Breeze Magazine is in the mood for love! Under the new stewardship of Dinoza Mahruf, the magazine will get a new breath of life, starting with sharing love and good fortune with you. In the upcoming issue, they will be featuring cover personalities Mei Wong and her fiancé JJ Jet.

Just last week, Breeze shot a beautiful set of pictures of the young power couple. With purpose and heart at the forefront of what they do on a day-to-day basis, Mei and Jet complement each other perfectly. Theirs is a love that is the envy of many. The kind that is founded on solid friendship, with sweet romance that can be felt a mile away.

You get the feeling they rarely have to try that hard to make each other happy, and that in spite of their busy careers they somehow manage to always have “we” time.

“We actually met when we were kids, but didn’t know that. Our parents know each other,” says Mei. According to her, they were introduced by mutual friends during the time when Jet came back from China for a holiday. When he moved back to KK after graduation, they began to date seriously.

Mei just opened a new cupcake shop in Lintas called Boutique Cupcakes. Jet on the other hand is a Freelance Interior Designer who is in the process of forming his new company.

So wonderful is their symbiotic dynamic that they worked on the cupcake store project together, creating a quaint little store where KK-siders can enjoy over tea and cupcakes. Jet designed the interior of the store while Mei managed the setting up of it. They specialize in bespoke designs, think personalized cupcakes for your wedding or corporate function. (More information on Boutique Cupcakes).

With all that is on Mei’s plate at the moment, she has also taken the initiative to organize KK Twestival Local 2011, a global social media charity event that will happen on 24th March 2011. Rumor has it that she will be talking a little about her plans for this year’s Twestival on the February issue. So do pick up a copy to read about their sweet story if you live in Sabah!

Some of the finest men in Kota Kinabalu speak out to other men about domestic violence.

Every now and again, I come across a beautiful soul, and Indie singer-songwriter Jonathan Tse is one such person.

While most pop music focuses on selling desperation, materialism and sex, Jonathan writes his music using a different set of values; one that is divinely inspired by faith, love and hope.

Last Saturday, the talented pop-jazzer from Labuan launched his second album entitled “I’m Alive” at City Mall, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

I only managed to catch the tail-end of the performance, enough to take a few pictures but not enough to report on the performance program. Nevertheless, I got there in time to buy a CD and t-shirt and have been enjoying the tunes all day.

Jonathan is and have always been incredibly supportive of locally-bred talents. In addition to the “My Story” showcase he organizes to give local musicians exposure, he uses his own media opportunities to let other musicians piggyback on the public exposure. For his album launch, he invited Atama and Alvin to perform with him.

WHY YOU SHOULD SUPPORT THE LOCAL MUSIC SCENE IN SABAH

Even though I’ve been blessed with global exposure, all my big dreams were nurtured right at home in Sabah. This is why I believe in supporting Sabahans doing great things! In spite of our humble roots, we can go much further when our own community supports us. Everybody wins when a Malaysian makes it to the International center stage and this is why you guys should buy Jonathan’s CD!

Moreover, Mia Palencia, better known as Malaysia’s Jazz crooning queen sings a duet with him on the last track of his album. You know it’s good stuff if Mia puts her name on a track!

WHERE TO GET THE ALBUM

The album can be purchased online from Amazon.com and iTunes. In Malaysia, it can be found at SPEEDY stores and most Christian bookstores in Kota Kinabalu.

THE I’M ALIVE MUSIC VIDEO
Check out the “I’m Alive” music video here!

For more information on Jonathan Tse, his upcoming shows, and to listen to sample tracks from his new album, visit jonathantse.com

Do you love the variety of things at ConsFood but can’t be bothered to deal with the parking problem in Damai? To all the foodies, bakers, housewives and expats of Kota Kinabalu, behold the spanking new ConsFood concept store at Jalan Tuaran!

Located just near the entrance to Taman Yakim Jaya (across the street from Tai Seng Supermarket, on the other side of Jalan Tuaran), the brand new 5-in-one ConsFood Concept Store features a Cold Storage, Baking Ingredients section, Chocolate and Patisseries section, Bread Bakery, and a Cafe that serves hot food.

I had a chat with the owner of the establishment two weeks ago and here’s an overview of what’s on offer.

Cold Storage
A selection of imported cheeses, cold cuts, milk, cream, nuts, dried fruits, a range of international condiments, fresh vegetables, imported frozen meats (Aussie beef and lamb), fresh poultry, frozen foods and more. This is a halal food market without pork.

Bakery Ingredients
Various types of flours, ingredients and cake decorations for commercial and domestic use just like the one in Damai.

Chocolate and Patisseries
The Chocolate and Patisseries section is a nice little place to escape from the scorching heat for some coffee and cakes. There’s wifi there, so it makes a great place for folks to have business meetings. You can get cakes to go and also order bespoke cakes for weddings and special occasions.

