... End of the day ...

Bladder : 99% full
Head : 50% larger
Eyes : Blurry
Palms : Sweaty
General Health level : Lethargic.. need med pack soon....

Shoving off .... need sleep ... need... to.... go...

- Over & Out -

Interesting conversation

This morning, I took my place again in the swarm of people commuting with the LRT. As with other days, I got into the train, got a spot, scanned for other passengers that my need my seat more than me (Aren't we courteous?). Finding none, I took my book out and began reading. A few stops later, I noticed from the corner of my eye, a well dressed man with a small backpack stood in front of me. In fact, I wouldn't have noticed him if not for his "hip-hop" ringtone (some rap song.... mobiles these days... )

What amused me was his conversation....

The Conversation

Man	:	Hello?
(pause)
Man	:	Oh, you may be too early. Perhaps you could try the other entrance?
(pause) *I noted that he spoke well pronounced english*
Man	:	It's via the exit beside the boutique.
(short pause)
Man	:	The boutique beside the cinema.
(another short pause)
Man	:	Boutique. Boutique next to the cinema.
(shorter pause)
Man	:	Just after the boutique, is an exit to the staircase. There is a back entrance there.
(pause)
Man	:	Boutique.
(short pause) *I begin to sense the hint of iritation*
Man	:	Boutique. Boutique!
(pause) *with a near inaudible grunt*
Man	:	Aiyah! The shop that sells clothes one lar... next to the cinema... Sell clothes one! Boo - tik ar!
(pause) *in perfect chinaman tone -- snigger -- *
Man	:	OK! So I'll see you there in a short while. Bye

The guy then slipped his mobile back into his pocket, then looked around inconspicuously (I think to see if anyone noticed his conversation).

Hehehe.... Short entertainment for an otherwise uneventful ride.

I've been tagged!

I kept turning my head in vain to see if there's something stuck to my back... I looked very much like a dog chasing its tail.. haaha...

Well, I have been tagged ... but by Babe... I guess it's my duty now to answer the daunting questions... Ah babe ah... I main masak masak only wor And then somemore.. my blog not exactly a foody blog kekeke but I'll try.

The questions

What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?
Oddly enough, I remember clearly my first memory of cooking on my own. I have working parents and spent my time at home a lot with my grandparents. Now, they just leave me to my antics most of the time... and playing with 2 brothers bore me after a while kekeke... So I loved going to the library and get books to occupy my time. I remember being in Standard 5 when I stumbled upon this cookbook for children. In it there was a recipe for soup.. Cloud Soup. It was actually simple broth with sesame oil, chicken stock, and beaten egg with some greens. I was so proud that I cooked it all by myself.. and my dad enjoyed it.

Who had the most influence on your cooking?
It would definitely be my paternal grandmother. She babysat all of us (my 2 brothers and I) while my parents were at work. I would sometimes help her out and she would sometimes teach me simple dishes. My grandmother's cooking was ALWAYS "agak agak" -- estimate -- style. A pinch of that, a shake of this, a drop of that.. hehehe well you get the picture.

Do you have an old photo as “evidence” of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it?
Oh no,.... I don't have any unfortunately. Now why didn't I think of taking pictures of them :P

Mageiricophobia - do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?
YES!!.... Dishes that my Mother In Law cooks.. and my hubby sometimes asks me to cook them. I have a lil' insecurity in that... because I don't think I can achieve the exact taste. However my hubby assures me it's all yummy.. that sweet man!.

What would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest let down?
My BIGGEST let down is..... the el-cheapo can opener... bought on Monday, used on Tuesday, rusted on Wednesday, cut my hand on Thursday, threw on Friday.. hahaha well not so dramatic.. but yeah that chronological order of events.

Most valued would be the big old fashion chopping board I got from my Mother In Law.

Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like - and probably no one else!
There's this fruit called 'Buah Keluak', and it's thus far for me, ONLY found in a stall in the market in Melaka Town. My grandmother would then soak it for days, crack it open, dig out the pungent black powdery stuff, mix it with shrimp and some seasoning, stuff it back in and cook it with pork. MMMMmmmmMMMm!.... it's daunting for a first timer because the dish looks black and messy... and you have to dig out the yummy bitter savoury filling. Truly yummy!

What are the three eatables or dishes you simply don’t want to live without?
ONLY 3!!??!!

