Long overdue

PD with D & Gang
It was a short one, but it was good, considering how stressed out I was that week (worrying about my visa and not getting my income tax clearance). An afternoon of beer, wine, a ciggy (I don't smoke) and mahjong, followed by an ill-equipped BBQ and crab hunting were pretty good diversions. The keropok lekor was kick ass, but no picture :(. Thanks to MH for driving.

(left) Dinner when we arrived - doesn't the fish look pretty like Aunt Molly?
(right) Mahjong is fun when you're half wasted.


(left) It really was that dark. (right) Dogma's catch. It really was 'this' big.

Dinner at WS's.
Thank you WS for hosting dinner the other night ;-)
And thanks to Spot and Snowie for this.
It was really sweet (figuratively speaking). Let's play!
Hehehe :)
D & I couldn't resist when we got home.

Farewells

I love my friends and my friends love me.
This, I know, by the number of farewell meals I've had in the past week alone. For all that, your friendship, and great company, thank you.

Now, it's back to feeling fat and lethargic.
Bouts of insomnia mean little sleep.
Little sleep means no energy for runs or rides or any physical activity I miss and crave.

A big box and some paper bags of junk I've accumulated at work in the past 2.5 years sit in the living room, waiting for my attention.

Sigh.
I think I'll allow myself one more day of laziness.
As of Monday, I'm officially unemployed. But there's still much to do, and not much time. This is gonna be fun. Not.

Show me the meat!

An awesome brunch with awesome company = Awesome Sunday.

D and I met up with fellow Prolific (the game formerly known as Bogglific) addicts Spot, Snowie and DrownedGlass to partake in beautifully processed dead animals. Nobody brought the Boggle set, but we didn't need it. We had a hoot stuffing our faces and chatting and laughing.

Here's a stolen-with-permission picture from DG.
Fogel Meat Market's Big Breakfast. Sllrrrppp... it's the only reason Plaza Damas exists as far as I'm concerned. Sigh.



REAL pork bacon, 2 sausages of your choice (pork, lamb, chicken or beef), 2pcs of steak, 2 eggs done your way, grilled tomatoes, grilled mushrooms, toast and hash brown on a huge plate... enough to feed 2 hungries at RM42 (it used to be RM30+ but prices have gone up, shucks).

Thanks guys for a lovely time.
And happy birthday DG!

Gong Hei Fatt Choy!

This post has been sitting in my draft folder for the past 2 weeks. Got busy. Got ill. Still nursing a cough but that's okay. So here goes. Hey, at least I'm posting this before Chap Goh Mei, right?

The eve
CNY eve was celebrated quite simply with family at home. We had roast duck from Loong Foong in Paramount (though I much prefer the Sunrise Roast Duck, they decided not to open for business this CNY), Char Siew (roast pork) from James Ayam, Jellyfish Yee Sang from Chuai Heng (One Utama) topped up with salmon sashimi from Jusco Supermarket (I don't see the point in thinly sliced salmon, really) and mom cooked some vegetable stir fry. I opened up a bottle of Merlot to go with the duck and pork and it was not too bad either. Sunshine got to eat inside with us. She even had a taste of everything. Just a weee-bit. Except the wine of course. Then she was quite happy to lie at our feet. Hahaha. Pictures to come soon. I still can't find that damn USB cable for my phone. Grrrr.

Cycling up Frasers
As for the first day of Chinese New Year, I had a total blast cycling up to Fraser's Hill with JJ, MF and some new friends I made that day. We met up in Kuala Kubu Baru, and then headed for hills, cycled past the beautiful KKB dam and then a steady climb to the Gap which lasted over 2 hours.

It was a lovely climb, with shady trees by the long and winding road. The cool breeze was crisp and fresh. I could smell the green scent of the jungle and hear the rustling of leaves. When we rode near the river we could hear the sound of water tripping over rocks as it rushed towards the dam we left behind.

When we finally reached the Gap, we were greeted by many cars parked by the roadside. Holidaying families were waiting for the road leading up to the top of Fraser's Hill to open. Well, we got this far, so the guys said we should ride to the clock tower, another 8km away. Gulp. JJ was up for it, so I thought OK lah. Might as well.

We didn't want to wait for the road to open, so we used the alternative route, which started off with a really steep slope. A 750m 15% incline. Oh gawd... I tried, but half way through, I knew I couldn't anymore. My heart was at the verge of bursting and my legs couldn't maintain a steady rhythm. I quickly unclipped my shoes and prayed I wouldn't fall over in an undignified heap. I managed to get off my bike to push.

