MAIUUU!

The day started off really, really, REALLY boring - 2 whole hours of seemingly pointless lecture (literally) about the functions of research. Anyway the interesting part of the morning was during English tutorial.


We were supposed to divide into 2 groups and debate about the advantages and disadvantages of sex education in school. I was on the advantages side, one of the ones who did last minute preparation. You can call me over-sensitive, but I just don't really like arguing with people.


I was alright with the others contradicting my theories, but some girl was just so bloody bitchy. She can laugh during a guy-guy rape scene because she was talking with her two friends (whom I think are alright). So you like talking, then choose appropriate times to chatter your ass off.


Anyway the debate became a very heated argument, up until the point that the lecturer had to calm us down. Even after the debate was over, I still felt really frustrated - it's usually the tiny things that manage to get under your skin. However, lunch cooled me down.

Backofen is German for baking oven, and is also the name of a rather popular (albeit a bit expensive) localized German restaurant on Taylor's Lakeside. The restaurant is run by Solomon Soo, whom we suspect is of German descent but grew up locally because he uses 'lah's and 'meh's.

Chicken stroganoff with pasta.

Usually I'd order the Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich, but since I had some extra cash in my wallet I thought I'd try something new. Melissa ordered the same thing I did, but with rice instead of pasta - the Chicken Stroganoff. It looked like curry, but tasted really weird. I don't know how to describe the weirdness but this kinda disappointed me.

Imperial Tart

So did the Imperial Tart from the pastries selection - many of my friends tried it and said that it was wonderful. I say otherwise - it was like a normal chocolate cream in a normal chocolate cake cup, then topped stylishly with dark chocolate.


Instead of the normal 4pm class, our class was moved forward to 2pm by the cutest (personality-wise) lecturer so far - Mr Beh, a.k.a Teddy Beh. I did my make-up before he came in (written tutorial coming up) with the basic kit I brought with me - 120 palette, brush kit, mascara, curler, blush, shadow base, 2 shades of foundation (one as concealer, one as overall coverage), sponge and some miscellaneous tools.


Class was pretty normal, some lame jokes here and there, many were sleeping because of the dark lighting and were all bored out of their wits because of the two events in the morning. At the end of the class we were all worked up for the buffet later. I did Su's and Jeanna's winged-liner make-up, and helped Quinie touch up hers.


My favorite quote of the day by Mr Beh:

I tried to convince my sister to call herself Paula, but she took it personally because she's actually quite big sized *maniacal chuckles*

Where friends are concerned, I don't think I've ever had a bunch who actually treated me as a real friend. In contrast to my high school friends, these are the one's I'd keep for life. My high school friends would be more or less just 'meh' if I said I couldn't go somewhere, but these actually say 'aww, ask your mum again, please? It'd be less interesting without you'.


Y'know what I mean? Yeah, we get under each others' skin once in a while, but things are going really smooth right now. Friends for life? This time, maybe, for real.

Jeanna and Quinie in the front seat. See the red circle? You could click to enlarge. When we stopped at a junction, Quinie pulled her fringe up into a plastic curler and kept it there for the rest of the journey. Mad cute or what? XD

Steffi sleeping on the way there. XD

Anyways Quinie drove us there, and it turned out the destination wasn't at the Curve at all, but somewhere near there. We almost got a domino-accident near St. Xavier's Church - it was rainy, and there was a sudden traffic congestion on the right lane. Louis suddenly stopped, so did Quinie, almost crashing into Louis. The blue Saga behind managed to brake just in time, his tired screeching on the wet road.


A while later we arrived and drove around for parking. The place was completely unfamiliar to me, so I tried my best to remember how to get there. For some reason, my road recognizing skills are better when someone other than my mum and sister are driving.

Interior of the boutique.

The accessories that are on 60% discount.

We first went up to a boutique called Cats Whiskers, where Quinie can become their spokesperson already since a lot of her clothes, shoes and accessories are from that boutique. The varieties were almost endless, and the prices were quite reasonable.

