sweet to complement the slight bitterness of the green tea flavour.

Before our desserts, we had a small lunch, where I ordered the Black Pepper Chicken Chop which was pretty good. The portion is a bit small for guys but for gals, it is just nice. ;-)

I had some potato craving... (aii.. carbs.. my nemesis) and so, had to order the side-order of potato salad.

I didn't quite like it as it had too much mayonnaise and not enough chives. The various garden greens is a great complement as it took up most of the mayonnaise. EV liked it though.

All of these photos were taken with my 50mm lens. This means that in order to take these photos, I had to maneuver the items as well as my position in order to take the photo. This certainly is teaching me how best to compose my photos.

Anyway, practice makes perfect... My previous post was done with my 50mm lens as well... ;-)

I would recommend those who are starting out with photography to have in your "arsenal" a good prime lens, and the 50mm is a good buy.

I'm still targeting either the 60mm or 100mm macro lens but both lens require significant amount of investment...

Selamat Hari Raya AidilFitri

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri...

To everyone who is traveling these Hari Raya Holidays, have a safe "balik kampung" with your friends and family.

12 Days Old...

The twins have been home for the past 10 days.

They both seem to have settled into the regular routine of eat, sleep, poo, pee, and eat again.

Yep, both parents are having some sleepness nights. ;-)

Anyway, they are not too difficult to care for at this stage as they are not very mobile but just very delicate. So, we have to be a bit more careful when we pick them up as their necks are still a wee bit fragile.

My sister is breastfeeding them and I learned that they will poo more when they take breast milk. However, mother's milk is still the best!

Snoopy and Rusty have gotten used to them, however Rusty is more excited than usual because he thinks both of the small humans can play with him now. I think he will be their best friend in the next few years when they are old enough to run and play with him. Snoopy, on the other hand, is more docile and very protective. She sits near by to watch over them like a security guard.

Charlotte is still feeding on demand as she is the smaller of the two. She, being the big sister is often more calm and collected. She seems pensive but quite cheerful and has the sweetest smiles.

Olivia is just precious. She loves to sleep alot and is somewhat of a joker... We noticed that she makes a lot of "cat-mewing" type noises when she sleeps. Kind of reminds me of my Mom when she sleeps because my Mom tends to "talk" in her sleep. No doubt, Olivia might be the more talkative of the two...

Both are a joy to photograph with my 50mm lens. I'm glad I bought it, though I was targeting the 60mm Macro lens in the 1st place.

No flash photography yet as both are still delicate. Later on, I'll experiment with my flash as I might setup a mini studio to take photos of them when they are older.

Torturous Days Ahead

My blog has been very quiet lately as I've been busy with a couple of things...

• Work
• More Work

The best part is... There has been talk about moving the project up by a three months last week but as of today, what has been just "talk" will become reality, making the project delivery to be completed by January 2010.

What does that mean?

More work...

More stress...

More teamwork... (yeah, right..)

Less appreciation... (for the person who does the most work..)

Thank you...

The Last Day @ Meng Kee, Jalan Tengkat Tongshin

Talk about "The Last Supper"...

Just last week, I went with a group of friends to have brunch at one of KL's old eateries.. Meng Kee @ Jalan Tengkat Tongshin.

This place has been an institution of food in the Bukit Bintang area for a great many years.

It just so happens that the day we all decided to meet up at Meng Kee was to be the last day the shop would be opened at its current location at Jalan Tengkat Tongshin. When the shop finishes its business at around 3pm, it would be closed for good.

However, it won't be closed for long as the stall would relocate to Jalan Alor, which is just behind its current location. The shop would reopen in about 1-2 weeks time.

We chatted with one of the aunties and she mentioned that the stall did not want to pay the exorbitant rentals which has kept increasing year upon year. It seems that the rental of the shop was RM20,000 per month!

Being in a nice location with some pretty interesting decorative architecture, this shoplot would soon be converted into something trendy like some of the restaurants down the road, i.e. Changkat Bukit Bintang.

Now, time for the food... :-)

Yes, we had to have some vegetables... Although it was supposed to be a day of celebration for some of us carnivores but the balanced omnivores wanted some greens/fibre...

The steamed chicken was yummy. I think it was kampung chicken or free-range, as the fat was quite yellow and the meat especially sweet. The farm-reared chicken tends to taste a bit bland, which means that when steamed, the meat is not as sweet.

