[RECIPE] George Calombaris’ Green Greek Salad + Cooking Tips

Just last week, MasterChef Australia judge George Calombaris was in town to promote the latest MasterChef season (read the Q&A here) and as promised, here’s one of George’s signature dishes, served at his famous restaurant, The Press Club.

Green Greek Salad (photo credit – The Press Club)

George Calombaris’ Green Greek Salad

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

8 green asparagus each (tips removed and blanched, stalk sliced very fine)

4 kale leaves (deep fried)

1 teaspoon confit shallots (*recipe below)

Feta puree (*recipe below)

Kale Puree (*recipe below)

½ cup fresh peas

½ cup blanched broad beans (shelled)

Stir fried abalone (*recipe below)

1 tablespoon hazelnut oil

1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar

4 white anchovies each, finely diced

Method:

1. Place the kale into the bottom of each serving bowl

2. Mix the shallot and anchovies together and place on the puree

3. Mix peas, broad beans, asparagus tips and the fine sliced asparagus stalks into a mixing bowl. Dress with the hazelnut oil and raspberry vinegar

4. Arrange on top of the puree

5. Next, arrange the kale chips and place dots of the feta puree all around and over the salad

6. To finish, add the freshly cooked abalone

Green feta puree

(Makes 425g)

Ingredients:

50g baby spinach

50g parsley

50g dill

400g feta cheese

Method:

1. Blanch the herbs and spinach in salted water and refresh

2. Squeeze out the extra water

3. Place the herbs into a blender or food processor and blend on high until smooth (you may need to add some water to get the herbs blending)

4. Once the herbs are smooth, add the feta and blend until incorporated

5. Place into piping bags and hold until needed

6. Best used at room temperature

Note: This quantity is the best to make, as any less tends not to blend very well, keep any left over for another use.

Confit shallots

(Makes 120g)

Ingredients:

100g shallots

100g raspberry vinegar

Method:

1. Place ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer

2. Cook until nearly all liquid have reduced

3. Remove from heat, set aside to chill and hold until needed

Note: Can be done well in advance up to 1 week before and what is left over will hold for 2 weeks in the fridge

Abalone marinate and cooking

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 large green lip abalone 200 g each (live)

1 small clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon ginger, grated

Pinch crushed black pepper

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Method:

1. Place the abalone into the freezer until half frozen

2. Remove the abalone from the shell, and remove all guts and clean well under cold water

3. Freeze again until semi frozen

4. slice on a mechanical slicer 0.5mm thin

5. Mix with the other ingredients and leave overnight to marinate

6. To cook, heat oil in a wok, stir fry the abalone and serve straight away

Kale puree

(Makes 4 portions)

Ingredients:

200g kale, picked and washed

2g bicarb soda

8 litres water

4g salt

Method:

1. In a large pot, bring the water and salt to a rapid boil

2. Blanch the kale in the water for 1 minute and refresh in lots of ice water

3. Strain the kale out of the water

4. In the food processor, blend very well until smooth

5. Pass through a fine drum sieve or sieve

George shares his cooking tips:

• You can only be a great cook if you start with great ingredients.


• Salt is one of the most important ingredients – you can be fancy-schmancy with all the techniques under the sun, but if you don’t know how to transform the flavour of a dish with the right amount of salt, then the dish will never be great.


• Preparation (mise-en-place) is the key to culinary success. It doesn’t matter whether you’re cooking in a restaurant or at home, if you’re well prepared you’re going to get good results.


• If you don’t want to eat your own food, then don’t serve it to others.


• You must live to cook, not cook to live.

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Hello Kitty’s 40th Anniversary Celebration Took Place With A Bang In Johor!

From the 31st October until 2nd November 2014, Hello Kitty, the beloved pop icon created to inspire happiness around the world, celebrated her 40th anniversary at Sanrio Hello Kitty Town, Nusajaya, Johor. We were lucky enough to be a part of the celebration on the 1st of November in Sanrio Hello Kitty Town itself and we really had a ball of a time!

First of all, having lunch at Lat’s Place was an experience of its own. Besides the yummy food, we were accompanied by entertaining animated comic strips as well as the sounds you would hear in an actual kampung. We absolutely loved the kampung-inspired decor in the restaurant as it made us feel very Malaysian and at home!