1) Potato - Done in ANY way... I LURVE THEM ALL! haha

2) Eggs - In any way except half boil... eeeyucks!

3) Honey Dew Sago - YUMZ!.. Nuf said!

Any question you missed in this meme, that you would have loved to answer? Well then, feel free to add one!

Three quickies:
Your favorite ice-cream… : Rum & Raisin
You will probably never eat… : Pets
Your own signature dish… : Believe it or not... my Hubby claims I make a mean Fried Bee Hoon.

Who do you want most to cook you dinner? (added in by Oslo Foodie)
My Grandma... I miss her... May her soul rest in peace.

And my own question that I would loved to answer:

How neat is your kitchen?
Never as neat as the catalogs hehehe... In fact.. anyone know how to get rid of those darn cicak!! (lizards).



OK ... now the interesting part.... who to tag... Now I have but a few friends who blog... so ...

Julian : I know you try to avoid being tagged... but this is a foody one!

Shookmeallnightlong : This big papa bear .... sure like to makan.. but hmmm will he cook?

Dafthamsta : I tag you coz you've not updated your blog for AGES... about time no?? hehe

Unwind and Dine

Last Thursday Babe, Ms. Sweet-16 and I decided to pamper ourselves at Liang Xin (after reading babe's experience).

I was excited since the last good pampering I had was about a year back in a heavenly Spa in Koh Samui. I was really looking forward to this. To get to the center, the 3 of us cramped into a claustraphobic inducing lift (I'm serious... it was so cramped!). I resisted the urge to press the "help" button on the lift... hehehe

Finally the doors opened to a brightly lit front desk. The deco is very inclined to the imperial china look, yet with a minimalist touch. Quite classy. We were greeted by a helpful staff and ushered into a huge room filled with cots.

The lights in here are all dimmed and it smelled faintly of the diffused aroma. A stark difference from the reception area. The cots resemble the opium beds that the rich in China used, but with posts and bars across (for the enthusiastic masseurs to hang on while they trample ... i mean massage.. you).

I gasped at the thought that it's all so open!... But to my relief, attached to the posts were also blinds :) ... So we picked our cots and the blinds were drawn around us .... suddenly the world consists of only the 3 of us hehehe

We quickly changed into comfy t-shirts and shorts and sat like anxious school girls waiting for our masseurs to arrive. We started off with the reflexology... literally being waited on hand and foot by our masseurs.... Oh the tingle of the warm warm water surrounding my aching feet... The refreshing cool towel to wipe our faces... Cool orange juice... a bowl of grapes... bliss.

My masseur turned out to be a Mainland China guy... Great... I can't speak no Mandarin, he can't speak no Cantonese. Thank goodness for the international understanding of "OUCH!" hahaha... Yup... the reflexology was good and strong.

After a good 1 hour, it was time for the accupressure body massage. Holy quackamolie!! This guy actually stood on my back.... the whole 60kg of him! (ok rough estimate)... I felt like the grapes being pressed for wine (ok ok .. i exagerate :p )

Overall, it was wonderfull.. I was in 7th heaven at the end of it.. and wanted nothing more than a good sleep... but....

Ms. S-16 started singing...

"Siew Kai Yek, Hou Hou sek" ....

Tee Hee... our legs (and tummy) took over all motor skills and we walked over to the "makan" area. 1 Hokkien fried me, 3 pairs of chicken wing and 1 plate of Superior Stock Lala later.... we were trully giddy :)

Can't wait for our next outing... wonder where it would be this time...

I need glasses (or a trip to the zoo)

Yesterday, after a long long time, I went out with 2 girlfriends for a "pampering" night out (more on it in a later post). I must have caught a severe case of blurness (mind and sight).. coz I kept making a similar blunder the WHOLE night!

Strike 1

Miss Sweet-16 offered to pick me up from a Lotus Restaurant nearby. So I left office promptly (coz Miss Sweet-16 doesn't tolerate tardiness :p ).. brisk walked to the LRT station and made my way there.

Found her in the sea of people, enjoying her cuppa tea and her nifty 3g phone (envies). I spotted a cute, furry keychain on her bag.

Me	:	Yee... the bear bear so cute... I steal later.
Ms S-16	:	Tee Hee... Take lar... but it's not a bear lar..
Me	:	*gasp* *sheepish grin* yeah hoh.. it's a .....
Ms S-16	:	Lau Shu!! (mouse -- rat sounded a bit too ratty for such a cute thing)

I blushed when I saw the mistake.

