the Launch of the new BMW 5 series.

I attended the launch party of the new BMW 5 series with my parents and some friends...It was held at KLCC. The huge ballroom was separated into smaller rooms with black fabric, somehow they managed to transform it into a gallery showcasing BMW's past and present models...





One room demonstrated the "kinetic art"... You stand on a square rubber mat and move your arms whichever way you fancy...Flap them up and down, wave it frantically...etc And hundreds of sensors will pick up the motion you create and will interpret it onto the white screen in front, giving you an image of the kind of car design you created...Pretty cool!



This is how my car design looked like with my left arm by my side, right hand holding camera to take picture...(Lost my parents hence no photographer!)

Finally, the the dining hall...I always liked dining at long tables...

Butter dish to hold the butter...Always reminds me of an episode of Mr. Bean when he wrongly orders Steak Tartare (only because it's the cheapest item on the menu), is absolutely disgusted by it and then tries to hide it by stuffing it under the dish, into the flower vase and hides some in the butter dish... Yea lame humour, but my Dad finds it hilarious! I'll laugh along because his guffaws are infectious!

Marie and her friend...

Dinner was created by Chef Chris Bauer...His name sounds so familiar.. I think he was executive chef at Frangipani's a while ago...




It was a unique and creative exploration of local flavours combined with established European cuisine...

Appetizer: Freshly shucked oysters with caviar, lemon pearls, and pickled Japanese cucumber...paired with Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Semillon 2008. I liked the lemon pearls..reminds me of Chef Adria of the famed elBulli's molecular gastronomy...

They actually bothered with the full set of cutlery and glasses!

2nd course: Tea smoked salmon with Echire creme fraiche, confit potatoes and salmon roe... paired with Cloudy Bay Chardonnay 2007. It was tasty but what tiny portions!
Luckily the wine made up for it! : )

It was apparent SuanPin wasn't impressed with the portions!

But some photo-posing quickly restored her mood!

Sharon's appetite was whet!!

3rd course: Black rice risotto with grilled prawns, baby squid and mussels...Paired with Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir 2007...

Sharon with the Godfather...

The ladies loved my camera...I guess when life's good (with lots of wine) you can't help but glow...

I didn't wanna miss out cam-whoring...

My dad always layan my cam-whoring...
So can't really blame me for being the poseur i am!

Self-portrait...wah, see how ruddy the wine has made us both!!

(newly acquired)-Family portrait...with a kaypoh onlooker...

Mandarin Orange sorbet with confit zest to clean my palette...

Halfway through, i wandered off alone to search for more friends and was accosted by the photographer...
I unwillingly obliged him with my standard cannotgo-wrong-pose...sigh...ain't easy being a bombshell...

Main: Grilled betel leaf wrapped tenderloin with Savoy cabbage an Indonesian Nut sauce, paired with Cape Mentelle Zinfandel 2006.
When i first saw my dish i jabbed the mushroom on my plate.
My dad laughed at me: " HAHAHAH...Eh, you can't poke the keluak! Hahahah..." What i thought was a mushroom turned out to be keluak which brought back another flashback:
Eleine and I having dinner at a nyonya restaurant, Blue Ginger in Singapore during our college days where Siew Wai aka ("Trevor" then, aka "Desmond" now) was serving.
Ah, sweet memories!

Dessert: a trio of (left-right) French toast with roast apple and dulce de leche (darn fancy name for some sauce made of caramelised plain old milk!!), White chocolate cheesecake with dark chocolate sauce, and Chocolate terrine with pistachio mousse.

SuanPin watched how much she ate to maintain her (already very) svelte figure!

Marie was very pleased with her dessert...


But i guess anyone can tell what she craves next... : )

Nothing like a cup of coffee to wsh it all down...

With yummy pralines to sweeten the night!

The long dining hall's walls were lined with huge screens that reminded us why we were there...(BMW's very clever marketing strategy)

Deanna Yusof was the host for the night...She's gorgeous!

The new 5 series was finally unveiled!

"Never mind that car...lemme enjoy my cigar first!"

Everyone was jostling to get into the driver's seat to get a feel of the car.. But mummy dearest happily climbed into the rear seat, driver's side...hahahah....where she always rides!
Yea, she's retired from driving... I guess all those years of ferrying her 3 children to and fro music, ballet, swimming classes, basketball practices, birthday parties etc etc... she rightly deserves to be driven around...: )

Then it was my turn... When i posed next to the car, some kind dude scrambled to the front to close the hood...

And the other onlookers moved away...warning: serious posing in operation!

The car definitely had a nice facelift and yes the engine's even better than the previous generation. (Yea, i know otherwise they wouldn't bother building this, right?) I don't doubt that the handling and fuel efficacy would be even more superb as i'm a true beemer fan myself. The body however, was a little disappointing. Yes, the design is streamlined and sexier but i felt it was a little stingy on space (when compared to the previous 5). The driver's personal space would do very nicely for my petite frame but my mum complained that the rear seats was a little cramped...i think i'll stick with the 3, thank you very much...