After getting back on the bike, we endured a few more kms of rolling hills. Then we saw the gang who were ahead of us coming down the hill. They said there was a landslide further up and there was no way we could cross. Bummer.

So much for the clock tower. We could take the other way up, but we were running out of time. After a short rest back at the Gap, we were on our way home. The ride down was madness! Averaged 30-40km/h (and I might add there's a speed limit of 30km/h for cars here). Round and round back down the hill.

Weeeeeehoooooo... the wind was in my face. I avoided oncoming traffic, holes, sandy corners and fallen branches. I didn't realise I climbed up such a distance until I saw that the journey down was pretty long too. Then we reached the big road near the dam. Changed to my big crank and pedaled, reaching a top speed of 60km/h (I didn't see any speed limit signs here though), and the downhill speed gave me momentum to fly up the smaller slopes after.

Cool breeze gave way to hot air as the sun was already up and we had no more shady trees for cover. The heat from the tarmac made me feel like I was riding in a bed of burning charcoal. Phoooh! But it was over pretty quickly when we reached KKB town again and back to our cars at the stadium. ZM treated everybody to makan opposite the stadium, and it was such fun talking about the ride. It's definitely one of the best rides I've had so far, and I can't wait to go back there again. Hopefully next time we can make it to the clock tower.

Hamper shopping
Went home. Took a shower. Then went to Giant to get a CNY hamper for D's family. Goodness gracious. The hampers were pricey but filled with junk. I decided to handpick some better items, although for the same budget, there would be less items and I'd get a smaller hamper. Oh well, better than cheap sugar-crusted jelly sweets or plasticky chocolate any day. Besides, it's more gratifying to push the trolley around and choose items the recipients would like.

Dinner with D's family and drinks with friends
It was his folk's last night in KL before they fly back to Adelaide, so we had dinner before dropping them off at the granny's. Nothing else seemed to be open in the USJ area on the first day of CNY, so we ended up at a vegetarian restaurant. After that, we met up with some friends for drinks at Chili's in Midvalley. It was a good catch up session with LY, WY, EK and AW who's back from Shanghai.

Not so 'ong' 2nd day
Didn't do much but rest and recover from the ride the day before. Had dinner at my aunt's place. Sunshine had a swell time running around the big garden and having everyone fuss all over her. Later, D & I went to LY's cousin's place for a few rounds of cards. Not very 'ong' at all la this year. Must be Aunty HN's boob-shimmying and leg-crossing ala Sharon Stone disturbing the 'luck'. Hahahaha.

Packed 3rd day
Visited KY's place on Saturday afternoon. My, her belly had gotten bigger. Zombee was cute as always, yelping at the back for some attention. Then I went over to The Curve for quick meet up with the old DDBi gang as SC was back from Vietnam. So nice to see everybody again. Then it was off to LY's place for another round of cards. Still not very 'ong'. Lost some at Dai Dee but managed to recover some at the Black Jack table.

The Chins, Chong, Oois & Mah
Met up with the girls. SY's belly has grown as well since we last met at MT's wedding. After coffee and catching up, AV and I met up with the boys after their basketball game. KC and CC hadn't changed a bit. Put them and D together, aiyooohh, it's like a trip back to our GMSJ Youth days over a decade ago. Hahaha. And oh, the Sup Kambing at Darus Salam in SS15 Subang Jaya, SUCKS. All MSG and fatty meat with an overdose of spice. Uggghh.

Got sick :(
The following few days were horrible. Got a bit of a fever. Sore throat. No sniffles, but a dry cough. My tonsils swelled up. Doctor asked me to consider removing them one day, cos they get inflamed so easily. It's been a week and I still get the hacking cough. Damn the heaty CNY weather. No lah... it's not all the bak kua I ate. I didn't get enough of those. Sniff.

The Chans
Visited CN on Saturday and it was so good to see her and hubby after so long. And while I heard that her sister (3 years our junior) just gave birth to a baby girl 3 months ago, it didn't sink in until I saw SN with her baby. And I still remember SN in her high school pinafore. OK, that was about 10 years ago, but gosh! In my mind, she still that tall, young, pretty girl with the school bag. She's still tall, young, and pretty - but now she's a mom, with baby bags!

It's Day 12 today. Chap Goh Meh on Thursday.
Shites, only 3 more days of Angpow collection!

