It’s true, Ryan the Nephew is now officially a citizen of Småland; a magical land governed by Quing Sara, a 1,000+ years old big red fuzzy furry heart who eats paper porridge and loves to give and receive hugs.

… and who made all this happen? ME, the best aunt in the world who only had 3 hours of sleep after a night of copious amounts of fermented beverages just so I could get him to the registration table in time. I deserve a medal… nay, a kingdom of my own for all my efforts!

… then Ryan hugged and kissed me good morning and proclaimed, “xiao yi, it’s going to be an awesome day!” and I melted.

I’m a softy like that :(

Ikea Malaysia recently launched IKEA’s småles Club, a club for kids aged between 4 to 10. We were at the launch event where they invited the first 50 registered kids to do lots of fun stuff! Face painting, temporary tattoos, a clown, balloons, whistles, a red giant furry heart-shaped mascot, yummy food… all things to please the little ones!

Here’s what happened:

1 – Ryan receiving a free ice-cream token. He wanted to redeem it immediately but I said no because it was only 10.30am! I’m a (somewhat) responsible aunt, okay… ;) Then when I said he could redeem it, he said to wait until he has played at Ikea’s Småland :X

2 – Adults can have bug tattoos too!

3 – Everytime a småles (member of the småles Club) goes to IKEA, they can scan their småles passport at this småles shroom. It’s like 4sq for kids ;) Each visit is gifted with $0.50 Smålish dållars, and they get a coupon for one discounted kid’s meal and one free drink at the IKEA restaurant! *link*

4 – Stamped visits on the småles passport. The accumulated Smålish dållars can be redeemed for småles merchandise.

Oh look, cute kids with balloons and a clown

The kids were given a whistle each along with a flag to recite the Småland pledge. A whistle…! I mean, what were they thinking.. :P

Oh, too loud in the morning for you too, boy?

So Ryan had fun, I had fun, the other kids were definitely having fun and feeling special for belonging in an exclusive club. And of course, being part of the 50 kids at the event. It all ended well with a lovely spread at the IKEA restaurant… then a full hour at Småland while I went to do adult stuff like getting a strong coffee… then collecting the boy and getting him an ice-cream at the IKEA cafe.

Best. Aunt. Ever.

IKEA småles Club is free to join for kids between 4 to 10. As a småles, you (your little one, not you) get:

- Discounted kid’s meal & free drinks
- Earn $0.50 Smålish dållars for each visit
- Redeem for småles merchandise
- Take part in special activities and events
- Regular Bug News
- Free cake on your 11th birthday
- Free ice-cream treat on Quing Sara’s birthday

Make IKEA fun for your young ones too! For more info, check out the website here: *click*

Heads up people! It’s BREWFEST, Malaysia’s 1st International Beer Festival at Publika (Solaris Dutamas) today and tomorrow!

What does it mean? Picture this: Huge tents, long tables awaiting merriment, a stage for performers and DJs, food stalls aplenty and of course the stars of the show: over 50 premium and craft brews from all around the world waiting to be had!

That means you won’t see the familiar big names at Brewfest as they’re bringing indie beer (so to speak) into the spotlight. A lot of the beer brands are also not available in your local hypermarket. This means you get to try many many many many types of beer, speak to the people who bring them in for Brewfest and treat your palate to a variety of delicious beer!

Fantastic? Not just, it’s supercalifragilisticexpialidociously exquisite, a haven for beer lovers, appreciators and generally just anyone who wish to explore the big beer world!

Brewfest 2012 is happening at Publika (behind Solaris Dutamas in the Mont Kiara/ Hartamas area) today and tomorrow (18 & 19 May). Actually it started yesterday and I was there, so have a look at the photos I took while I was still sober and able ;)

Early on, half of the set up. I’ve decided to crop all my photos 4×4 from now on.. mostly

Tsingtao, an array of premium beer from Taps beer bar, the Konig stuff, awesome Grimbergen

Organic cider that was apparently damn good, more different beer brands, award-winning Suntory Japanese beer, bottle caps of Hitachino Nest beer

Yona Yona ale! American pale ale, so good it deserves a full photo by itself. Currently my fav, very easy to drink with a fruity aroma. It’s like breathing in Japanese spring every time you take a sip. You need to try this… while stocks last

Lots of food available! Some favs are pork ribs, chicken skin, pork sate, sushi and a cute guy selling delicious sausages in buns

