Lazy weekend

2.5 months on the job. I am being optimistic and so far, things are looking up abit. The team is starting to trust me and 'remember' to involve me in their daily work activities. The AM is still trying her best to mess with me but I just ignore it. As long as things move, I refuse to play what she is playing, too bad then if she dont go with the flow. After all, she is still reporting to me and I am her boss! HAHA!~ *EVIL LAUGH???*

Nothing much happening in my life nowadays. Public holiday on Friday for Malaysia day. Didnt do much. Babe and I went to IKEA after our breakfast of tomato kueh teow at Alex stall. Was hoping to buy the baby's mattress pad but it is still out of stock. Guess hubby will need to go there on his own when I am back in Kuching next month.

Saturday, hubby had to go work half day. So, I did my usual Saturday thing when hubby had to work, i.e. send his uniforms to laundrette to iron, breakfast and home to cook lunch for us. But Saturday I didnt cook this Saturday. Instead, packed his favourite mixed pork porridge and bought half roasted chicken for babe since I had late breakfast, i.e. brunch! After lunch, we just laze around basically doing nothing and went to the night market at around 530pm to find fresh chicken wings for dinner. Deep fried those and that is what we had for dinner :)

Sunday, I am sweating all over actually. Hubby has taken the initiative to vacuum the floor without me nagging. So, me being me, cant just sit on my butt and let him the work, went around and help him pick up the things and tidying them. So, end up, I am now sweaty and hot eventhough it is going to rain soon. I woke up around 11am this morning and babe slept till almost 1pm.

I cooked fried rice, heat up yesterday chicken mushroom soup and wah lah, LUNCH! HAHA! My 4-legged monkey, aka Ginger also had her lunch and now she is lying down in front of the door to sleep as well as making sure that we dont slip out of the house without her knowing. All in in all, it is going to be a lazy Sunday I think.

We do plan to go out later though after the rain stopped to drive around and see if we can find any baby nursery near here or my work place. Only around 1 month left before I go back to Kuching....time flies...

Headache..real actual Headache AFTER shopping

Just got back from 1U to get some stuffs to bring back to Kch on Friday. After walking less than 3 hours, I am already feeling tired and having a headache. Stamina is just not like what it used to be! Tmrw evening will be going out again. Have some errands to run before going back hometown and also need to send Ginger to the kernel. Poor gal, she is gonna be there for 10 days! Hope she wont be siaw dog when we finally come and get her on 2 Jan.

So, seems my days are all planned out for my Kch trip.

24 Dec - Arrive Kch around 11.30am! What to do first??????????

25 Dec to 27 Dec - Go sri Aman.

27 Dec, PM - Dinner with the gals @ The Junk.

28 Dec-29 Dec - Gonna stay @ parents place and let myself spoiled silly!Knowing dad, he will most probably get the both of us up and go to bak kut teh that his son-in-law likes...sigh..

29 Dec,PM - Our wedding anniversary..Wonder babe got anything planned this year or not :)

30 Dec to 31 Dec - Planning to sleep 2 parents place again and my turn to spoil them :P

31 Dec, PM - Should be going to babe's friend's house for bbq, same as every year. Almost a tradition already.

1 Jan - Go back to KL lor..

Hhmm..feel like not enough time ler...

The 500th!!

This is my 500th posting and I AM HAPPY!! YAHOOOO!!!!! MY LEAVE for this Friday has been APPROVED!! YAHOOOO!!!!!!! GO HOLIDAY!!!!!! HAHA

Only 1 blip though, I need to call in at 5pm on Friday for conference call.. but before and after that, I am a free bird! So, I have everything planned out (Cant help it la, I am a planner in my previous life I think or I am borned to be one????). ANYWAY, back to the topic, this is what I have mapped out in my head right now for this long weekend:

Thursday (Yarrr...starts the very night!)
Going to Klang parade right after work to get babe's camera hood (whatever that is)
Go supermarket to get some essentials for the trip (essential: mee-in-mug, sausages, cookies, junkfood & drinks)

Friday
Wake up & go menjalara for dim sum breakfast
Babe want to go to the bank at Sri Damansara after that
Leisure drive up to Genting
Check in and lounge happily in our room

Err...ok, not exactly the whole weekend planned out. Just going to enjoy ourselves, gamble a little, outdoor theme park, walk around, eat, people watching and enjoying the fresh cooling air! Babe going to have fun with his camera and his new lense.

