Clearing up Backlog (Part SISTAHs)

Continuation from previous post, this time a compilation about the weekend date on the 14 and 15 May with SISTAHood pretty much culminated by one particular gatal SISTAH currently stuck in THE cosmopolitan shithole down south while pulled into fruition by the party-leader of SISTAHood Northern Charter, ZZ and ChanPao. Oh so many dramas! Let the SISTAHood drama begins!

Backstory in brief: ZZ wanna come to Penang because her fashion designer hometown bestie, Jacinta is having another fashion show again at G Hotel on Sunday. She also took the coming Monday off because the incoming Tuesday is actually public holiday (Wesak Day) making it a long holiday for escape. Problem: She is undecided on when to depart from KL back up north and she's thinking of going back Taiping before coming to Penang. A series of peer pressure, erratic change of arrangement (which in the end messing up Ah Wong's plan on Saturday.) and messaging to keep in tab with everyone (which I was chastised by ChanPao for not doing a thorough job because left out Ah Ham and Ah Bui.) ensues. Will everything falls into place properly?

-14 May Saturday-

While ZZ's arrival to Penang remain uncertain at this point, it doesn't stop us from having extra fun! ChanPao was itching for Karaoke so off we go to 1st Avenue Redbox for the K-Lunch session (11am-2pm). K-lunch package comes with a meal and a drink that ranges from RM10.90 to RM18.90. It's actually the cheapest session available for any days though I do miss having all you can eat buffet session at dinner time.

The control panel. Sorry for the blur picture.

I had beef in black soy sauce. For some reason, the taste it a lil bit off.

Participant of the day: Chan Pao, Ah Ham...

Ah Bui. (Ya know how I enjoy taking candid picture of people? She forbid me from uploading this on Facebook but I did anyway. I just didn't tag her. *runs off*)

Me, camwhore.

Throughout the whole session, I was onlining all the way (Wi-fi) using my mobile phone to update my Facebook status while teasing ZZ for not being able to present. (ZZ U JELLY is the catchphrase of the day!) She's finally on her way back north to Taiping right after we are done with our karaoke session. Immediately after our karaoke session however, dilemma appears: where should we go next? While ChanPao doesn't feel like going home immediately (she was itching for action) while me and Ah Ham just follow the flow, Ah Bui has...an appointment with her BF (A fact that we enjoy teasing her about.). After hanging around the long escalator connection 4th floor and 7th floor or 1st Avenue for quite a while, it was decided that Ah Bui have to go off to pick up her car from maintenance garage while the rest of us...lingers wherever we want. Ah Ham went off to pick up her BF (but she promise she will join us later) while me and ChanPao went around pretty much aimless while thinking where should we go next. In the end, we went to Bandar Sri Pinang Seaside Promenade instead checking out whether if there's any decent cafe that we can sit down and chat.

Penang Bridge from Sri Pinang Seaside Promenade, the longest promenade in Penang Island. The weather was great that evening, breezy while not too hot.

We spotted the lone Burger King there finally has a neighbour: Strawberry Forever, a strawberry theme (duh) cafe! They offer a decent range of dessert great for teatime!

I settled from Creme Brulee. The strawberry there is just a decoration. Love the caramel on top of the creme brulee.

While ChanPao ordered...err forgot it's name but it has cream and mango and strawberry and waffle on it. Cute isn't it?

Ah Ham joined us quite a while (about an hour plus. lol ChanPao and I can be such a talker!) later and the dilemma continues. ChanPao mentioned that she need to pick up her younger bro so she suggest that we can go have Hokkien Mee at Lebuh Cecil which was right up the road along Jelutong Highway and meet up with her younger bro. It's about another hour to go though so in the end we move on to second place: Burger King! We went in there without ordering burger at all! Just settled for onion and soda good enough as finger food.

Have it our way indeed! Not having burger is our way too!

Hang around there til late evening and then we moved on to the usual Hokkien Mee place. ChanPao's younger bro joined us and then we call it a day after that. ChanPao's itch of going further ends LOL!

-15 May Sunday-

ZZ's arrival day! It didn't go off to a good start when a sudden scheduling change on ChanPao's side occured in which she need to pick up her mom and bro as well as Ah Wong and his GF before heading to Gurney. With my awkward status as a uni student staying in campus located on the lower southern part of the island and everybody else is not available/convenient enough to pick me up (Ah Ham stayed at Jelutong while Ah Bui went off to church), it has dawned to me that I need to take a bus. Oh well. *sigh* In the end though I had made a reasonable decision because it didn't take too long of waiting before the coveted 304 arrived so I hop on the bus while telling Ah Ham no need to pick me up (she was still preparing while I boarded the bus). Luckily for me and luckily for her. So of I go paying RM2.70 riding all the way to Gurney Plaza! The trip was smooth but then I realized it was the distance between Komtar and Gurney Plaza took the most time with congested Burma Road and Pulau Tikus. Time spent on bus: One hour.

