Rakuzen Japanese Restaurant

I seem to be on a spree of Japanese food consumption ... and I'm certain that it's good for health ;). Lily and I stopped by this place after she had a little medical emergency in the office and we had 2 hours to while away whilst waiting for the MRI appointment.

Even the chopsticks were the expensive disposable kind. Good 1st impression. ;)

It's called Rakuzen Japanese Restaurant and it's located in those single row of shops fronting the SJMC / SDMC in Subang, SS15. I ordered the Salmon Teriyaki Bento @ RM25 & an ala-carte Chicken Teriyaki. It was ... GOOD.

The edamame was fresh, lightly salted and the peas themselves were fresh and steaming hot. Good stuff.

The bento came with 3 humongous cubes of Salmon Sashimi, which was fresh, chilled and good to the last ... er ... drop? ;) The wasabi wasn't the cheap ass Sushi King variety and was smooth and smoky. I'll let the photos do the talking next ya? ;)

The chawanmushi was light, fluffy and tasty. Very nice.

My Bento Box ... or tray in this case. Food came out fast, in 10 minutes or so, despite the place being filled with the lunch crowd. Salmon looks small in the photo, but I was stuffed by the time I had finished. And thank God it was all tooth-achingly sweet with the teriyaki sauce. It was just ... nice. ;)

The pièce de résistance: the glorious sashimi.

Details:
Rakuzen Japanese Restaurant,
No. 13, Jalan SS15/5A,
47500 Subang Jaya,
Selangor.
Tel: +603.5880.4717

Inspired!

I browsed through Ms. Redd's new project after we watched Julie and Julia in Singapore at Ben's place.

I am officially inspired. Photographically speaking of course. I will start taking and posting 1 photo a day (aside from a smattering of posts of course.).

Thank you Redd for being inspired and in turn, inspiring me.

2010. Good, better, best!

It's been a good 1 month, I reckon from the last post and I'm going to do my best to post at least 1 update here a month.

At least.

So what's been happening ...

I really do think that the only mall that made an effort in their Christmas Decorations has been The Curve (winner, hands down in my book) and the Pavillion. The other malls ... were rather er, tacky, lackluster, sad and down right disappointing. I don't get it, religious and spiritual reasons aside, this is the season that people go all out in Christmas shopping and spend ridiculous amounts of money (more on this later) on their loved ones. You'd think that the marketing people would spend more time and money on their Seasonal decorations. Suria KLCC was downright DISGUSTING and TACKY with their little village scene. Even the baubles on the village roof was made of volleyballs / netballs painted over and they even had them hanging down. OMG.
One thing I found amusing was that Pavillion had anatomically correct reindeer and I had to suppress a giggle when little kids kept asking their parents why Rudolph had something hanging down between his back legs. ;)

Scenes from Pavillion and me and my SIL.

It was also the time that I had to make my trip North to Penang to er ... solve some issues caused by recent activities that I had nothing to do with. So I, along with Jason had to calm some clients who were rather irate with us. Not a good thing. Hate being in that position. But once clients are calm, Jason and I moved on to Lorong Selamat for Sisters Char Kway Teow! With giant prawns to boot! Oh, if you ever need to get to Penang in 3 hours or less, call Jason. He gets the job done. ;)

The food rocked my world, as did the Company. Business Grid was fun with moments of drama, as usual. But 2010 is all about GOOD stuff. So check out the Food!!!

I mentioned previously that Christmas is my favorite time of the year. Simple reasons for it actually. Families put differences aside and come together to enjoy at least one day a year together as a family unit (well, most families at least). Petty disagreements (really, if you look at it, arguments and disagreements shouldn't last the length of time that they do) are resolved or at least temporarily forgotten as we remember all the GOOD things about each other. Of course, I will be human and say that the presents part of Christmas rocks! :)

Scenes from my home decorated for Christmas! Loved the sight of presents under the tree as the fairy lights twinkled away merrily.

