Alley Johns: A Different Coffee Experience

"Alley Johns" is no Starbucks, with decades of experience in coffee brewing and expensive equipment, nor is it Old Town White Coffee, which commercialize instant coffee to make a fortune. It is more of a coffee shop with deep passion in coffee, operated by people who still believe in genuine coffee experience.

Operated by a Chinese and Japanese owners, "Alley Johns" serves aromatic Vietnamese coffee, which they called "Dik Dik" Coffee, due to its "dripping" brewing method.

grinding beans

What I love about the coffee is that they grind the beans and brew them fresh. This helps in preserving the aroma and the taste of the coffee. There are 3 types of beans available, which are labelled as "Original", "Hazelnut", and "Mocha". We will talk about "coffee tasting" later.

Mouth-watering crepe making in action

Besides coffee, another specialty of "Alley Johns" is its Japanese crepes. They are made fresh with customizable flavours by "Alley Johns" very own Japanese owner. Amazing toppings like cheese and chocolate cake, pudding, and ice-cream are also available to satisfy your taste bud. If coffee is not your favourite, perhaps you can try pairing the crepe with handcraft orange or lemon tea.

End product :)

Orange tea

Coffee Tasting

Based on the 3 days coffee tasting trip to "Alley Johns", it is concluded that all 3 coffee beans bring out distinctive flavours.

Original: A combination of bitter and sweet, with chocolatey aftertaste.
Hazelnut: Slightly more bitter than Original, with nutty flavour.
Mocha: A stronger version of Original, bold and balanced.

Filters (also known as "phin") are available for coffee junkies

Vietnamese coffee are made of strong Robusta beans, brewed and served with condensed milk, which add sweetness and warmth to the coffee. Perhaps a more wonderful feature of Vietnamese coffee is that it doesn't really increase the acidity in your stomach, which might cause discomfort after drinking coffee, as compared to fresh brew of American coffee like Starbucks. At the same time, "Dik Dik" coffee is really strong, suitable for those who are planning to burn midnight oil, preparing for test and final exam.

still "dripping"

Decoration and Atmosphere

The warm and cozy decoration, soft Japanese tunes and dimmed lighting will certainly make you feel at home.

Customer Service

Coffee is not just about taste and aroma, it's also about customer experience. Just when I thought I would never experience good customer service at shops around Kampar area, barista at "Alley Johns" wowed me with their friendly and personalized services. Once you step into the shop, you can definitely feel the energy and enthusiasm of the barista and the other crews, trying their best to serve your needs.

Alley Johns is opened from Monday to Sunday, except Thursday, starting from about 1.30pm till around 11 pm. The cozy and beautifully decorated coffee house is located at Kampar (Perak, Malaysia) Westlake New Town area, right beside "Old Town White Coffee" outlet.

 Note: The coffee tasting experience is based on personal observation. Do try them yourself to find the flavour that suits you most :)

Asus AI Recovery-Recovery Partition Does Not Exist (Solved)

Scenario: One beautiful sunny day, you thought of creating a set of recovery discs for your Asus laptop so you fired up the AI Recovery software. You clicked on the "Start" button and suddenly you noticed that you forgot to buy your DVDs.

 At the moment, you panicked and the first thing you did was turning off AI Recovery by clicking on the "Stop" button. Here's where the nightmare started!

When you came back with the 4 DVDs as requested and turn on AI Recovery again, the "Start" button grayed out and it's stated there "Recovery Partition does not exist".

And at the same time you noticed that there's a new partition at your Computer window with the name "RECOVERY" which you couldn't get rid of. What should you do??

 Just relax, it's just an easy fix. First thing you have to do is to go to your C Drive. Then click on "Program Files".

Once you get into the Program Files, look for the "Asus" folder.

Next, get into the "AI Recovery" folder.
Done? Okay, now double click on the "ChangeHD" file.

 A black "cmd" window will pop up, don't panick, just part of the procedure.

 All you have to do now is to wait for the process to complete.

Once it's done, go to "Computer" and check if the "RECOVERY" partition is already gone.

That's all for today, thanks for reading :)

Official Blogger for iPad...Finally!

Finally, a full fledge official Blogger app for iPad's widescreen display! This app allows you to create and publish new blog post, as well as saving your incomplete post for future editing. Photo uploader is also available in this release. Unfortunately, the app lacks the capability to rearrange the position of the uploaded photos.

Verdict: We have waited so long for Google themselves to release their very own Blogger, and the app truly is simple to use, except the disappointment of its non-user friendly photo option, which makes it hard for us to recommend it to the users, at least not for now.

iTunes 11: The Most Exciting iTunes Update Ever

Still remember how much you curse and complaint about your slow and horrible iTunes? iOS devices are great, but when it comes to the syncing process, urghhh!!!!

Worry no more, the amazing iTunes update has "FINALLY" arrived! With better iCloud integration, eye pleasing layout (especially the mini player), simpler accessibility, and most important of all, speedy and responsive startup!  This is indeed the best iTunes ever!

Messenger + Firefox = ??

What browser are you using? If your answer is Firefox, then this is your lucky day! Firefox 17, the newest update of the most popular non-profit web browser on earth, is now married with Facebook, offering seamless integration of FB's notification centre, friends request notification, and most important of all, FB's messenger! Exactly! You can now chat more, whenever you like, without the need to switch between tabs! How does it work? Easy peasy. Just click on this link: Messenger for Firefox, and click the "TURN ON" button to activate this cool feature. But before that, make sure you have the latest Firefox on your computer. Enjoy!

The New Microsoft Office Suite Gets the Boost It Deserves!

We just got our hands on the latest Microsoft Office, known as Office 2013, and we are instantly loving it! The most significant difference that we notice when we fire up our newly installed Microsoft Words is that it is super SMOOTH! It's truly a pleasure using the new Words, especially when our favourite image rotation feature that was missing since Office 2007 is finally back, with even more flexibility. Besides that, it's now easier to access the layout option, which you can select the way your pictures are placed within the text.

Those are just some of the hundreds of brand new features introduced in this shiny new Office suite, and you will discover more as you use it for your daily tasks. And the best part is, though it looks like it has been completely overhaul to suit the new Windows 8 interface, most of its forms and functions still remain familiar to Office 2010 & 2007 users.

Hatchi: When we were young

Those days when tablets and smartphones were still non existence, when we were still watching the big box TV set, Tamagochi was once a trend. It was every kid's dream. The product of Bandai was a hit, and people loved the idea of rearing pets in a portable electronic box.

Today, with all the amazing post pc devices blooming, some might still miss the fun of this aging gaming device, and fortunately, we are in luck. Though not developed by the original company, the iOS app "Hatchi" is what we would expect from an electronic pet, you can hatch, feed, bath, and play with it. And when its energy level went low, you can even put it to sleep. The only shortcoming of this app is that you can't actually pair it with another player for battle. Yet, we still think that this is an app worth recommending, especially to those who miss the old days, like us!

This app is available at both the Appstore and Google Play for just $0.99! (At least it's much cheaper than d real stuff ;)