I am here!

Hi! Yah, I am still here. Not abandoning my blogs. Just been really busy since the last one month trying to get use to waking up at 6am and leaving the house by 645am to get to the new place. I think some might remember that the official working hours of the new place is actually 8.30am but they too practice pretty flexi hour. However, since I am currently carpooling with hubby, we need to leave home early so that he can be at his workplace by 8am after sending me off to my office! Yah, that means I am actually at the office by 7.30am and again, way before anyone else there. 

Initially, I will send him to work and then reach the office by 8.30am. Then during lunchtime, go and pick him up and he drive me back to work after lunch so that he will have the car and pick me up and go home after work. Then, after a week, we realised that not only it is too much of a rush but also very painful on the petrol cost! So, since one of us had to sacrifice, I decided I rather go to work early than rush around during lunchtime. 

As much as I enjoyed the quite time early in the morning at the office, I will be glad when we finally moved to our new place end of the month. Then babe will be using his bike since that is only about 10minutes from the new place. And as for me, I will see if I still want to go to work early:P

Anyway, that is it for now. Super lazy to do much blogging! Maybe when we moved to the new place and have more time...maybe.. :P

October 9, 2009 - HOROSCOPE!

My horoscope yesterday:

Your horoscope for October 9, 2009
The weightiness of the past few days seems to be lifting, and you will find that there is a slight breeze building up that will help to fuel your fire, Jen Lu. By having built a solid foundation, you have created a reliable launching pad from which to take off. Communicate what you have learned with others. Allow your opinion to be heard. A great deal of useful information will be exchanged.

I must say, this week has been a long but short week. Am I confusing you? Long because it seems that there are so much to learn and short because it seems that there is not enough time. It felt as if it has been decades since I joined this company but in actual fact only been less than 10 days. Well, today would be day-10 to be exact. How was it so far? Well, I can only say now I understand how this company can grow to 209,000 employees in over 60 countries! The group activities not only include business or profit making but also employee social well-being, safety and health as well as social activities.

I am involved in so many things on top of the daily activities that it is making me dizzy just thinking about it. But that alone would not have been a great task, challenging but not impossible to do since there are many guidelines from the group HQ. What irks me is actually despite being part of a big consortium, the processes and things are done, the daily task handling are still so primitive! And I can hear the exec keep sighing and banging her stuff around while going about her work (Not sure if this is for my benefit as the her new superior but definitely need to talk to her about that later).

I wonder if my manager is trying to 'cleanse' the department of oldies that simply cannot cope with the additional more challenging job requirement as part of a group. I seriously do not know but was informed on Tuesday that the prod planning manager is resigning. He has been with the company forever and decided to leave. The rest of us in the department are actually less than 2year-old and most are less than 1-year-old. Knowing my boss, he will most likely look for someone that have the drive and initiative to look for improvement to make things more efficient and effective.

I think we really need it. Looking at he complaints from customer the pass few months this year, some of the complaints are really due to really silly human error that if ever happen, should only happen once and not repeatedly!

Anyway, back to the horoscope, the weightiness lifting yesterday, how true. Because I actually see the light at the end of the tunnel getting brighter and brighter with each passing days because I can see some things that I can do in order to make things more efficient! Yar yar, I know, I am crazy. It just work but friends that knows me will know that I can never just lie still if I can see something challenging but improvement that is within my power or knowledge to do. I think that is why babe sometimes say I am being silly for being so passionate.... hehehe.....

Short talk: New place!

Just a short one! Too tired to update much. Started work at the new company since 1 Oct. Pretty boring first few days with not much to do. Basically, I am trying to absorb as much as possible from the manager that I am replacing before her last day. Hoping to be able finish the handover by next and then start hands on with her on hand for me to ask her questions if there is anything. Boss is starting to send me stuff to do starting with customer visit next Friday. At this time, I will reserve my comment to myself for now until I learned more because I got this feeling that I will start to recommend changes but I got this feeling that I need to think over carefully how to approach this so that people can accept this.
WISH they will speed up though! SO SLOW!!!!

On the good side, landlady agreed to waive the remainer of the year and let me just give her 2 months notice before vacant the place I am staying now so that we can find a place that is nearer to the my and babe work place now ^_^. Looking forward to move in Dec!! :P

2nd last day

PHEW! FINALLY, tomorrow is the last day of work at my current company. Immediately after that, Thursday will be my first day. And guess what, I have not start clearing my cubicle. I think I have a couple pair of shoes under my desk and some girlie stuff in the drawers! Oh, and also some containers and cups in the pantry. Hope I wont forget anything. Feeling kind of weird actually because till today, I am STILL doing work and STILL redirecting my colleagues to the new fella taking over the job.

Guess they are still trying to get use to not having JenJen around to ask question that they can get answer to almost instantly. And I can see the new fella is getting really stressed out now with the amount of work that he took on. I think he is already wondering what did he get himself into. I keep hearing him sigh and say "so much to do". All I can say is that I been doing it for more than 1.5 years. Just need some getting use to of course, all the 12 items in the list that our US boss told him he need to make sure he pick up and do.

Anyway, colleagues brought me out for my farewell lunch at Italiannies today. The food was so-so & nothing to shout about but we had great fun laughing and snapping lots of photos. 3 of us brought DSLR cameras and another a G9. We are slightly high and excited with the cameras and it being the 2nd last day for me. I think we were easily the noisiest crowd there. But who cares. We had fun. We can see the waiters and waitress had fun watching us making a fool of ourselves. HEHE!

Then, we walked around 1u for awhile to walk off our lunch and take some more photos. After that, of course back to office. That is where I got bombarded with lots of last minute questions from the guy (I call him puppy because he sit next to me and sharing my desk since the day he arrived from Taiwan like a lil faithful puppy!) and Merv also started to get worried.

Something that he said got me thinking because I was wondering why he is asking me all this questions that puppy should do. Turn out he is worried because they have been taking it for granted that I am here and based in the same office and it a simple matter of walking over to my cubicle if he need any information or do some brainstorming. In order word, took me for granted la! :P HAHA! But I am ok la. At least I know this people will FEEL the lost when I am not around. HEHE!

