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Draw Something @ App

By quottro on March 15, 2012 in , ,

Generating 1.2 Million Downloads a Day, 500 Drawings a Second, is not exactly what the people at OMGPOP had expected when they first launch this Anagram cum Pictionary based game for the Android and the iOS Devices.

Over a mere 5 weeks from it’s launch, Draw Something has totally taken the world by storm. Even online publications like Time and CNET has wrote articles about it.

Addictive as it is, here we are to share and review it with you guys.

First things first, there’s a Free version, that most has downloaded, while there’s another paid Premium Version with more Words, No Ads and 5 FREE Hints.

In our review we’ll be sharing you our experience with the Free Version.

Let’s Get Started

First you may download the app from the App Store (for your iOS devices) or Android Market (Android devices). Just put in a search for ‘Draw Some’ or ‘Draw Something’, and you’ll find the app ready for download. So go ahead, download it.

Launching it for the first time, you’ll be prompted to sign in the app using your Facebook Account or Email Address. So, what’s the difference? Well, if you sign in via your Facebook Account, your facebook friends would immediately be able to start games with you, or vice versa, you may start picking friends from your facebook to start a game. While if you sign in via your Email Address, you’ll only be able to get a friend to start a game when you know their Email Addresses or Username. Or, if you intend to get socialized and play with random strangers, either way of logging in is fine.

After picking your login method, you’ll see couple of options like  ‘Create Game‘, ‘Current Games‘, ‘Find Friends‘, ‘Shop‘ and not forgetting an ‘Options‘ icon on the top right, where you can create your unique ‘Username’, include your Email Address and Change your Password to the game.

Basically Create Game, will give you the options to start a game with
1. A Facebook Friend (if you login via your Facebook Account),
2.  A Friendvia their Username
3. A Friend via their Email Address
4. A Random Stranger, where the system would pick that matches your stats ( which we reckoned a season player would be match with another season player, while newbies will be match with newbies).

Current Games, quite self explanatory shows the status of existing games started. If you have just install the app, don’t be surprise if you do not see any games going on. Well, you do have games going on, you’ll probably see two common statuses.

1. Ready, You Move with a big Play button, which means the player has drawn something for your turn to guess.
2. Waiting, Their Move, which means the player is still figuring out what you have drawn them, or they are in process of drawing up something for you to guess.

Find Friends, enables you to find a friend to start a game, via ‘don’t be surprise’ elaborated list of Facebook  Friends who are already playing the game (again, if you logged in via Facebook Account), or by their Username or Email Addresses.

Shop, enables you to use the credits you have won from the games to exchange for extra Hints.

How to Play

Playing the game is no Rocket Science. :)

Simply start a game with a Friend or a Random Stranger, you’ll be presented with 3 choices of words, each represented a different value of credits to be earn, if it is guessed correctly. The more difficult word it is, the more challenging it is to draw, the higher the credit value assigned.

    

Upon picking the word, you’ll be given a white space and couple of default colors (black, red, yellow, blue), brush/eraser sizes, ‘refresh sheet’ option to let your creativity go wild. You may also notice there’ a ‘More Colors’ option, where this, you may choose to enable more colors by exchanging them with your credits. And when you are done, just click on the ‘Done’ button, and your drawing will be pass on to the other player to guess.

    

Don’t be surprise if you get these prompts, as they were meant to ensure you are really done with your drawing before you send anyone a ‘senseless’ drawing. Haha

On the receiving end… the other player will view your Drawing in Motion, and try to guess the word by picking alphabets in an Anagram place below it. Well, in cases where the drawing is too ‘senseless’ to figure out, user may choose to ‘Pass‘ but they’ll lose all progress of turns they have develop so far. And if they take too long to revert, apparently you’ll get  a ‘Nudge‘ option appearing next to the player’s name, where you can click to prompt them to revert.

    

As soon as you see the ‘Play‘ button comes on in your list of Current Games, it means the other Player has made their guess.

Clicking ‘Play‘, you’ll receive a ‘Tap to Watch!‘ prompt to view the process of how the other player guess your drawing/word.

You’ll be able to view, how the  other player tried guessing while your drawing appears as how you drew it.

If the guess is correct, the player as well as yourself, will be given the credits, as well as both players will be advance to the next turn. On the side note, the maximum no. of turns for 2 players are 99 and not more.

    

Then you’ll start guessing the other player’s drawing/word and this keeps going till one of you is unable to guess the word and click ‘Pass‘.

You would really have to try it out yourself, to know how addictive it could get.

So what are you waiting for? Have you ‘Draw Something’ yet?

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Updated Your iOS Lately? @ iOS 5.1 Update

By quottro on March 9, 2012 in

It has been a norm, or more of a recognizable pattern that Apple updates it’s iOS features as well as bug fixes whenever a new Apple device is launched.

Hence, the announcement of the ‘New’ iPad on March 7th, has urged us to check for updates for the iOS and indeed, iOS 5.1 is ready for download and install.