Meng Kee has some really delicious char siew or honey BBQ pork which just melts in your mouth. The pork is BBQ to perfection where the dark bits are sticky and sweet, without leaving the meat hard and dry. In short, each mouthful tastes succulent and moist!

As usual, there are no photos of my friends pigging out as they are shy to be in front of the camera.

I think I will pay Meng Kee a visit at their new location (near Nova Hotel at Jalan Alor) when they reopen in about a week's time.

Introducing Charlotte & Olivia

Finally... Both of them are here!

My sis safely delivered both Charlotte and Olivia just past 10:30am with both twins a minute apart. She underwent a C-section as her pelvis was too small to deliver both babies.

In my last post, I mentioned that they were identical but turns out that I had the wrong info from my Dad.

They both have their own amniotic sacs, hence making them both fraternal twins. However, time will tell if both of them would look similar or not.

Well.. Here they are...

Charlotte Wong - COW I


Olivia Wong - COW II

They are barely one day old and their father has already given them nicknames...

Anyway, Charlotte looks more like her father, while Olivia looks more like her mom. Seems only fair... Kekeke... I just hope that the kids won't be as bratty as her Mom... Kekeke

Congrats Melina and Dallas!!!!

Update: Countdown to The Arrival of the COWs

Latest Update...

Thank God that both the twins were delivered safely this morning.

Seems that Olivia is bigger than her sister, Charlotte by 0.4kg... I'm not sure about the weight of both girls.

Yes, the twins are identical. I wonder which one will be right-handed, and the other left-handed... As the mirroring of the dexterity happens in identical twins...

Both twins and mother are doing fine.

Countdown to The Arrival of the COWs...

In about 10-12 hours time, we will be expecting the new arrivals of the twins Charlotte and Olivia Wong.

My sister has checked into the hospital at around 10pm last night and my bro-in-law has opted to spend the night there with her. The cesarean operation will take place late in the morning...

STAY TUNED!!

Musical Nights...

I know... I know... I've neglected my blog some what.

Well, between work and recovering from my bouts with the cough, cold, flu (errr... no H1N1...), I've had enough material to blog about for the next 5 posts!! Hehehe...

Last month, I had the pleasure of attending a couple of musical performances with friends and family.

The first one was with my family, to attend the famous Lisbon Chamber Choir concert held in my church in Subang Jaya. The performance was to raise funds for the church building fund. We've already attended the special screening of the movie "Man for All Seasons" previously and this time, with a famous international choir in town, we could not pass up the chance to miss it!

We were entertained by the KL Children's Choir and they sang beautifully for their young age. I especially loved their rendition of "Chan Mali Chan", a traditional song.

There was also some cultural performances by youth from a nearby church too. They danced to the song "We Are One Body", which was pretty good.

Finally, we had the Lisbon Chamber Choir perform some music for us. It is just amazing how the human voice can convey such angelic tunes without any accompaniment of a musical instrument. I was blown away by the range of sounds from the deep baritones to the high pitch sopranos.

We also had a church member to perform that night as well. She came back from the US to sing for us. I can't recall her name, unfortunately, but felt that her voice was suited to classical music. She sang two songs, 1 classical and the other a more contemporary song.

The choir was so fantastic that the crowd held out for encores and the choir performed a few more songs which included a song in Chinese. I definitely enjoyed myself that night.



Then, a couple of weeks later, I joined a group of friends to attend a Jazz performance at the Dewan Philharmonik Petronas KLCC. My friends had always suggested that we attend a concert together and after looking at the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra season, we found out that Jazz band from New Orleans would be in town.

Being a lover of Jazz, especially being a great fan of Louis Armstrong, we could not miss this performance from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band or PHJB.



Although we sat right at the back of the hall, the acoustics was so fantastic that we could hear every single note clearly. The music was so lively, you could not help but to dance in your seat. We tapped our feet, clapped our hands, whistled and howled when the music got going.



The best part of it all, my friends and I joined in the Second Line for the last song of the night, the evergreen classic, "When The Saints Come Marching In". We ended up being on the stage of the hall, dancing away until the band left the hall to end the performance for the night.

It was AWESOME!!!

It certainly has fueled my determination to visit New Orleans in the future. To visit the historic French Quarter, Bourbon Street and yes... Even to go down to see PHJB again.

P/S: The videos posted of PHJB showcased some of the songs I heard that night.