Life Essentials

Ive been thinking a lot lately about what is essential.

Its hard to think of essential because very few things are actually, very completely, essential.

Let me give you a little peek into what I find essential these days. Some of these essentials are a edible, some are a luxury, some are sparkly its just a little bit of real life.

Essentials start in the kitchen with big bins of King Arthur All-Purpose Flour, sea salt in my Dads old Tupperware salt shaker, and these perfectly simple metal measuring spoons.

Heres a peek at my purse essentials. I LOVE a look inside strangers purses. Heres mine:

Eye glasses. Booth&Bruce, London.

Alba Tinted Lip Balm in Bloom.

Over-sized Timex. I love this watch so much.

Green snakey wallet from Banana Republic.

My favorite orange hair clip. My favorite flavor of Tootsie pop: orange.

Grid Paper Post-it Notes from Tracy.

Note pad for daily lists and skinny Sharpie marker they dont bleed theyre the best!! (not pictured).

aand the iPad. A total luxury.

Not pictured from the purse:

a cucumber, countless receipts, empty chapstick tube, chop sticks, garlic skins, socks. I dunno

I LOVE button down shirts. Totally classic. Plus! If youre feeling spunky, these shirts look great unbuttoned real low with a pretty bra. Im just sayin. I rock that look when Im just Joy not Joy the Baker. Joy the Baker buttons up proper.

These are JCrew. Swoon.

Nail polish is an essential luxury.

Sally Hanson, Smooth and Perfect Satin. Essie, A Cut Above. Essie, As Gold as it Gets.

Simple. Girly. Sparkle pretty.

I celebrated my Moms birthday this week.

On your birthday, ice cream sundaes are essential, as are birthday candles. Mamas are also essential. Love you, Mom!

I need to tell you a weird thing.

This is a little vintage glass that sits on my desk.

Late at night when Im tired of working on the computer, but still trudging though I decorate my computer with little gems, and I put a fox pin broach on my sweater.

Its just a thing I do.

Sunday morning at Church in Hollywood is essential.

What a blessing this place is to me.

Warm, brown sugar sweet grapefruit.

Broiled grapefruit reminds me of sleepovers, Florida, and riding a bike with no hands one of those weird childhood brain things.

Friday night, glow-in-the-dark bowling is essential. Friday night, doing-anything-besides-sitting-on-the-computer is actually whats essential.

Ps Im a truly awful bowler. I stop caring after exactly three rolls.

This cat animal has become essential to my life.

Monster.

Potatoes are ESSENTIAL!!!

especially when theyre in Hasselback stylings with crazy homemade pesto.

Salt and Pepper are totally essential.

I made these salted Chocolate and Vanilla Bean Cookies ages ago. They still have a soft spot in my heart.

Lentils are essential. Cheap, mutable, delicious.

Also, Im hiding there in the spoon in my favorite pi! nk and r ed wrap skirt.

Wrap skirts are also essential. No biggie.

I took a company field trip (which means it was just me driving a car) to visit the photo studio of White on Rice Couple.

Two words: prop studio.

Aaaand I swoon.

Flour+Sugar+Yeast+Lemon Zest=

Lemon Raspberry Breakfast Rolls.

Youll thank me. I know you will.

Pie is essential. So tremendously essential. Its the first thing my dad taught me how to make, and its my absolute favorite thing to bring together in the kitchen.

Make an Apple Pie from start to finish. Its just one of those things that you should do at some point. Itll teach you about care, patience, love, and apples. That, indeed, is essential.

Very little is actually essential. I know.

But these are the things, both frivolous and delicious, that Im currently surrounded with.

There dont we feel like better friends now?

Hotel Review: Doubletree by Hilton, Kuala Lumpur

Last year, we won a few hotel stay vouchers from Doubletree by Hilton's first birthday giveaway. We took the kids to stay there a few times since there is a pool (the kids love playing with water!). The hotel is fairly new (1 years plus) hence all furniture and furnishings are still in tip-top condition.

The deluxe room is pretty spacious, with a super comfy king-sized Sweet Dreams bed (and a pillow menu to suit every person), a desk, a sofa and bathroom (no bathtub though). The bathroom and bedroom is separated by a glass compartment but for privacy, there are automated black-out blinds which you can lower if required. There are also baby cots should you require, usually we just request one when we arrive and housekeeping will send it to your room.

Plush beds

Hotel lobby

One of the best things about Doubletree by Hilton is their signature chocolate chip cookie. Upon arrival, you will be given a warm cookie at reception, one each per person, but if you really want more (and I believe you would after tasting it), you can ask nicely and they may give you another one. Our kids love them, we always ask for more upon check-out and so far they have always obliged, making our kids really happy!

