Help! I need me shades from the highlighter yellow!

WOW! The highlighter-yellow is so striking that it's reflecting off the wet tar road. Spotted near Damansara on Friday afternoon.

Overzealous guards at Perdana View

I have been back in KL for past one month or so to oversee some renovation works that we are doing at another unit that we just bought. At where home is here in Damansara Perdana, there have been a recent spate of break-ins and clearly the new condo management took it very seriously.

For one, when I was driving out of the carpark earlier this week, the automatic barrier failed to lift when i tagged my carpark pass. A guard then came over and requested to inspect my car boot, which is something out of norm because heck I'm not entering a Jakarta mall. BTW, securities in Jakarta malls are pretty tight. Guards are required to inspect the car boots, back seats and also car undercarriage for anything amiss/suspicious before they allow you into the carparks. On further probing, I found out about the break-ins and apparently the suspects were tenants or long-term stayover visitors. Hence the request to inspect car boots in the hope of recovering the stolen items. Later that day, notices were up in the elevator notice boards informing all residents of the break-ins and preventive steps the management have and will be taking to prevent further incidences.

They are also installing CCTV at all floors and have promised to increase frequency of guard patrols. Just this afternoon, when we came back from renovation errands for the new house, I told Hubs not to padlock the gate since we plan to leave again later in the evening for dinner at his aunt's. Thirty minutes later, "ding-dong" went my door bell. When I opened the door, a patrol guard was outside and he gently "reprimanded" us - please lock the gate.Well, I'll be damned.. Oh well at least the management kept to their promise. :)

My iPhone just came from Out-Patient Department

Something's not quite right with my iPhone battery the past few days. Numerous times in a day, my phone would auto-shut down, despite having a full charge the night before. The only way I could get it to power up again is to connect to some power source and when i did that, the phone would register, like a 10% battery status, and after leaving it to charge for a few minutes, the battery status suddenly jumps up to 85%. This aint' normal because in the past, at 85%, 65% or even 45% for that matter, I could surf with no problem at all until the phone automatically prompts me to charge the phone.

And last night was the most ridiculous. After experiencing like the 3rd or 4th blackout for the day, I put the phone to charge. Battery status when i plug on the power was 55%. Weird.. After 15 minutes of Big Cat Diaries on telly,when I checked my phone during the commercial breaks, it was still registering 55% charging status. By the time i finished Big Cat Diaries one hour later, it was only 56% charging status! Hmmm maybe my phone has aged.. After all it's 1++ year old already. Hopefully with the overnight charge, it would get back up to 100%, or so i thought.

I woke up around 730am this morning, and the first thing i thought of was "I wonder if my phone battery is at 100%" Guess what.. After a 7.5 hours worth of charge time, my phone is only at a pathetic 62%, averaging 0.8% charge per hour. This is DRASTIC man...

After searching the internet forums and apple online support, i decided to restore my phone to original factory status and see whether it make any difference. My only worry is whether the data on my apps gets backed up. All forums seems to suggest that iTunes does an auto back-up before restoration but just to be on the safe side, i manually copied all my important information.

Now it's half an hour post outpatient restorative treatment, and the first thing i noticed post-treatment is battery is miraculously registering a 100% charged status. All data on apps are in placed - nothing missing there. Let's see if this 100% dwindles down normal-ly. Keeping fingers and toes crossed...

Antidote to fast-food guilt trip..

.. and hoping it zero-rised my indulgence today. ;p

I get the occasional food cravings.. and usually they sorta take care of themselves once those urges are satisfied. However, today is especially bad. In all honesty, this is the first time I'm experiencing food craving this bad.. I blame it on the monthly visit from one particular Aunty Flo *sheepish smile*

You see.. I had fast food TWICE today. Yep! For lunch AND dinner. Although I had McD double cheeseburger earlier in the day, it just ain't enuf because by dinner time, I was thinking of KFC Hot 'n' Spicy 2-pc snack plate with its deep fried chicky skin coated with extra bits of crunchy batter. Talk about heart-attack meals. When I whatsapp Hubs, he was like Huh? Fast food for both lunch and dinner? And this is coming from the wife that is relatively more health-conscious than him.

By the time i was halfway through my 2nd piece of chicken, I was quite "tzai" (this in cantonese, I googled but can't seems to find any English word that best describe this feeling) with the whole day fast-food experience that I knew when I got home later, I was definitely gonna make myself a mug of green tea to "cut the fat". It's the same concept in bak kut teh. If you didn't know, the "teh" actually refers to cups of chinese tea drunk after a meal of bak kut teh to cut the fat. My version of yin and yang, hehe.

On top of this mug of green tea, I had a mug of pu-erh as well, which is touted to
break down fats, aid digestion and improve blood cholesterol level. 

Art in the city @ Pacific Place Jakarta

I just gotta snap a photo of this rather cute, funny looking statue while window shopping few weeks back in Jakarta. Because he reminded me of the Fantastic Mr Fox, which featured the voice of George Clooney as the urbane Mr Fox who couldn't resist going back to his farm-raiding days while battling issues of family responsibility and moral dilemma. Cute ain't it? :)

During that time, Pacific Place was having an art exhibition where statues, sculptures and display art pieces by Indonesian artists were tastefully placed at various locations in the mall for free public viewing. On a weekly basis, Pacific Place also has themed displays and just the week before, it was having a sea world theme featuring various man-made styrofoam sea creatures hanging from its roof/ceiling and a 8ft long ship made entirely of gummy bears to hoot. That sure attracted a lot of kids with their mummies and daddies for photo opportunity in front of the ship. 