So, I sent my farewell email too already to the colleagues. Monday was emails to vendors and customers. And since Monday, been getting lots of emails, skype and calls asking me if puppy is taking over my job responsibilities, what is my role now. I think most of them expect either I got a promotion or transferred to another department especially since our co just bought over a company in Taiwan.

Some were pretty shocked when I said I resigned and last day is on 30 Sep! One vendor even go as far as asking me how come I NEVER mention to her that I am leaving. All I can say is that it is not my decision but my boss requested me not to mention anything to anyone of the vendors and customers yet till Monday. No idea why and not keen to ask as well because I might be shocked by the answer as usual.

A colleague who is the boss of the engineering department even ask if I am really leaving because he heard I resigned but thought I changed my mind because nothing seem to be different! I guess they are shocked because I still go about doing my work till well, today! But no choice. I simply cannot just let go like that la especially when I imagine my poor customers and vendors. Not to mention all the hardwork to pull in deliveries. So, while puppy work hard to download and assimilate all the information, I had to be the temporary firewall. HEHE!

YAR YAR! I am sot already with excitement! WOOHOO!!

Stupid stupid stupid

It is less than a week to my last day of work in this company and yet the COM still have the ability to irk and makes me feel like screaming at the top of my lung in frustration. Imagine this conversation among all the other members of the team and also a colleague from Taiwan that is going to take over my job scope:

COM: You are not suppose to contact end customer A.
Me: Yar but customer told us that we can contact his end customer A. He gave the authorisation to end customer A to communicate shipment with me.
COM: But this is not acceptable. You are not suppose to deal directly with end customer A. You should only deal with customer.
Me: BUT customer AUTHORISED and gave the permission to communicate on shipments related to this product.
COM: No. Can you guarantee that customer will not refuse to acknowledge the shipping arrangement made by you via the communication with end customer A. Can you be sure customer wont do this?
Me: ****PENGSAN AND 3-LINE". But COM, customer told me via EMAIL cc all the bosses that end customer A can deal directly with me.
COM: There is an email? Does the email cc his boss?
Me: Yes.
COM: Then it is ok.

ARGGH!!!!!

Case2, came meeting, same group of people:

COM: Lets have training 10am to 12noon today for him.
Me: Can we do this after lunch? I need to call customer for urgent shipping matter.
COM: Why do you need to call customer?
Me: Customer requested I call him once I have the final quantity for shipment today so that he can give me the final instruction.
COM: But shouldnt customer have provided you the shipping instruction earlier?
Me: Yes, normally they will but because this shipment is urgent and they need to know the final quantity so that they can make intelligent shipping priority to their end customer.
COM: No, this is not necessary. This is why I want to be in the training so that we can make sure no last minute things like this done. Send customer email to tell him the final quantity and ship tomorrow.

ARGGH!! ARRRRRGGGGGGGGH!!!!! First of all, customer said it is important and I have already promised customer that I will call him to let him know the final shipping quantity so that he can give the correct shipping instruction. Second of all, just because you are the boss does not give you the right to preach one thing and do another thing. What happen to 'think for the customer'???? Third of all, stop be so blardy unprofessional. Just because the candidate that I introduce for this job said that bosses need to be supportive and respect his subordinates AND you felt it is hitting a sharp arrow at you, it does not give you the right to be so idiotic and try to get at me at every opportunity.

I do not have control over what she will or will not say to you during interview. And so what if she said that? It is the TRUTH! BOSSES NEED TO BE SUPPORTIVE AND RESPECT HIS PEOPLE! JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT AND FEEL THAT SHARP SHARP ARROW SHOOTING & SHITTING AT YOU, not my PROBLEM!

Thank GOD I did not change my mind about leaving this stupid job. I think I am really stupid to let this get to me like this when my last day is 30 Sep! IF it was not for the benefit of the customers and my team members, do you think I will even bother??? This is not very nice of me BUT I hope whatever bad karma will go to you 100x worse than the way you treat your subordinate! STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID!

Crazy Old Man

I know I will be leaving all this behind in less than two weeks and I should not let it affect me. But it is pretty hard not to feel hurt and unappreciated when I been working hard to make sure that me resigning would not affect the team much. So, it is really upsetting to hear someone said straight to my face in front of other members of the team that he thought I no longer consider myself part of the team. And this is simply because I have not been keeping him in my email loop!

Really hurtful and irritating especially when I have done nothing but THINK of the team! If I do not consider the team, why the world do I bother to push the vendors so hard the last 2 weeks to pull in the deliveries so that it will not clash with the golden week holiday in China early Oct! In fact, in each meeting that we been having, I have been reporting improvement that the vendors were able to make in the delivery schedule after monitoring, pushing, begging and even threatening!

Did he think that the job just get itself done if I dont do anything about it. Did he think that if I do not put any effort to THINK of the team, things will somehow be ok? BLARDY IDIOT COM! And just because someone that I recommended for to replace me said during the interview that a boss need to be supportive and respect his people, I am automatically the prime suspect for such statement. Or perhaps I am the one telling my friend to say that to him? AGAIN, BLARDY SHALLOW COM!

To think that I actually have regrets for resigning from the company last few days. Talking to R about the potential that this company has and the career prospect, it makes me think perhaps I can reconsider my decision. But after today, it has reaffirmed my decision is the right one for me. No more doubt. Just a positive outlook of the next adventure in my career.

Sometimes I wonder, why the hell does the company do not do SOMETHING drastic already. How many more good people need to leave the company before anything will be done? Yar, it is easy to find a replacement but can the company be sure that the replacement will be as good as the person that they are replacing? And even if the person is, will he or she be able to work well in the team as we are now?!?

But I cant help thinking, did they dont even know how lucky they are to have this team? The few things that kept me going when I came home too stoned and tired to even cry is my husband, my friends and my team members! The only few regrets that I have about leaving this job is leaving the guys from my team to suffer. I hope and pray they know when to get out when things get too unbearable and have the strength to fight back. DONT LET THE BLARDY COM BULLY YOU GUYS!

I still cannot understand why God gave me COM though. Perhaps it is to make me look within myself, learn and know when to accept defeat. Perhaps it is to show me how 'unique' a boss can be. Or maybe so that I know myself better and push myself to higher level? Or it is simply to remind me of my goal to climb the career ladder?

