Apparently, if you ever had a physical education while growing up in the US you would have definitely learned, heard or even most probably played baseball. Alongside Basketball and (American) Football it has one of the biggest followings here in the United States and is also the official national sport of the country.

At the end at the first week we had an opportunity to attend a Minors League baseball game between the Southern Illinois Miners and the Oakland County Cruisers. We arrived around 7pm in the evening and it was warm day although it’s much better than the tsundere weather we have back home.

The atmosphere was filled with excitement and fun for the whole family. It was almost a full house as we arrived as most tickets was already sold out and we had to sit at the grassy area at the end of the field. Visibility sucks though but the tickets was already sold out the week before so there’s nothing that can be done. We had to sit on the grass at the edge of the field behind the fences.

Believe it or not. This picture was taken at 7.30pm local time. Sunny isn't it?

I literally can’t see much but then again I’m just there to learn about the sport and to seep in the atmosphere. The food was remarkably pricey here, especially the beer.

Mega nachos and a corn dog = USD9.00

It was kinda fun to watch and learn about America’s national pastime but unfortunately, we had to leave before the game was over as it was past the 10th innings and there was no conclusion yet. Not to mention most of us were feeling chilly under the night sky.

A special thanks to Cary for explaining to me how the game works.Now I finally understand that the pitcher doesn’t have to shout out the attack name while trowing the ball. *SUPER TORNADO FLAMING FLYING DRAGON!!!!!!*

Cary is a big St.Louis Cardinals fan if you haven't notice. (it's a baseball team! XP)

]]> http://clowonline.com/2010/07/10/the-great-american-pastime/feed/ 0 http://clowonline.com/2010/06/18/food-experiment/ http://clowonline.com/2010/06/18/food-experiment/#comments Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:30:55 +0000 clow http://clowonline.com/?p=1010 I thought that after having my exams and projects over and done with I would be free enough to relax and do anything I want during the holidays. Oh how wrong I was. I was busy running around doing menial task, getting ready for my US trip and sleep I didn’t had much time to blog about anything much and when I did had time recently the site went down due to bandwidth overload or something. The server company had to shut down my blog temporary. Still do not know what was the problem though. Works fine now.

Had a chance last weekend to do some random simple cooking with Joey. Made a simple no-baking cheesecake but since Joey was craving for some Oreo’s we made an Oreo Cheese by substituting the biscuit base with Oreo’s instead. Haven’t tried making a cheesecake before although had been observing both my mom and sis while they were making it before. It ended up pretty well actually. Tasted kinda good although we forgotten to add the vanilla essence into it while mixing. I knew I forgotten something. Decorated with some banana’s found in the kitchen and it was done in less than an hour. Its amazing what you can do with a hammer and a plastic ziplock bag in cooking.

Recipe after the jump.

Recipe:

2 blocks of Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
Butter
Oreo cookies
Vanilla essence

We also made garlic bread from scratch for fun. Well okay… so I just cut the bread but I did baked them in the oven so I did help! Yummy garlic bread is yummy!!!!

Recipe:

1 loaf Baguette
chopped garlic
parsley
oregano
butter

Maybe I’ll try making something a little harder when I get back from the trip. Deep fried Guinea Pigs perhaps? XP

Frontera’s located at JayaOne along Jalan University in Petaling Jaya not too far from University Hospital. Situated at a cozy corner of Jaya One among all the other eateries was quite comfortable for us as we decided to sit outside dining alfresco style. Due to complete randomness and may I say boredom I took the opportunity to organize a small testosterone challenge for a guys to separate the men from the *cough*ladies*cough*. The challenge was to consume Frontera’s infamous Killer Spicy Hanabero Chicken Wings without drinking water in which the first one who do losses. Yes, we behave like little children sometimes. XP

To be perfectly frank, the Killer Spicy Hanabero Chicken Wings was spicy indeed but not as tongue melting as we expected it to be. Maybe being Malaysian consuming heavily spiced and spicy food all this years might had screwed up our taste buds. I personally quite enjoyed the chicken wings but since we were sharing I felt it wasn’t enough. But alas, I have to keep my stomach available for the main course. Sean had the Chili Con Carde and cheese enchiladas, KCLee had the chicken enchiladas, Silencers the chilli cheeseburger, while I had the beef enchiladas beef special cheese chilli beef burritos a regular beef burritos. Almost everything I wanted to order was so good they ran out of it. Fuck my life.

According to Klue Magazine Frontera was voted in having the best Margarita in town and I would have to agree with that judgment. I had the Horny Margarita. It was sweet and refreshing and it doesn’t leave a bad aftertaste in my mouth like most Margarita. It was so refreshingly good they are the only place apparently that serve in in jugs. Definitely, a hit with the ladies.

Horny Margaritas made from Hornitos Tequila

The food was good. Once Sean’s Chill Con Carne arrived the rest of us went digging into his food cause it looked so damn good and we were blown away at the very first bite by the spice and fragrance of the beef. It is a definite must have on a first try.