One of my many new found talents

Officially as of 7:55pm just now,  I'm an amateur football commentator, but only when Liverpool FC plays. Hubs, who is back in Jakarta since Monday, is lost somewhere in the city while trying to make his way to his friend's in-laws to see friend's new baby. At the same time, Liverpool is playing against Arsenal like NOW. Which means he's missing the match altogether.

And so when he watsapp me: "U watching the game?",  I already know he wanted me to keep him posted on the latest updates of the match. Hence my Parenthood marathon is temporarily put on hold now while I switch to ESPN on Astro to do a live commentary for him. 

Some excerpts of my commentary ;P

Me: Looks like an arsenal player is injured and off the field

Hubs: *thumbs up*

Me: It's koscielny out, miquel in (BTW, I'm reporting this as the players name are being flashed on telly)

Hubs: Who is playing better?

Me: Errr... don't know la. U asking the wrong person

Hubs: Then what are you watching?!

Me: Watching the game la. And doing a live commentary. 

Oooo.. 2nd half just started. Back to the game and my duties. Hehehe 

Bargain hunting at G2K warehouse sale: A pre-requisite for all SAHW wanna-be

In case you haven't figure it out, SAHW stands of stay-at-home-wife which is what I am until we hear pitter patter of tiny feet :)

I rarely go for warehouse or end-of-season clearance sales. Mainly because I'm not much a clothes shopper, I hate crowds and queues (which is why I also avoid malls on weekends and public holidays), there's the dust and lints that makes my nose twitch, itch and sneeze, and yes the digging under piles and piles of clothes, with the agonizing hope of finding the correct clothes size.

And so when Lil' Sis came back yesterday, showing what she bought at G2K warehouse sale which is happening right now as we blog, until next Tuesday, or so I overheard the salesperson telling another bargain hunter, and when she told me the price per piece and her total bill, my antennae were immediately up. And how Lil' Sis got to know about it is total fluke. She received a sms from HSBC on the date of the preview, she went to  try her luck, got in, bought her stash of bargains and she's not even a HSBC customer! I dare say this IS providence my friends! :))

Lil' Sis did forewarned me tho on the crowd.. She told me to go early since I'm free and easy all the time. But shikes, I got an 11am appointment with my reno contractor. Am I kiasu enough to reschedule the appointment and be the early bird to leisurely browse at will and at ease? No, I told myself, I shan't succumb to kiasu-ism and decided to go after my appointment. The last advice from Lil' Sis in a very cautionary tone: I tell you first yeah, you GOTTA dig OK.

By the time I reach Menara Chan in downtown Jln Ampang, oh yeah, it is at that dreaded stretch that Renaissance Hotel, SJK(C) Lai Meng and the British Council sit, I was already battling the school bus crowd on the roads and the office girls lunch crowd at the sale venue. Not forgetting the rabid digging and fishing up pants after pants looking for the elusive size 36. And also the 1 hour queue just to pay. All in the name of beefing up my going out clothes. I have indeed succumb to kiasu-ism (I think) to a certain extent. Hahaha.

Baju Baju everywhere, where's my elusive size 36?

Lunch time bargain hunters! And the 30 and 50 is RM 30 - RM 50. Not percentages

My stash. Total damages RM 70, compared to RM 450 normal retail price. Teehee!

Eats: Mastro Meat Market

Mastro is a one-stop gourmet butcher-cum-restaurant that promises to serve the best meat collection in Jakarta. We came here for lunch on Saturday before hopping over to Roger's.

Mastro has an open concept. As soon as you step in, you can see the meat counter/butchery and dining area, sans kitchen though.  As Cantonese puts it, "yat ngan tai sai" (literal translation "one eye see finish"). And how you do this is, have a look at the counter and select what cut of meat fancies you and inform whether you would like it rare, medium or well-done. 

 For an extra of Rp 45,000 (roughly RM15), I had my Australian wagyu striploin with mash and salad on the side. I liked my wagyu because it was perfectly done to how I wanted it i.e. medium with juices oozing out once the meat was cut. Lovely! The mash was awesome and I can tell it was made from real potatoes - I could still see tiny chunks of potatoes that escaped the "masher". And the salad was fresh and crunchy with a light coating of almost runny mayo dressing. 

Hubs decided to got with set of the day which is "Surf and Turf", baked potato with cheese and bacon bits and salad on the side. The meat when it was first served up was disappointingly well-done although Hubs requested for medium as well. When we pointed this out to the waitress, they did up another one and this time to how Hubs wanted. The crayfish was a tad salty but still OK. Oh.. and we both opted to have the accompanying sauce on the side as well because then we could then taste the natural juicy meat without it drowned in sauce.

Total damage was Rp 431,400, roughly about RM 148, including drinks. All in all, I think I would be back once in awhile when the random beef craving hits. :)

****

Mastro Meat Market
Jl. Wolter Monginsidi No. 36
Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan
12170

My saviour...

I have been away from Hubs for the past 10 days, back here in Johor to visit my parents. Hence, I have been getting plentiful of unadulterated, peaceful slumber ;p

Alas, peaceful nights are about to end coz Hubs is flying into KL this evening. Which means that it's back to using these to block off those snores.. Well, at least until Hubs gets his sleep apnea sorted out.

These saviours are made of foam and are easy on the ears. I have previously used ear-plugs made of silicone and although they filtered out noise better than these, but I tend to wake up with painful ears caused by compression of the plugs against my ear when I sleep on my sides.