Is that a CCTV @ Hokkien Mee at Damasara Uptown?!

I just came back from eating the famous Damansara Uptown hokkien mee. While paying for dinner bill, I noticed an oddity. Lo and behold, this unassuming makan place actually has CCTV surveillance installed and the cashier actually monitors the patrons sitting along the five-foot-way. Don't play-play k.. HAHAHA

And oh by the way, I discovered another gem also. For those of you who have heard and tried the famous Tanjong Malim Pepper Meehoon Soup, you can now satisfy your cravings and save some petrol and toll money, and order at this restaurant. It's called
Pork Soup Meehoon and trust me, it comes heavily-armed with pepper.

Enjoy!

DIY Christmas Wreath

This Christmas, I decided to try making my own personalised christmas wreath.



These are the materials I used: ribbons, pine cones, poinsettias, christmas wreath (bought this from IKEA), gardening twist tie (can be bought from your local hardware store) and a pair of scissors.

And the finished product...

A fruitful night

This year, I wanted a different look for my Christmas tree and I decided my theme shall be red and gold.

The tree and lights were up since Monday but I sorta procrastinated in getting the decoration bits, until last night when Lil' Sis asked me when am I gonna complete dressing up the tree. So after sharing our plans for the weekend, we decided we will get the decoration bits yesterday night after watching Australia Next Top Model Cycle 3.

We hit IKEA at 9pm and by 10, we were done. Very efficient indeed. We were both on an enthusiasm "high" and we reached home, started stringing the baubbles and decorated the tree.

And ta-da...

My Christmas tree, given a new facelift

Merry Christmas to all!

Mobile pharmacy

Call me paranoid.. but I have a pouch of medicines which I always keep handy in my handbag. And I mean they are with me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Don't get me wrong, I am perfectly healthy, except that my cholesterol is a wee bit on the high side. Which the good doctor have not prescribed any medication except the good ol' advice of exercise. I started this habit of having my medications handy eversince I have migraine attacks 5 years ago. Migraine is no joke, and for me there's no cure until I pop that 1 pill of Cafergot.

Over the years, I have added a few more items to my mobile pharmacy. At my last check, these are what I carry: 1 strip of Panadol (fever/headache), 10 tablets of Cafergot (migraine), 1 strip of Ponstan (menstrual pains), 1 strip of Immodium (diarrhoea), 1 strip of Clarinase (flu) and 1 strip of Xyzal (allergies)

And today, they were put to good use. When I came back from lunch, a colleague bump into me and just ask, "Do you by chance have any diarrhoea medication?"

It felt good that they are finally able to rescue someone other than myself :)

How do you know he's the one?

This morning while driving to work, one of the radio station's breakfast show was asking listeners out there to call in and share how do they know they have found The One...

And I wholeheartedly can identify with this particular caller who said that she knew he's the one because he made her she felt comfortable whenever she is with him.

I am the type quite prone to having mini-crushes when growing up... *blush*

I think I almost got the ground covered: lead singers in boybands, the senior in high school, the geeky-but-cool college dude, the gwailo uni-mate, the cyber-guy from sixdegrees.com, couple of guys from a dating agency and also guys I met in my working life.

All of them made my heart skipped a few beats but nothing spectacular happen. Is The One so hard to find? Do I have to kiss a few frogs before he finally come along? There was a phase in my life that my radar was always on the look out for books (including those by Christian authors) along the theme of "He's not that into you" and "The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing" just so I can hone my skills in getting Mr The One. It got to a point I wondered if The One is a myth, an urban legend. Until Hubs came along...

How we got together is pretty ordinary. We met through work and for the record he couldn't remember who I was when we were first introduced because I was too junior to make business decisions. Huh!

We officially got acquainted when I have to meet Hubs a few days before CNY 2006 to approve this poster that we have ordered from his company. What was supposed to be a 5 minutes yeah-this-looks-OK-and-you-can-start-the mass-production turned into a 2 hour chat. The key thing I remembered when we said goodbye was I felt really comfortable talking to him. My heart was beating normally for once, and I remembered telling myself "hmmm.. maybe can consider".

The fish has taken the bait, when half an hour after we parted, Hubs sent me a text saying the roads were all congested due to the pre-CNY rush... and that's when I reeled in the fish. *beam*



p/s: Meet HRH the Frog Prince. I bought him from IKEA before I met Hubs to remind myself that The One is still out there :)

Jupiter, Venus and Moon sighted together

Yesterday night around 8pm, my father called me excitedly to tell me of this rare once-in-every-44-years sighting of Jupiter, Venus and the crescent moon in alignment forming a smiley face.

I quickly told Lil' Sis "Come on, let's go see the moon" and true enough this is what we saw yesterday night with our own naked eyes.


