it's already april 2009

yo. so it's already april 2009. it is a little (a lot...) depressing to come to think of it that it's the 2nd quarter of the year and all i have done is work... well, ok.. managed to catch some cool anime as well.

since i'm not in the mood to yak about how miserable work is, so it's about what i'm watching currently. so happy days! yay! spring release is here and loads of new anime.

thanks to astro, we are actually watching same telecast with jp for tears to tiara. well, nothing to shout about - the anime i mean. it based on a hit rpg (of eroge nature). google it if you want to know more. i basically watched it cos 1. i had to wake up at 12am on sunday/monday this month as working in graveyard shift. 2. the protagonist has white/silver hair which remided me of gintama. 3. some how the eroge pique my interest, but haha NOT cos it's shown in astro, so there's no eroge ok!

again, thanks to astro - this time for real. it's FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST:BROTHERHOOD. i didnt follow this series cos it was so hyped-up. i'm one person that dont really watch the mainstream anime e.g. naruto, bleach,etc. but well i'm loving this. just first episode though. it's basically the remake of the previous but following more closely to the manga. well i dont read the manga, so i'll just enjoy it.

yea, those close to me already noticed that i'm some sort into baseball (if going to batting cage, playing wii baseball and getting a bruised thumb- still very colourful counts). dont follow games on tv and stuff. but hehehe... but hooked on baseball themed anime and at the moment : major 5th season and one outs. really cool anime. go watch it if you like baseball or think you might like it. one outs-nobody wins but i! is also a very unique baseball themed anime. it combines baseball+gambling. heheh, so now u know why i like one outs, eh? but the protagonist does not have that typical handsome/cute eyes but have a pair of cunning slit eyes - which is kinda mysterious and erm sexy?

i still love some kawaii-ness in anime although i've been spending much time with sports anime (and some seinen). i would recommend k-on. love the cute characters and reminds me of my old school days (well so long ago i'm afraid i might have forgotten most part of it)

mom's back in mcca for the week. i've been eating junks for all my meals. not sure to call them breakfast, lunch, dinner or supper. my time are all messed up due to graveyard shift and sudden call from mgr to go in at odd hours. so now i eat when hungry, eheheheh, and how many meals..., a lot, i lost count.and i still miss che loads... really. oh yea, i must make some time to take up fong's invitation to her bf's kebab place!

mac n cheese - i miss u

xmas is just a few days away… so far no invitations for xmas dinners or lunches … hmm.. since i'll be back in mcca, i guess i'll just crashed myself @ tina’s place :P

thinking of xmas lunches, i missed tassa’s mom’s homey macaroni bake. aaa. this spurned me to dig my recipes for a simple baked mac n cheese. yea! the ingredients and steps are pretty simple.

8 oz elbow macaroni

1½ to 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

3 tbs butter

a pinch salt or to taste

a pinch of cayenne pepper

½ cup milk

1 egg

½ to 1 cup buttered fresh bread crumbs*

cook macaroni as per package instructed. drain.

cover bottom of 2-quart baking dish with a layer or macaroni, a layer of cheese, bits of butter, salt and pepper.

continue layering until all ingredients used, ending with a cheese layer.

whisk milk and egg together, pour over the top, cover with buttered bread crumbs.

bake in 350F oven for 25-25, until browned and cooked through.

serves 4-6.

*process 2 slices of bread in the food processor, toss with 2 to 3 tsp of butter

hmm. ok i would need to get the macaroni and milk. butter – checked. cheddar cheese, left ½ block… not sure enough. get from tesco as found the kraft cheddar block the cheaper there rm9.90 only. will substitute the cayenne pepper with chilli flakes + grounded pepper. i will add some shredded chicken meat for heartier meal J

only thing is the bread crumbs… sounds like messy. have use food processor = have to clean it later. somemore the current food processor, not sure can process the bread to crumbs.. i'll just skip the bread crumbs then haha...

ok! i will make this for sunday's lunch.

going thru the recipes makes me think of what to bake for cny. and i'm itching to bake some cookies. the thing is my blender has died on me.. hmm. but lucky me! i came across a cookies which does not need creaming! yay! it's a cornflakes cookie recipe – a fave for cny which i have not made for years. hmm. ok. will see how. if I bake them, i'll post the recipe n photos J

what undies are you?

keh... i tot i would get granny's panties... seriously they are real comfy and i fit perfectly into them!
i love boy shorts undies too... they create a flattering silhouette when worn.. or i would like to think so :)
normally i don't spend $$$ for undies (yea i'm not those sexy feline types, & like there's someone for me to flaunt my booties ...) but i do own a few boy shorts undies which imho a little pricey. but still got them as they were on sale (buy second for 50%), comfy and most important - able to streeeeeeeeeeetch :P
go try the quiz : http://apps.facebook.com/girlsunderwear

so long farewell, auf weidersehen adieu to cheche

my cheche is the bestest cheche in the world. ok. well she somtimes can be a little big bully, a little lazy at home, have horrible temper flares, etc. but i guess these are the parts and puzzles of having a cheche. it up my life at home when she's around. soon, i shall missed her tantrum throwing and bullying as she will be packing her bags to us of a. so these few weeks i've been travelling with her, eating with her, shopping with her, eating with her whenever she's up in kl or whenever i'm down in mcca. (ok a bit low toh... but here goes...) LOVE U, CHE ... really... ans I'LL MISS U... i think... really....ha ha *sob*

