My Christmas dinner....

This year my sis and I were hardworking... so we decided to prepare christmas dinner... well she decided to prepare dinner... haha!! So we had a nice family meal with stuffed baked chicken (in lieu of turkey)....
The chicky....
Its stuffings...
Then we had stuffed baked potatoes as well... basically stuffed with mash potato mixed with bacon and mushroom topped with some chives....

Next up...some baked prawns... as you can see...everything is baked coz although we said we are hardworking...we aint that hardworking... haha!!!My plate full of goodies..... that's cranberry sauce you see there...

and to wash it all down... we had a bottle of Choya.... not exactly Christmassey but oh so nice to drink... :) this particular one especially....
The only sad thing about my christmas this year was the lack of christmas present... Haiz.... sniff sniff.... my christmas pressie was the Burberry wallet I got for my birthday... that's it coz sis said it was too expensive to be just a birthday pressie.. As such, we had no tree this year... coz there wouldnt have been any pressie under it... :(

Tis the Season to be Jolly...

Fa la la la la la la la la....

It's Christmas again!!! My MOST favouritest season of the year.... Although this year my time has been quite packed with work and studying and I didnt have much time to enjoy the festivities and go for my Christmas shopping.... I still love this season..

Managed to squeeze in a few things though.... :)

Baked some gingy men for all to eat....

Made some small Christmas cards for all to receive.....

Wrapped a few pressies.....

and made a pop-up card..... (for a closer look, check out my other blog)

Sadly that is all for now... lets see what I can squeeze in with 1 day more to go... :)

It's all over....

Yeah!!! Once and for all... it is over and never coming back again... hahah!!

MBA is over and done with....

What better way to celebrate than a fancy setting....

A glass of bubbly.... (toast included...)

A nice dinner.....

Topped off with a yummilicious dessert of chocolate cake... *heaven*

That was how me and Elaine celebrated our new found freedom.... *bliss*

Elaine's Dim Moment....

This happened just half an hour ago.... You just wouldnt believe what goes through this woman's mind sometimes...

It was after lunch and it had started to rain when we were on our way back to the office... So when we got into the office and our auditor told me that there was a body shop promotion across the road.. Body bath selling for RM10 a bottle.. what a steal... but then it was raining... So I asked the auditor whether she was headed there and she said yes.. Happily I asked her to buy some for me.. then Elaine being the nosy one asked what was going on.. I told her and she stared at me... with her eyes big big and a smile equally as big... and she started blinking... I asked her "u want?" She nods... then I say tell the auditor what u want la.. then she looks at me and blinks again... I looked at her back and said.. "But it's raining!!!" and she blinks again and waves her hands at me telling me to come... ""but it's raining!!" and she looks at me, waves again and says "Come come!!" I said no unbrella and off she goes in search of one... I was just thinking in my head... "Why me!!!!????" So I told the auditor, it's okay then no need to buy for me... I will go with Elaine...

So happily Elaine came hopping back with the umbrella and down we went... stepped out of the office block and it was pouring... and the promo stall was so far away... so umbrella is opened and we rushed out... After 5 steps in the rain and my legs were wet... and then what else could go wrong you say? The street was pooling which meant water level was rising and me wearing sandles had to get my entire feet wet!!!!! All for 2 bottles of Raspberry scented body bath which I would have gotten without getting any part of me wet....

By the time we got back... my sandles have turned from purple to maroon coz it's soaked with water and Elaine just looks at me and smile... Showing me all her teeth... Haiz... the things I do for her... and guess what she said? She said "I didnt know it was raining..." I told her, didnt you borrow the umbrella coz it was raining? She says... "Oh ya hor....?"

I rest my case... It was a very dim moment in time....

A good weekend...

Been quite some time since I posted anything.... The past 2 weeks have been stressful... So stressful that I had my first nose bleed in the my entire lifetime...I had to cope with a huge sense of injustice that it just consumed me.... made my blood boil... I was angry and bitter but then I just realised... it is what it is... There is nothing I can do to change it but there is something I can do to make myself feel better... that is to not let it get to me... to try and see the brighter side of things and not focus so much on the things that upsets me...