After lunch, we entered Sanrio Hello Kitty Town to witness the Hello Kitty Friends Forever Catwalk competition, whereby designers had to create a two-piece collection, consisting of a day outfit and an evening outfit with a special Malaysian twist that captured the essence of Hello Kitty. Mentoring the 10 finalists was Gillian Hung, the President of the Malaysia Official Designer’s Association (MODA).

The winner was 23-year-old Roy Xuan, whose designs were lauded by the judges for managing to blend a modern twist with Hello Kitty’s personality of fun and friendship. Xuan won RM5,000 in cash and a meet-and-greet with Hello Kitty, whereas the 2nd prize and 3rd prize winner won RM3,000 and RM1,000 respectively. The judging panel was made up of Gillian, Malaysian fashion designers Justin Yap and Syomir Izwa, and Philip Whittaker, Chief Marketing Officer of Themed Attractions and Resorts.

In between showtime and the announcement of the Hello Kitty Friends Forever Catwalk competition winners, there were many fun performances happening. Hello kitty also made an appearance herself, and she was also presented a tiered birthday cake. Everyone sang “Happy Birthday” and the guests were also handed out free cupcakes in conjunction of Hello Kitty’s birthday.

Later during the day, we went down to the harbour and took part in the Hello Kitty Friends Gathering, whereby it was expected to be a record-breaking gathering of Hello Kitty fans coming together in an attempt to create a record in the Malaysian Book of Records for the title, “Most Number of Selfies Taken Simultaneously.” Participants who registered also received an exclusive Sanrio Hello Kitty Town red bow, as well as a Malaysian Book of Records certificate to mark the occasion.

It was indeed a successful gathering as many Hello Kitty fans came dressed up in Hello Kitty-inspired outfits and accessories. One participant even wore a Hello Kitty onesie! We’ve never seen so many Hello Kitty fans gathered at one place before, so it was very eye-opening for us. 8TV Quickie hosts Mark and Brandon emceed the Gathering and when the time came, everyone whipped out their smartphones to take that picture perfect selfie to be uploaded onto social media with the hashtags #MalaysiaRecords and #HelloKitty40thMY.

Before we left Sanrio Hello Kitty Town, we also had the opportunity to experience the attractions for ourselves. We sat on the spinning teacup ride, decorated our very own Hello Kitty cookie, made a clay Hello Kitty model, took photos at Kitty’s House and even got Hello Kitty temporary tattoos to complete the whole experience. There was also a little bazaar happening at the open area of Sanrio Hello Kitty Town, aptly named Hello Kitty Friends Fiesta, so we did a little shopping as well.

Finally, there was also the Hello Kitty Friends Rock, a music festival which was held, featuring Malaysian pop punk band BunkFace, Malaysian J-rock band Fly1ng Pan, rock hip hop outfit Dragon Red, electro groove band Fazz and anime song cover singer, Huei Chan.

Happy birthday, Hello Kitty!

For more information on Hello Kitty’s 40th Anniversary Celebration or Sanrio Hello Kitty Town, kindly visit this website or Facebook page.

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foodpanda Celebrates Halloween By Surprising Lucky Customers With A Little Treat!

This Halloween, foodpanda Malaysia surprised lucky customers with a ‘trick or treat’ bag of goodies when they placed an order for meal delivery.

Customers who received the ‘trick or treat’ bag were caught by surprise with the additional goodies that came with their meal. Every ‘trick or treat’ bag came with sweets, foodpanda vouchers and a bottle of Nescafe Smoovlatte as a little pick-me-up.

According to Claudio Abitante, the Managing Director of foodpanda Malaysia, foodpanda is always on the lookout for unique approaches to make its service more interesting and valuable to customers.

From the 27^th October until 31^st October 2014, foodpanda riders were seen delivering food in their Halloween costumes, which caught the attention of passers-by and customers. This was all part of foodpanda’s efforts to incorporate some fun and excitement into its services.

For more information on foodpanda, visit its official website. You can also download the foodpanda app on your Apple or Android devices!

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Softlan® Hosts Annual Campaign In Support Of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

In honour of World Breast Cancer Awareness month, Softlan® launched its annual awareness campaign to educate consumers and their families about breast cancer prevention. This year’s campaign from the brand, We Stand by You, focuses on supporting breast cancer patients and survivors as well as family members who often serve as a source of strength.