時をかける少女

so far the best anime movie that i've watched in 2008. the simple but life-like graphics are really pleasing to the eyes. although the story involved fictional time-leaping ideas but the characters are very believable. and the ending... *spoiler below* ...well.. teary-kinda-happy ...(ok... i'm the sappy type). on top of that, the OP and ED songs are really great too.

i was captivated throughout the movie.

go catch it - & fall in love with it....



sypnosis
When 17-year-old Makoto Konno gains the ability to, quite literally, "leap" backwards through time, she immediately sets about improving her grades and preventing personal mishaps. However, she soon realises that changing the past isn't as simple as it seems, and eventually, will have to rely on her new powers to shape the future of herself and her friends. more on wiki.

the lead, makoto konno, reminds me of yurie hitotsubashi of kamichu! ... see the resemblance above, makoto being the older yurie...

what's going on with my life

truthfully. nothing. really.
and. i am just plain lazy.

anyway. i'm pretty tired as i've been working the vampire shift for more than a month. and my sleeping schedule kept changing due to this and that... making the shift work worse.

one of the biggest news of the year would be bridget and chim's transfer to uk. aAaa. i'm happy for them but a little heartbroken and will miss them dearly. lucky couple. now they can travel the whole europe. aaaAAaa ... they promised they will wait for me to do prague with them :)

hsin vonn, one of my dear girlfriend has given birth to a baby last month. aaAAaa i've yet to visit her... i'm such a rotten friend... well... everyone needs a rotten friend, eh? :P

euro 2008 is here. and my fave team trounced turkey 2-0! banzai!!

and, yea. i've changed my hairstyle.

i've always wanted to play the violin... tada tada and i'll going for my first lesson tonite! yay!! guess mom would be pengsaning soon :P

being tailed...

few hours ago i had a scary experience.

i often read and heard cases of cars being tailed and robbed when they stopped.

just now as i was driving to work (i work shifts) , a white myvi came up behind and kept beaming my car and put the left signal.
i was pretty worried whether my car was having some problem or something that i was not aware. of course i didnt stop or slow down, but i did check all my signals and everything was fine.

{
i had the same experience before on highway on my way back from hometown but it was broad daylight and i stopped at the nearest reststop with the busiest section (after making sure the lorry that tailing n beaming n honing me passed me...). everything was ok... i was baffled and then angry...
later when i was on the road again i noticed the lorry was infront of me and a wira stopped by the road side. i guess this car suffered the same fate but NO they shouldnt have stopped in the middle of no where in the highway. it's dangerrous... but the lorry zoomed passed... sick lorry driver.
}

so back to current issue...
i continued driving as the road to my office is desserted and had no place with loads of ppl nearby. my eyesight is pretty bad at nite and was not able to catch the car number. however, it was a white myvi .
it caught up with me so i hit the gas ... i was worried it will purposely ram sideways to my car.
then luckily they decided to give up at a junction to turn into a college nearby.
I WAS SO RELIEVED!!

i suspect it could either be some real robbers with some bad intents but thankfully they were not persistent. maybe they know there will be office blocks coming up the road with guards... i dont know...
OR
some real SICK college students having some silly high. i believe in karma, it's a cycle ... they will face their sin sooner or later
OR
really something wrong with my car? i doubt as i checked every inch of my car when i reached the vacinity of my office.

many moons ago, yinna introduced me to the happy tree friends (to relieve stress wor...). i was so hooked with these cute as button cartoon that i watched every episodes they had. due to the slowness of my dial-up line, i gave up and totally forgotten about them. until a minute ago... when i stumbled across them in youtube. aaAAaa. now i can enjoy watching my easter weekend watching the cutesy cotton candy critters .... DIE ... ________h_a_p_p_y___ e_a_s_t_e_r_!_________ toothy's easter smoochie _________you__will _never _see _cartoons _the _same _again_._._.________

visit malaysia 2008

due to my current job uncertainties, i decided to put on hold my tw trip to save $$ for ribut taufan days. to satisfy my travelling urges, i've decided to menyahut the laungan "belilah barangan buatan malaysia". first trip would be with mami and cheche to pangkor and another to perhentian with siao chabo, carol.
i was impressed with myself as i managed to complete the planning of the trips including booking the flights, hotels, etc in 2 days. hopefully the kenyir lake resort would have another similar rm590/couple package in nov later this year. although it could be raining, but it would be a cool respite.

gong xi FAT chai

this year's celeb a little quiet... i didnt managed to arrange the gang's outing as i was very busy right up to the day i went on leave (2 days before cny) but managed to meet up some of them on 3rd day open house. dad was back for few days cny. he's even rounder than humpty-dumpty - go figure. went shopping with tina for her new shop. my first time @ cowboy. they sell everything from kitchen towels to pork clevers and machetes and even sheeshas! this year "luck" still quite ong. won a few good rounds :) .... paiseh, had to "eat" aunty and uncle $$.... bridget plan to ban me next year... spent v-day with tina, peter n family. it was peter's bday as well. enjoyed pho and yam spring rolls... game rolled rite after candle blowing and cake cutting.... they insisted me to lead.... i resisted... at first...but .... no one can make ppl so willing and happy "donating" $$ than me...