Looking at the big picture, I know I have gained more than I lost. I can just imagine, 10 years from now, looking back into this chapter of my life, I will smile at my foolish optimism and naiveity.

Short talk: Desperation

OMG!!! I am so bored!! SOMEONE please rescue me!! It is not that I have nothing to do. I did all of it per usual but I think it is because I know that I will not be doing it much longer and hence, no challenge to make things better, i.e. now just keeping it at status quo, and hence, no challenge, no stress equals to BOREDOM! Life have no meaning la without aim and goal! I cant wait till it is my last day and I start at my new place!

SIGH!!!! I am actually FB-ing, FV-ing, MW-ing and YV-ing! All the -ing! And oh! BLOGGING! DAMN! Have not done this for awhile already. And I am also eating more than usual because I guess I am filling boredom with food? But even that is not curing it! HOW AH?? HELP!! Another 7 days of workday to go!!!

I know, crazy! Got pressure and stress also complaint. Dun have also complaint! But that is human nature la I guess :P

Short talk: Happy Talk :P

WeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! CLEAVER! FIGHT!

Guess what! Guess what!!! Something really exciting (and kinda scary too) happened while babe and I went to have bak kut teh for our dinner. It involves 2 big cleaver, a broom, big stone and a car! Oh, and 2 ladies! The story goes like this, babe and I were happily having our big bowl of bak kut teh at this place in Kepong called Ka Ka Bak Kut Teh (or in Mandarin it was actually Jia Jia Bak Kut Teh).

Half way through our meal, suddenly we hear this really loud honking. When we looked around, we realised that there was this red proton saga parked right in the middle of the road, blocking the other cars that is parking there from leaving. So, being the most natural reaction, the guy who is driving this old model of mercedes honked to get whoever the owner of the car to drive away. I think he must have honked for more than 15minutes and from the sound of the honking that is getting louder and longer, he is getting really impatient.

Suddenly, we hear this loud shouting from the 3rd floor of the shoplot! I think the Indian lady was shouting something about dont bug me. Go talk to the shop owner. And so on. She sound really angry and looks likes someone that has just been woken up from her sleep. That is what babe and I thought anyway, i.e. the long loud honking has woken her from a much needed sleep perhaps or a really bad day? Anyway, the car did stopped honking for a short while. Shocked from being screamed at for no apparent reason. I think he is also worried the crazy woman might just throw something down and damage his car.

But after awhile, he decided to start honking again. This time, the lady that runs the bak kut teh(BKT) shop came out and look around. She then too start shouting and this time from the road up the shop house! Apparently, the red proton saga belongs to the first lady that shouted from the 3rd floor! WOW! NOW we understand why she was shouting. The shouting match begins then and it start to escalate.

Suddenly, we saw the 3rd floor lady coming down the stairs and start to charge at the bkt lady! And to make matter even more dramatic, the bkt lady was carrying TWO big cleaver!The 3rd floor lady actually took some stick and tried to hit the bkt lady with it. I mean, this two women wa really going at it and really did seem as if they are going to hurt each other. The weirdest part it, no one except a Bangladeshie that is working there did anything at all.

By this time, the crowd has gathered, including those from a restaurant nearby! I saw the Bangladeshie made a phone call. And from the chaos, I was able to made out that he called the owner of the bkt shop. From the bits and pieces I heard, it seems that this has happened before! Anyway, after a while, the 3rd floor lady decided to go back to her place and start shouting from the balcony and have shouting match there. Some where, some how, the bkt lady decided to call the police. Shouted rather loudly and tell her kuli to call the mata (police in hokkien la).

The 3rd floor lady of course wont admit defeat. She too want to call the police. In fact, that is exactly what she did and had a loud conversation from her balcony in Manglish (Malay + English), I think for the benefit for the rest of us down here. At some point, she put down her phone and actually shouted at us, the customers and scolding us for supporting the bkt and eating there!

BKT lady got angry and started to shout at her again. And somehow, the thing got so heated that the 3rd floor lady started throwing things down from the balcony in her attempt to hit the bkt lady I guess. By this time, the cars that was being blocked by the red proton saga somehow managed to get out and move their cars away. If not, I am pretty sure those cars will have some dent by now.

Anyway, at first, she only throw those mini empty plastic flower pots. Then, suddenly as the bkt lady walk away, scolding all kinds of things at the 3rd floor lady, something really big and heavy landed at one of the table that is just 10feet away from me! Thank god the table was empty and the stone didnt hit anyone. It was actually a really big piece of broken brick! By then, people have actually left or moved table, leaving one corner of the bkt place empty.

I actually wanted to ask babe to lets go. But babe said she wont hurt anyone la. If she did, when she came down the first time, she would have went amok and hit the bkt lady with the broom or whatever she can grasp her hand on. I guess I agreed with babe on that point but sometimes when people anger boiled over, they might not know what they are doing. Anyway, we kept a pretty close eye on the 3rd floor lady to make sure that she is not throwing anything else that might hit us.

In the end, the reason for such fury was because she felt that because of the bkt doing business there, the customers are 'taking' her parking. In actual fact, since it is a shophouse, there is not reserved parking. I mean, any sane normal person would actually just move the car and parked in the space that was vacanted. No big deal right? If she wanted a reserved parking space, perhaps she should have looked for a higher end place to stay? Anyway, since I do not fully know what is going, I will reserve my judgement to myself. For all I know, something the bkt lady did previously provoked this resentment.

Babe and I certainly had some excitement and our adreneline pumping slightly. The drama and the hot bkt! What a combination :)

LONGG WEEKEND! YAHOO!

The smurf-song keep playing in my head!!! I cant get it out!! ARGGH!!! It keep on going 'lalalalala' over and over and over again. If you know the smurf-song, you know how irritating this is if that is all the music that keeps on going on like a broken record and you just cant turn it off!! GGRRR! This is all my babe's fault! He was teasing one day by lala-ing the song and since then, whenever I want to lala-ing, automatically this song will pop up!

ANYWAYYYYYYYY, today is Tuesday and it will be the weekend soon! I am going on leave this Friday for the pre-employment medical check up. Been given strict instruction to start fasting from 8pm onwards. Apparently it will be a very complete check up that will start at 9am and most probably only finish around 2pm. And it is at Subang Medical Center. I was told that I must remember to bring the letter from my new company or else I will have to pay RM500+ first and claim later. DEFINITELY will make sure I remember to bring the letter. No way la, RM500! Crazy!