Whoosh...

The week went by really quickly.
Busy at work. Tried squeezing in some workouts in between.

Body took awhile to recover from the previous Sunday's ride.
Going up K.Klawar (or Perez as it's called by other cyclists) really did me in, and an attempt to run on Wednesday was rather pathetic. It's as if my cycling legs screwed up my running legs, so I did some weights instead. Went for RPM on Thursday, and while I noticed it's getting a little easier, I sweated buckets like never before. Good or bad sign, I dunno.

Thursday was also when D took my dad out to watch the Federer vs Sampras match in Shah Alam. Such a sweetie. Apparently my dad was screaming and cheering his heart out. For the few hours in the stadium, he wasn't a little frail old man. Hahaha. So funny.

Saturday
Swim lesson in the morning again. Assistant coach taught me a drill to help my freestyle (main coach went off with the kids for a swim meet) . I'm starting to feel a little doubtful about the classes here. He kept forgetting I was there to improve on my strokes, not to learn how to swim. Geeez. He only taught me the drill after I reminded him when he asked me to do the same stuff as another student who didn't even know how to float.

After class, I sent my car for service nearby, walked home (which took 15mins) cos I still couldn't run, and took Sunshine for long walk with a few running bursts (45mins). She was all pooped out by the time we got home (the weather was scorching even though it was about 11am). So cute to see her sleeping contentedly after that.

Sunday
Had a good ride at Ulu Langat again. Left the house at 6.45am and there was a freaking jam on the Federal Highway. The cops turned a 4-lane into a 1-lane because of the rioting in town. Damn! Luckily it cleared quickly enough and I got to Ulu Langat on time.

We took the route round the dam to the nasi lemak stall this week. The ride felt easier than my first. At least I was struggling as much going up the hills. The best part - I'm not aching very much today.

What did I do differently? I drank a whole bottle of Gatorade before the ride, and another during. Ate some nasi lemak at the rest stop half way, drank some Revive, and then downed 2 cans of Gatorade after the ride. Not as stiff and achey as my first ride. Can't compare to last week's ride of course, which was a different route and uphill all the way. Hmmm. I wonder if my client (Pepsico) would sell Gatorade to me in bulk at a cheaper price. Teeheehee.

Met up with the girls for coffee for some catching up as AV was back from Singapore for the weekend. There were only 4 of us since EL left for London. The latest news would be SY's preggers-ness. AV bought her some baby clothes - a really pretty colourful striped outfit with socks.

I said "Cute." They were really cute, but I guess I wasn't overly enthusiastic with a cccccccuuuuuuuuuuuuuttttteeeee or something. But they had a good laugh (at me) cos they could see this whole 'baby' thing was kinda freaking me out. SY would be the first in my close bunch of girlfriends from high school to have a baby. And of course, AV and SY being married, they turned to CC and me, and asked when it'd be our turn.

Errr....
AIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Knowing SY and HM, their kid would be a real cutie.
There's no denying that! :)

50 years and ho hum...

31 August
I spent the Merdeka weekend catching up with friends and running errands. Managed to go for a facial on Friday, only to have the lady at Dermalogica tsk-tsking at me for missing my appointments for the past 3 months, hence my splotchy, dry skin.

At night, there was MH's housewarming. He's the guitarist in the band I play with and he's got this awesome pad at The Maple in Sentul West. I've heard alot about this place but I've never been inside before, and whoa. Very nice. The party started at the poolside next to the landscaped gardens and we later adjourned to the apartment upstairs.

From the balcony, there was a beautiful view of Sentul Park (home to KLPac), the Twin Towers and the city skyline. Just beyond the park was the half-completed Saffron, reason for my lifetime of debt. But that's on the East side of Sentul, where an apartment unit is half the price of The Maple, or less. But I suppose you do get what you pay for. Hahaha!

Anyway, I didn't really know anyone apart from CC and MI from the band, so we pretty much did the anti-social thing and stuck with each other, talking about the current state of affairs in the country (it was Merdeka day after all). They were both lawyers, and even they felt it was hard to stomach certain things they deal with on a daily basis. These days, it's apparently not a question of race biasness anymore. It's all about the money. Even with the right skin colour, it's hard to run a righteous business even if you wanted to. No details were divulged, but they'd seen their fair share.

