Olfactory Bulb @ Kota Damansara

To think that my friends and I would get by with a meet-up that doesn't involve coffee somewhere in our agenda would seem impossible to comprehend.

So, to get our coffee fix on, after our tea interlude at Lancelot Tea-Guild, we headed to Olfactory Bulb @ Kota Damansara.  It's a coffee, cocktails and dessert bar that's been around for about a year.  We've had coffee...and we've had cocktails...but all-in-one glass, we have not...but this is a coffee mixology bar after all! ;)

Tucked away on the first floor, the place was rather quiet with just two tables occupied when we stepped in. Then again, the timing that we were there was pre-dinner time, so it's as expected but I would think the place will certainly come alive for after-dinner drinks.

You have the option of sitting on the cooler inside (but be warned that the air-conditioning is freakin' cold) or the warmer alfresco smoking area outside.  I'm usually the one who complains about the place being not cold enough but even I had to succumb to the comfort and warmth of a blanket (offered by their staff...sweet).

A glance at their drinks menu highlights imported beer, signature cocktails, espresso cocktails, hot alcoholic coffees, summer drinks, smoothies, coffees and organic teas on offer.  Since we were here for some coffees, let's start with just that.

From the coffee menu, they have espresso, long black, piccolo latte, cafe latte, nutella latte, flavour-infused latte (hazelnut, macadamia, Irish, salted caramel, amaretto & coconut) and affogato (with Kapiti vanilla bean ice cream).

Cold Nutella Latte @ RM15

Hot Cafe Latte @ RM11

Hot Cappuccino @ RM11

(not on the menu but they were more than happy to oblige)

All the coffees were spot on.

But since this was a coffee mixology bar, we just had to try one of their alcoholic coffees.  My friend suggested the OFB Irish Coffee @ RM35 made with Jameson Irish Whiskey, Kahlua, espresso, maple syrup and topped with whipped cream.  Taking a sip without stirring in the whipped cream (as recommended by the server as one of the ways to drink it), it was 'hard core' (the taste of whiskey) for us non-drinkers! :D

Taking a sip after stirring in the whipped cream, the taste was less intense but still 'hard core' for me.  That's it...two sips and I'm done! >_<  I left it to my friends to finish it but I'm glad I tried it at least once.  For drinkers who love coffees as well, I can certainly understand why this would appeal to them.

I went with a summer drink of The Four Elements @ RM16 knowing that we'd need something refreshing to fall back on if the alcoholic coffee proved to be too much...and I was right, everyone was sipping this.

The description says the drink is a combination of green tea, grapefruit syrup, passion fruit syrup, sour plum and bitter lemon.  Not to worry, you can't taste the red chilli pepper even after it's been dunked in the drink. But the server suggested that one way we could drink this is by taking to a small bite of the red chilli before taking a sip...no way I was going to do that :P  But my friends were up for the challenge and did just that...let's just say they soon regretted their actions (haha!).

We also tried two of their Wafflemess, one alcoholic and one not.  The server urged us to try one of their new creations, the Sangria Berry Mess (Alcoholic) @ RM28 with Kapiti summer nectarine ice cream, Vodka blackberry syrup, spiced rum infused berries, cranberries, toasted almond flakes and whipped cream.

We were glad we went with her recommendation instead of our would-be choice of Whiskied and Whipped. The Kapiti ice cream was lovely and the chopped up waffle pieces were warm and crispy.  Everything worked together in unison for a delicious bite.  This waffle, even with the rum infused berries, didn't have any lingering taste of alcohol so much so that my friend's little one was able to partake in this too.

For our non-alcoholic waffle, I chose the Som Tam @ RM24 because the description was filled with many ingredients I love....Kapiti lemongrass and ginger ice cream, lemon cream, promegranate syrup, young papaya kerabu, chicken serunding, crushed tom yam flavoured peanuts and kaffir lime leave.