CANT WAITT!!! FRIDAY COME FAST FAST LIAW!!!

Penang Trip (Part II) - Food & Places (New Photos added)

Basically, this trip to Penang is really a makan-trip. From the moment we start from my place, all the way to Penang and back to KL again. On Saturday, K came at 7.45am. Initially, we decided to have breakfast near a Indian cafe near my place. This place serve really mean rawa thosai. But babe complaint and said why want to go so near to eat when we can that anytime of the week. And so we agreed only to have breakfast at Ipoh town. At around 8.30am, we passed the signboard that says 168km, i.e. more than 1.5hours away. Babe got the shock of his life because he thought Ipoh is just about half hour away! HAHA!

He starts to complaint that he is hungry and if he knew its so far, he would have said ok to breakfast at Sri Dsara! HAHAHA! K and I had a good laugh. So, in the end, we stopped at one of the R&R with the intention to see if there is anything to buy but even the buns were not heated yet. So, babe have to settle with a bottle of soya milk. We continued and stopped at the Tapah R&R. Babe ate nasi lemak. K and I had so vada and karipap.

Half hour later, we arrived at Ipoh town. That was around 10.30am. We stopped at a foodcourt and babe ordered wantan mee with soya sauce chicken feet. K and I had something lighter, some dim sum and yam puff.

We finally arrived at Penang and meet up with R (another colleague) and his family for lunch at One World food court. Didn't take any photos since K cant bring down her camera due to super heavy rain (R said we are the rain bringer since Penang has not rained for awhile). The rest of us were just too excited about the food and completely forgotten to take photos. We ordered Curry noodle, persembul, hor fun, chee cheong fun, yam cake, oyster omelette, bubur kacang, bubur cha cha, ABC ice kacang and chang. All this for 2 kids and 5 adults. (Dont ask me how...)

Then, we went off to Keh Lok Si temple (Spelling??) and this are the photos:

Entrance at the top-finally!

Miniature pagoda

Bonsai - dunno how old it is but its about 3-4feet tall and superbly beautiful

Hundreds and thousands of turtles!

I like this photo the most! Look at the cloud behind it...


View from the pagoda and temple

Jade teahouse

Jade moon

Carved pillar

Carved pillar close up

Beautiful carved God

Beautiful lights as offerings

Golden encased buddha

Carving on the ceiling


Arch with beautiful blue flower and wind chime

By the time we are done with the temple and sent R and his family back, only checked in at around 6pm and finally got to our apartment at 6.15pm. Rested and showered. Babe took a short nap and then R called to go for our dinner date- Bak Kut Teh! Super yummy! R ordered the bak kut teh for 6 person. It came in a large claypot and lots of pork meat and spareparts (internal organs), mushroom and beancurd skin. We also ordered 7 bowl of yam rice and 2 plate of steamed iceberg lectuce topped with bak sang (shredded crispy pork). All this was just for RM59! Can you believe it. If in KL, order for 6 person and you will end up paying RM80-100!

After dinner, R sent his kids back and we went off to Bailey's pub for some drinks. After that, we went to Kayu for maggie goreng and teh tarik! HAHAHA! Terrible huh? I told you this is a real eating-trip. We got back to the hotel at around 1am. K went straight to bed. Babe and I stayed in the living room for a shortwhile to unwind and watch a little tv. 1.30am, we went off to bed too. Next morning, R called at 7.45am to make sure that we are awake to get ready for our dim sum breakfast date at 8.30am.

The scene at the dimsum restaurant...only 1 word to summon it: CHAOS! Lots and lots of people queuing/fighting to get a share of the dimsum, which is self-service. They give you this little card where the person will tick when you choose any of the dimsum. Then, later, count everything together. There seem to be every kind of dimsum imaginable. From the original steamed dimsum to fried dimsum to Hong Kong chee cheong fun to porridge! 5 adults and 2 kids, eat ate 30 portion of dimsum (err..not sure what you calling it, types?). Total damage = RM83. I only managed to take round 1 of the dim sum and after that tuck in and eat like nobody's business. The 2 boys/kids were really enjoying and eating too! HEHE!