From there, the conversation strayed to stories they read about the May 13 incident and stories they heard from some actual survivors (the ones who were involved in the riots and not in hiding at that time). They were quite shocking. It may have happened decades ago. But it's not hard to see why the undercurrent of resentment still runs strong today. It seems like we're a broken family putting up false pretenses in front of the neighbours, when it's less than cheery behind closed doors.

I may be politically apathetic at best. But I'm quietly patriotic at heart. And it's sad to think that after 50 years of independence, the country doesn't really have much to shout about apart from some tall shiny buildings and several white elephants. After 50 years, that group of people (or rather, the politicians who represent them) still want to play victim. And after 50 years, the whole rhetoric about racial harmony and opportunities for all is getting a little stale.

Lazy Saturday
Went window shopping and then to the gym with LY for an easy 45-minute session on the cardio machines, followed by sushi. We sat there watching the sushi train go by, in a sleepy daze thanks to the dreary, rainy afternoon. Later, it was a long night of playing Magic the Gathering with D, SM and NT. Still getting the hang of it and it's been fun so far. The artwork on the cards were really cool too.

Catch up Sunday
Spent some time playing with Sunshine. She got a bath and was all sweet smelling and I could bury my face in her neck. I love how she looks without her collar on. All gorgeous and fluffy after a bath and blow dry although she simply hates the hairdryer. It was a wet drizzly day, so it was a must, or she'd be a wet dog scampering about. Good thing about bath days, she gets to come inside. And she'd hop next to me for a nuzzle. My camera batteries are dead so no new pictures of her. Must get the batteries soon. I'll need them for Hong Kong too.

Met up with some girlfriends for coffee. EL's leaving for London in 2 weeks to do her postgrad in Dentistry for 3 years. It was good catching up with the gang cos we rarely spend time together unless someone's getting married or back from abroad or leaving for somewhere. I miss them. Later that evening, D and I went to buy DVDs, made salmon and cream cheese dip and sat down to watch Ocean's 13. George Clooney Dip and crackers. Yummy. Not a bad way to end a Sunday.

For some strange reason, my Streamyx's been acting up at home the past few days. My wireless is working but I get no connection. Or it's super super slow. And Blogger won't load. Neither will Yahoo at times. Realllllly weird.

Sigh. Happy Monday everybody.

Better late than never!

A HAPPY belated BIRTHDAY shout out to these March 29 babies:

CN who celebrated her birthday in Europe with her hubby on a baby-making holiday *hehehehe*. So much for "Buatan Malaysia" huh?

Wally. Thought of drawing you a birthday cake and posting it but the only artist around here is you.

And last but not least, Mint Chutney, the spicy mama. If you'd like a taste of her, try this:

Ingredients :
1 cup firmly packed mint leaves
6 spring onions
2 fresh green chilies
1 clove garlic, optional
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons water

Method :
The easy way to make this fresh chutney is in an electric blender. Cut the spring onions into short lengths. Seed the chilies and stalks removed. Put everything into the blender container. Blend to a smooth paste. If a blender is not available, finely chop the mint, onions and chilies. Pound in mortar and pestle a little at a time, until ground to a paste. Mix in remaining ingredients. Pack into a small dish and smooth the surface. Cover and chill until serving time.

Hope it was a good one, y'all!

Yummm!

Mixed Nuts

My dad's been quite a chipmunk, invading my nut stash to make a mixed nut snack. I bought a medium pack each of pecans, pistachios and almonds some time back. Thought I'd keep them handy in case I feel like making some biscotti.

My dad loves nuts, so I told him to help himself to some if he feels like snacking on them. Suffice to say, my nut stash is depleting quite rapidly. If I don't make biscotti soon it'd all disappear.

He made me a little container to bring to work the other day.
It was so yummy I finished the whole thing. A second container now sits half full, beckoning the same fate. Aaarrgghh...

What's inside - pistachios, almonds, pecans, white peanuts, all toasted briefly in the oven. And, some of the biggest, fattest raisins I've ever seen. They're really yummy, and yet, not too sweet. There's no added salt, but the nutty flavour and the raisins go really well together. I'd take a picture, but how it looks won't do justice to how it tastes. Maybe I'll do a dressed up photo of them nuts this weekend.


Empingan Berlinjau (Berlinjau chips)

I have no freaking idea what a berlinjau is. All I know is, I can't find it anywhere in KL. I had a meeting in JB on Friday, and on the drive back up to KL we stopped at the Ayer Keroh rest stop and I found these chips. The first time I had them was at a friend's open house.