And the people…

With Mike, Choon, Elfie, Charles of Eastern Craft who brought in the Hitachino Nest and Yona Yona ale, and Douglas Lim whom I made to pose with my fav beer of the evening

AhFa, some drunk’s T-shirt, @TisGod, Winnie, Ben

I highly recommend that you check them out, show some love and hopefully we’ll get more of these stuff on our shores. Lots of beer variety, food, performances by Douglas Lim, music acts, DJ spinning… it’s guaranteed fun but bring along a friend or two la, else not so fun lah :)

Brewfest 2012
Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur
18th & 19th May 2012, 5pm – 1am
Tickets: RM68 inclusive of 2 beers

Tickets are for sale at the door as well. For more info, check them out at their website and on Facebook.

Is this turning into a food blog? *gasps* IS IT?? Oh dear, I must do something about it, mustn’t I? I don’t know why seeing as there’s nothing wrong with having a food blog, but imaginary life experts say that there must be other things going on besides food! Being imaginary, they must be right.

Actually I’m in ‘Criminal Minds’ mode right now, which means I’ve been watching a lot of ‘Criminal Minds’. The problem with watching the episodes consecutively means, a lot of airtime to highlight crazy nutters in succession. At one point I had to hit the pause button and go do something normal and not so dark, like flip through ‘Lat the Kampung Boy’. Really, it helped and then I was able to resume watching the work of psychos.

Eh I marked this post in the Parties/ Events/ Fun category? Are we having fun yet? Maybe the nutter effect is rubbing off me. Don’t worry too much; I don’t really talk to myself, only type to myself. I could write down an entire conversation with myself here but I doubt it’d be fun for anyone but me.

Maybe I need a new hobby. Or a fish. ‘Cos I’m no good with pets and fish are low maintenance. Actually that’s not true, now I remember I had fish as a kid and they all went belly up. Then I got a new batch to replace the dead ones, and they too died. Met their Maker. Went swimming in the great blue above. I don’t remember why, probably something to do with the water in the fish tank.

Anyway fishes are weird. Don’t trust them, okay? Anything that sleeps with their eyes open were creatures from another universe, their DNA seeds brought in to our world to encourage oddity. That line of reasoning should also be able to explain why pine nuts taste exceptionally great in salads.

This is the part where I’m trying to focus on the point of this blog post. Really.. trying… hard… to… suppress… a… monologue… on… jelly…

Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur recently had a private showcase of Gerard Bertrand wines that they carry in their few restaurants. The wine’s from the south of France and the namesake was a former captain of the French rugby team. We tried mostly the ‘Reserve Speciale’ range, very easy to drink. I enjoyed the Cab Sav and Sav Blanc the most. The delectable food served by Le Meridien’s team to go with the wine of course made it too easy to enjoy. I’ve used the word ‘enjoy’ in two consecutive sentences. Do not follow down my shoddy Engrand footsteps OR get adequate sleep before attempting to talk about wine.

Nah, photos.

Then on another recent occasion, I went to the Kakiseni‘s 9th BOH Cameronion Arts Awards 2012 at One World Hotel. For those who do not know what it’s about, it’s to celebrate our local arts scene – the stage performers, dancers, musicians, etc. BOH Cameronion is the main sponsor, hence the name. Yes, BOH the tea. We had plenty of tea served at the awards.

The theme was Glam 20s, or something like that. I was all excited as I (thought I) had a dress for it. Turns out the 20s was about knee-length dresses, lace, nettings, pearls, feathers… Who would have known!!! Ok ok a lot of people but me. If you haven’t already noticed, I’m not exactly a fashion icon snort cough snigger.

So my sister helped with the make up ( <3 ) and I thought I looked all right except for the fat jutting out part, hah! What? I'm sure the 20s also got fat people ok, you just weren't alive to see them*.

With Cheeky Ciki, Missyblurkit and Masako

I had a good time with Sheelah as the emcee, the hilarious Minister of Misinformation YB on stage and a co-performance by the spectacular Junji Delfino being the highlights of the evening.

With the dashing Huai Bin

Okay enough with the blogging. Looking at the time now, I can slot in one episode of ‘Criminal Minds’ before I have to sleep. Night!!

By the way, JELLIES ARE GREAT AND I ESPECIALLY LOVE THE MILO ONES THAT MY MOM MAKES KTHXBAI!!!

*I was going to go on with a joke about being squashed to death then I thought it’d be an overkill. But it has to be noted that I thought of it!! So here it is.