Chilli Con Carne

If someone ask you “Can I has cheezeburger?” just say yes and point him to what Silencers had. A huge chunk of tender beef patty topped up with cheese and chilli served together with a side of homemade fries. Simply delicious.

Frontera's chilli cheeseburger

The cheese enchiladas, chicken enchiladas, and burritos is served with some spiced Mexican rice and frijoles refritos (Refried beans). I just wished I could have tried the beef enchiladas

Cheese Enquiladas

Chicken Enquiladas

Beef Burritto

The Hanabero Chicken Wings is truly a must try. They serve the the wings with a few spicy level choices like in Nandos but if you think you can handle the heat try the KILLER type. We had it and we had a blast.

Killer Spicy Hanabero Chicken Wings

We met Larry the owner of the place after our meal to talk to him about Frontera and we had an educating night about tequila and all its intricacies. Fronters serves only pure 100% Agave Tequilla and we can clearly see and taste why. Usually when served tequilla most places have salt or lime to go with it. Its so that the crappy taste can be masked. Most tequilla served is not 100% Agave tequilla and is only about 60% pure. The other 40% is mix with anything the producer wants.

I really recommend this place should you have the urge to try some authentic Tex-Mex fare with some wonderfully good Tequila.

As a side note, we also took the manly raw hanabero chili pepper challenge among ourselves. Suffice to say it was a tie between me and KCLee. *cue evil laughter*

Everyone takes a slice each, chew 7 times or more then swallow. Last one standing wins. It was a draw between KCLee and me.

P/s: Apparently, Tequilla does not contain a certain chemical unlike all alcoholic drinks that gives a you a hangover in the morning when you drink too much of it. SALUT!!! XD

Pics courtesy of KCLee and omoshiroi.org.

The whole concept part is unique and comprising 2 stories of eating and display space it really is nice to see such design and creative works on display. It honestly had a few stuff that I find as very interesting. The pictures show for themselves.

However, what really disappointed me was the food and drinks. To sum it up in a word. SHIT. Yeaps, you heard me right. It taste like small portions of defecation arranged nicely on my plate. Not only was the portion disappointingly sad it was bloody expensive as well. I ordered the ‘Sauteed Spaghetti’ and it got mowed down in 30secs flat. Yes, I even timed myself. The girls I went with ordered Korean Noodles which was basically instant Korean noodles with 2 sausages and some vegetable cooked in it and also a Nasi Lemak Ayam Rendang. The instant Korean noodles used wasn’t even a good brand. It was a little bit spicy but tasteless and would have insulted Koreans themselves. If this was North Korea I think the cook would be placed in a concentration ‘re-education camp* for this insult. The Nasi Lemak barely survive the food test and was just ‘edible’.

The drinks was too sweet and my pot of peppermint tea was tasteless. It was so tasteless I had to ask for sugar which did not come together with the tea separately. Here’s the kicker, the waitress looked stumped when i requested for sugar like the concept of putting sugar in plain tea was foreign to her. Heck, she came back with a couple of small sugar packets  you find at starbucks or in hotels for me and did not even give me a teaspoon to stir it with. I mean come on! ITS PEPPERMINT TEA!!! NOT GREEN TEA OR JASMINE TEA OR YOUR STANDARD CHINESE FREAKING TEA DAMMIT!!! *Huff huff* *Ehem* This bring me to the point of this short review where I say the service pretty much sucked. It didn’t suck too much actually but its still wasn’t up to par to what I’m paying through my nose for.

This was my 2nd time eating at Fullhouse, the first being my sister’s birthday and I though my tastebuds had to be used to the taste of their sweet black pepper sauce or their sweet cream sauce on their food. Bleh. Some food goes well with others and vise-versa but this time I could clearly confirm that this place is to be avoided if you wanna have a meal. Drinks should be find if you like to acquire diabetus or have a taste for tasteless angmoh tea. Come here for the decor, take a look, take some pictures and get the fuck out. Don’t waste your money, trust me. Its not worth it.

Coming back to NiuZeXui, it really is a unique place with potential trying to establish itself within the lifestyle concept. Very interesting indeed but sadly in my opinion suffered from VERY bad location planning. Good concept, bad implementation. When I went there on a Sunday it looked completely deserted like a ghost town with all the lights off and only a few shops were open and fewer visitors to boot. It was not how it looked like the last time I was there. Scary indeed.

So, will I be going to Full house again? By myself? Not a bloody chance in hell. Unless its to go and take pictures or if they improve the quality of their food then maybe just MAYBE I’ll reconsider.

P/s: Looks like Fullhouse will be opening a branch in Sunway Pyramid. I think its gonna suck as much as the original one.

Apparently, this place also breeds semi transparent frogs for sale. Such cruelty I say.