And then it will be the start of a long weekend since Monday and Tuesday next week is public holiday. At first, babe and I thought we should go to Cameron Highland since we never been there before. Maybe for a 2night, 3 days stay. But in the end decided to forget about it because for one thing, it will be peak season and for sure there will be surchange on top of the normal price. For another, it will definitely be super crowded! We both do not like to go for holidays at crowded places.

So, what do we do then? I am thinking of baking up a storm and babe is thinking of bbq (AGAIN!). Babe and his bbq! He is going gaga over bbq-ing. But I dont mind. It mean that I can stock up on my smoked chicken again. Good for making salad. And bbq should be healthier than deep frying right? Anyway, up to him la as long as he clean up the bbq pit and balcony after that. Me, as usual, have to wash up la, what else!

So, I am thinking of baking but not sure if I will or not because might end up being super lazy and just decided to forget it la. I still have some three-layer pork and spare ribs. So might just roast that in the microwave oven again like I did for the Special Crispy Roast Pork. I dont want to grill or roast the sparerib as I think it is tastier if can smoke it on the bbq pit! Oh well, see how la. I guess most important is have fun! :P

Special Crispy Roast Pork

Remember I said that babe and I went to the market last week and bought one big slap of three-layer-pork because I wanted to try and make the special crispy roast pork? Well, I didnt do it last week because I wanted to look for the string to tie the pork but dont know where to get it. Finally, today, I decided that since I cant find the string, why not use babe's bonsai's wire to tie the pork up. All I need is something that is strong enough to hold the peice of meat together and not melt in the high heat of the oven.

After searching online for tips to make the pork skin crispy, I finally tried to make my first crispy pork using the convention microwave oven. I must say, it did turn out pretty good although there are still some parts of the skin that didnt crackle as well as I want it to be. What really surprised me was that the pork didnt shrink as much compared to when it is layed out flat.

If you want to attempt this, must make sure you get a really good piece of three layer pork with not too much fat or meat. Equal balance will ensure that the taste is superb and light as well. The pork was marinated with just salt, pepper and butter. And I only marinate the meaty part and left the skin untouch. When ready to cook the pork, I run hot water over the skin. You will see the skin actually shrunk slightly. Then pour some vinegar or lemon juice over the skin and rub some salt over the skin.

Bake the pork skin side up at 200 degree celcius for about 2hours. Every half hour, take the pork out and brush some vinegar or lemon juice on the skin and continue baking. As different oven behalf differently, make sure you keep a check on it. If any part of the pork is ready but others not, cover the ready part with aluminium foil (shin to avoid it from getting burn.

So the results to share:





DONT DROOL TOO MUCH OK!! :P

Crazy brazy arazy?

10.18am and I am done with most of my work for the day! I was actually at the office before 7.30am and started work almost immediately (almost la..make a cuppa thick coffee to jolt me awake first!). I purposely skipped my usual routine of going to the mamak for breakfast before coming in to the office because I want to catch my customer in US before they finish work for their day. And since I was already in the momentum of things, decided to complete other tasks pending for the day too. So, now, I am left hanging with nothing much to do. Guess the coffee turbo charge me more than I know it will! :P

So, now, I am sitting here, counting down to my last day. Today is 10 Sep, mean that another 20days to go out of which only 10days is actual work-day. Others are either weekend, public holidays or me clearing leave. And at the moment, still no news of the replacement. I guess next week must really start handing over and 'training' the rest of my colleagues in my department to take over my work. Hopefully, they will get someone in soon. Pity my colleagues! On top of what they need to do, now added responsibilities but not choice and this is not long term!

I am also excited about the weekend. Already thinking and planning what to cook and bake! Going to try and make the crispy rolled roast pork this Saturday. Cant resist after seeing some really fantastic photos that makes the saliva start drooling even when I just think about it now. Will make sure babe take lots and lots of photo and share it with you all. Make you guys drool too. HEHE!

Babe has also been asking how come I don't bake chocolate cake anymore. EGAD! I thought he was the one that told me dont bake. And then suddenly asked me how come I dont bake anymore. I asked him that and guess what he answered me. "Dont listen to me la" 0_0!!!!!! HAHA! MEN!!! So pretend one! Want to eat, just say la! SHEESH! So, I am planning to bake flourless chocolate cake and also if got time, the rich chocolate cake that I made that time. I have a few bars of dark chocolate and also rum & raisin dark chocolate in the fridge which I purposely bought during bargain time for baking.

Am also tempted to make chicken curry pie. Remember the apple pie that I made a few weeks back? Well babe was saying he likes the crust but not the filling since he is not a fan of baked fruits. He suggested putting canned chicken curry in the crust instead.

But I am thinking, instead of the canned chicken curry, why dont I make my own with chicken, potatoes and some leek? That should taste ok right? Or maybe I shouldnt risk it and just use the canned ones? Or maybe instead of making pie, I should make small pastry puff with the chicken curry? That would be interesting. But not sure babe will agree with me or not. I still prefer apple pie!

I was also exploring the net for making chocolate from cocoa bean at home. Blame it on Astro. I saw this cooking show on Astro Travel & Living channel 703 (cant remember the name of the show). It is the show where this guy is a chocolatier and makes his own chocolate. He actually went and buy his own whole container of cocoa bean to make high quality 100% cocoa chocolate. 100% cocoa chocolate mean that there is nothing else added to the chocolate other than cocoa, no sugar nothing. So, it does not taste like our conventional store-bought chocolate that has sugar mixed it in.

Instead of sweet, the 100% cocoa chocolate is really bitter. He was trying to promote using chocolate in cooking. Yap, not just baking but COOKING! In one of the show that I actually managed to catch, he was coating pigeon with a layer of melted 100% cocoa chocolate and wrap the chicken with streaky bacon. He then bake them in the oven! I know, the idea of chocolate, meat and bacon, weird combination!

But seriously, I think it is pretty cool and am interested to try the idea. But where in the world am I going to find 100% cocoa chocolate!? So far, the highest cocoa contain chocolate that I ever seen is 90%. And I am not so sure this will work because there will be some sweetness in the 90% cocoa chocolate and this is the not the taste that I desired to go with my meat and bacon! Sweet, bitter, meat?