renaissance's mcca buffet dinner... sorely disappointed

anyone interested to open a good italian,japanese, etc restaurant in mcca? hawker and nyonya food aside, it is extremely difficult to find a joint for a autentic pasta fix and likes. cheche and i decided to go for a buffet @ rennaisance (the most stars hotel @ mcca) as she heard they have great themed buffet. after days at home, i'm pretty bored with chinese food and jumped at her suggestion to go makan there. mom didnt share my enthusiasm as i have put on tonnes. however, we won her over after i declared it would be my last buffet.... at least for the month la :) the only highlight is the fresh oysters. they were really fresh as they smell so great and taste so sweet. other dishes were quite a let down. on the grills, the roast lamb was as tough as vodka's rubber octopus toy! i'm not kidding. i didnt even try the chicken franks. they looked like those ayam dindings. and i was correct, as cheche took one and didnt finish it. the pasta station was too simple. i'm ok if they have only the cream and tomato sauce but the ingredients... were as simple as the breakfast ommelete's. desert spread was miserable too. maybe becoz there werent any cream brulee or bread puddings which were my favourites. and vanilla sauce was missing too ... too bad cos i noticed that there were some desserts that would have been yummy with vanilla sauce. however, although mom n cheche disagree, i did enjoy the mango pudding-like-souffle. yes, the mandarin oranges were sweet too... the soups were ok as the seafood cream chowder was rich and had many juicy sotong and prawns. the breads complimented it (ahha i tried a few of the breads...). but the minestrone was a little bland. perhaps it would have been better if it was little more sour. overall, for around rm70 and many stars hotel only buffet on sat nite, it was quite a letdown.

japanese lite cheesecake

few years back i tried to make a no-bake cheesecake following the instruction on the back of the philadelphia cream cheese package. well, i had to run out to tesco to get a new blender as my mom's old molinexx broke down halfway when i was creaming the cheese. not sure whether it was that or because i was using agar2 powder... the cake didnt set even though it was chilled in the fridge overnite.... this bad experience had "frightened" me off from attempting another cheesecake... until one fine day i made another no-bake cheesecake - latte cheesecake. it was a hit among my friends at work and sonia (although she did remark it was a little lite compared to the ny cheesecake ... of course lo... that's not fresh cheesecake mar...).
however, i felt a little was-was with the gelatin.... my family dont take beef.... so i asked the shop "bake with yen" what was the source of the gelatin... but the lady was a little offensive... answered me curtly "it's halal! it's halal!" ... well i'm not particular on halal as i'm not muslim mar, rite? so i asked again.... "gelatin derived from what? or what type of gelatin?" ... she raised her voice "halal la!"... so i gave up. no point asking again (i plan to ask again the next time i go when there's less customer....). so i packed the left over gelatin powder and kept it in a corner....until i really find out what's made of or other alternative.
with the chilled cheesecake out for the moment, my urge to bake another cheesecake has not subsided. so a searching i went and found many many cheesecake recipes. some so intimidating that i dont even dare to think of baking, some so easy i felt it's too good to be true. then i saw one - japanese lite cheesecake (aka cotton cheesecake) and it has a lot of feedbacks - happy and successful ones. hmm... so i braved myself ... saved the recipe and made a preparation in my little brain to try in for cny.
it actually has 2 parts... it sounds complicated but it's actually quite fun and easy... and the best is it is a foolproof. why i'm so sure? cos if i can baked it successfully... anyone also can!
i was halfway thru the baking process when my cousins arrived to pai nian. fortunately, i havent started the beating of the egg white ... so i left it for a while (quite a while....) and i had to continue before they left as i'm afraid the melted cheese would curdle (it didnt...). a-girl, my cousin laughed at me remarking that we can buy the same which doesnt cost much. well.. she is not really into baking and i guess she doesnt really understand the joy of baking and exhilarating feeling when someone compliment the cake.. :) ..
due to laziness, i decided not to use the mixer ... u know la... have to take out from box, clean ... use then clean n dry again... so marfun.... so i beat the egg white manually to soft-peak. thank god, man!! it's soft-peak only and not stiff... my hand nearly tercabut lo. but i really do enjoy the process especially seeing it turning from frothy to soft-peak... maklum la... first time making mar... ehehheh.
then came to the baking.... tension lo.. cos the oven in mcca ar... is the gas oven. some more the marks/temperature button terpadam. so dunno what temperature... just light it up and wait till very hot and put it in. luckily, there's a lite bulb that is bright and clear so i can monitor the progress. the baking takes only around 30 mins compared to 1.5 hrs as recommended. and YEEHA! it turned out great! this recipe is a keeper....

i'm now planning to make some other flavors based on this recipe e.g. matcha, cappuccino, etc...

140g/5 oz. fine granulated sugar
6 egg whites6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar or white vinegar
50g/2 oz. butter
250g/9 oz. cream cheese
100 ml/3 fluid oz. fresh milk
1 tbsp. lemon juice
60g/2 oz. cake flour /superfine flour
20g/1 oz. cornflour (cornstarch)
1/4 tsp. salt
Instructions:
1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture. Fold in the flour, the cornflour, egg yolks, lemon juice and mix well.
2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.
3. Add the egg white mixture to the cream mixture and mix well.
4.Pour into a 8-inch round cake pan (Lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper).
5. Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hours 10 minutes or until set and golden brown at 160 degrees C (325 degrees F).

therapeutic shoe shopping escapades

that day yinna & i agreed that baking and cooking is therapeutic. it relaxes your brain and keep the stress at bay. well, a much more $$ consuming is something i love as well - shoe shopping!

well, i have to pat myself on my back as i've not been buying shoes for like 12 months! the last pair(s) i bought was for 2007cny. ( i love my panaches ... they are so lasting! - touch wood). whoa... i no new shoes for the past 12 months?!! some might have fainted. i would've have... but i guess i was too bz to noticed (and no more space @ shoe racks... and no more space for shoe racks...)

