Girl With Thoughts: April 2011

Sunday, 10 April 2011

In love with Yogurt

It's official, i'm in love with yogurt! And not just any yogurt. I'm in love with Frozen Yogurt, aka Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt.

It's first outlet in Penang opened at Island Plaza. Still remember my very first purchase. You see, they sell their yogurt base on it's weight, at RM53 per 1kg. On my very first buy, i kinda lost control of the yogurt pumping machine and my total bill with fruits and all came up to a jaw-dropping RM21 for a cup of frozen yogurt... i learnt my lesson.

On my subsequent buys, i was more tactful with the machine and i knew just how much pressure to put on. So the price wasn't that heftly. A cup with my usual huge servings of fresh fruit and nuts came to under RM10...*all smiles*

So began my love affair with frozen yogurt... but unfortunately due to logistic reasons, i could only ever so often buy my yogurt fix when i happen to drive to the northen part of the island.

Luckily, Tutti Frutti made a good decision to open another outlet opposite Queensbay! Yay!

So my love affair with frozen yogurt continues... now more often than ever... like everyday... i get to mum mum my yogurt... hehe

As evident by the receipts below:

My yogurt fix: Two consecutive days

you can just see the almond nuts, cut strawberries and kiwi through the trasparent bag

My take on Straits Quay

The latest and up & coming mall in Penang is the Straits Quay. It's a rival to Gurney Plaza just down the road, but Straits Quay has something different to offer. For starters, it does have a quay with boats and stuff. It also holds many new restaurants, which is really the topic for this blog. I wanna introduce the many new restaurants and cafes which have opened their doors in Straits Quay... well, what i have here is not the entire complete collection of restaurants, but the once that i happened to come across during my last visit there on the April 9. So here goes...

* There is DOME cafe

* Aseana Cafe Bar

* Secret Recipe

*Finnegan's Irish Pub

* Aqua (offering mediterranean food)

*Healy Mac's Irish Bar & Restaurant

* Kaffa

Also, not forgetting Charlie Brown's Cafe which i mentioned in my previous blog entry.

There is also Bella Marino, which offers good Italian food. I went there for lunch on the 9th, after having deserts at Charlie Brown's Cafe. Yes, yes, i happen to have a habit of eating dessert before the main course; in this case, lunch!

This was my second time eating at Bella Marino. The other time i went was after 3pm so the restaurant only served appetisers and snacks. This time round, i did go before 3pm... shall we say 2:56pm... hehe

And this is what we ordered.

Rissoto Alla Boscaiola (RM27)

Rissoto Alla Boscaiola was an absolute favourite! It's basically rice with white sauce, cream and cheese... Also has generous servings of mushrooms and ham. Loved this dish!

Pizza Con Pollo (RM25.80)

The pizza was like your usual hawaiian pizza with pineapple and chicken shreds & ham pieces. But at Bella Marino's, the pizza crust made all the difference. The crust was hand-tossed and thin unlike the usual at Pizza Hut or US pizza.

Saturday, 9 April 2011

Charlie Brown Cafe at Straits Quay

The newly opened Charlie Brown Cafe at Straits Quay was the main attraction of the day.
Went there today in celebration of the cafe's first day of operation, hoping to have lunch.

However, it turned-out to be more of a cafe, as its name suggests. ... something like Starbucks and Coffee Bean. Silly me.

They serve snacks, appetizers, salads, sandwiches and pizzas. For those looking for something more heavy, they also have pasta & soups, as well as local cuisine like nasi lemak.

They mainly have cakes and drinks.

And so, i tried out their cakes.... Ordered the Berry Blueberry Cake (one on the left) and the Mango Cheese Cake (one on the right). Verdict: Cheese cake trumps sponge cake anytime!

The Mango cheese cake was absolutely divine! Loved the rich texture and the smoothness of the cheese... mMmMMmmm....yum!

nibble, nibble... yummy cheese cake

The decor of the cafe was really cool! Any Snoopy fan would be on cloud9 at this cafe. It's got everything snoopy... even a souviener corner for the real die-hard fans.
Check-out the ceiling!

Ceiling with all the Charlie Brown characters

Love this wall!!

Chocolate Blended

I don't know about the other drinks, but the one i ordered was Chocolate Blended. Well, to me it tasted more like Sustagen. So, the cheese cake really saved the day :)