ANYWAY, enough about food for now. I will definitely share photos if I do go crazy with baking and cooking this weekend! ADIOS!

Double Jeopardy!

YAWN!!!! Wednesday! Thank GOD! I am starting to go out of my mind although today is just the second day of work for this week. Lots of things to do as usual. The one day yesterday actually felt like a few days. But I got 2 happy news yesterday from two different colleagues/friends.

One of the colleague in my department apparently thought I am just 27/28 instead of 32!! HAHA! Well, has been a long time since anyone think that I look younger than my age. I think it has something to do with the stress that I put myself in. (Yar, I am the one that put myself in that stress level because no matter what, emotions and feelings are determined by me la no matter what the external factor that cause it).

Back to the topic, yar, been awhile since anyone thinks that I look younger and dont believe my actual age. I remember when I was working in Kuching, in my late 20s, people always mistaken me for college students. I remember once, when I was in the airport getting ready to fly to KL to meet babe for a holiday, me with my laptop backpack, in jeans and tshirt, queuing up to board the plane. Like everyone else, we sort of feel like kindred spirit after having to wait for hours due to flight delays.

One of the lady queuing in front me with a kid chatted with me. The usual small talk between strangers, i.e. where you going? What you doing there? Where you studying or working? Although for my case, it is always where you studying.... So, when I tell them no-no, I am working and I am in my late 20s, that usually got them looking at me all over and trying to assess if I am bluffing. I will then whipped out my business card and hand it over! That was fun and good old days. So, it just goes to proof my theory, stress and demotivation makes one look older! So, cheerios people! Smile more and be energised!

The second happy news that came was from K. Apparently she was having a private chat in one of the meeting room with her superior and suddenly her boss ask her, Jen resigned? (No idea how he knew but he knew anyways). K confirmed that I hav resigned and he said 'Jen has been handling a lot of things ..and from what I know she is very efficient". WOW!! My nose grow really big with pride! HAHA! Even manager that dont deal with me at all knew that I am efficient! That really boost my confidence!

So, that was yesterday. I wonder what other good news will come my way! :P

Crab Murderer?!?

Live crab are normally feared by those that have never conquered them before. I think it got something to do with the big sharp claws that once clam down on any part of you, will never let go until it is dead or its claw chopped from its body.

I remembered a lady asking me at the wet market while I waited for the seller to pack my crabs, "Hard to kill?" To which I answered, "No, very easy! Just flip them over and use poke a sharp knife into their belly". The response I got, the most intensely disgusted scared face!

Well, I think that is alot more humane compared to Chef Wan when he showing Bobby Chin how to cook fragrant crab on Astro. He just put on some thick gloves, hold on to the live crab and snap the big claws from the crab. Next, he took a kitchen scissor and cut the legs off. And finally, peel off the shell. All this while the crab is very much ALIVE! I wonder if Astro edited out the shrieking of the crab!

Since we got crabs from the market again today and babe is looking for opportunities to test his new camera, decided to show you guys how I kill and prepare the crabs.

The crabs all tied up by the seller esp the claws! So, no possibility of snapping at you unless you untie it. Flip the crab over on its belly. I use a thong. You can use anything that can help to aid you to turn the crab over and hold on to it. Even a strong spatula is good enough. And if you are really brave, your hands!

Pludge the knife deep into the belly of the crab. That is the softest part of the exterior shell. Usually, if this is done right, it will be dead in less than a minute. (Well, almost dead!)

The murdered crab! You can see very clearly here that their claws are still tied up. I am not taking any chances until I am sure they are fully and truly dead!

Once confirmed its dead, grab the bottom part of the shell and the legs, peel the top and bottom away. With some muscle, it should peel away like the above. It can get 'stucked' abit but dont worry, just pull in opposite direction until the shell gives.

There are some sponge like material on the inside and you need to remove this. Some believe that this part of the crab will cause you food poisoning or worse. I use a rough kitchen scrubber to clean out the last bit that might stick pretty hard to the crab.

You will need to wash and clean the shell with the scrubber as well. Get rid of those 'white' thing in the shell. I usually leave the rest intake as I like the texture but some prefer to just get rid of all the inerts.

Since I have 4 medium size crab, I decided to cook two variety, i.e. (1) Stirfry crab with eggs and (2) Stirfry crab with dry scrimp paste and belacan.

The ingredients

The 2 crab dishes

Stirfry crab with dried scrimp paste and belacan

Stirfry crab with eggs

Who loves you the most?

Got this very meaningful sms from K today. Cant help but want to share with all of you because it is so true. Hope you are all also as lucky I am

They love you but they are not your lover..
They care for you but they are not from your family..
They are ready to share your pain but they are not in your blood relation..
They are..friends!!

True friend:
Scolds like a Dad!
Cares like a Mom!
Teases like a Sister!
Irritates like a Brother!
and finally loves you more than a lover...

Do you know the relation between your two eyes?
They blink together,
move together,
see things together,
Sleep together.
Though they never see each other.
Friendship should be just like that.
Life is hell without friends.

Cherish your friends!

I am ever so lucky because I have not 1 but a few good friends! Thank you for caring, loving, sharing, teasing and irritating me! :)

The Night I Got My Friends Pregnant

Sooooo..long weekend and guess what we decided to do? BBQ Gathering of course! It is actually an annual thing that babe and his friends usually do on the eve of Merdeka Day (Independence Day). When he and his buddies were younger, this were one of the excuses to get together to drink and get really really drunk. But nowadays, with most of them married and with kids, it is more a get-together to catch up, chit chat and see what each other is doing.

And this year, this 31 Aug falls on a Monday, I decided to have one at our place for my friends. It is sort of a semi-potluck thing where everyone bring a little something. (I think the friends are curious to see how in the world do people do bbq in a apartment balcony! HAHA). Anyway, gathering started at around 6.30-7pm but preparation for me actually started much earlier.