shopping in general is fun. not for moi... shopping for clothes is so depressing. i really do know how guliver felt when he was @ lilliput. however, i do love shopping for baju with my skinny, hmm i meant slim friends. i love to design matches for them to try and they look good in most of them. and it's very satisfying when they bought what i suggested. hey... i got a good eye with great taste, ya..

but shoe shopping... aaa... it's another thing!

hehhheh... well up to yesterday, i ended up with 5 pairs. hey, they were not purchased randomly or binges, or something like that. they are reasons behind these buys...

bought pair#1 and pair#2 with bridget on our outing to 1u last saturday. i guess we need some happy therapy after the great betrayal. #1 is a beige open toe court shoes. i didn't have any of those and there's a 20% off ... court shoes @ rm45? it's a must buy! and it's comfy. #2 - a perfect black with white lining mary janes with great stilettos. it's a must buy. everyone need at least a pair of mary janes ... & it's for cny...

i got pair #3 when i was groceries shopping @ giant. ok. this one it's cheap and i need a casual sandal / slippers as currently i'm wearing my mom's or the japanese-slipper. it's a blue croc-wannabe. yea. our homegrown buaya - the asadi. it looks like croc and it's as comfy and light as croc. and it's like rm15.99 only! it's cheap even if compared to the sandals i normally get from bata. my previous which travelled with me until its sole broke into 2 (really i also have no idea how it happened) costs around rm40... so this #3 is a fantastic bargain purchase!

after gym today, i had to go to jusco to get some kitchen towels. on the way i spotted some great shoes. sometimes places like ioi mall, they have some good shoe shops. on of them on the second floor carries a shoe label called "solight" ... nice pun, eh? it looks like an ah lian shop but they have great looking shoes with fantastic heels! then this white shoes with black lining screamed out to me. the size fits my feet perfectly! i have a cream shoes but this is white and it's gorgeous.
the shop has some wicked straw platforms. with laces n all. but i think i saw some at ground floor which's cheaper. i had to past the shops when i return to collect my gym bag in fitness first anyway. wooo... they are selling like rm39.90 but without the laces. hmm. straw platforms would look so summery and they are so casual and light and a girl's must have!! and it made it to my collection.

so, that's how i ended up with these 5 pairs. fate has brought us all together and i shall once again have bright and merry walking days!

2008 cny cookies & crunchies

what is cny without the cookies and crunchies (and additional 10lbs)?
i was quite lazy this year but mami enthusiasm infected me (not much choices but to go along...).

so we started of with mami's fave pineapple tarts. we bought 4 sweet & juicy "sui jing" pineapple in quite a good price from the fruit vendor. tks to mami's bargaining skills. instead of the traditional way of scraping the pineapple, we have revolutionalised this step by using the juicer. this kingly tarts turned out beautifully with a thicker crust this year (i love it thicker!).

things were not so cheerful for the bangkits. mami and i got some disagreements over the recipe. well needless to say... temper flares like the bangkits. although the smell was delicious but the texture was rock hard...better luck next year? no! i think i will not attempt to bake this cookie again...

mami then proceeded with her floss rolls and was generous to give me a handful of them for me to taste testing... they were a little small this year but knowing mami, ya, she packed quite some floss in each of them. so they were flavorful.

this year's comeback kid award goes to ~drumrolls~~drumrolls~~drumrolls~ milky rolls! cheche was very delighted as it was one of her favourites. mami got out of my way when i measured and whip the batter as she put it "this is your expertise". she gladly came into the picture when the dough was ready to be cut. mami's a michelin star cookie cutter :D at least in our family la. of course the milky rolls was a success :D it's a cookie that will not go wrong unless it's over baked. i had fun rolling the cooled cookies in the milk and sugar powder (and pop 1 in my mouth every now & then).

of course there's the kuih bunga ros. a nyonya favourite. mami was at her wit's end at the begining and i discreetly disappear from her radar lest being her scape goat.... luckily, things blossoms after a while & production escalated. good thing was i had a bunch of rejects (in shape wise) to munch. they are very addictive.

i will comment on the seaweed crunchies later as mami had to rush back to mcca (cheche locked herself out due to the door lock issue...)

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yinna's xmas & new year homecoming 2007

finally yinna's back in malaysia and this time manlok came along. although their schedule was a little hectic (a lot!) we had such a fantabulous time!

yea! i actually drove them to mid valley :D but was too engrossed in talking i nearly drove them to 1u.

yinna treated us to MO xmas dinner. we all agreed that the mo brunch @ pacifica grill was better. nonetheless we had a great time. i had a fabulous xmas pressie from yinna and manlok - a 4million crumpler - yay!then it's back to shopping. i treated them sakae sushi. (eh, come to think of it... i've been too almost all sakae sushi in selangor/kl except the new bangsar. yea... i love 'em)

and more more shopping @ sunway pyramid. decorations were really festive & nice! we had loads of jolly fun . (& i spent loads ...)we headed back to mcca . it's all about eating & history (of course). manlok finally met his good friend - tan kim hock & cendol is now his favourite dessert.and nothing beats these hilarious kodak moments

bubble yummy strawberry cheese brownies

my fingers are swollen and my head is feeling like it is being constantly being hit by 10 tonnes of bricks... gosh, could this be arthritis? ooOOoo
to take my pain off my mind i decided to bake another brownies. i've visited mandy's blog with the most beautiful brownies and was thinking of simulating her invention since last week. i however, i decided to use the chewy brownie recipe and to do some changes to the topping so i can freeze some for mom and mom doesn't like anything with green tea. so i used artificial strawberry paste ... cos strawberries i saw in giant were like mushy and they were expensive. besides it's my first time baking so... tot use cheaper substitute first...