My guess is it's a fruit of a tree, dried or steamed, and then rolled flat and then deep fried. It's crispy, with a slightly bitter aftertaste. Not exactly starchy and yet, doesn't have that oily taste of other chips. Strange.

Of course, I ate them all before I could take any pictures. I bought 2 packs. Finished one in the car on the drive up. Finished another at home. I had a long, tiring week. I deserved it!

Okay, I'm a pig. Though I did share it with my dad.

Post edit: Another blogger wrote about the belinjau here with pictures even. Go see!

Then I googled 'berlinjau' and found 'belinjau' on Wikipedia.

The Gnetales consist of a single genus, Gnetum, which are mostly woody climbers in tropical forests. However, the most well-known member of this group, Gnetum gnemon, is a tree. The seeds produced are used to produce a crispy snack known as 'Keropok Belinjau' in Malaysia and Indonesia. The Malay name for this plant is 'belinjau'.

.

D's CKT

We were chasing episodes of 4400 when he said he'll fry up some char koay teow. The only other thing he's ever cooked for me being instant noodles, I arched my eyebrow in disbelief.

Some pottering about later, I had a hot plate of CKT in front of me. They were out of bean sprouts but there were chopped cabbage, some prawns, chicken meat and egg. But whaddya know... it was actually RATHER GOOD. It didn't look like the CKT you'd get at the shops, but the garlicky fragrance and taste were all there. Quite impressed lor!


JK's birthday

We had Ka Soh's Fish Head Noodles at Vintry in Damansara Heights yesterday. The rainy weather was perfect for the tummy warming soup and smooth rice noodles. The wine that followed was yummy. Though it was mighty strange how JK ended up buying the wine. Eh! :) Hope it was a happy, happy birthday! Hugs!

Vintry's just wonderful. A good wine selection in a cosy little place. And you can order food from any of the restaurants along that row of shops. Must remind myself to do a proper full review in my foodie blog when I have more time.

Whoa, where did the weekend go?

I spent 3 hours of Saturday morning at the gym. The longest time clocked in since... I can't remember. I went for a 45-minutes long RPM, followed by a long, brisk walk at the treadmill for 30mins (wanted to run but I didn't want to overdo it after being such a lardball for so long) and then I went for Body Pump.

Shites! After a few months of not joining a Body Pump class, I had become such a weakling! Last time, carrying the basic 2.5kg plates on both sides (=5kg) wasn't much of a problem. This time, I could really feel the weight. I went on with it anyway, and now every muscle in my body is still in pain after 2 days.

After a short rest, I went to Optimax for a follow up. They told me my eyes had healed well and that my not-so-sharp vision on my right eye was due to my slight astigmatism (which I had all along and the LASIK only fixed my short-sightedness). But it's quite mild and did not really affect my normal vision. Hmm. The optometrist did say the astig could go away and improve with time, so I'm hoping for that. Meanwhile, it's eye drops to keep them bright and healthy (even though they don't feel like they need it anymore).

Saturday night was SY's hen night.
Eight of us checked into the Ascott (wow, beautiful, beautiful place), chilled out, walked over to TGI Fridays for dinner and then back to the apartment for wine, cheese and girly chit-chat (about things that shall remain within the many walls of the apartment, hehe). We took polaroids throughout the night and next morning at breakfast and put together a little scrapbook for her.

It was such a lovely nite out with the girls. And AV did such great job of organising it, with rose petals, candles and chocolates strewn all over the place to boot! Now we're all looking forward to SY & HM's wedding about a month from now.

After we left the Ascott, I picked up my dad, aunt and uncle from the bus station. They went to Singapore to visit my cousin, and boy, did they come back with a boot load of goodies. I sent my ku mah and ku cheong back to Setapak, then dad and I rushed home to give the dog a bath while the sun was still up.

Then it was a mad dash to a gathering at CL's new condo. I barely had time to shower, let alone prepare something for the potluck. So I bought some cream puffs on the way. I was running at least an hour late!

OH. MY. GAWD. The condo was beautiful. The living area, kitchen and master bedroom offered views of a lush forest, the KL skyline and the Twin Towers. It also had a huge balcony with a nice wooden-decked terrace. Very, very nice. It really felt resort-like, in a quieter, greener part of town. The price tag was equally nice too, of course.