Bakery
The bread bakery section carries Asian-style breads, buns and European crusty breads that are baked fresh daily. I’ve yet to try their European breads, so the jury is still out on that one but it’s great for KK to have another alternative to the Hyatt bakery as far as Western breads go.

Cafe
At the corner, there’s a cafe that serves gourmet sandwiches, hot foods and ice cream. The owner mentioned that they will be serving their own brand of gourmet ice cream so keep an eye out for that.

ConsFood officially opened on 15th August 2010, so if you happen to pass by Mile 2 1/2 of Jalan Tuaran, do check them out. They are open from 9am to 9pm daily.

As much as there is so much to be fixed in Kota Kinabalu, I’m very proud to say that DBKK is going forward in the right direction by launching the ‘No Plastic Bag on Monday‘ Campaign.

Today is the official kick-off date, and participating stores which include Parkson, 7-Eleven, Tong Hing Supermarket, Giant hypermarket, Milimewa, Southern Bakery and Popular Bookstore will not be giving out free plastic bags to shoppers at the checkout counter for free.

If you are shopping today without your own bag or basket in any of the stores above, you will be charged 20 cents per plastic bag. Those proceeds will go to fund environmental and cleanliness projects by DBKK and the Enviromental Action Centre (EAC) around the city.

But why stop today? Say no to plastic bags everyday! I guarantee you it’s a much sexier look and you’ll be kind to the earth and all who inhabit it.

So bring your reusable bags to the supermarket today!

If you want a reason to get off your couch, now is the time. The Sutera Harbour 7k Sunset Charity Run is just around the corner. Whether you are going to do it for charity, health and/or fun, this is the hottest active event to go to in Kota Kinabalu! With 10,000 people expected to participate, it’s the ideal event to show off your muscles to a band of screaming kids or prove to yourself that you can hit the distance with the grannies!

The best part of all is that you’ll help raise funds for the Sabah Thalassaemia Society and Special Olympics Sabah.

The run will be held on Saturday 10th July 2010. Registration costs RM25 for adults and  RM 15 for children (comes with a t-shirt). For more details on the run and where to register, visit the Sutera Harbour website. See you there!

This is the last part of Angelina Perete and Roger Wang’s set at KK Twestival 2010. Stay tuned as the videos of the sensational live performance of singer-songwriter Jonathan Tse will be released as they become available in the coming days!!

When my bike started to get really stiff on the pedal, I decided it was time to begin learning how to maintain my bicycle. Since I had no clue how to go about degreasing, oiling, and maintaining a bike I turned to The Complete Bike Book: Choosing, Riding, and Maintaining Your Bike, which I got a year before I bought my GT bike! The book has instructional photographs on how to maintain a bike, which made it easier for me to learn on my own. While it is quite a comprehensive guidebook it lacked recommendations on brands of chain lubes, so I posted a question on Facebook asking for some suggestions.

A few people came back with some ideas ranging from Singer oil to WD-40. Eventually I chose to heed the advice of Clement and headed to Spring Trading to get Pedro’s Lube! While I was there, I realized I needed a couple of more tools to make the maintenance process easier. I got a working stand (RM45), track pump (RM25), cleaning brushes (RM54), and Pedro’s lube (RM 32). The bike shop owner recommended that I use WD-40 (RM 14.90) as a degreaser so I stopped by at the supermarket to pick a can up.

I’m pretty proud to say that my first maintenance session was pretty successful. Pedro’s lube is really silky smooth; took the bike out for a 45 min spin and it rode smoothly and beautifully! Now the next step would be to learn how to maintain the other bike parts and change a flat tire. Wish me luck!!!

To get your bike supplies in K.K., you can head to Spring Trading at Kampung Air:-

Spring Trading Co.
No. 5, Ground Floor, Jln Sentosa,
88000 Kota Kinabalu,
Sabah, Malaysia.
Tel: 088-26 2201

Here’s a video update from me to you.

Jacky Cheung's Jazz Album, released on 29th January 2010

Cantonese superstar Jacky Cheung (張學友), one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Hong Kong’s vibrant entertainment industry has selected to use a song my friend and schoolmate Roger Wang wrote as part of his new jazz album entitled Private Corner (Released: 29 Jan 2010).

Roger composed ‘Love Scale’ for Double Take’s debut album, which was released in 2003 with Mia Palencia taking the vocals for the original English version. Seven years later, the track has been rendered in Cantonese to ‘十二個音’ and is finally having its moment of glory in the international scene.

It just blows my mind to think of the idolatry of Jacky Cheung in school, Roger’s lone madness with the guitar and the hundreds of times we’ve heard wannabes at karaoke bars yelp Jacky’s songs…

The fact that the ‘God of Songs’ is now singing a tune written by Roger is amazing and unbelievable! I bet Roger is pinching himself now; he shares how it happened on his blog. I’m beaming with pride for him. Congratulations Roger… you deserve it!

Check out 十二個音 (Love Scale) here:-