After breakfast, we decided to go around town. We stopped at one of the many many different surname jetty and walked down this rustic truly first-time experience little jetty. At the end, we can see the sea and more house on stilts! Really rustic and well..wow!
Also stopped at one of the famous temples in Penang. Lots and lots of smoke because of the all the incense and joss stick that were being burned.

After going round the town, since its still early, we decided to drive all the way to Batu Ferringhi just to see and come. We are finally back to the hotel again at 12.30pm. All three of us took an hour nap and check out at 2pm. Went to Kapitan for chicken and mutton bryiani rice for our lunch. The bryiani was really yummy and worth the RM7.50 that they charged us. Even babe who is not really a fan of mamak food was impressed. The only regret was that they didnt serve us in claypot as they are suppose to because they ran out of pot. So, the rice somehow looks less when served on the normal mamak plate with partition.

After lunch, it was around 2.30pm and off we went for the trip back to KL. Did a few pit-stop at some of the R&R but basically we just want to get back to KL fast to rest. Reached my place just before 7pm. K left her car at our place, so she drove home from our place.

All in all, it was a really fun trip but very tiring. I think we try to pack too many activities into the 2 days as if we will never come back to Penang again! Next time, I think we will just concentrate on 1 or 2 activities and other time, we will try to laze around in the nice service apartment and enjoy it more! Also, must try to have more than 1 night! Haiyaa..really sayang lar didnt enjoy the service apartment more! The pool!! HAIYAAAAA!!SIGH!! Nevermind la, there is always next time. For all you know, babe and I might decide to move to Penang and stay there instead.

Penang Trip (Part I) - The Room

Since we need 2 rooms, we decided to try the Vistana Residence 2-room service apartment. We are happy and regretful with our choice. Happy because it is really a wonder place if you need more than 1 room and this is definitely different from the normal 1-room-hotel. Regretful because we only get to spend one night there and spent so little time in the place!

When you go in, this is what greeted you. The simple and yet cosy living room. Only thing is not enough sofa. Would be good to have another 1 seater sofa too. And then the tv was just the small 21 inch tv. Guess we are spoiled because most hotels now have flat screens! haha. Anyway, still gave a good impression!

Go out the balcony that is behind the sofa, this is what greets you:

From the main door, turn left, you will see:

And look to your left again, you will see this:


There are 3 rooms. The master bedroom has a bathroom attached and king size bed.

The 2nd bedroom has a double size bed.
The final bedroom contain a single bed but was rather surprised because this room has no aircon, just a ceiling fan. Strange since the room is pretty big.

Randomly mumbling and updating

WOW!!! SUPER super super sleepy! Hardly ever feel like this in the old job. I mean, of course sometimes do feel tired and sleepy la. But never till like this lor. I feel like taking a toothpick and prop the eyelids up just like in the cartoon. My brain also feel fuzzy and super blur. And this mean that I have to force myself harder to make sure that I am concentrating on what I am doing. Maybe this is a sign of getting old? I remember the good old days decision making seems to be much easier and straightforward. OK, maybe not so straightforward but definite easier.

And mind you, I am not the only one feeling this way. Keebo and Sumo is also saying that they are feeling super tired and falling sick alot since working here. Maybe it is the air that we are breathing that is making us sick? Or maybe the office have some hidden toxic that we cannot see? It can happen right? People been breathing asbestos for centuries before realising that it is a cancer causing agent.

Not that I am saying that the office have all this lar. I am just analysing and trying to figure out why we get sick so often. It could be the hardcore whacking that we been going on. Eating all the unhealthy food! Maybe its time for me to go back to my salad and fruit diet again. Eating little or no rice. Small and light meals throughout the day. No pastries, cakes or ice cream. Raymond, wanna join me on this quest? No sundae ice cream! HEHE!