the verdict : it turn out more comical than classy like mandy's ... the yellow and pink cheese topping were very contrasting. instead of getting strawberry red ... i get those bubble gummy pink - and it tastes like bubble gummy too. reminded me of candy floss... -yummy.

bittersweet sheridan's brownies

time for a bake. i saw this nice brownies recipe & gave it a try. as usual i adjusted some of the ingredients. see below in brackets.

i checked after 20 mins & it was still a little too wet so i waited another 2 mins. should've gave it another 1 min only as the bottom turned more cakey than i wanted.
as usual, i cant wait till the cake thoroughly cooled before i cut it.. it was rather messy. so pls wait until really really cooled. either that or chilled it first. the top part was a little hard at first but i was not bothered as i know it would moist after a while, which it did giving it a nice sheen almost like it was ganached.
after chilling the brownies turned fudgey. not much of coffee taste but have very very subtle hints of sheridan's. koko said it's nice but can't taste the liquer. so next time i will be increasing to 2 tablespoons of sheridan's and brushed some sheridans+coffee mixture on top of the brownies while its still warm.

1/4 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder [nescafe powder]
1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons butter, melted [equals to 85gm]
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg [2 smaller eggs]
1 large egg white
[ 1 tablespoons sheridan's]

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar [1 1/4 cup]
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350F/160C (conventional oven)

In a medium bowl, add the boiling water and espresso powder - stir to dissolve. Add chocolate chips and stir until the chocolate melts - let cool slightly. Mix in the butter, vanilla, egg and egg white. Stir in the Sheridan's.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Pour in the coffee mixture and stir just until combined - the batter will be quite thick. Scoop the mixture into a 9" baking pan coated with nonstick spray. Bake until a toothpick placed near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached - about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove and let cool completely before cutting.

day out with a siao chabo

hah. not really kind of me to describe a friend, eh? carol is really a siao chabo. you will be laughing your lungs out when you are around her... of course you need to be sarcastic else it will not be that funny. i laughed so much that i nearly locked my jaws - really... it was a very hilariously painful experience. carol revealed to me later that she "accidentally" gassed in one of our giggling (not the correct expression cos god we were loud) escapades...

it was a great fun day @ klcc. we met to collect out free "JUMP"show ticket. yippee!! hope we able to win one of the hp or tea sets each :) luckily i booked early, cos it was full house for 03dec show... our seats are 5 rows away from the stage...

ah.. at last i stepped into the pavilion. i love the place - spacious and bright. however, it was rather warm ... ventilation not really working well. i'm a little disappointed with the toilets. its clean n all but i was expecting some extra in there... none though. and there was a clown on stilts clowning around (of course). & we were so tempted to knee him hahhahha... i hate clowns...

we had lunch @ micheangelo's .... carol was craving for MEAT ... so we scouted around for grills. i suggested micheangelo's as i read some articles on it. the price seems ok for the standard. but i was a little disappointed. the deco was simple. i like clean lines and spaces in restaurant but it was too plain and bordering cheap...we ordered a risotto and a garlic n mint (or something like tat) crusted lamb. a little disappointed in both. the risotto... hmm. i seldom ate this but i definitely had much better risottos in the greek and italian joints @ melbourne and they are casual dining places. it was too salty, tasted more like rice soaked in gravy and doesn't have the "bites" in the risotto. and the seafood in it was rather miserable as well. a few miniature clams, 2 mid sized prawns (not so fresh), 2 muscles and some sotong. i was so sure i read scallops in the menu but when i asked they said no scallops mentioned... i should have asked for the menu to check. as for the roast lamb. it was served on a bed of mashed potatoes with vege, topped with garlic n mint crusts. although the lamb was cooked just nice but the garlic was overly done. this means bitter aftertaste & the amount of garlic was too much as it overpowered the herbs... whole dish was too garlicky. we didn't order any drinks as we planned to head down to the donut joint for some coffee n deserts. luckily they serve foc iced water. i like the slices of lemons in it ... at least it can wash the garlic smell away :)
the lines @ jco donut was just crazy! ok. i love donuts & from the reviews they serve great donuts. but ask me to wait for like 30 mins for it?! forgetaboutit... hah.. they will have some competition soon as big apple donut is opening soon. anyway, i will have my bite next monday b4 the show ... & i do no need to wait in line ahhah....

top 10 most effective tummy exercise

"you look like you have second set of breasts" - mom
"don't wear those fitting tee. you reminded me of michelin" - undisclosed "friend"

i love crunches (and crunchies .... hence my size... ). no. seriously. i love doing them. sometimes i do a few sets just before bedtime to help me sleep. ok. maybe because i get so exhausted after a few repetitions that i just dozed off?
BUT.. the problem is, i crunches like once a month (that is if i remembered to do them). so i still have tummy like the andes ranges. ha ha.
i had a little bit of time on my pudgy fingers and googled for tummy exercise. here's the list :