VIH*	:	Siao ar you? How can you make such a mistake?
Me	:	What? A head, two cute hands, two cute legs.. furry all over.. Innocent mistake.. anyone could've done it.

Alleged bear bear #1

Strike 2

Ms S-16 navigated her way through the jam and finally made it to our destination. We found a parking spot easily, and while she was busy locking the Fort-Knox in her car I saw another cute furry thing on the dashboard.

Me	:	Ok, while you lock up, I play with this bear bear
Ms S-16	:	(in the verge of ROTFL mode)Hahahah... it's a DOG lar gurl!
Me	:	Oh My Goodness!!! You're right
Ms S-16	:	(She didn't say anything... she was hysterical at this point

Alleged bear bear #2

Aisyoh Kadavale!... so embarassing... I need to go to the zoo to memorize how a bear looks like.

VIH*

:

I'm too embarassed to be associated with you.

*VIH - Voice In Head (aka my Nemesis)

I'm who???

Babe told me about this nifty new quiz.... it tells you which Malaysian blogger you are most like. Sounded KEWL.... so I gave it a try...

*drumroll*

the result is....

Congratulations , you are...

minishorts of minishorts.net

You are outgoing, direct, smart, pretty, and a definite go-getter. You are frank, a little too frank perhaps that sometimes you get on people's nerves and make them very upset. If people attack you, you hit back with triple the force without blinking because you are the kind of person who knows exactly what you are talking about or else you wouldn't talk about it. Your quick-thinking is what makes you special. You are an elitist.

Which Malaysian Blogger Are You?

At least someone remembered "Service with a smile"

My journey to and fro work these two years have been heavily relying on the PUTRA LRT service. One of the most convenient way to travel to the heart of KL (not to mention one that can preserve the small thread of sanity that is left). One thing I noticed from my frequent trips was that the staff rotates from station to station. Especially the ones who checks our monthly passes at the turnstiles.

The Man

Day after day, with every looming commute, I find myself hoping to meet one single PUTRA staff. One lone man who preserves the "Service with a smile" motto.... and always seem to enjoy it.

This middle aged looking man always looks well groomed, shirt nicely ironed and hair well combed. Always standing (not sitting like a beca driver on the high stool) when passangers walk past the gate. But what struck me most... was that he is polite to EVERYONE.

Imagine a wave of people passing by him, and yet, he acknowledges everyone with a polite "Thank you". Not the mumbled "thank yous" that you get from a disgruntled cashier during the Isetan sale, but a loud appreciating "thank you". It comes in 2 different languages. This is how he sounds like

"Good morning", ir, ticket please", "This way ma'am", "Thank you", "Terima Kasih", "Silakan", "Thank you", "Ma'am, ticket please", .....

and all these with a smile to boot....

The reactions

A little politeness goes a long way. Nearly everyone that goes past him will actually look up and .... (I'm nearly too scared to mention this...)... but yes, they smile back! (Even at 7.30 in the morning, dragging their feet to office, dreading the imminent meeting)...

If it was some other guy at the gate, the commuters would just flash their passes, head stooped, feet shuffling. Not even bothering to look up and look at the guy (even if he had moustache like Mr. Pringles.... but that's a different story).


It always makes my day when I see this Mr. Service-with-a-smile.

So to you Mr. Service-with-a-smile... *slight curtsey*... Thank you.

There's nothing to eat....

at KLCC...

Although there's

- Auntie Anne's Pretzels
- Bateel
- Breadtalk
- Chocolatier
- Cinnabon
- Dunkin' Donuts
- Famous Amos
- JJ's Juice Fusion
- La Cucur
- Lecka-Lecka
- New Zealand Natural Ice Cream
- Rotiboy Bakeshoppe
- Chocz
- Delifrance
- Dome Cafe
- HOCA Specialty Coffee
- San Francisco Coffee
- Secret Recipe
- Starbucks Coffee
- Strudels
- Smoothies
- The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
- Ummph! Boh Island
- 1901 Hotdog
- A & W Restaurant
- Burger King
- KFC
- Nando's
- Asian Flavours Food Court
- Level 2 Food Court
- Al Marjan (Arabian)
- Bong Sen (Vietnamese)
- Bukhara
- California Pizza Kitchen
- Chakri Palace
- Chili's Grill Bar
- Chinoz On the Park
- Dome Café
- Genki Sushi
- Gloria Jean's Coffees
- House of Sudanese Food
- Kelantan Delights
- Madam Kwan's
- Manhattan Fish Market
- Nippon Tei
- Rain Nudle House
- San Francisco Steak House/Santini
- Spice of Indian
- Spring Garden (Chinese)
- Shrooms & Stars Restaurant

I still can't think of what to eat for lunch....