Anyway, I baked a cake during the weekend. Its a buttercake with creamcheese topping instead of normal icing. Then I sprinkled with cocoa powder to make it look nice la. The cake didnt turn out the way I thought it would, i.e. fluffy and soft. Instead, the texture is more dense and like some cakes, after one day, it turn more moist as the butter start to soak up the flour. Babe didnt really like it. So, didnt left any for him. Brought almost the whole thing to work to share (Share, NOT SABOTAGE OK!).

And just been informed by my boss that we will be travelling to Penang on Thursday,5am-ish flight to visit our vendor in Kedah on the same day. Spend the night there and then if need to, Friday morning go there again or else will go to another vendor on Friday morning. Then take the Friday 4pm-ish flight back to KL. Again, another rush trip but since boss is coming with me, I dont mind the trip being a short and quick one. Hopefully, we are able to get some good news out of the trip! (and hopefully I will be getting a happy news call soon too from my lil project)

Oh Yah!!!!!!! I also applied for my leave to back to Kch in Jul and it has just been approved! Will be going back on 2Jul 7pm-ish flight but my leave is only from 3-9 Jul. And I will start back work again on 10 Jul.. For those of you trying to figure out which day is that, it is a FRIDAY! And yes, I know its Friday when I applied for the leave. Purposely did that simply because it is a Friday! hahaha!!

LONG LONG LONG WEEKEND

I am so blardy tired and simply too lazy to do much posting last few days. I think my last post was about a week or so ago? Well, parents and sis came on Friday evening. We left the house at around 7.45pm to the KLIA to pick them. Apparently, their flight suppose to arrived by 8.30pm but end up, they only came out from the terminal at around 9pm-ish. And since bro already called to warned me that they have alot of bags and for sure wont be able to fit everyone and the bags too into the car. So, got dad to buy the ticket for a taxi to go down with us too. (Yar, crazy just getting another taxi to carry the bags right?:P)

Anyway, we finally arrived home around 10pm-ish. After unpack and get the sleeping arrangements sorted out, we went to bed around midnight. The next day, Saturday, spent the day laze around during the daytime especially since it was so hot outside. Bring them to 1u for walk around dinner. By the time we reached home, it was already almost 11pm. So, again, get ready for bed and only finally sleep around midnight.

Next day, Sunday, we woke up and have Yong Taufu brunch at a shop in SS2. Cannot remember the name but the food was so-so only. Then we drove up to Genting. Took us almost an hour plus just to drive up and the experience was really scary. This is actually the first time that babe and I ever drive ourselves up to Genting. Previously, we will usually take the bus or taxi. So, I can imagine the car straining just to carry the 5 of us not-so-small-size people up the steep slope.

Once there, check-in took about 45minutes. After check in, dad immediately went to the casino while babe, mom, sis and I went for a walk and early dinner. We went into the casino too after that and spend our time there till around 9pm. Then, mom, sis and I went back to the room. After mom and sis sleep, I decided to go back to the casino to join babe lar. After all, it is not often that I come to the casino and end up get cooped up in the hotel room because fall sick! It was a good experience. Win some and lose some. In the end, lost about RM200.

Babe and I only went back to the room to sleep around 4.30am. Dad was even more terror! He only came back at around 6am-ish and didn't even sleep. Mom, dad and sis went for breakfast after that while babe and I continue our sleep in peace. They came back around 9am-ish. Parents decided to go to casino again. Babe was still sleeping. So, I stayed in the room with sis and him. After babe woke up, parents still not back. So, we decided to go and search for food.

Mom called me around 11am-ish and we ate at the KFC. That was really a horrible experience. I think the KFC there no quality control! The taste was abit weird and even the hot & spicy does not look like the usual ones! I for one will never go to KFC there ever again. I rather bring bread or something if we go again! We went back to the room again after that to pack up and check out. Dad came back to the room around 12.30pm.

Babe and I decided we want to go for a short round at the casino again. Something about testing a theory that we have. Wont tell you guys what it is or else you will call me crazy or something. Maybe one day, I will tell you guys and see what you all say. But for now, it is a secret. Anyway, we finally left Genting at around 3pm and reached home around 5pm. Unpacked, rest and then we went out for dinner.

