A Weekend To Remember

Had a birthday celebration with me and my pals last Saturday at *ahem* DIB Aloha Coffee @ Damansara Perdana. Cheryl and I both discussed where should we have our birthday dinner and eventually, this place was nailed down. To top it all off, Saturdays are also Karaoke Nights at DIB so it's a win-win situation for us all! =D

Though my birthday was on a Friday, it was a non-stop celebration moment for me from Friday right up to Sunday! Not to mention food-filled all the way.

To cut a long story short, I enjoyed my birthday on Friday (took a day off from work!) with Jamie at Pyramid, where we enjoyed tea for two at Delicious (using a Groupon voucher from Cheryl). My goodness, that was a sinful tea for the two of us! @____@;

Tea Time with Jamie at Delicious, Sunway Pyramid

Our cake selection: Sumptuous chocolate brownie filled with nuts, topped with rich vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup

Middle tier: buttery scones, savory rosemary biscuits, dark truffles, and strawberries with clotted cream

Lower tier: Egg with Caviar sandwiches, Tuna sandwiches, Smoked salmon sandwiches, and beef tartlets (I think)

We could barely walk after this meal!

The next day...

It was a fun night of songs, laughter and good companionship with old friends and new. Though there were only 13 (I think?) of us there, we sure brought the house down with our insanity on the day! Hahahahaha

Rin, YK and Terence, all in different poses.

Erik looks rather sad as Nao photo-bombs with her usual attempt to "steal food" 

Meet the other birthday girl of the night with her Aloha Chicken and an awesome cup of Iced Chocolate

Nao and Mogi, smiling happily together ^^

Here's Nao singing with Nicholas. She officiated the first song sung from our huge group of friends then haha

"It's a fish on a fish!!" says Jaslyn as she poses with her hefty plate of Fish 'n Chips

While others are seriously pondering on songs selection, Nao decides to provide horns for Mogi

Mogi sang after he found a song he could sing to! =D

It was such a fun-packed night from 7pm right up to 12am! Everyone took turns singing, eating, and all-in-all had fun chatting! The environment in the cafe was comfortable and everyone was like old friends in there! It was a really nice feeling when Nicholas (the guitarist/singer) started singing Happy Birthday THREE TIMES with everyone else in the cafe to me and Cheryl. Kinda awkward (I always feel awkward when the song is directed to me lol) but touching all the same ^_^

Group photo! Thanks for coming everyone!

 In the photo: YK, Rin, Terence, Jaslyn, Nao, Jared, Chris, Mogi, Erik, birthday girls me and Cheryl.

Not in photo: David, Darren, Joyce & David :(

Birthday girls together! =D

The very next day, I had another dose of 'food coma' as my family brought me to have dimsum at Sime Darby Convention Centre. It was buffet, of course, so typically, we wolfed down as much as we could! Hahahaha. Well it helped that the food was divine! Then again, I'm pretty easy to please lol.

That very night, I ended up at Puchong with Cheryl, Erik, David, Darren and Andika for a Thai BBQ Buffet. Another round of food insanity! I was ecstatically taking marinated lamb and smoked duck all the way cause they were just too good to be true!

*******

And now, presents time! Thank you so much everyone for your wonderful presents!

Really lovely chocolates from Chris and Erik

Red clincher and two Whoopie-Pie lip balms from Rin, YK and Terence.
Now how did you know I was looking for a red clincher :P

A 'drum' lamp from the DIB owner himself, Allen. Thanks for this gift :D

Sushi maker (on top) from Joyce & David
Jewelry craft kit set from Cheryl and David :D

An awesome Thai BBQ Buffet the very next day from Darren :D

Getting my hair done. A gift from Hayashi and Jamie ^____^

And last but not least, a L'oreal Makeup Pouch from the hair saloon when the lady found out that I was there for a birthday treat :D

Thank you so very much everyone, for making the birthday weekend a blast for me! I have more photos to share, but I don't think it's nice to spam it all here ^_^;

DIBS (Hawaiian) Coffee - A new favorite!

A quick warning: I'm writing this blogpost while still being wired from the numerous cups of coffee I've been sampling today...so forgive me if I sound unintelligible at times XP

Yesterday, my colleagues and I wandered off to Menara Gamuda at PJ Trade Centre looking for a new place to lunch. To our surprise, we discovered a newly opened shop here! It sounded intriguing enough for us to try out the place (though what caught my interest the most would probably be the coffee varieties offered here!)