The next time these three can be viewed as visible as this will be in Nov. 18 2052.
Truly amazing...

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

It just hit upon me that it's the end of the financial year in my company and next Monday is the start of a new calendar year.

This time last year, I was most busy and stressful. Trying to meet meeting deadlines and get everything prepared before I went on 2 weeks leave to prepare for my wedding.

This year, it's different. It's another 2 weeks before I say farewell. And it also signifies that my new chapter is fast approaching...

*panic*

It's amazing how the subconcious works and how much it tells..

.. with some aid from wine, of course :)

I had lotsa fun (with friends to keep reminding me how much) during Wednesday night dinner.. Don't know why I can let my hair down so much. On second thoughts, doesn't take a lot to guess why for those in the know.. hehehe

It amazes me that my subconscious is rather conscious although outwardly I didn't seem to be. I certainly couldn't remember how I got back home, although I knew I got into my car. I couldn't remember if I locked my car which only hit me when I reach my unit doorstep and have to make another trip down to carpark just to check. Which I discovered the car IS locked. I couldn't remember taking out my contact lenses but when I got up in the morning, there they were nicely soaking and getting moisten up in the contact lens case.

It's like I was on autopilot. Amazing isn't it how much the things that we do every day, every night, every minute, every second, until it become so mundane that we do not realised that EVERYTHING is captured and imprinted into memory and allow us to still function when the situation calls for it.

But the morning after, OMG, it was such a torture. The hangover was a killer and I wished so much that it was the weekend. And of course a lot of red-cheeks and I-can't-recall doing-that moments in the office when friends updated on what I was capable of the night before, including pouring three rounds of chinese tea for everyone at my table, saying it was 11.10pm and the night was still young, reading every song titles that's displayed on my friend's car sound system and becoming a live GPS telling when to turn right and what are the landmarks.

What a night!

So when's your turn?

Under normal circumstances, this line of questioning only happens when the family gathers together and the elders will then target the singles in the family on when are they planning to settle down.

But it took a different twist when I attended my cousin's baby daughter full moon party yesterday night. Aunts and cousins kept on asking me when is my turn to start a family. After all it's already coming to a year that Hubby and myself were married and of coz age is catching up. Not good to keep delaying.

*sigh*

And I'm of the opinion that after the first baby is born, the family will ask "So when are you planning for the 2nd one?"

Looks like there is just no ending to this...

Expo Penternakan Tenusu

Basically this translates to Dairy/Cattle Farming Expo. I just received a phone call inviting me to attend this event held somewhere in Jln Bangsar. The call transcript goes something like this...

Caller: Hello puan..
Me: Yes?
Caller: Puan ada masa tak..?
Me: *silence* (at the back of my mind i'm thinking this must be one of those credit-card scam)
Caller: Begini puan, saya ni buat panggilan, nak jemput puan untuk menghadiri satu expo... Expo Penternakan Tenusu
Me: Not interested!
Caller: *babbling..*
Me: Not interested!
Caller: *... and more babbling*
Me: NOT INTERESTED!
Caller: Ye ke? OK La. Bye

- end of call-

Can someone tell me where in the world has my phone number "visited" to get invitation to such events?!

Travel stories: What I learned in Siem Reap - being grateful of the little things in life

Lei navigating the roads where it's dry and dusty OR wet and puddle-ly

My recent trip to Siem Reap taught me one thing: that our city Kuala Lumpur is actually rather clean, at least where pavements and roadsides are concerned.

Upon touching down at Siem Reap International Airport, Lil' Sis and myself were met by Lei, our assigned tuk-tuk driver during our 4-days stay in Siem Reap. Sis was immediately excited when Lei informed us that we will be travelling to hotel by tuk-tuk. Me too, as it was my 2nd time on the tuk-tuk and thought it would be a fun experience. As the saying goes, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do".

However after about 10 minutes, the ride slowly became not-so-fun. As our tuk-tuk turned into the main street, the first thing that got to us was the fumes spewing out from lorries and trucks. I quickly stop breathing and without much fuss the offending truck turned off at some small lane.

But it wasn't long before another truck overtook us and in the process, stirred up another cloud of fumes and dust. I quickly covered my nose and mouth with my hands. But that's the least of my problem - I felt dust sticking to my lips, my teeth and when i grind my front teeth together, i actually felt sand. *yucks*

I told Lil' Sis that the very next thing we need to do is to look for a pharmacy and buy some face mask. She nodded enthusiastically as obviously, she too, felt the same thing. And it got worse when the weather becomes hot. According to Lei, the local city council does not do anything to clean up the roads of the dirt during the wet season, as oppose to the dry season where they will actually sweep up the dirt and transport them to elsewhere.

So Angkor stardust anyone?

Water vs Electricity...

Which one is more essential?

After surviving four days of water rationing, I say water wins hands down.