YL made a wonderful sheperd's pie, with sliced leek on top. And CL made this fantastic sangria with red wine, ginger beer and bits of cut fruit (I especially love the bits of canned pineapple which absorbed all the wine!). I was quite red and happy in no time. Mmmm.. am still thinking of that leeky sheperd's pie. The satay was great too. And we had lots of cake and dessert.

So we chilled out on the wooden deck. Their two schnauzers scurried around, fighting for our attention. The crickets and cicadas sung their songs. And as the sun went down, silhouttes of raintrees melted into the night. Very relaxing. We all lamented about having to go to work the next day.

But that's always the case on Sunday nights, isn't it?

Vroom vroom...

Probably only the French assign gender to inanimate objects, but I can't help referring to my car as a 'him'. He bathes once a week. He's full of gas. And he doesn't take dents very well.

My first car was a golden brown Proton Wira 1.3 Aeroback. Every other Malaysian drove this car, if not another car from Proton. But made in Malaysia cars were all I could afford in 2002, and it served its purpose pretty well.

So I named him Mr.Brown. It was an unassuming, common, blend-into-the-highway type of name. Like Smith. Or Lee. Or Chan. Or Tan. Or Wong. But none of those would describe the car as nicely.

Everyone else felt my car was more gold than brown. But calling it Mr.Gold simply didn't feel right. Mr.Gold sounded like a moustachio-ed body builder who owned a gym. Wait, there IS gym called Gold's Gym somewhere in town, isn't there?

Anyway, Mr.Brown died an untimely death end 2004 when I fell asleep on the wheel and crashed it into a curb (the car was written off, but I was thankfully unscathed). Poor Mr.Brown. I killed you.

After I pulled myself together and started driving again, I bought a Hyundai Accent. It's actually a very tough rally car disguised as a sedan. After the accident, a tough car was what I wanted (not that I had intentions to crash this one too).

Anyway, the car is a blackish shade of blue. Or a blueish shade of black. Kinda like a bruise. Ladies and gentleman, Mr.Bruise. Tom Bruise.

It's been a year and a half since.
And I'm pleased to say he's still alive and running.

My brother sold off the family's 20 year old white Proton Saga recently to help finance his new car. No, it's not called Mr.White, but The Old Jalopy. I didn't get into this whole 'naming' thing till much later in its life, you see.

So, the dear TOJ was gone and bro started driving a light gold Perodua Myvi. It's unmistakingly gold. Because he's a guy, the car's automatically female in my twisted mind. Heh. So I named it Goldirocks. But don't tell my brother. He won't find it amusing.

LY a.k.a Itchyfeet also got her Perodua Myvi recently. A black one. It too, was given a name by yours truly.

ITCHYBAN.
Cool what! Itchyban on the autobahn... not that we have an autobahn here anyway. But now that she drives to Sepang for work every day, she can pretend, can't she?

Of pirates and doctors

I love Dr House.

I love his methodical yet lateral way of thinking, caustic remarks and sarky comebacks.

And thanks to my own personal pirate (who wears pretty pink eye patches and a nicely manicured hook), I now have in my possession, 2 seasons of Dr House.

I saw 3 episodes back to back last night on my laptop.
But not before my Windows Media Player gave some problems and would only play the sound, sans video. I tried opening the file with other software. Cannot also.

A phone call to said pink pirate solved the problem.

"Oh sorry, I forgot to give you the KODAK. I'll email it to you lah, Nut."

"KODAK? Er... okay. Whatever that is."
Thinks to myself, "Kodak now deals with video compatibility software too?"

So she sends me the software. Some dunno-what-VID-dunno-what.
Then I opened my WMP again, and saw this at the bottom of the screen, 'Error downloading codec'.

OH. Codec.
Whatever.

"Geek ah, I open the video file with the CODEC thing ah?"

"No la... just install it. Then open with WMP can oredi."

"OH."

It worked. God bless her (and have mercy on our souls).

She's got a job to do!

Miss Day, my lovely octogenarian neighbour, had another birthday recently. I took her out for dinner last night and she looked not a day over 65.

I wanted to bring her to Las Carretas in Taipan, USJ, a Mexican restaurant. But when we got there, it wasn't there anymore! So we ended up having dinner Kopitiam-style where Las Carretas used to be.

Her vigour and cheerfulness despite her painful old joints were a big contrast to my moody dragging-of-feet. But darn me if her joy wasn't infectious. I simply love this old lady.