Softlan® has partnered with the Breast Cancer Welfare Association (BCWA), National Cancer Council (MAKNA), and the National Cancer Society Malaysia (NCSM) to help raise awareness and has made a commitment to fund-raise a minimum of RM100,000 throughout this month. With every purchase of Softlan® fabric softener, 10 cents will be donated to one of these organizations.

To mark the launch of We Stand By You, Softlan® held a Pink Day Out – an event that gathered families who have survived breast cancer and celebrated their journey towards survival with a private luncheon at the Tropicana Golf & Country Resort. Family members, specifically children, volunteered their time to learn how to cook and prepare a delicious pink themed menu for their mothers. It was a simple yet powerful gesture in expressing their love and gratitude.

“I am extremely surprised at what has been planned out today and all the more amazed at how my family managed to pull this off without my knowledge. They’ve never been around the kitchen and to know that they put their hearts into this meal is an incredible gift for me,” said Noor Mazidah, 41, a survivor of breast cancer.

“I feel appreciated and that makes me overjoyed. My battle against breast cancer couldn’t have been better without the support of my family. They are the remedy to my sorrow. I will forever cherish this day,” added Nor Hamizah binti Abdullah, 40 who has been battling breast cancer since 2009.

Softlan® products can be found at all major supermarkets and hypermarkets. For more information on Softlan®, visit this Facebook page.

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True Religion Apparel Launches Be So Bold Brand Campaign

True Religion Apparel, Inc. has recently revealed its new Be So Bold campaign, which celebrates the fearless style brand relaunch and invites consumers to take the stage—across social and digital platforms— through bold statements of personal expression.

“True Religion is an iconic and highly differentiated brand. Our new platform of Fearless Style will bring to life the elements that make us unique and which have enabled True Religion to connect so strongly with our loyal customers,” said David Conn, Chief Executive Officer, True Religion. “Fearless Style will define our next chapter, enabling consumers to experience an exciting and bold evolution of our product, our retail stores and our brand communications.”

The campaign will recruit style leaders to share bold self-expression by posting Tweets, Instagrams, photos or Vines of themselves showcasing their own fearless style using the hashtags #BeSoBold and #EnterToWin. True Religion will turn over its Facebook page to feature the best entry and winners will also have the chance to be featured on True Religion’s website and Instagram account.

Winning photos and videos will also be displayed on the 9 foot digital storefront windows and interactive kiosks in new stores that will open this fall in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. Existing stores will also evolve to create an elevated brand experience.

“True Religion has always been like no other denim brand and our consumers are recognized for their style leadership—that is what made us famous,” said Mary Alderete, Chief Marketing Officer, True Religion. “Our jeans are not for everyone. True Religion is for those who want to be seen and heard. Our campaign acts as a catalyst to ignite bold statements of fearless style that will be showcased on our own brand stages—on our website, in our windows and across our social channels.”

True Religion’s fall collection, the first from Creative Director Gary Harvey, will be a manifestation of the brand’s fearless style attitude. The product line will mark a confident return to the brand’s roots and the iconic stitching will be retained, but will be constructed in a new way and combined with modern silhouettes and fits; new lightweight and stretch fabrics; metallic and coated embellishments and vintage and laser finishes and graphics.

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E!’s First Original Malaysian Miniseries

Malaysia’s own Nur Fazura Sharifuddin (Nur Fazura) is the star of Facing Up To Fazura, a 30min Malaysian miniseries for E! – the pop culture powerhouse of NBCUniversal International Television. The sensational docudrama will offer viewers unprecedented access to this polarising personality’s life, loves, challenges, triumphs and joys in everyday life as a leading entertainment and fashion socialite in Malaysia and South East Asia. Throughout the series, viewers will be treated to an in-depth and unscripted look at Nur Fazura’s often-controversial life on and off the camera.

“I never imagined that anyone would be interested to showcase my life, let alone have a whole series planned around me for E! I feel so blessed and humbled at the same time,” said Nur Fazura, “I have always been a private person so having a reality show does make me a little nervous. I am showing everyone my world and I really hope they enjoy what they see.”

“E!’s success is driven by the exclusive access to celebrities and Facing up to Fazura is a perfect fit for our channel,” said Christine Fellowes, Managing Director, Universal Networks International, Asia-Pacific. “E! combines the best of Hollywood with the breakout stars from Asia and we are excited to build on our commitment to the local entertainment industry and shine the spotlight on this Malaysian artist and bring her to the global stage.”