We (yahh, babe and I) woke up at 7.30am (again, yah!!! He woke up at 7.30am on Saturday!! HAHAHA!). We went to the market early in hope to buy nice cuts of pork and whole pieces of spare rib for the bbq that night. Also, we wanted to get some crab to cook for lunch. By the time we arrive and parked, it was actually already 8.30am. Unexpectedly, there are actually a big crowd of people! The market was so jam packed that there are actually human traffic jam at some part of the market. Really didnt expect so many people to go early to the market.

Anyway, we did our pork shopping, bought the crab, crab with roe some more! Usually, we discovered that it is really hard to find female crab for sale. What more, those with roe, even much harder to get. So, imagine our surprise that not only there are female crab for sale but it is full of golden orange roe! Simply cant resist it. We got a 1kg (4 crabs) for RM28. We also bought some lectuce to have with the bbq pork tonight.

The previous time I went to the wet market alone, I saw a coffee shop selling dimsum in the heart of the wet market! Imagine, stacks and stacks of steamed dimsum just beside the stall selling roast pork! So, this time since I went with babe, decided to seek out the shop to have our breakfast. That is when we discovered that there are 2 dimsum shops and the one that we went is one of the older better ones (PHEW!).

How they serve? Well, you dont have to go to order. They will actually bring you trays and trays of the steamed dimsum and those more fusion ones on a tray and you choose what you want. Babe and I went a little overboard and actually had 6 dishes at the end of the day. Let me see, deep fried radish cakes (3pieces), yam puff (2pieces), salted egg with pork dim sum(3pieces), hakaw (4pieces), normal pork dimsum (3pieces) and steamed marinated pork rib. Total damage was RM17.90 which is cheap if you ask me because that mean on average, each set is less than RM3? Cheap for KL price la ok!

Restoran Hong Kong Dimsum at Menjalara wet market

The empty dimsum trays! :P

By the time we are done and reached home, it was 10am. Keeping the stuff and do this that and cook the crab, 11am. Babe decided to clean the aquarium since we are having at our place at night. He want to show off his koi! haha! By the time we are done (noticed I say 'we'? Yah, had to help him with the aquarium cleaning...), I took 2 hours nap. Apparently I really 'kong-ed' out because I didnt even know babe came to the room for a nap too!

4pm, woke up and start cleaning the house and set up the balcony for the bbq pit. Went out to buy some ice, charcoal and soft drink for the night too. Friends start arriving at 6.30pm and guess what time the last friend left? 5.30am! Nope, not a typo error. Phew! It was tiring but super great fun! Great success judging from my friends bulging groaning pregnant-looking tummy. And of course, the numbers of empty bottles also great testament of what happened :P

So, the pictures:

Short talk: I DONE IT!!!!

YAHOO!! I DONE IT! I officially tender my resignation today. And as expected, the bosses did all their best to sweet talk me to change my mind. But as I told them, I do not believe in counter offers or taking back my letter because the decision to tender was not taken lightly. I am not the type to decide to resign for no reason at all or just simply because the job came along. If opportunity did not come knocking, I would not have tendered la. But with the situation here and the good opportunity with the new company, it was a hard but simple and straightforward decision. Let just say that there are more pros to taking up the new position than cons.
YAHOOO!!!!

Homemade Apple Pie

Have always wanted to bake apple pie but never got around to doing it. Today, finally I happen to have all the ingredient except shortening in the house. So, after dinner, we went to the supermarket and got my shortening. Since babe want to watch football, I decided to bake the apple pie tonight. The crust turned out really nice and yummy. The fillings abit too sweet for my liking so I changed the below recipe to 2/3 cup sugar instead of full 1 cup. Gentle reminder, when making pie crust, always try to keep the crust as cold as possible to ensure fluffy crispy light crust. If for any reason that the crust not bake immediately after being removed from the fridge, then pop them back into the fridge again until ready to use.

Crust
2 cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Sugar
6 tbsp Butter
6 tbsp Shortening
6-8 tbsp Iced Water

Fillings
5 Green Apple (Peeled, Cored and sliced soaked in water mixed with lemon juice)
2/3 cup Sugar
2 tbsp Flour
1/ tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Cider Apple

Method:
1. Preheat the oven 400 degree F.
2. To make crust, mix in large bowl, flour, salt and sugar. Add butter, shortening and ice water. The texture will be slightly crumbly. Make into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Keep in fridge for at least 20minutes.
3. Prepare the fillings by combining sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and vinegar.
4. Drain the sliced apple and mixture from #3 to the above. Make sure all apples slices are rubbed with the mixture.
5. Take dough out from fridge and divide dough into 2 equal half.
6. Roll the first half into 1/3inch thick flat pancake. Line the pan.
7. Pour the fillings into the pan.
8. Roll the 2nd half into 1/3inch think flat pancake again. Cover the apples.
9. Bake in the oven at 400 degree F (or 200degree celcius) for 40-45minutes.

You can get a picture instruction from here: http://www.myhomecooking.net/apple-pie/Baking-Apple-Pie.htm

Food Porn

One day, I was so 'bored' after work that I just had to do something to de-stress or risk going crazy and start jumping around. So, since it was weekday and baking anything will take too much time, I decided to do something different for dinner. Took almost 2 hours to prepare everything and by the time we finally sit down for dinner, already 9pm but nevermind, totally satisfied and babe also enjoy the food very much. So, what I did? Photos to show you and make you drool:

Rice with bacon bits

Vege & Egg Salad

Bacon Cheese Chicken
(This is the one that took me a loooonggg time)

Then one day, an ex-colleague decided to come back to visit and actually bring some souvenier from her hometown. A huge big loaf of bun (as big as a loaf of uncut bread) that the filling is full of chicken curry! Yap, not the dry chicken curry but those with gravy! It even have instruction on how to cut the bun to ensure that the taste is maximise! Good idea if you ask me. I wonder if i can bake something similar..hhmmm....

And on one fine day in the office, one of the colleague decided that she is so stressed that she need to cook and feed us! (Yar yar, we all have the same tendency to cook when we are stress). anyway, this is different because we are in the office and how in the world do you cook in the office???? Well, just go get all the ingredient you need to make maggie goreng and use the microwave to do the job! I must say, the maggie goreng was fantastic! If you dont believe me, look for yourself.

The things that a microwave can do! I think I will try to cook some roast chicken wing and drumstick with bake potatoes next when I ever do get that stress at the office. But then again, how long will I have to be stressed there????? :P hahhahaha

Short talk: BORING! SIEN! BOSAN! ARGGGHH!!!