I also came to realise I have many good friends around me who are there for me when I am down... thank you all for taking the time and listening to me lamenting at my poor pathetic life... :)

Last weekend was a break from my routine MBA classes.... Saturday I had my hair cut short as usual, had a nice dinner and movie outing.... It felt like a normal pre-MBA day... nice... :)
Sunday I became a busy body and followed along to a 4x4 Rally which my company participated in.... It was a boring but yet fun experience... got to shoot a few shots with the D2X... haha!! Has great company in the car who didnt mind me dozing off along the way... and it all ended with a meal of crabs... yum yum... my favourite... I dont know why but I get such a feeling of contentment when I am having crabs... but I do... in between the entire day I was having an interesting sms conversation with a fren... havent done that for a long time.. haha!

So all in all it was a good weekend... wish I had more of those...

Turning 28....

I turned 28 two days ago.... :) Old? Nah.... A growing pimple right between my eyes reminded me of my youth... haha!! If you can still sprout pimples, it means you are still young!!!

My birthday celebrations started on Saturday when my sister decided to make sugar figurines using fondant... She was making me cupcakes for my bday... awww... she's sweet... after my many naggings that I wanted something special... hehe!! Results of the project? Tadaa....
Aren't they cute...? Adorable huh? Some were made by me and some my sis... I like the Dino/Tortoise... hehe!! He's cute....

So then Monday came about and I had a dinner date for Pasta Zanmai... Had my staple Unagi No Spicy Pasta... it was good... and my onsen tamago... yum... Company was good as well... All in all a good kick start for what's to come....

Then Tuesday came and pressies arrived..... there were awwws... and eh? haha!! the eh? I shall explain later.... After work I had a date to Cafe Cafe.... First time there and the ambience was good... Warmly lit with crystals hanging off the ceiling giving it a classic romantic feel... Dinner was good.. the Company was great.... poor you for getting wet in the rain and falling sick... sowee.... :)

Now the actual day has arrived.... :D and I am on leave!!! Yaay!!! Yearly tradition to not work in my birthday.... But unfortunately still had to come in for a meeting but it was just for an hour so it wasnt so bad... :) Then off for some self pampering... went for a facial spa with Biotherm... it was a 2 hour session of facial and massages... nice!!! but unfortunately hence the aggravated pimple between my eyes.... UUrrghhh!!

Dinner with my family at Nero Teca was good... as usual we over ordered and stuffed ourselves silly... hehe!! Was initially planning to go Seven Ate Nine but unfortunately they were fully booked... Can you imagine that? Fully book in a Wednesday? Ah well just my luck, will just have to wait another time to try the place out....

Now for the cupcake reveal... My cutest ever birthday cake all made by my dear sister Ai Li!!! *big hugs*

Aint it just simply adorable? :D Cute leh? hehe!!

Now for the pressies... this year was a kinda good year... not as many pressies but real nice ones... The ultimate pressie us defintely from my sisters... I got a Burberry wallet from them... something I was eyeing during the HK trip and they bought it for me... Isnt it great to have sisters? haha!!!

I got a lightblok from Renee.... It is gorgeous!! Look at the glow!! Nice hor?

Then I got a October Jewellery box from precious thots from Elaine... thanks budak!!! It came with a separate bangle coz based on Elaine's estimation it would fit but jeng jeng jeng!!! It didnt!! hehe!! The card was damn cute too!!

Now for the eh? pressie... well it wasnt so much the pressie but the card... my fren Kenn was nice enough to post a card and pressie from Bintulu but the eh? part was the card was in Malay... haha!! Interesting huh? and the pressie I have not assembled yet but I am assuming it's a cat running along a track... I suppose it's too keep me entertained at work when I am stressed?I got another pressie from Ai Li after much pestering... hehe!! Now I just need to find a rope.... I saw in the display window of the shop 4 friends forever bears hanging off a rope which looked so cute so I told Ai Li I wanted it... obviously the rope was a prop and not for sale.. The initial deal was for me to find the rope and she would buy me the bears but then I got one for my birthday first eventhough I have not found the rope... hehe!! Rope oh Rope where art thou?

Last but not least... my ang pao from my mummy... It's a standard birthday gift for me to 'fai kou cheong tai'... hehe!! Thank you mummy!!

Well this is almost the end of it... still got one more dinner to go... Went to a place called Schokolart in Solaris which I didnt know of... Food was not too bad except that the signature dish was kinda weird... Chocolate Chicken Satay is just weird... haha!! But once again the company was great... couldnt stop chatting until the poor waiters were restless coz we were the only ones left.... haha!!