Developed and produced by Matchbox Asia, production begins in Malaysia later this month. Facing Up To Fazura is executive produced by Karen Wiggins, whose credits include E!’s It Takes GUTZ To Be A Gutierrez. Chris Oliver-Taylor, Managing Director, Matchbox Asia said “This series continues the ongoing commitment Matchbox Asia has to developing and producing ground-breaking, innovative and original Entertainment programming across Asia”.

Facing Up To Fazura premieres Sunday, 14 December at 10pm (MAL)

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Adidas Originals By NIGO Fall/Winter 2014

Known to many as the man behind some of streetwear’s most seminal labels, few names hit as hard as NIGO. For two decades the Japanese style icon has carved out the landscape of youth culture with his unforgettable clothing and creations, and for Fall/Winter 2014 adidas

Originals joins forces with the street pioneer for a special collaborative collection – adidas Originals by NIGO.

The apparel collection features unforgettable adidas Originals pieces alongside staples of American sportswear such as coach and varsity jackets, whilst the footwear offers unique interpretations of iconic silhouettes such as the ZX 500 and Superstar 80.

The adidas Originals by NIGO FW14 collection will be available for purchase from 1st November at the adidas Originals Concept Stores in KLCC, Pavilion and Mid Valley.

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[Video] Virgin Atlantic’s Insane Party On An Airplane

Ready for takeoff?

Photo: via elitedaily.com

In celebration of Virgin Atlantic’s newest 787 planet, the airline held a banging party on the plane. Rudimental and Gorgon City played music at the party, and the whole thing was live-streamed.

The party in the skies took place at 35,000 feet above the ground on a flight from London to Atlanta.

[Source]

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[DIY] Advanced Halloween-Inspired Nail Art

Halloween is just around the corner and we’re so excited! If you’ve been with Lipstiq for a long time, you’ll remember the Halloween nail art tutorial we did last year. Well, we’re back with yet another tutorial for the year of 2014! This tutorial requires a little more patience and time, but the end result is SO worth it. You really don’t need to be very neat with nail art as every single design is unique on its own.

For this tutorial, you’ll need nail polishes in various colours, a base coat, a top coat, a dotting tool and a thin nail art brush. We did five designs this time around, so scroll down to have a look at them!

Eyeball

Paint the entire nail white, making sure that the colour is opaque. Use the dotting tool dipped in blue nail polish to create a large circle in the middle of the nail. Repeat with black nail polish, but make a smaller circle this time. Use the nail art brush dipped in red nail polish to draw little veins around the eyeball. Next, take the dotting tool dipped in white nail polish to create an even smaller circle in the middle of the eyeball.

Spider web

Paint the entire nail grey. We applied two coats. Then, use the nail art brush to draw a straight line in the middle of the top half of the nail. This will be the base of your spider web. Draw two diagonal lines meeting at the top of the nail and then complete the design with short curved strokes connecting the whole web together.

Jagged teeth

Use red nail polish to draw on two curved strokes at the top and bottom of the nail to create the lips. Then, apply white nail polish in between those red strokes. With the thin nail art brush dipped in black nail polish, outline the lips where the red and white colours meet. Next, carefully use your nail art brush to outline two rows of teeth in between the lips. Fill in the mouth with black nail polish to complete your design.

Skeleton

Paint two coats of white nail polish to get a completely opaque colour. Then, use the dotting tool dipped in black nail polish to draw on two eyes. On both sides of the top half of the nail, paint two curved shapes to define the shape of the skeleton. Connect the two shapes with a thin line and draw on short strokes to form its teeth. Finally, draw a tiny upside down heart shape for its nose.

Random stitches

Pick three different nail polish colours and apply the colours in a diagonal pattern. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Then, use the thin nail art brush to draw two black lines where the different colours meet. Next, draw a few short strokes across those lines. We also drew on a few criss-crosses to complete the look.

Do give this a go and show us your recreations via Instagram by tagging us at @lipstiqdotcom or #lipstiqdotcom!

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Chong Wei Suspected To Have Failed Drug Test After Major Tournament

Photo: The Star Online

Oh, no!

An official from the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has confirmed that top Malaysian shuttler, Datuk Lee Chong Wei, has failed a random doping test after a major tournament in Copenhagen in August.

Chong Wei had been notified of the failed doping test on October 1, and had requested for the “B” sample t be tested 16 days later, a day before the deadline to request for the test.