I am soooo bored!!! I have lots of work to do at office but I am feeling so damn bored. Well, I guess the more accurate description is I am sick and tired of it. When la will all this end! GGGRR!!!

SOPAPILLAS (Deep fried bread)

Nothing much happened today since its Saturday. It is one of those Saturday that babe is not working. And I realised that if he is not working on that day, I will for sure wake up early than necessary. Like today, I actually woke up at around 8am and laze on the bed for half hour before deciding that I will not fall back to sleep again. So, got up and went to the living room for some tv-time. Less than half hour later, babe is awake too! Now, that rarely happens ok! Its weekend and babe woke up before 9am?

Anyway, K sms around 9am-ish and said that she is coming to my area with her nephew for breakfast, wondering if I want to join her or not. Bet she didnt think babe would be awake and coming for breakfast too! HAHA! So, we went to this Indian cafe and I had rawa thosai and babe ate the roti telur. We shared a piece of vada and each have a glass of teh tarik kurang manis (pulled tea less sugar). K's nephew sure had lots of fun running around the cafe. Normally, this would not be a good idea but apparently K's sister, i.e. the mother to her nephew goes to the cafe often and the workers there know the kid pretty well. So, he had lots of fun teasing them and they teased him right back! HAHA!

After breakfast, went back and sit around doing nothing much. Had a super lazy Saturday morning, tv on in the background. Me reading my book and babe playing with his computer game. I tried to take nap at around 1pm but somehow, I just couldnt fall asleep! So, decided to go online and search for recipe to make fried bread. The fried bread recipe that I am looking for is actually those bread that is served with the chilli crabs here. But somehow, I cant seem to find it. Perhaps I didnt get the name right or something.

Instead, I came across this recipe for SOPAPILLAS, another version of deep fried bread. With the author promising nice yummy fluffy bread, I decided to try it. After all, the ingredient and methods are so simple. Worst, if it didnt taste right, I will just dump the whole thing away.

But the recipe turned out really great! Very pretty and puffed up. Making it a small parcel that lets you almost anything you desire in them. Babe and I had great time eating it with canned curry. It will go great with tuna, chicken, minced pork or anything that you can think of. This is definitely a recipe that allows creativity!

The ingredient:
4 cup all purpose flour
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 pkt active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1.25cup warm milk
Cooking oil or lard for frying the bread

Method:
1. Combine the dry ingredient, flour+salt+baking powder
2. Add the yeast to the warm milk and water
3. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredient and add the yeast milk water. Mix everything together and start kneading. You will need to knead the dough for about 15-20minutes to ensure that the smooth texture later.
4. Make the dough into a round ball and leave in the bowl and cover with a wet towel for about 15-20minutes
5. Roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick or slightly thinner. Dust the surface slightly and cut into pieces about 4x6 rectacgles or triangles. Gently put all the cut pieces back into the bowl and cover with the wet towel while heating up the oil.
6. Make sure that the oil is really hot. Place 1 piece of the flatten dough into the hot oil gently. To make sure the dough puff up, hold the dough gently in the oil for awhile. You should have the dough puffing up like magic.
7. Fry till both side are golden brown and remove from oil. Place on paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Note: You might want to half the recipe if you want smaller quantity. The above batch will allow you to make about 20-25pieces of sopapillas.

And here is what you will get:



Happy trying!! :)

BULL POOP?

10.45pm, Friday - in the living room and blog hopping while babe sleep on the bamboo mat in the living room and watch Shanghai Noon. Yar, the show that has repeated a thousand times. Ok, no a thousand time but at least a few hundred? Dont know why in the world do they repeat some of this movies so many times! As if we dont know or watch it already.

Anyway, babe is suffering from gout pain on his right feet again! He has been in pain since last Saturday and got abit better on Tuesday when he took some anti-inflamation and painkiller that the doctor gave him on Monday when he went to collect his MC. Dont really know what is the matter. Getting kinda worried because he is getting his gout more often in the pass few months. We have been controlling our food and making sure no beef or lamb (which is why I still have so much lamb slices in the freezer!). Mostly we eat chicken and occassional pork nowadays. And he is taking oat every morning except weekend.

His blood pressure has dropped to pretty normal level but somehow the gout just keep coming. We suspect it is the hand held massager that we got from OTO a few months back. It seems that he will get really bad gout everytime he use the massager on the base on his feet. So, we decided to stop using that and see what happen. But in the meantime, he just had to ride out this gout episode till its over! Sigh....So worried about him la! Trying to make him to go exercise with me more. Maybe yoga but now is not a good time to start and join a new yoga session since we might move soon.

Am thinking of moving nearer to where babe is working now since I will most likely be working somewhere near there too in a couple of months. I am still waiting for the bloody offer letter that I have been expecting since Tuesday! No idea why so long, either too many red tapes with many layer of approval or people are just taking their sweet time. (Although the hiring manager actually told me he needs someone in 'yesterday'). I guess he is the only one sensing the urgency? DRATS!! I just hope I am not going in for another cleaning crew job.

Anyway, if I do get this job and accept it, it would mean the logical and cost saving option would be to move nearer to it. At the moment, babe going to work mean:
1) I had to wake up early and arrived office by 7.30am eventhough my official office hour is 9am-6pm
2) Babe had to drive 45minutes just to get to work
3) Average tol per day to and from work is RM10
4) Average petrol per week to and from work is RM80 (this is after petrol price dropped to current level. When it was at its peak, had to pay a whopping RM120-150 per week)

But moving to the new place although would be great because it will deminish all the above and we can get a proper landed place to rent, it would also mean that we will be far away from everything and everyone we know! Now, whenever I want to, I can just drop by at 1U or Ikea or Curve. All this places just minutes drive from my current apartment/condo. It also mean that it is easy to meet up with Tif whenever we want to for dinner or meals. And on top of that, SS2 and Taman Megah is simple affair.

Moving to the new place would mean learning everything new. It is almost a totally new world. I know that I told the interviewers that distance is not a problem. After all, I flew over South China Sea to KL and work. But frankly, the distance scares me. Would I at the spur of the moment decided to drive to 1u for shopping? Would I have the time? Would I find new short cuts from there to Sunway? Or is there any cool movie places? Of course, Tesco, Giant and Carrefour are there but then again, it would not be the same. ARGHH!! Changes changes! How hard it is to accept changes?