So that ends my birthday...I got many wishes on Facebook... Calls from Ching Yee (*big hugs*) and Vivien (*big hugs*) and smses through the day from frens and colleagues... It's nice to know that I am remembered... :D

Love you all guys!!! Thank you for all the wonderful wishes.... :) I had a great birthday.... Muacksies!!

Consultants (*roll eyes*)

There is a saying out there that goes...

"Those who cant do, teach and those who cant teach, consults"

I so concur with this saying.... I have encountered such an individual in my MBA class... Oh God... He just loves the sound of his own voice and goes on and on and on... He thinks he is great when he actually isnt... Just because he is a consultant doesnt mean he is better, just means he cant work in a normal environment.

He thinks himself as a very 'in' person.. updated and technologically savvy... Highlights the point that he is an engineer... Condemns the OHP which is in the class questioning why in this day and age does colleges still use OHP but then he himself cant get his laptop to sync with the projector and requires the help of a mere sale manager (non engineer) to do the job for him... and he condemns the OHP? *roll eyes*

He can just drone on and on about the same topic when it is clear no one is responding... Insist that we ask him questions on our research paper and when no one does, he continues to talk and sprinkle his talk with the question "So anyone wants to ask anything about their research?". I was so tempted to just say "Cant you see the answer is no, so can be get on with it?".

The comes to our presentations... When we first started our MBA, our presentations were the old school method... Bullet points with what we want to say and nothing visual.... But as we went along, we were told that presentations now need to be more dynamic, more visual, less wordy... We were told that if everything we want to say was on the slide, why present? Everyone could read. So we adapted to make our presentation more interesting and more visual. Elaborated more during our presentation with less being written on the slide...

However, the modern man he is questioned our methods saying management wants to see the words on the slide.. If we plan to elaborate an important point, we should bullet point it on the slides.. Dont forget the slide numbers coz people might want to refer to a specific slide at the end of the presentation. We all questioned why were we asked to take a step back in our methods of presentation? Has he been out of the real world for way too long? For every 20 mins presentation, he proceeds to take 40 mins to scrutinize every single slide about what we should have done and what we shouldnt have done. I truly worry about the choice made by the college to appoint him as a lecturer. Were his credentials really that outstanding? Hmmm.. I wonder...

Anyway, that was how I wasted 6 hours of my Sunday... listening to his scrutiny and wondering why me?!!!! hehe!!

Consultants? Bleh!! Give me a normal lecturer anytime...

One Malaysia Wedding

I attended one of my highschool mate's wedding over the weekend... It was truly an extremely interesting one.... Firstly Eve is a Christian indian so she had her ceremony at the church which I unfortunately didnt get to attend.. So I attended the dinner at nite not knowing what to expect... Invitation says HGH Convention Centre so there I went...

I was first greeted by throngs of people all beautifully dressed in Sarees of all colours... Some were truly breathtaking... Lo behold right outside the hall was the registration table... how odd huh? Normal indian wedding you just go in... this was where things started to get really interesting... I signed myself in...got my assigned table.. No 56... went through the door and Oh My God!!! 95 tables in total...

Was the first to my table, sat down and picked the menu up... hmm... what for dinner? Mutton curry perhaps.... Imagine what I saw....

A full 9 course chinese dinner complete with sharkfin soup and ending with chinese pastries... whadayaknow... haha!! Chinese food at an indian wedding and that was when I noticed chopsticks being laid instead of fork and spoon... hmmm... :D

Then there was these little cups of something alchoholic... wasnt too sure what it was for but I soon found out... :) But before that finally the rest of my gang appeared and we went on a picture taking frenzy....
Soon the announcement came for the bride and groom to enter and before the door opened we had the shock of our lives... There was fireworks being lit within the hall and it was flying our way!!! OMG!!! it flew right above our heads and hit the wall.. yikes!! Then the music started playing... We had Black Eye Peas with 'I got a feeling' playing as the couple walk in... interesting huh? The best has yet to come... After a brief intro the emcees for the nite welcomed dinner into the hall and dinner came with this!!!! Look for yourself... Our very own fire show....hahaha!!

Somewhere between the 4th and 5th course of the meal we were told to welcome the bride on the stage for the cake cutting and champagne pouring... That was normal... what came after was not... We had a yam seng session.... haha!! Now that is what those little cups were for... It's the wine to toast... :D

To top it all off we had a Philipino band playing throughout the whole nite... This is definitely the most eclectic wedding I have ever attended... It truly is One Malaysia....