There is no mention of when the test results over “B” sample would be released.

BAM mentioned that the association would only make a statement after the official results are out.

The World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) list of banned substances include stimulants, gene doping, diuretics and other masking agents, hormone and metabolic modulators, anabolic agents, growth hormones and Beta-2 agonists.

If Chong Wei is found guilty, he could face a two-year suspension, which means that he would miss the 2016 Olympics. However, he can appeal.

Meanwhile, Malaysian netizens are in disbelief and are all hoping very hard that Chong Wei would pass the second drug test.

[Source 1, 2]

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Korean Actress Lee Yeon Hee Talks About Her SK-II Ritual

Just last Friday we spent the afternoon at a tea session with SK-II’s brand ambassador Lee Yeon Hee.

Lee Yeon Hee

For those who don’t know her, Lee is an award-winning Korean actress from Seoul. She received her degree in acting from Chung Ang University, one of the most prestigious universities in Korea and is best known for her role of Kuk Yeong-Ran in 2008’s East of Eden.

Lee (right) at last Friday’s SK-II Change Destiny event

The pretty actress has been chosen by SK-II to be their brand ambassador and was in town last Friday to talk about how women today can be in control of their own skin destiny thanks to a ground breaking study by the Japanese beauty brand.

“When I was introduced to the SK-II Facial Treatment Essence two years ago, the results were quick to see – my skin became soft, moisturised, with an even tone and crystal clear. My complexion glows now and this gives me the confidence to go out even with only minimal make-up on.

A violinist entertaining the crowd at the event

“I am pleased to discover that by starting early with SK-II, I am preparing a good foundation for my skin in years to come as the Skin Destiny Study has revealed,” Lee said. Lee also adds that she loves refrigerating her SK-II Facial Treatment Essence for an added cooling sensation on her skin.

Skin Destiny Study Infographics

The SK-II Skin Destiny Study discovered an intrinsic link between long-term usage of the brand’s iconic Facial Treatment Essence and better skin quality as the aging process takes place.

For more information, visit www.sk-ii.com.my.

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Leftover Red Wine? Just Freeze It!

Not sure what to do with your leftover red wine?

Photo credit: inxsive28 via sxc.hu

One of my favourite magazines, Real Simple has a clever idea – you simply freeze it and use it for your next meal! Check out the video below:

Source

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Glenmorangie’s Orange Party Series Hits Soju KL With A Bang

The Glenmorangie Orange Party series returned gloriously! The world’s most loved single malt whisky, Glenmorangie, threw its second Orange Party for the year of 2014 at Soju, Kuala Lumpur recently. The night was indeed a celebration of all things ‘Unnecessarily Well Made’.

As guests arrived, they were greeted by a orange man on stilts and a man wearing a whiskey cask, both displaying ADA codes that revealed details of the party that awaited them inside. At the entrance was also a Glenmorangie photo booth specially set up to capture the excitement of every guest, giving them a printout as a keepsake.

Hosted by Jeremy Teo, guests and fans of Glenmorangie stepped into a creatively stimulating 3D journey of the Glenmorangie Distillery in Scotland. This was made possible through a unique collaboration with local artistic talent Ms. Haze Long, a 3D illustration specialist. Each art piece was the location of hidden ADA codes, with snippets of information about the iconic House of Glenmorangie.

Apart from enjoying Glenmorangie with a splash of water and ice, guests were offered the Glenmorangie Zest Serve – a familiar highlight at Glenmorangie parties that infuses tangerine to complement the notes of vanilla and citrus zest of Glenmorangie The Original. Soju’s Resident DJs kicked things off and at midnight, the talented and attractive DJ Alexis G took over the turntable and entertained guests with high energy music to last through the night.

Aside from that, guests were put to the test to recreate the 17-feet tall stills at the Glenmorangie Distillery in a Block Tower Challenge. Lim Bee Fang, who was quickest to build the block tower to the height of 17 inches, won a bottle of Glenmorangie The Original. Another winner for the night was Jeremy Fong who walked away with a bottle of Glenmorangie The Original by dialling the ADA code the most number of times during the night.

Glenmorangie’s parties always promise an experience that is second to none, living up to its ‘Unnecessarily Well Made’ philosophy.

Visit Glenmorangie’s official website and Facebook page for more information and updates.

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