But on the positive note, I will out from the dominating COM (you figure out yourself what COM means ok! ^_^) And I will have a more productive life with manageable stress. At least I will get myself back. Yup, the super confident lady that knows EXACTLY what she want to do with her life. One month ago, about now, I wont be able to tell you what I said 30minutes ago is true if COM just ask me the 'are-you-sure' or 'why-you-do-that' question. I know, I shouldnt have let this affect me but try having those comments that makes you feel stupid thrown at you everyday for 1.5yrs... And then tell me it shouldnt affect me!

Anyway, today, the old akak (some1 in HR la) also dropped me a stupid insensitive skype. I was on mc since Wednesday and turned out she decided she wants to talk to me about the change in reporting structure for me, the day that I was down with really bad sorethroat, running nose, teary eyes, i.e. flu. Short of a fever, I would have believe I have the dreaded H1N1 (Luckily its not or else I would be in hospital?) Thursday, still bad, so still on MC. Friday (today) went back to work, saw the email sent to me on Wed by old akak stating that she wanted to see me but I was on MC again (as if I intentionally go on MC or is it better I just go to work and infect everyone?). Decided to pop in her office to talk to her in my super sexy voice and asked if she want to talk now. She told me that she have an interview at 9.15am and told me she will skype me later once she is done.

I say fine. What else could I say right? So, 11.45am, still no skype from her, we went off to lunch. I got back, skype message received at 11.55am, from old akak of course, apologising not able to meet me today since she need to catch the afternoon flight back to Singapore but she will be here on Monday and will meet me then if I am in! BLARDY BULL POOP! (Yes, Bull poop sounds nicer that BS right?) What does she mean with that? She hear me with my flu-strucked voice. Even the vendors are in shocked that I am in office today.

Another good motivator for me to say sayonara eh? To tell you the truth, if it were not for COM, I wouldnt mind staying at all. At the time where other semiconductor companies are retrenching people, they actually gave us bonus and increment. Company sounds stable despite all the capacity problems with the vendors but finding ways to solve the problems are actually very satisfying. Money was good but then again, money isnt everything especially when it starts to effect health and mental state. It aint worth the pain and suffering no matter how much I love this job! (Pain and suffering = high blood pressure, low immunity, hormone inbalance that cause period delay..just to name a few). So definitely not worth it! Correct or not? COLLEK COLLEK! :P

As I was saying in one of my other post, life changing experience this week and even better one next week. Everyday is a lucky day for me because I am letting it happen. And everyday, something good happen because I believe it will happen no matter what. As one of MelancholyThong said give thanks to God, life is good because I can still afford to rent a good apartment, can afford to go out and buy food from the market, still have friends that truly care for me, know love through babe, still can afford to pay crazy prices just 2 simple slices of nyonya kueh. So, give thanks. Oh! And still have job to go to! :P

Short talk: Tired of waiting

Getting super tired of waiting for this people to finally call me. Since Tuesday till now still nothing. When I finally called them just now, she said will call me at 5.30pm but end up nothing! I am seriously wondering what is going on and whether I am really going to get it or not. Oh well, I guess I just need to trust the LOA and God. Whatever happen will happen. If nothing happened, then there must be a good reason for the LOA and God to not it happen. And I am pretty sure there are plenty of other stuff around.

Just really short talk because I am actually still on MC today. Since yesterday ler. Got really bad sorethroat and flu. Went to the doctor and since no fever, he dont think it is H1N1. Just asked me to rest and gave me antibiotics for the inflamed throat. Now, throat is better but nose still running and I am super super tired as if I had run 100m dash a few hundred times. Sweating alot but somehow feel like cold sweat. Dont know how to explain. Plan to sleep right after this. Hopefully tomorrow will be well enough to go to work.

Short talk: I DID IT! YAHOO!!!!

PARTY PARTY PARTY PARTY! HAHAHA! Ok...no party but I definitely feel like dancing, jumping, skipping and sing at the top of my voice. Having a really really really hard time to control myself and making sure that I dont just scream at the top of my voice. I can almost hear the music of joy being played by the angels in heaven rejoicing as I am rejoicing! AND I am actually working harder and more efficiently that I did since the beginning of the year.

All I can say is that LOA (Law of Attractions) works! Trust me! Go google it, try it out. I can guarantee you, no regrets! 2 friends introduce this to me when I was at my lowest point of my life! Yar, that is right, LIFE and not just CAREER! So, I thank them for watching out for me and introduce to me this most wonder thing called LOA. So, R and K, thanks!!!!! HUGS!

A Second First Time - Steamed bun

I bought a packet of pau flour the other day with the intention to make some steamed pork bun this weekend. But today babe is working, so cant go to the market to buy minced pork. Initially thought of going tomorrow but I simply cannot wait. I decided to try and make the steamed bun anyways with different fillings instead. I just want to make sure that I got the recipe for the dough right. Did a little research online and got a few steamed bun recipe. AND it turned out great! The bun was soft and yet chewy. Texture is great! I just cant wait till I get the minced pork tomorrow.

So, to share the recipe for the steamed bun dough:
350ml - Lukewarm water
3 tbsp - white sugar
1/2tsp - salt
2 tsp - instant yeast
1.5 tbsp - cooking oil
600gm - pau Floor

How?
1. Mix the lukewarm water, white sugar and salt together. Add the instant yeast. Let the mixture activate and become slightly frothy (about 10-15minutes).

2. Add oil to the water mixture.

3. In a large bowl, add flour and make a well in the middle. Add liquid and gradually mix in the flour. Knead till dough is elastic, smooth and no longer stick to hand or side of bowl.

4. Make into 2 ball and leave in the bowl. Cover with wet towel and leave the dough to raise to about twice the size (about 30-60minutes).

5. Divide the dough into smaller balls and knead some more. Flatten into a rough circle. Put the filling in the middle and gather the edges. Put on cut parchment (baking paper). Leave to raise for another 20minutes.

6. Steamed for 10-15minutes.




YAHOO! Tomorrow gonna make the steamed pork bun!!