This update come with a handful of fixes, and updates include:

  1. SIRI can now recognizes Japanese
  2. Battery life will be prolong
  3. Significantly, the Camera ShortCut now appears on the lock screen permanently, where a simple swipe up  reveals the Camera App, while a swipe down brings the user back to the lock screen.
  4. Also, the Camera App’s improved with Face Detection (More improvements if you are on the iPad)
  5.  Audio drop during calls, resolved.

Read more about the latest iOS update here.

Note: Images are courtesy of Apple.com

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Simple Life Vegetarian @ Sunway Pyramid

By quottro on March 6, 2012 in

If life’s ever that simple…

Reminiscing ‘O Cafe’ which we had featured awhile ago, here it is another organic, healthy living dining experience that we would like to share.

The Introduction

Located at LG2, of the newer wing of Sunway Pyramid, is the Simple Life Vegetarian Restaurant. Many would have pass it by but not knowing what it really serves. Hence, one fine evening, the curious us had gave it a try.

Going with lotsa white walls and greenery attributes, natural brown wooden furniture, it’s evident the direction that the restaurant has gone with. Natural, healthy living, with a vegetarian touch that is. Even the menu, is clearly made from recycled paper materials.

The Food

On the contrary to popular believes that vegetarian restaurants have minimal options in the menu, well the Simple Life has aplenty of options. Everything ranging from dishes that goes with rice/porridge , to curries, to noodles and even some appetizing snacks.

So here’s what we tried…

To start off we have the Vegetarian Sushi which is consisted of four sushi-roll like pieces of seaweed wrapped around some healthy stalks of cucumber, carrot and etc. All these topped with some mayonnaise that eventually brings out more taste that just the natural seaweed and vege filling does.

Then came the main courses…

First, there was the Vegetarian Curry Rice Set, that comes with a decent bowl of  Mixed Brown Rice, a bowl of ABC soup, some braised peanuts with potatoes, carrot and long beans, some semi mashed spinach, 2 fried vegetarian balls, and yes a claypot of Vegetarian Curry. The highlight of course would be the aromatic Curry itself, which is evidently minimal in coconut milk (high cholesterol), and filled with cabbage, eggplant, bean puffs, ladies finger and etc. Goes perfect with the healthy mixed brown rice. Not forgetting a slice of Watermelon that comes as a dessert to cool off the effects of the curry (if there’s any). All these for an affordable set.

Next would be the a Porridge Set. To start off the porridge is no ordinary porridge, as there it was cooked from the same mixed brown rice (served with the curry set earlier), but in form of a porridge, then simmer with some spring onion and black and white sesame. To compliment the healthy looking porridge, side dishes included were, some mashed spinach, rolls of beancurd slices, braised peanuts,eggs and tofu, and a stir-fried blackbean and beancurd. Overall, the combination was ok, but not entirely great as it turns out to be rather bland to some, we supposed.

Nevertheless we also ordered a recommended, signature Vegetarian Tofu, served with some thai-like sauce. Texture was just right, and the taste was ok. Complimented both our main courses pretty well.

Last but not least, was their concentrated fruit juice, which they were more than willing to serve a pure juice that we had requested from the options of mixed fruit juices they offer.

Overall, minus the fact that it could be a lil’ bland in terms of taste for the masses, it was a healthy dining experience indeed that worth checking out, especially for the growing number of health conscious individuals out there.

You may find them here.
 

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My Elephant @ Section 17

By quottro on February 29, 2012 in

I must say, I’ve a handful of food places that I would like to share but have yet to gather enough time and resources to do so. Unless I do this full-time and call my blog, Food InSpecific ( I wished :P ).

Anyway, this place would probably be known by many, yet for those who doesn’t know it, you’ll probably be checking it out after this.


The Place

Tucked away in the old neighbourhood of Section 17 PJ, is the Happy Mansion ‘Flats’. Yes, flats (not the shoes but the place people stay). My Elephant is nicely hidden at the very end row of it, where many would just miss it when passing by. However, that’s not entirely true with those who knows the place, and how it’s almost impossible to get a table there on a regular evening dinner time. This problem though, has been slightly lifted by the opening of its Hartamas outlet not long before.

Contemporarily decorated with dark wooden furniture balanced with white table cloth and paper coverings, it offers a soothing and comfortable authentic dining experience with a healthy twist. How authentic? Well you’ll have to look at the all Thai mouth-watering menu to find out.

The Food

We’ve been to the place (both outlets) a couple of times before, hence when we chance upon some friends who’s into Thai cuisines, it came so naturally to our mind that we should introduce them the place. So one fine Sunday afternoon, we decided to make our reservation and went there for lunch.

For appetizers, we started off with the authentic Miaeng Kum. A snack originated from Thailand or some say Laos, is consisted of Coconut Floss Crisps, Peanuts, Dried Shrimp, Chilli Padi and Etc, to be wrapped with Daun Kadok then dip with the Sweet-Sour Tamarind-Plum Sauce. Most interesting part of it, is patrons would have wrap it themselves. What an experience, for first timers.