Of course, this had to be year of good loot!!! Best present hands down was the poster and acknowledgment of my massive (well, for me at least) weight loss from 120kg to 107kg now from Mama and Papa Lim. Compliments are far and few from them ;). Ranking up there is my ang pow from Mama and Papa Kettler from US. Woot! American dollars are ALWAYS welcome in my book ;). Next, would be Jerry and Serene ... I think if my brother had to be a Greek God, he'd be Hermes. Bloody mischievous! The monkey put my present in a humongous Longchamp bag and wrote on it "Dear Ken, Enjoy your PS3! Love, Jerry and Serene".

Imagine my excitement right.

Fast forward to opening it ... and it's good also la, but it's NOT a PS3. I got an amazing Crumpler bag! In my fave color too! :) So, enjoy the images below oh my stash! :) Wheee!

My stash!

Of course ... no Christmas dinner would be complete without the Skelchy-side making an appearance food-wise. ;) Coming from my side for the potluck at my place: Macaroni and Cheese and Mashed Potato Pie. From Serene: Pigs In A Blanket (YUM!!!)

Food: from the bountiful harvest of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We have been blessed! Thank you Lord!

There are of course other food which was amazing: Godma's Chicken Pies, wine (I KNOW there was wine :X) and a Leica camera? ;) The company was AMAZING!!!! Love you guys! Of course it was a er, little tight in my condo with 18 people in 1,086 square feet. Imagine everyone trying to squeeze in to the kitchen to take food.

More food part 2! :)

Of course, those who know me, know that I'm ... a little freaky about cleanliness and orderly arrangement in my home. At all times, if possible. So it was a great learning for me to do my best to ignore most of my urges to pick up the stray hair, wipe the spilled food ... but really ... spilled Cola on my carpet! Sigh. So after opening a billion presents ... ;), and saying goodbye to the last of my family, I couldn't sleep until I had cleaned up ... so it was about 4:35am when I finally turned off the Christmas tree lights and turned Facebook off (yes, I was chatting with some cousins ;) )

Day after Christmas was Hazlan and Liyana's wedding in PD. It was SO packed and BUSY, this was the ONLY shot that I managed to take, but needless to say the groom was stunning and the bride was breathtaking. Truly. The food was good ... but for some reason, there was this constant drifts of moo moo poop. For real. Oh ... there was also this little panda that we caught napping! ;)

I couldn't help but to put the Little Panda in here ... she's so CUTE in this picture! ;)

New Year's Eve was an interesting affair. Gastronomically speaking of course. ;) On the menu? Something that popped in my head. Pasta? Check. Garlic? Check. Bacon? Check. Italian Hot Sausage? Check. Birds Eye Chili? Check. Result = WOW. The wine however ... now that was something else. It had matured ... a little too much for my taste. Took 1/4 glass and I was already heading to Happy Land. We toasted and feasted to our hearts content and watched amazing shows on replay on AXN. As we waited for the countdown to New Year's we chatted about the year past and what we'd learned, experienced ... it's amazing when you look back and reflect and I really appreciated even more the people whom I have surrounded myself with.

Cheers!| Amazingly-yummy-explodes-in-your-mouth-and-then-some Pasta | New Year's first morning | Dill infused chicken sandwich | Serene nursing a hangover with illy coffee on New Year's Day | Siew Li's new hairdo | new year - new hair | devil curry with rice | Christmas present to myself: complete series of Artemis Fowl

I have surrounded myself with an amazing support system and people whom I love and who love me. I deserve that much at least in life. I make efforts as best possible with my extended family and hope that they feel my love and sincerity. Oh! I also discovered a yummy concoction for leftover chicken: dill, mayo, lemon, lemon zest, shredded chicken and toast. :) Best breakfast that I've ever had in the New Year ... ;) it being the first year and all ... Oh did you see Siew Li's new hair? ;) I've been trying to get her to change her hair ... and FINALLY! She sees the potential! :) Yay! So ... that's pretty much the first update for 2010!!!
Next: My team!