Gurney Drive.

Gurney Plaza.

ChanPao, Ah Ham, Tailouwong and his GF was already hanging around A&W while waiting for our guest of honor ZZ Chuah to come. Phew luckily I was not last! We waited for quite a while though until we sort of fed up and heads down for lunch when suddenly ZZ appeared from no where and joined us. FINALLY she made it. Turns out that her family decided to tag along as well but ZZ joined us while the rest mind their own business.

Finally the VIP is here. Let's go for lunch!

Destination: Seven Bistro located at Gurney Walk, the al-fresco dining area of Gurney Plaza sandwiched between G-Hotel and Gurney Plaza new wing.

Seven Bistro serves fusion Spanish cuisine and the whole concept of the place reflects chic minimalist style. In fact, it's so minimalist their menu doesn't have any picture in it! (Some of the menu has pictures of their choices stuck hastily as a leaflet.) Their packages/combo is simple enough as well especially for lunch: RM10 for main course and add in RM1 for Ice Lemon Tea. (Tax not included yet) Naturally as a student, all of us ordered that.

From left: cheese, pepper, salt and spice (saffron? or something else?)

My order: Meatball spaghetti. That's kinda...disappointing. Four non-descript meatball on top of a small lump of spaghetti. As a quantity person, I will never grasp fine dining.

This one's SzeSze Fettucine Alfredo I think. Or was it carbonara?

We were (but especially Ah Wong) was shocked when his order, Paella arrived. Turns out that this is actually a three person set (RM10 x 3 = RM30!) (and it was noted discreetly in the minimalist menu) so of course there's no way Ah Wong can finish it! Good for me though as I was scooping one spoonful over the other and there's some leftover left in which we had to take away.

After we had our lunch, it's almost time for Jacinta's Bridal Show so we head over to G Hotel. It was my first time there and we went to the Grand Ballroom for the actual event. There's representative of bridal boutique setting up to court potential customers.

The Grand Ballroom. I love the details of the ceiling!

The previous show was just ended a short while ago and the event adjourned for a short break (but not before a round of lucky draw. I always feel lucky draw is kinda embarassing when no one gone on stage to pick up their prizes after a number was read.) The organizer fill the break with a few romantic song numbers from Penang Northern Jazz Troupe.

Looking at the stage...

...being mesmerized by the jazz band especially the sax. Ah Bui recognized that a couple them are actually instructors of USM Jazz Band!

Sat down at the nice comfy sofa while waiting for the next show to start. The drama queens: (from left) yours truly, ZZ and ChanPao.

Ah Ham and Ah Bui.

About half an hour later, the show starts again and we move forward the seat right beside the runway for a better view. Spotted Jacinta in and out from the dressing room tending the model.
 

Turns out my coursemate, Minny is doing modeling in this show too! A better photo of her here.

While I am definitely not in anyway a fashionista, Jacinta's design philosophy in the line showcased in this show is an innovative take of oriental wedding. *try to string out philosophical sentences about fashion*

Congrats, Jacinta! Time to launch own designer brand?

*For more photos of better quality on this fashion show, please hop on to ZZ's album on that day for more!

We left immediately right after the show but a small surprise of sort occurred when a reporter (not sure from which paper) stopped us in the middle of our path asking us to pose for a photo op. We (along with another bridal boutique rep) were asked to pretend that we're listening attentively to the rep talking about their line. The rep guy really did made his sales pitch but failed because we're not in anyway getting married. I really hope the reporter didn't write anything weird while captioning the pictures! I wonder which newspaper did it end up at...or did it end up anywhere at all.

All of us call it a day: Ah Wong and his GF went of for shopping while waiting for his elder bro to pick them up, Ah Ham went off to find his BF while ChanPao went of for other matters. In the end, Ah Bui sent me back to USM in which I end up giving a quick summary of what she missed yesterday by not joining us for tea haha! Told ya she will be missing something! I came back without empty handed though:

Leftover Paella for dinner! To be fair to Ah Wong, I did fork out some money just to share the burden. First taste of olive in food: sourly bitterly.

That's all for a weekend dates with the SISTAHood! When will it be next time? Will the SISTAHood KL Charter made another visit over to Penang? Stay tuned on Facebook and such next time!

Epilogue: My brain hurts from thinking too much at one go. Even right now. Looks like my brain is getting rustier and rustier as I lay stagnant. A few key questions remain: When am I going to go back to Kuching? Will I ever go back to Kuching? Will I ever finish this one last translation if I keep on dilly-dallying? Ouch my head hurts. I need to sleep. *gone off napping.*