1. Bicycle Exercise
2. Captain's Chair
3. Exercise Ball Crunch
4. Vertical Leg Crunch
5. Torso Track
6. Long Arm Crunch
7. Reverse Crunch
8. Full Vertical Crunch
9. Ab Rocker
10. Plank on Elbows and Toes

it was claimed that they are the most effective abs workout by the american exercise council. unfortunately they reminded that these workouts will neither reduce tummy fat nor create 6-pack abs. to rub it in, it informed that great abs is in the genes and low body fat. boy oh boy. my hopes dashed. you will understand if you have seen my family photos.... ha ha.
anyway, it also stated that the workouts should strengthen the abs along with the rest of the body to build muscle and raise your metabolism. huzzah! that's what i'm looking for...

time to clean the dust ladened exercise ball ... erm... hmm where did i chucked the exercise mat?

oishi! macha almond cake!

i've been dreaming of the yummy macha / greentea cakes ever since i saw the delicious slices @ breadtalk... they are exhorbitant! an extremely small piece for rm5.50. so i decided to bake them myself. and bake it i did, today.
it turned out ok. with a little mishaps after i baked the first layer. i was suppose to let it rest for 30mins before turning it out from the pan but i wanted to use the pan for the next layer. so i turned it over to another baking pan... and the middle part of the top was stuck ... luckily i can cover it up with the yummy creamcheese icing! .
since swee's bday is coming up, so i decorated half of the cake nicely with almonds sandwiched in between the layers and more covering the whole cake. swee loves almonds, greentea is healthy and the macha creamcheese icing is yummy! perfect gift . hope she is not reading this as i wanna give her a surprise tomorrow!

shop lonely planet books @ amazon.com

lonelyplanet site is having a promo. buy 3 books pay for 1 (the lowest price free - of course...). and for purchases above aud60, free delivery. i was thinking wow! it is cheaper than the local bookstores even after their discounts.
AND they had the latest edition for taiwan (pre-order)! oh. i've been waiting for this! yes! fortunately i decided to check against amazon.com for user reviews as i would need to buy another 2 books (which i couldnt decided china, mongolia or italy ...).

surprised. surprised.

amazon.com lonely planets books are cheaper than in the lonelyplanet site shop! this is due to forex. if u r from msia, it defaults to aud. in aud, the price is more expensive compared to usd. i changed destination to mexico and calculated in usd. ta da. it is cheaper than lonelyplanet. so why the hell cant lonelyplanet site charge in usd?

there is a 34% discount for the same lonely planet taiwan. there's even a pre-order discount. after shipping costs, it's usd26.27 which is still cheaper than lonelyplanet promo and definitely much cheaper than in the local stores. plus- i do not have to made extra purchases to get the promo. so $$ saved. so, after a very easy and breezy clicks, purchase confirmed.
*if i bought more lonely planet books from amazon, it would have been even cheaper but decided not to overspent n wait for newer editions
* should've bought them when che2 in us. no shipping costs!!! and it would've been soooo cheap! like usd17.15 only! more than 1/2 the price @ msia local stores!!!!!

aaa. now i have to wait patiently for it to arrive....

pampered poochie's latest menu

after watching oprah show on taking care of our poochies few weeks ago, i have been comtemplating and now have decided to upgrade vodka's food . well i did some calculation, it would not only be more yummy and healtier for vodka but also more $$ cost saving. it is actually a little cheaper but is more work...

so here's vodka's latest menu.

grilled or boiled lamb shoulder
contains the correct ratio of all 8 of the essential amino acids, and is also a great source of high quality protein, b-12, zinc, niacin, iron, and riboflavin

boiled sweet potatoes
rich in vitamins a, b6 and c as well as manganese, copper, potassium and iron.

sometimes rice .. cooked with the boiled sweet potatoes/lamb stock - yummy! (else i just drink up the sweet potatoes soup myself .. no wasting pls.)

2-3 fistful of kibbles - for crunch to clean his big gigi and filler too la. i will mix a little water after grilling the meat then pour over the kibbles - yummy!

looks expensive? no... ok.. here's the breakdown...

new menu costs
5 pieces of lamb shoulder - rm10.00. 1 pc/day = rm2.00
1kg sweet potatoes - rm2.40. yesterday i bought around 2 big 4 small - rm1.60. 2small/day (1 big/day) - rm0.55
so total / day = rm2.60

old menu costs
1 can/day - rm3.30
1 portion of chicken meat or liver or etc /day - rm1.00
so total / day = rm4.30

*rice n kibbles not included as i fed vodka same amount for both case

this means i save rm1. 70/day!! although more work but the satisfaction is great when vodka jilat kilat kilat each meal!! unlike previously... always had to add extras to make him "finish it up". also... i noticed after eating 2 days lamb... his tummy pricky heats diminished.

mom's back - yea!yea!

ok. mom's back. my life will be back to normal ... i will have ready food on table, constant bickering, tv partner, gossips, etc. aaa. and also... vodka will no longer be lonely for all the hours i'm in office ... ha ha ha...
mom n che2 bought so much gift for me, you will be so jealous -

• hardrock tee (a very traditional thingy to buy when anyone of us go travel .. erm ok, except remy... hardrock replica also don't have.... the only tee i got from him is because it was like way to small for him)
• copper penny accessory... very cool mint :) hahah.... quite expensive ... a pair earrings nearly usd9!!
• baju baju ...
• nike sneakers
• chocolates - of course ...
• nuts!!
• wine ... too bad one broke ...
• peaches - yum!! grapes - yum!!! nectarines - yum!!!!
• pasta sauces .. haha... and left over dressing .. haha...
• disneyland popcorn .. haha...
• leftover cakes .. haha... just ate some...
• cheche even bought a box of very chewy brownie mix...
• etc,etc,etc

but so darn tired... cos clean house immediately after work - else kena mom's wrath... then drove to klia to pick the gals and slept at like after 1700... oooOOoo cant wait to go back ....