When there's no electricity, it sure gets a bit hot.. but there are 1001 remedies for that
The top 4 I can think of are:

• good reason to visit the malls for some retail therapy, betcha that even the significant other/spouse will NEVER EVER argue with u on that
• call up friends for some impromptu yumcha-followed by-dinner-followed by-after dinner drinks
• good reason to walk around the house in that brand new bikini
• build up ur biceps thru manual fanning of self

and the list goes on...

But when there's no water, the No.1 problem is where to do your business.. Even if ur plumbing is the rather-cloggy and not regular type, there's still the small wee-wee to think about.. u'know what i mean??

And there's also the daily shower.. I solved this by suddenly becoming this health-freak-cum-I-so-love-my-gym person, after a long absent of almost 2 years..
*blushing to my hair ends* ;p

On top of that, the dirty laundry piles up, the mugs are given a rinse rather than a proper wash and the household just become this big petri dish for microorganisms to breed.. uggh

My luck with windscreen

I still remember clearly, my very first windscreen accident. It happened while I was driving up to KL to start my very first job. While overtaking another car on the fast lane, I heard a very loud 'POP' and the next thing I knew, I couldn't see a thing in front of me as the windscreen cracked into million tiny pieces. Ever since then, I get paranoid whenever I hear the 'POP'. I would always tap the glass from the inside as if tempting fate "Don't u dare to break on me"

And today while driving home on the NKVE after a late customer appointment, I heard the dreaded 'POP' again. I was immediately on alert, prepared for the worse, did my tap test, but nothing happened. Boy was I lucky,  or so I thought, until I saw a line about 10cm in length appear out of nowhere on the edge of my car windscreen. I reached out scratch the glass from the inside. Smooth. It wasn't a crack after all. Maybe it's a twig/pine that got caught by the car door.

Upon reaching the brightly lit Damansara toll plaza, the twig begin to give off some glint whenever it caught some of the fluorescent lights. As I slowed down to tag myself out of the highway, to my dismay, it IS a crack after all.

Immediately I called Hubs in Jakarta to inform him and described what happened and nature of the crack. It was his car after all and I wasn't sure what to do next. But more so, I get very tensed when things happen to the car. It would be nice if car manufacturers can come out with a 100% maintenance free and break-proof car and I will be the first to book me-self one. :P

Hubs must have had some six sense going on when he renewed his car insurance earlier this year because thank God the windscreen is insured. And he has never insure his car windscreen before...

Coincidence or Law of attraction at work???

The cat who got the cream...

I just handed in my notice..

How does it feel? Truth be told, a bit relieved coz i was thinking about it the whole morning.. wondering when would be the right time.

Of coz i know i will not wait until it's 5.30pm just before going home for the day.

One chapter coming to a close and looking forward to a new beginning..

*grinning like a Cheshire cat*

What is melamine anyway?

Recently Malaysia is abuzz with the news of milk products tainted with melamine from China. It first started with infant milk formula and move on to candies, and as of last week certain brands of biscuits that one would buy from the sundry shop were found to be unsafe for human consumption (read about it here).

So what is melamine? For the uninitiated like myself, all i know from the news about melamine is that it is an industrial chemical used to make plastics and plastics can range from anything to everything right??

And last Saturday, the bulb in my brain finally litted when i realised what IS melamine. As i discovered while drinking my BKT soup with a plastic spoon, out of the corner of my eye, i saw the word MELAMINE WARE imprinted on my plastic spoon. Wow!

And so how safe is it to use plastic spoon or even bowl/plates? Well according to WikiAnswers, it is safe as long as the plastic is not overheated . So no more microwaving of plastics even though some claim microwave safe.

A tale between 2 cities

Hubs and myself have been living apart for close to 6 months now. Being newlyweds, the news of relocation certainly caught us off-guard but being career-driven, we told ourselves we will manage somehow with the long-distance relationship. And i thought this only exist when one is single and dating.. apparently not.

Intially the novelty of it excites me, with visions of me jet-setting to Jakarta at least once a month for conjugal visits including factory outlet shopping in Bandung. In reality, I have only been to Jakarta once due to work commitments that prevented myself for making more frequent visits.

Back home in PJ, somehow electrical appliances sensed that Mr Handyman aka Hubs is away, and decided to stop functioning one by one. It all started with the water heater, followed by the dining and kitchen lights. Now, i am not used to changing lights bulbs let alone calling the electrician for help, as usually when Hubs was around he would be responsible for all these. After a couple of nights of cold shower and trying to do some light cooking in the dark, i have no choice but to get them fixed.

As of now, everything in the house is fully functional (keeping my fingers crossed) with the exception of the dining hall lights. Oh well, one bulb blew and there are still four others to light up the place.. hehehe. So much for trying to make a career out of being a homemaker.