Guess what I bought~

I actually tried out three outifts: a black bustier chrome-studded bodycon dress, a pink-toned leopard print lace-trimmed deep-V dress, and a white snake skin print stiff tube top. I regret not taking pictures with the dresses, but the one I liked most was the studded dress - it was so "my style" and got lots of the complements for that dress. All three dresses were from the 60% rack.

Snake skin tube top~

Original price: RM89, after 60%: RM35+.

Yup, I got this one. The cheapest one was the leopard print dress, but it was kinda inappropriate and looked more like a nightie than an actual dress. The bodycon dress was way too expensive - RM189 before discount, and even after discount it's around RM80, which is way out of my budget.

It was not until I saw this that I knew that there was a Maiu near my house. Like WTH?

We went to the restaurant right as it opened. The restaurant's name? Maiu. "Maiu" is a traditional at-home term, the meaning is the same as "oishii", which means "delicious!" in Japanese. My uncle had a Western friend who lived in Japan for a period of time and taught me this - when the typical working Japanese man gets home and eats a delicious dinner by the wife, he would exclaim "maiuuuuuuuu~", puckering out his lips for an extended period of time, emphasizing the "u" sound.

First page of the menu. Five slots in total to order your food~ *click to englarge*

The back of the menu. *click to enlarge*

The restaurant has a nice, comfortable setting and lighting - slightly dark, with bright lights at the bar which is decorated with some Japanese-style trinkets. We got round to ordering, but since it's usually not Quinie herself who orders, we went crazy, ordering almost everything on the menu, a few of each.


Two 4-person tables weren't enough to put all our food, and we ate too much too fast - before we were even halfway through, everyone was full to their throats. We had to cancel lots of dishes in order to accommodate ice cream.


There are only three flavors of ice cream - chocolate, matcha and wasabi. The chocolate tastes like normal chocolate ice cream, however, the matcha is the best I've tasted so far. The wasabi was interesting. I'll let the pictures do the talking~

From left clockwise: sashimi platter, edamame (soy beans), tako (octopus) and jelly fish.

Chawan mushi - the best chawan muchi I've ever had: no grainy texture, lots of stuff in the custard and absolutely "MAIUUUUUUU"~!!!

Shishamo - this fish is popular for the little pocket full of fish roe.

Maki mono sushi~ This is about 6-7 servings on one plate.

Deep fried soft shell crabs served with mayo as condiment.

Beef yakitori - thin slices of beef wrapped around several stalks of springs onion on a skewer.

Fried tofu in a tempura dipping sauce. I didn't take a picture of the tempura platter, but the condiment that came with the tempura (the one that is usually served with tempura) seriously lacked minced radish.

Fried battered onions served with mayo condiment.

Cha soba. The appropriate name should be "zaru cha soba", because "cha" just means "tea", but "zaru" means "cold", hence defining the temperature of the dish - cold. I would prefer the noodles and the broth separate, with a raw quail's egg and some wasabi in the broth.

Delicious matcha ice cream topped with red bean paste~

Wasabi ice cream. Yes, contrary to our general image of wasabi, it's white. Flavor-wise it's interesting: as it enters your mouth, there's the familiar ice cream tastes, then the taste (not heat) of wasabi overwhelms your mouth. Then as you swallow, the heat hits you like a nuke - it heats up not only your tongue, but also your throat and the entire digestive tract.

Most of the dinner Quinie was on various phones talking to parents who couldn't find their way to the place. We also met Quinie's mum, and I told my mum about how strict her mum was to her daughter. My mum actually agreed to my sarcastic suggestion that both of them meet up because my mum said "I like her style".

Halfway through our dinner. We ordered much more than this. =/

As a conclusion, I think I would've enjoyed the meal much more if there wasn't so much food, but all in all, it was a wonderful evening - a large bunch of friends eating together, taking pictures, joking around. Also got to meet Louis' girlfriend Chris, by the way. Sweet, loving and pretty in her own way~