Oh I almost forgot... we had a photo montage of their childhood photos all the way to adulthood... It was the coolest I have ever seen... It was like an Ipod advertisement... Coolies... :D

Well, that's the story of the wedding... I do wish Evelyn and Lionel all the best in their marriage... May it be filled with love and laughter always....

My God-awful trip to Penang...

It's Saturday 19th September 2009.... It's a day before Raya.... I had to wake up at 0630hrs to send my sis to the airport then head to elaine's house to pick her up for our drive up to Penang.... For what? to attend a wedding...

So I arrived at Elaine's house at 0840hrs and we headed off... traffic was quite decent... just many cars on the road but overall quite smooth... as we passed Tg Malim we decided to turn in for some breakfast... it was about 0930hrs.... We had the all famous curry pao thanks to the trusty navigation... :) We had toast Kahwin as well with ample butter... yum!!!
and it was downhill after this.... the freeway/highway came to a standstill... yes I mean a standstill... we were crawling between 20-30 km/hr for the longest of time... the highway had some weird split which I didnt know about so we were unable to turn into Ipoh.... uurrghh... and it was already 1330.... so no lunch for us.... why oh why!! Why did I agree to attend this wedding... can you imagine... it took us almost 4 hours to arrive in Ipoh from Tg Malim... this is insane... it is probably 100++ km only....

We finally arrived in Penang at 1630hrs... after almost 8 hours of drive which usually only takes 3.5hrs.... aarrrghhh!!!!! so we had lunch at 1700hrs.... Char Kuey Teow.... elaine enjoyed it but I thot it was kinda normal... oh well....

Took a nice picture the next day heading out of Penang towards Prai for the luncheon wedding... I am sometimes amazed at my gungho-ness when it comes to frens... I keep asking Elaine why are we doing this... and she answers... "you wanted to wan ma..." so nice of her hor.... Along the journey we planned our revenge... if Elaine ever gets married she is to get married in Terengganu during Raya... better still on Lang Tengah island and make sure that Ah Hean (whose wedding we were attending) travels all the way to attend... if you know your Malaysian map well you will know that even by car on a normal traffic day it takes 10 hours to reach terengganu from Penang... muahahaha!! Imagine Hari Raya..... *gives a sly snigger*

Never ever am I doing this again..... If I ever do... give me 2 slaps on the face....

Alter ego...

Yesterday I made my mooncake's alter ego.... the snowskin... Looks quite successful huh? :D

Mooncake - The Journey

I have always believed that there are a few chinese traditions which should be kept and passed on from generation to generation so that we never forget such tradition.... There is 3 in particular which I have always wanted to learn..

1. Bak Chang (chinese dumplings)

2. Mooncake

3. Lin Kou

Well I have done the first a number of times and this year I felt extra hardworking so I attempted the second one... So here is my journey...

I was highly ambitious so I tried both lotus paste filling and red bean paste filling... fuiyoh!! talk about an ambitious first time!! :D

First you start of with the beans... Red bean is pretty easy... You got the beans... cook them til soft... blend them... sieve them... cook them for an hour and a half...

Tadaa!!! all done.... still took about 5 hours as a whole though....

Next up... the lotus paste... now this one is kinda a toughie.... first you need to remove the pith from the 'lin chi' (lotus seeds) so that you dont get the bitterness of it... Then you boil it to soften the shell....

Then you soak it and piece by piece remove the shell... Fuh!! This was back breaking work.. took me 3 hours to remove all the skin....

Clean babies.... they then go into the pot.. cook til soft... blend then sieve... then cook for about an hour and a half again....

Waalah!!! the paste is at last ready.... I slept at 2am to finish this... haiz.... the things I do for tradition.....

Next morning it's rise and shine.... time to make the outer skin... after again having a mixture left over nite now I gotta mix the flour in til I get a dough consistency...

Shape the fillings into little balls...

I am ready to make wrap the filling in my mooncake skin.... The mould is nice and oiled... ready for some stamping... luckily I have the modern contraption and not the traditional wooden knock knock wan... that is only for elaine's fishies...

The raw mooncakes ready for the oven... looks authentic huh? Me so proud of meself... hehe!!!

Made a little piggy for fun.... cute huh?

Final step... into the oven it goes.... Oops... kinda over browned some bits... couldnt estimate the temperature of the oven..thank god nothing got burnt....

Check it out!!! looks good huh?

The inside view....

Well I hope it taste as good or even better than the ones bought... hehe!! For those who got a chance to try... please leave your comments... :D