The experience was like eating a Thai green papaya salad...only difference was it came with a lemongrass and ginger ice cream!  The flavours of the ice cream and the so-called papaya salad eaten on its own was no doubt good...but together, I wasn't so sure.  This was a bit over-the-top for me (the other waffle was much better).

As the evening sky descended into the night, the place became more alluring...dark and cosy with the soft lighting from the glowing light bulbs providing a romantic ambience, perfect for couples on a date! ;)

My Personal Opinion

OFB certainly pushes the boundaries with their unique take on waffles and alcoholic coffees.  If you like something distinctive unlike anything else, then this could be worth your while.

The place offers the best of both three worlds....cocktails for drinkers, coffee for non-drinkers.....and alcoholic coffee for those in-between who wants both...hehe!  When you're in a place like this (and borrowing words from their Facebook page), it's never too late to drink coffee and never too early to drink alcohol.....amen to that! ;D

Olfactory Bulb Coffee Mixology

No 15-2 Dataran Sunway

Jalan PJU 5/13 Kota Damansara

47810 Petaling Jaya

Selangor

Tel: 03-6151 1108

My Fairy Collection

Warning!!!  What you're about to see is...cuteness and sweetness overload! :D

 Today I'm taking a break from my usual food and cooking posts to write about something all of us went through, at one time or another, and that's when we go crazy over a certain thing and start a collection.  I'm no different, I went through those crazy spells too....and have many collections (note the plural form of the words "spells" and "collections") >.< 

Let me show you my first "craze" and the start of my very first collection (many, many years ago).....fairies!

It all started with the purchase of these initial four medium-sized fairies.  I remembered that there were more than four designs though I only have four in my collection.  The reasons were they were pretty expensive back then + I soon got attracted to the bigger fairies on display.

I was instantly drawn to these fairies because of their intricate and detailed designs from the folds of their dresses to the detailed flowers on their hair, dress and hands.

Fairy #1

Fairy #2

Fairy #3

Fairy #4

Then these five large-sized fairies caught my attention and these were even more intricate in design...and more expensive too.  The dresses had more designs and the dress folds looked more real.  This time, the absolutely beautiful fairies' wings were made of very thin and transparent fabric wrapped around a wire.  And, most of all, the expressions on the fairies were sweet and angelic! :)

Fairy #5

(captured from different angles)

Fairy #6

(captured from different angles)

Fairy #7

(captured from different angles)

Fairy #8

(captured from different angles)

Fairy #9

(captured from different angles)

After spending a sizeable amount of money (then) on these large fairies, I moved on to buy cheaper ones like these five small-sized fairies! :'(

These small-sized fairies' expressions were downright adorable....and don't they look like little angels?  There were also the extra details of flowers, beetles, butterflies and tutus.

Fairy #10

Fairy #11

Fairy #12

Fairy #13

Fairy #14

And then, one fine day, my fairies fad and obsession came to an end.

Till today, they still sit (ever so proud and angelic) in my display cabinet at home.

I know that these fairies will 'deteriorate' over time and putting them in my blog will help 'immortalise' them forever! ;)

This is just one of the few crazy collections I have...perhaps, I might showcase some others in the future....who knows?! ;D

#ewew cooks XO Fried Rice with Shrimps & Crispy Garlic

Whenever I can't think of what to cook.....a simple fried rice always comes to the rescue!  Not only that, it's darn delicious and it's loved by the young (and old).

It's quick and easy for anyone to whip up with leftover rice and whatever they have in the fridge.  And the best part is....there's no specific recipe to follow.  You can do it really simple with just two ingredients...rice and eggs....or you can make it more decadent by throwing in luncheon meat, shrimps, leftover BBQ meats or Chinese sausage into the mix.  Also, you can add whatever veggies you find in your fridge...long beans, onions, cabbage, carrots, fresh corn, spring onions, anything.