it's real buttercream!!!

siewli & jericca : pretty ladies of pretty frosting

i really really (i mean really really really) love buttercream. and it's so frustrating as buttercream frosting is slowly disappearing as its cousin the light whip cream dominated the skinny world. today, i'm a very happy lady. not only i get to meet siew li and get to devour some delicious cupcakes with BUTTERCREAM frosting! aaaAAaaa.

to drool for : buttercream frosting cupcakes

go drool a little more here : http://www.prettyfrosting.com/

pyro musical competition & display : putrajaya 2007

wow! my very first photo shoot outing with my workmates!
well... at first i was rather disappointed as i left the shutter open too long for most shots. due to extremely slow write processing, i missed several nice bursts too. lesson learnt : switch of the nr to speed up the the write.after some post-processing, actually the shots that i thought was real lousy turn out quite ok. ^-^ the post-processing involved were just cropping and adjusting the shadow.

day1 [20070818] : ok. i did ooed & aahed as i love fireworks. as my excitement subsided, i realised that the 20mins display was ordinary. nothing extraordinary & the bursts were all pretty low too... then i just found out.... it's team malaysia...

spooky shots

artistically creepy photos, eh? actually the light source is from the infrared lamp i used for sore shoulders and back....

he's so naughty

oh no! vodka!'s is turning into a big bad apple... loads of ppl said that goldendoodles are non-aggressive, gentle dogs... oh noooOOooo. vodka!'s totally opposite that. since puppy he loves to chase and bite and nip and bite and nip.. especially at the ankle. thank goodness he grew out of nipping our ankles as we walk... well he sometimes still does when he's too excited. he loves to growl when he flew around like tin kau. it's actually very cute and comical until he start to give you surprised snaps... maybe he never have doggie playmates.... so he thinks he is one of us?

this morning he sneaked out as the gates were wide open. he was sitting and stayed until i vanished into the house then cheekily snaked out .... the more i shout "vodka! come back!" the faster he trot away from me... that's why i never... NEVER put him off lease... when i managed to catch up with him and tried to hold his collar... he GROWLED at me!! no manners. so i smacked him. and guess what... his skull like batu only.... i hurt my index finger and it swollen and turned blue black immediately. i think i must have hit the nerve or something cos it's not sprained.

to punish him, i whacked him couple of times with the rotan (which i guess felt like ant bites la) and tied him at a corner. ignored him for as long as i can (couple of hours) and fed him like late. immediately he turned into a lamb. but he is an actor...

so i thought he regretted his action.. but noOOOOooOO. he was back into his mischevious self again. when i was taking my bath, he chewed and broke my new hair band!! it costs me like 6.90!!! no wonder he rolled onto his back and acted cutesy pie when i came down to check on him. haiseh... what am i do to with him?

p/s : although aggressive at times... but i think he is like anjing lembut man.... he loves to nibble on hairbands, scrunchies, hairclips, etc...

moist neopolitan butter cake

so it’s time for another cake… and i had been yearning to eat some nice buttery cakes. for great butter cakes use the most expensive butter you can afford. farmcows/buttercups are what I can do with now.

as usual I tweaked the recipe i found online a little… cut out less than a quarter of sugar, increased the butter to 250g as the recipe used too little butter 185g only. and it’s a butter cake! the recipe calls for 3 eggs but 4 was used as the eggs i have was rather small. instead of making plain butter cake i decided to make it fancier by modifying it to neopolitan butter cake! so after batter is ready, I divided them to 3 portions one remain as original, added the chocolate ganache to one of the portions, while the remaining portions I added 2 teaspoon of strawberry essence and a tiny drop of red food coloring.

it took nearly 50 mins in 160c and phew!!! luckily neither the sides or top of the cake was burnt as some of my cakes tend to be. being a kanchiong girl, i decided to cut the cake while it was hot as i cant wait to see the colors inside. the top was crunchy but inside was soft and moist. it crumbed a little – not suppose to cut it hot J … it tasted … erm… not as good as i expected it to be. disappointed i was a little. something was missing…. the texture was off a little. however, vodka who was sitting prettily for the last 15 minutes lapped all the crumbs that mysteriously found their way to the floor cheered me up a little. at least he loves it. he was such a good boy sleeping patiently below the table while i was working with the cake and cleaning up. putting my disappointment aside, i let the cake to cool which i catch some sleep… lack of sleep lately as i was so hooked on the crime & investigation channel and tend to lose track of time.

much later… i dreaded to have another piece of the cake … afraid to face the fact that it didn’t turn out well… but i had too… else i don’t have anything to eat for dinner!! but.. but…but… it’s yummy! haha. it tastes very moist and buttery. however, the strawberry flavor too weak as the batter portion was too little compared to the chocolate and butter. i'll definitely make some more when mom’s back but this time without the strawberry part…

250g butter (room temperature)

3/4c sugar

1c flour

1.5c self-raising flour

4 eggs

3/4c milk

1 tsp vanilla essense

1 tsp strawberry essense

1 portion chocholate ganache

chocolate ganache:

2 tbs coco powder mix with enough milk

some like it hot, some like it cold, some like it in the pot 9 days old

i love cooking porridge and love them thick and very hot with slices of yewcharkueh. it's healthy, easy, fast and yummy. one of the easier to prepare is the chicken porridge. just boil water with uncooked rice and once boil throw in chicken meat (breast meat the easiest to work with and healthy too... but i love using chicken thigh ... got those fats which will definitely made the porridge yummier...). once meat is cooked, take them out to cool while continue to stir the porridge until think and nice. sometimes i add an egg in low fire so you can get stringy eggs in the porridge which looks lovely. peel chicken into strips and throw them back into the porridge. you can leave some to garnish. voila! it's done.

one of the variations i came up with during in one of those wuliao days is using the chinese herbs - yewsamchew (american ginseng roots - smaller ones) and keiki (gooseberries). boil the yewsamchew separately and pour the stock/essense into the porridge as the roots cannot be eaten (doesnt taste nice but i guess its no harm if you wanna chew them in your porridge). for the keiki, cook them with the porridge. i add some during the end of the cooking as i love the cruchiness and the sweet raisin-like taste. this porridge helps to cool your body (yewsamchew) and good for your eyes too (keiki). hmm... each time i cook this porridge i have this daejanggeum song playing in my head...

now i feel like eating porridge ... maybe will cook some seafood porridge later....

someone stole my yakults!!!

when i openned the fridge... i was shocked!! someone took off with 5 bottles of my yakults which i left in the fridge's pantry over the weekend.(ok, so it's not body parts... still) to think that such reputable (erm) company to have such dishonest employees. worst - it's just yakults.

"free" treat(s)

yes! i managed to utilised the "free" bday treat from gsc by watching the much hyped about harry potter's latest movie. why "free"? bcos of this "free" treat.... i ended up spending $$, more than the ticket's worth....

one of my frens remarked that it is "kinda weird going to movie (cinema) alone... i'll never do it... i rather give the movie a miss if no kaki". erm. yes. it is quite intimidating going to movie alone. it feels like all the eyes boring into your back when u walk into the movies alone. you can almost hear the other not-so-alone movie-mates whispering "alone, ah?". another of my collegue's offered a cover up: when walking out of the cinema, pretend to make a call on your hp, talking louding to ensure the ppl around you hear what you are going to say - "eh?! where are you?? the ended and you are still not here?!" .. ha ha ha... cheesy...

it was a few years back when i watched my first movie in the cinema alone. although i didnt go there alone but i ended up watching it myself as the others decided to go for the movie that i have seen. i felt horrible walking in but as soon as i sat down next to a family, i didnt feel alone at all. thanks to the little boy who smiled adoringly up at me :) maybe it was dark and he thought i am some cute chubby character from some cartoon he had watched recently :) haha... so i enjoyed the movie pretending to be part of his family.

so this harry movie ... not hesistation to do it alone. anyway, i had a very packed schedule... i had to watch it .... rush back ... clean house a little ... spend time with vodka and get rest enough to drive back to mcca. so going alone was the best solution. also the "free" ticket will expire by end of this month... haahahha ... so i procrastinated a little ...
while in the motion of sitting down... the girl next seat bumped my butt, feeling a little embarrassed, instead of saying sorry she said "hi"... whatever she meant by that i gave her a pasty smile (i guess it was too dark to notice it though). so i guess it some kind of warm welcome....
it was quite boring - the movie that is. it was a let down at least for me. ok. so i didnt take my fren's advice "dont read the book of any movie that was made based on it until you have watched it". actually, i dont like buying movie tie-in books. i actually bought the order of phoenix more than a year ago when popular sold it for rm39.90. i read the lord of the rings like years ago before it was made into a movie. i didnt finished. it as i was so confused by all the character but enjoyed the back of the book part which explained the characters and how they were related, etc. i had the da vinci code and angels & demons when none of my frens heard about them (except carol whom recommended them to me). ok. the point is i kinda dislike the idea of movie tie-in releases especially when the book was written just because of the movie's famous... come to think of it.... the only author's work that i read and love that have movies made after them - pride and prejudice, sense and sensibility and emma... the movies had almost replicated the the book. i love jane austen. (so i love to deviate....) ok. although i only read like 1/4 of the phoenix book, i find the movie left out a lot of small details and loads of scenes chopped out. probably they have like 1.5 hours only.... but they "left-out" parts made the movie almost empty ... without subtance i.e. and pretty *yawn* dull movie. however, i did enjoyed the twins fireworks and dumblemore vs valdemort fighting scenes. so i guess for those who havent watched the movie.... it is worth to wait a few more months to be aired in astro (or whatever paid cable tv u have).

for the "free" ticket i ended up spending :
1. popcorn set, 6.50 - i mean who goes to the movie without popcorns?!!
2. kaya balls, 2.20 - it was lunch....
3. 3 hair bands, rm14.70 - i need them. fringe's getting longer and hair becoming unruly and cant steal mom's as she took it to sfo
4. durians, rm24 - its DURIANS... and its d24... erm and i dont know how to belah them ...
5. doggie dry food, rm27 - vodka's not on hunger strike, you know... and it came with a free black lease ... erm not that i need them as he already has like 3 of them... but its black and its free!
6. chew bones, rm7.90 - he has chew sticks (which he can now chewed down in 5 minutes) but not chew bones.... anwyay,fyi he loves them.

hmm... but its not that bad... i had free parking as i spent above rm10 in jusco... yeek.

"what you call a very hairy efren reyes ? - hairy potter"