After summarising what's been happening in her life and then mine, she grabbed my hand and told me, "That's that. Just let go and let God take care of everything. God loves you."

Somehow, I always knew that at a cerebral level.
But I never really felt it. Not until now.
Through her touch and her dark, black cherry eyes, I felt God was trying to remind me that He's always within reach. If only I would depend on Him a little bit more instead of marching off into the sunset like some macho cowgirl who don't need no one.

We talked about so many things. And she wondered why God had not taken her home. She's tired, and ready. But every day, God would tell her that there is still so much for her to do. And if you knew what this woman gets up to, you wouldn't be surprised.

She lives alone (most days), sleeps only 4 hours a day and spends the rest of her time counselling troubled people from her church, praying for others, potter around the house and running her own errands. She even drives all the way to Tesco in Mutiara Damansara from Subang Jaya to do her grocery shopping.

Did I mention she's 81?

To me, it's obvious why she's still around.
God has given her a job to do - to bless people around her with her love and radiance. To show them that in life, there is joy in adversity. And to help them see that there is something much bigger than themselves.

Here's to Miss Day's good health.
Amen.

Thanks for the postcards!

All the way from Italy, I received a postcard with a recipe, no less, for pesto ala Genovese. If only I could read Italian... How did Snowie & Spot guess that pesto is my favourite pasta sauce (and savoury bread spread!)? I love it with fettucine, topped with parmesan shavings, freshly ground black pepper, and for a fuller meal, some chicken breast grilled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Mama mia! Thanks, you two! I hope you guys ate and took lots of pictures of REAL Italian food! :D



And from Down Under, there was a postcard from Perth, where the Chic Geek was on holiday, getting melancholic over her days as an Aussie uni student in Melbourne. I know how you feel babe. Australia is 'home' in more ways than we can say.

While we're on the topic of postcards, here are some I've received since I started collecting them. Courtesy of new friends I've made here on blogosphere:



And old friends who've had the opportunity to travel quite a bit, to places like London, Rome, Florence, the Vatican, Belgium, Greece, Paris, Montreal, Monaco, Phuket, Kathmandu. *Most of these pictures are of two postcards in each.

Cold-blooded housewarming

D recently moved into his new apartment, two floors up from his rented place. It looked exactly the same, but with a fresh coat of paint, nicer furniture and five air conditioners (wow).

Anyhoo, it was his housewarming recently, and he invited some friends over. One of which was a reptile fanatic, who brought his beautiful pet rainbow boa constrictor along.

I'm not one to be squeamish about reptiles, so I loved holding it and letting it coil around my neck and arms. In fact, I was so charmed by it, its owner was worried I'd traumatise the poor thing. I guess he got worried when I said his snake felt just like a leather handbag. With a pulse.


See its rainbow sheen? So pretty huh?


Feels just like snake-skin.

Reptiles aside, I made a tiramisu for the little party.
Read about it in my foodie blog. ;)

Shryh, Geekchic & Wandernut meet!

Geekchic was in town from Penang yesterday, a quick stop before her flight down under. So she took the opportunity to catch up with Shryh (who also happened to be in town) and me for brunch.



Chit chat. Rant. Laugh. Chit chat.
It was fun meeting Geekchic and her other half JS again, and Shryh for the first time. Not to mention the food was really lovely as the following pictures would illustrate.

We went to Marmalade, Mont Kiara (I first went there with LY a few weeks ago) for their lovely salads and desserts. Mmm mmmm...


Mushroom Bruschetta


Pear & Pumpkin Salad


Sounds of Havana Salad


Mozzarella Sandwich


Mushroom Quiche


Lemon Lime Tart


Apple Crumble

All these washed down with 4 lattes between us.

Good company, good food.
What more can you ask for on a Saturday afternoon.

Wish I was there...

My friend YL just spent 3 weeks in Spain on her "I'm in between jobs" holiday.

As usual, I requested for postcards (I love postcards) and she sent me one from every city she visited.


Barcelona


Madrid & Cordoba, Seville & Granada

Her last such holiday was 2 years ago when she went to Rome and Florence in Italy (I shall add pix of the postcards she sent me in this post soon). Spot and Snowie are going next week. Envy envy envy! Send postcard boleh kah?

Sigh. Spain and Italy.
Definitely in my "Places to see before I die" list.
If only I had more 'kaching-kaching' and annual leave to travel out of South East Asia. In the meantime, it's Cambodia and Thailand two weeks from now. Wooooohoooo!