But I'm going to do an "atas" (luxurious) version of XO Fried Rice with Shrimps and Crispy Garlic just because I can since my sister gifted me a jar of Lee Kum Kee's XO sauce recently! ;)

Before I unwrapped the plastic packaging, I saw that the price of one jar (of 80g) XO sauce costs RM26.50! O_o  If it was me, I wouldn't have convinced myself to buy one coz it's so freakin' expensive for such a small jar!  That's why I've never cooked with XO sauce before although I've eaten my fair share of XO fried rice in restaurants.

It's expensive coz XO sauces are made with dried scallops (an expensive main ingredient), dried shrimps (sometimes ham), garlic, chillies and spices.  You can see the scallop strands and there's also quite a bit of oil inside.

Ingredients:

4 cups (or rice bowls) of day-old rice
12 medium-to-large shrimps, peeled
1 - 2 stalks green onions
1 small onion
4 cloves garlic
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp of XO sauce
Salt, pepper and soya sauce to taste

Preparation:

Finely slice the green onions (this can be omitted if your children dislikes spring onions).  Peel and finely chop one small onion and two cloves of garlic.  Thinly slice the other two cloves of garlic (or more) to make the fried garlic crisps.

#Important Tip:

I can't stress enough how important it is to use cooked rice that has been refrigerated overnight for best results.  Refrigerating the rice keeps the rice grains dry so that they won't stick to each other during stir frying.  Making fried rice with fresh rice won't work coz it'll just turn into a wet mess as the rice will be too wet.  But if you plan to make fried rice in large quantities and the fridge doesn't have that much space to store your cooked rice, leaving it outside is fine as long as the rice is cooked the day before (giving it time to become cold and dry up).  There are also those of us (who are health conscious) and won't eat overnight rice, then what you can do is cook the rice on the same day, spread it out and let it cool and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using.

Method:

Lightly beat 3 eggs and scramble them in a little oil.  Dish up and set aside (and it's ok even if it's not thoroughly cooked through).  I also usually reserve some of the egg mixture to drizzle over the rice at the frying stage.

Fry the thinly sliced garlic in some oil until light golden brown.  Dish up and drain on paper towel.

Leave some of the infused oil from the garlic in the wok (I like to use a non-stick frying to ensure the rice is 100% stick-free!) and fry half the chopped onions.  [#Tip: I'm frying up the rice in two batches so that the amount is not overwhelming to handle, so the recipe henceforth entails only half the amount of the prepared ingredients.]

Once the onions softened and take on a bit of colour, add in the chopped garlic and shrimps.

Next, add the rice and stir fry for a little while ensuring that all the lumps of rice is nicely broken down. Then add in the scrambled eggs, chopped spring onions and drizzle in some of the leftover beaten egg (optional). Lastly add one tablespoon of XO sauce into the mix and toss everything together.

At this time, season your fried rice with salt, pepper and a bit of light soya sauce.  Taste, taste, taste to ensure your seasoning is right.  And our fried rice is ready for plating.

Sprinkle some fried garlic on top and garnish with some fresh Chinese parsley.  There's fried rice...and then there's XO fried rice....yumsss!

Of course the XO Fried Rice with Shrimps and Crispy Garlic was fragrant and aromatic and you can certainly taste the dried scallops although I found the taste of dried prawns to be more prominent.

The XO sauce did enhance the taste and fragrance of the fried rice.  Surprisingly, the XO sauce wasn't as salty as I thought it would be, so you'll need quite a bit of other seasoning to bring savouriness to the dish.

Though it was good....it wasn't 'wow' like the ones I've eaten at restaurants...maybe because I was too "kiam sap" (stingy) and didn't put enough XO sauce into it.  Two tablespoons of it and the jar was like 1/3 gone (it's expensive wor, so must reserve some for other dishes)! >.<

In the end, the XO Fried Rice with Shrimps and Crispy Garlic was fast to make.....and even faster to eat! :D

Serves 3 - 4 (rice bowl portions)