So far I've tried their Macadamia Nut brewed coffee as well as their Toasted Coconut brewed coffee. I prefer the former rather than the latter somehow, but they're both equally fragrant too! :D

Just a quick rundown about this place: The shop owner, Allen, explained to us that this shop offers job opportunities for the deaf. It's a good place for them to learn new skills and if they're talented in a certain field (for example, baking or designing) they are encouraged to sharpen their skills here. The cakes, for example, are all baked from scratch by one of the deaf waitress there! (That statement sounds mean but it's true! lol) I can't wait to sample her cakes one day (we were too stuffed to order anything else hahaha). Allen aims to succeed in making this cafe the very first gourmet cafe run by the deaf in Malaysia...and I really do wish him all the best in this venture!

These photos are taken the next day, when a whole bunch of us came back to have our lunch here.  Be warned, this post is rather picture-heavy!

Hawaiian Coffee; I like this logo! XD

The food (and cashier) counter.

The drinks menu! Click on the photo to view the different coffees offered here :D

Flipping the drinks menu over, you'll have "Cikgu Mila" teaching you some basic sign languages that could help you in this shop!

Breakfast AND lunch menu, as well as the snacks & desserts available here. Flip this menu over and you'll find the A-Z sign language illustrations (no photo available cause I forgot to snap a pic of that!)

One of the set lunches available: Aloha Chicken

My lunch (because I wasn't too hungry): Waikiki Sausage

Two of my colleagues ordered the same dish: Herbed Fish & Chips. This is really yummy! :D

Here's one more: DIB Jumbo and Fries.

I couldn't resist sneaking a couple of shots of the sauce counter just because I like the selection of sauces available there!

Bottles from left: Tomato, Thai Chilli, Chilli, Spicy Pineapple, Yellow  Mustard, and Sweet Relish.
There's also Sugar Syrup (for iced coffee I presume) and Maple Syrup (for the waffles)

A closer look at the last three bottles. 

Hey, these coffee beans are for sale! :D I should try them one day

The array of cakes and desserts available.
Clockwise from top left (cakes only): Pumpkin Cheese, Cappuccino Cheese, Pineapple Cheese, Chocolate Cheese  & Passionfruit Cheese.

*******

While we were finishing our food, the shop owner stopped by our table for a bit. I guess he was amused at the way we were trying to master the sign languages that we learned from the back of the menus. Hahahahahaa. As we were chatting (and getting Lesson101 about Sign Languages) he then started showing us how the Hawaiian coffee is brewed in this shop.

Setting up the equipment. That 'pot' is filled with hot water! Not boiling water though, for according to Allen, boiling water ruins the coffee

The top 'jar' is added, with the filter in place

Ground coffee is placed into that jar

And so the coffee brewing process begins!

Basically the water is heated up and the steam will travel through a small pipe upwards into the jar above, seeping into the powder. This will go on until the water below have traveled to the jar above. When fire is turned off, the steeped coffee will flow downward into its original container below, the coffee grounds excess left behind.

The fire is switched off, and coffee flows down!

What remains of the ground coffee - a perfect ''coffee pudding''! :D
This basically indicates that the coffee filter is doing its charm properly haha

A nice cuppa Polynesian (I think?) coffee. It's pretty strong stuff, but I like it all the same.

Overall, I'd say this place is a nice change to coffee franchises out there. Staffs are friendly and helpful, and you get to learn a thing or two about sign languages as well from them! A nice comfortable environment to hang out with your friends as well.

My only peeve is that the food served during lunch isn't hot and piping (I guess they cater more for express?) and at best, lukewarm. But aside from that, this place is certainly worth a try!

Here's the address:
DIB: Coffees of Hawaii (Hawaiian Cafe)
Block D, Level 1,
Menara Gamuda, PJ Trade Centre, 
Jalan PJU 8/8A,
Bandar Damansara Perdana


They have another shop nearby, which is located near Mum's Place. Here, they offer free sign language classes every first and third Sunday of the month from 10-11am. Sounds interesting? Head over to their shop here!


11-A-1, Jalan PJU 8/5A
Bandar Damansara Perdana
47820 Petaling Jaya
Tel: +603-7710 4752/3152