Would you call this spoilt for choice?

Sinfull Cup

chocolate
Originally uploaded by Cyrene.

Unker Julian and I decided to step out of the office for a discussion 2 weeks back. Instead of heading to our normal coffee haunt, we decided to try out 'Chocz'. I played the Devil's advocate in this matter hahaha...

I ordered the "Madagascar" ... dark chocolate drink.... ooooh... my lips quiver with the mere thought of the drink. It was RICH, BITTER and slightly spicy... HEAVEN.

However, it tasted a bit "jelak" when it became cold. Next time must remember to sip fast fast kekeke...

Voice in my head...

Self :	Hmmm.... I'm craving for nasi lemak today....
VIH* :	What? You just had one on Tuesday!
Self :	Yah I know, but it's so yummy. The nasi, the sambal... the aroma!
VIH :	Hello... Have you looked at yourself in a full length mirror lately? That bulge is by all means unsightly OK..
Self :	Must you say that? Why can't you just love our body?
VIH :	Uh huh.... and pray tell are you REALLY in love with your body now? hmmm?
Self :	Erm.. well... i...
VIH :	There..... so lay your hands off that nasi lemak. You can thank me later...

* VIH : Voice In Head

Mysterious leak:Part 2.

If at any time you feel lost in this naration, perhaps you should read Part 1

Call the calvary

We made an S.O.S call to our contractor. Nice bloke who unfortunately speaks Hokkien and really really basic Cantonese only. This complicates many many communication instances. Thank goodness my Father In Law (FIL), came along to help explain matters.

Up and down and up and down (the stairs that is), they went to check out the tank and piping. The diagnosis was unconclusive. *sob*

What they could do is to turn off the main tap that feeds water to the tank. We arranged for the specialist (aka plumber) to come and have a thorough checkup during the weekday.

The Specialist

The appointment was made for a weekday so only my FIL could be present for the inspection.

Up and down and up and down again they went. NO LEAK! (oh by this time the leak stopped)

NO LEAK!
NO "PAIP BOCOR"!
NADA!
ZILCH!

Turned on the main tap to the tank.... and still nothing. I'm happy to announce that the ceiling is leak free till today (been 3 weeks now)

*X-Files theme song in the background* Don't believe it? Believe it!...

Mysterious leak: Part 1

Some background

It's been a year since we got the keys to our house, and more cracks are surfacing. So we submitted a long list of faults to the developer for rectification. They will then inform an appointed sub-contractor to look into the issues.

This sub-contractor has quite an interesting collection of workers an indonesian couple, a vietnamese young man and an octogenarian. Yup, I swear he looks way pass his retirement age. Now this old "ah pak" is a rude one, but let's not go there (it will take too long to blog about him).

Nearly all the problems were rectified, and one of the last issues was with the gutter in the front. So one sunny Saturday morning, the "ah pak" came by with the Vietnamese guy. He argued with hubby about whether or not the gutter was his scope of work. Nothing a call to his boss couldn't solve.. hmmph...

So with a grunt, he reluctantly set to work. Soon after, the weather turned bad and thunder threatened. "Ah pak" started to pack up (still grumbling under his breath). He then preceded to the next door (under renovation and empty). Hubby was not happy at all with his attitude and complained loudly for a few minutes...

The problem

All went well, till the next morning. While stuffing my beloved washing machine with dirty laundry, I heard a peculiar dripping sound. I looked up and lo and behold... a mini waterfall. At the corner of the wet kitchen, water was dripping from the ceiling "Argh!".

Hubby came running, jaw dropping as he saw the leak. Hahaha because of his deep set iritation with the "Ah Pak", he immediately suspected foul play. "But it's quite impossible for him to cause this" I exclaimed.

We promptly turned off the main tap, cutting off the main water line. Leak was still there. Hubby climbed up to the tank, and whoa!.... Overflow!

Not a good way to start a Sunday morning. :(