Next, there was the myElephant’s Platter. A house platter consisted of  Tod Man Plah (Spicy Fish Cakes), PoPiah Tod (Deep Fried Spring Rolls), Golden Parcel, Prawn Wanton & Fresh Popiah. Not a very generous portion sort of platter, but well the combination was fine not to mention delicious.

Then, huge bowl of brown + white rice was served to us, where we can scoop just the right portion of them onto our own plates, getting us ready for the dishes to arrive.

First to arrive, was the  Gaeng Keow Wan (Green Curry), where we had the choice of seafood or chicken, where we chose the latter. A generous amount of santan cooked with all the right spices, with slices of poultry made the authentically prepared Thai Green Curry. The aroma of it prior to arriving to our table was already tantalizing our senses.

Next, we have a Spicy Seafood Tom Yum Soup, namely the Tom Ka. A white soup with aromatic herbs & coconut milk and decent amount of shrimps, squids, fish and etc. The taste is authentically great, however, most of us were expecting it to be lil’ tad more spicier than it was. Hmm, after all it was listed as one of the Spicy Soup options in the menu. Anyway, it was still great, where we hardly had enough for any 2nd round.

Well, not everyone’s a spicy fan, hence, we also ordered another soup so everyone would get to enjoy it. This however, is a non spicy Gaeng Jud Gai Sup Horapa soup. A clear soup base with chicken and Thai sweet basil which also gave out some excellent aroma, more to say taste. A good choice for the spicy-intolerants.

There was also, the Khai Jiao Ho Mok, a Thai style omelette with otak-otak (fish cake made from fish meat and spices). The dish tasted ok, however, I would say, our expectations for it was set much higher.

Then, there is the Plah Meuk Phad Cha, spicy pan-seared squid with thai ginger and chili sauce. Served with lime, some basil leave, red chilies and a Thai garlic, onion sauce.

All meat and no green’s not the way to go, hence, there was also, a simple fried Paku (Fern) vegetable and Thai-Style Pan-Fried Egg Plant dished to complimented the other dishes and soup.

    

What a hearty lunch of rice and authentic Thai dishes we had.

Oh must not forget, the dessert they offer. Which we tried two of them, namely the Mango Cheese Cake and the Durian Cheese Cake. Similar looking, frozen cheese cream cakes with pastry on the bottom was served in form of a rectangle blocks. Quite hard to begin with, as it was probably frozen a tad too long. However, it was something new, rather delicious and worth trying. Being a non-durian fan, we did not try the Durian Cheese Cake ourselves, but our acquaintance who did, commended it as good.

Last but not least, that all shall not miss trying would be the thirst-quenching ice cold Thai Ice Tea / Coffee, where aromatic tea /coffee made complimented with coconut sugar and lil’ milk.

Now, are you drooling yet? Drool no more, as you can check them out here.


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Express Teppanyaki @ Pavilion KL

By quottro on February 22, 2012 in

Looking at the number of food articles I wrote, the number of views they received, I ought name my blog, Food Inspecific.

The Introduction

The Teppanyaki (鉄板焼き), derived from the words, Teppan (鉄板) which meant iron/hot plate and Yaki (焼き) which meant grilled/broiled/pan-fried in Japanese. Originated from a Japanese Restaurant Chain with a bit of Western influence, Misono, back in the 1940s, Today, this cooking technique has became popular internationally. Often spotted in Teppanyaki restaurants are experienced Japanese Chefs showing off their cooking skills over the long counter.

You can read more about it here.

The Place

Located a the very end of Food Republic, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur is Express Teppanyaki, a huge circular counter filled with hungry and ‘well-entertained’ patrons waiting patiently for the experienced Chefs (in the middle) to orchestrate their lunch.

The counter is basically consisted of a solid (possibly ABS) surface where patrons are seated (on permenant stools planted around the counter, of course) at, where the inner end is the hot plate where all the action takes place. Chefs would move around to different sections of the circular counter to serving different patrons, cooking up a variety of teppanyaki-styled dishes.

The Food

Basically the menu’s pretty simple. They offer a variety of meat, poultry, fish, vegetables or combo that comes in standard sets of a bowl of white rice, soup, some generous portion of teppanyaki style stir-fried choy sum (chinese cabbage) and beansprouts prepared hot on each order.

The Chef would then take a peek at the order sheet, and start his ‘performance’. You’ll see how amazingly they chopped/sliced, stir-fried with salt and pepper, and served the dishes all by using only two scrapers and occasionally a very sharp knife.

Our favorites include, Beef Teppanyaki or the Chicken Teppanyaki (as depicted below). Nicely grilled, and stir-fried and served hot with the vegetables on the side, which goes great with the bowl of white rice. And when all’s done, to cool it down with a nice delicious bowl of soup (usually ABC Soup) and of course, they do serve Orange/Mango Juice, or the popular chinese recipe, LohanGuo Tea at a minimal price to quench the thirst.

However, you may notice the Chefs are mostly locals instead of Japanese, as the prices they charge (RM15 to RM32 for a standard set) doesn’t commensurate that. You get the drill. :)

Feeling hungry already?

Well head down here to check them out.


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