Warm chocolate chip cookie - chewy and delicious

More photos of room

Do keep your curtains shut, as window cleaners will come clean your room at random times during the day. However, if you have kids this may prove to be quite entertaining for them!

Glass partition separating bedroom and bathroom

Powerful rain shower

More photos of cookies

Baby C enjoying her cookies with a cup of hot tea ;)

They have two pools in the hotel, one smaller and shallow pool for the kids or people wanting to just have a dip or a larger pool. Both are saltwater pools, kinder to the skin and environment. There is also a gym and a spa as well as sauna and steam room on the same floor.

Saltwater pool

Doubletree by Hilton is located inside The Intermark Mall/building, so other than the hotel restaurants (Makan Kitchen, Axis Lounge, Cellar Door, The Food Storeand Tosca), you can also choose to eat in various other standalone restaurant such as Estate, Hanare, Porto Romano, Kin no Mizu, Royal India, After Ate, Onsemiro and there is also a food court downstairs if you want something more affordable. In the evenings, you can try looking for Tate - the speakeasy bar for some drinks. Baby C is a big fan of Axis Lounge in the evenings, she enjoys listening to the singers.

Steel sculpture near lobby of Doubletree by Hilton

Looking down

Night view from our room

Sleep tight baby x

Sunrise from our room

We also stayed here for my birthday, my breakfast in bed ;P

(I like my personalised birthday card)

Verdict: Comfortable hotel in KL city, close to main attractions such as KLCC or Bukit Bintang shopping area. My only grouch is that they do not provide complimentary wi-fi for their guests (I think most major hotels should provide this at least in hotel lobby in this age and day).

Parking: RM10 per stay for hotel guests.

Location: Doubletree by Hilton, The Intermark, 348 Jalan Tun Razak, 50400 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2172 7272

GPS Coordinates: 3.161620, 101.719670

Website: http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/dt/hotel/KULDTDI-DoubleTree-by-Hilton-Hotel-Kuala-Lumpur/index.do

Lulu took this chocolate picture

Petits pots de crme au chocolat

Lulu pressed the shutter. Which technically means that she is the one who took this photograph.

Je peux toucher maman ? (Can I touch mummy ?) she asked, while reaching for the meringue that was sitting on top of the chocolate crmes (custard) I had just finished to style.

Non, mais tu peux appuyer l, (No, but you can press here) I answered, handing my remote switch to her.

Clic. Clic. Clic. CLic.

She was beaming.

It was sweet to watch how much she enjoyed pressing on the shutter while repeating Cest moi qui lai fait (I did it myself).

Done ? I asked.

Je peux en manger une maintenant ?

It was the obvious outcome.

And as we sat next to each other holding a petit pot de crme in our hands, we started to eat.

Sunday special. She had made my day.

Naturally, I will have to come back to tell you about these.

Share and Enjoy:

Klasik Satay Station Has Moved to Taman Kepong Indah

This is going to be a quick one. I just want to update the Klasik Satay Station lovers out there that they have closed their stall at Restoran Odin and upgraded themselves to a full fledged restaurant at Taman Kepong Indah. Nothing much has changed about their satay, it is still tasty and affordable so you can still refer my previous post for a more detailed write up.

The mutton satay (RM1.20) remains the best among the two other meats: chicken (RM0.70) and beef (RM1). I would have given the chicken satay a better rating if not because some of them were so badly burnt. This had been a problem I noticed during my last visit and sadly is still happening. I dont know exactly why but it only affects the chicken satay while the mutton and beef satay are OK. The least they could do is to trim off the burnt parts from the chicken satay like Sen Kee does rather than serving them charred to the customers.

Satay aside, three types of noodles are available here: Mee Jawa, Mee Soto and Laksa. The Mee Jawa @ RM4.50 is delicious albeit slightly too sweet.

The Laksas broth is ni! ce but t he noodles are short stranded, a bit coarse and cooked too al dente. The noodles should be silky smooth, slippery and soft with a little bite, not like this.

Small packets of nasi lemak can be found here too @ RM1 each. The taste is not bad but you should know there are no anchovies and peanuts in it. It contains only rice, a halved hard boiled egg and sambal.

Previously at Odin you could see the boss himself doing the grilling. But after the expansion a few workers have been hired to take care of the satay grills while he oversees the restaurants operation.

Banners of various size! s are pl aced along the road leading to the restaurant, saying Voted No.1 Satay in Klang Valley by Malaysia Food & Travel Bloggers. Interesting, I wonder who are those bloggers mentioned.

Klasik Satay Station
Jalan 1/1a ,Taman Kepong Indah,
52100 Kuala Lumpur
Business hours: Mon Sun: 5:00pm 12:00am
GPS Coordinates: N3 13.662 E101 38.308