Tuesday, I was still on leave but had to wake up at 6.30am as I need to send babe to work so that we can use the car for the day. Dad have a few appointments set. Left the house at 7am and I only reached home at 9am. And then left the house again at 10am. This time with dad, mom and sis. First destination, somewhere near Mines Wonderland. Nope, we didnt go to Mines but some shop lots behind it. Dad had his busienss appointment and then the people he met up bring us all for lunch.

Then next appointment is at Jln Perubatan. So, drove all the way. Took about an hour to reach the place. Waited while dad have his meeting till around 4.30pm. Then we drove all the way to Klang to pick babe up. That took another hour because of the traffic jam caused by the rain. Got babe to drive us all back home from his office and I sat at the back and promptly fall asleep. Babe said I was snoring :(

Reached home at around 6.30pm. Everyone shower and change. Then we went out to Shogun at 1u for dinner since it was mom's birthday. After dinner around 9.45pm, we went to Jusco to get some groceries because I will be working the next day. Need to make sure they have food at home because they wont be having any transport to go around while we are at work. Again, we only finally reached home around 11pm and sleep around midnight!

Really really really tired!!! But it was fun lar seeing my parents and sis enjoy themselves. But I only realised yesterday that I did a miscalculation. They are going back this coming Monday and I somehow thought they are going back the following Monday. Mean that I still have this week and next week to bring them around. But instead, only left Friday, Saturday, Sunday and part of Monday. DAMN! If I know, I would have applied for Friday and next Monday off together with the last Friday to Tuesday.

So now, understandably, boss did not approved my leave for Friday (tomorrow) but ok for Monday. Instead, he said I can go back earlier tomorrow once I finished up all my work for the day. So, that is something lar. Maybe I can go back around 2-3pm. Then at least can spend more time with them. I am wondering if I should send babe to work tomorrow and Saturday morning too so that we will at least have transport to use. But that would mean I have make the 45min drive to send and pick him from work.

Hhhm..need to think about it first. I could ask him but we are having our silent war again today. Dun feel like talking about it on the blog. For the sake of my parents, I will maintain the peace for now. But next week, he cant blame me if I do something drastic and 'disappear' to destress and not tell him about it! Yar! That is how geram I feel right now....

Leaving on a jet plane....

Guess what I did early this morning? *GRIN* No, it is not what you think especially you SK! (Yar, I know EXACTLY what you think when I asked that question). I booked my ticket from Kuching to KL via the AirAsia free seats promotion. So, fly from Kch-KL on 2 Jan 2010. Err..but we not yet book the ticket from KL to Kuching because we can't find any free seats promotion for 23 or 24 Dec 2009. So, we decided to wait for next promotion just in case it can be cheaper.

AND I also checked MAS for CNY ticket since AA still cannot book that far away yet. But MAS also can only book 1 yr in advance. So, I can only check the flight to go back Kuching from KL on 12 Feb. Still not too bad since the ticket is RM260 for 2 pax one way. Meaning that RM130 per pax?

So, I was thinking, if I am lucky enough that the ticket from Kch to KL is also RM260 for 2 pax one way, then that mean that return ticket for 2 pax is RM520. And since the company still owe me a one way ticket, then RM520 - RM130 = RM390 all inclusive! Not bad hor??? The plan is to go back Kuching on 12 Feb 2010 and back to KL on 20 Feb 2010. In total, we take 3days annual leave only since CNY falls on 14 Feb 2010 which is a Sunday!

This time, no matter what babe say, must go back for CNY! I miss having reunion dinner with my family and also visiting relatives and friends. Somehow, celebrating here is just not the same as being back in hometown. Dont CARE!! Babe say must go back for Christmas. I say must go back for CNY. So, fair right? Go back Christmas because of him and go back for CNY because of me. Any other time, we go vacation lar! Let me see, 3 days for CNY, Christmas might need 4 days, so total 7 days annual leave.

Am very excited thinking about this although it is still about one year away!!!

CNY Eve Gathering & CNY Day 1

CNY Eve and CNY Day 1 has been a super busy day for me. I am still feeling the ache in my feet after standing for hours and hours in the kitchen stove and sink. But I can say that it is all worth it. All worth it when I see babe preening and pride showing when our friends enjoy the food that his wife cooked! :P

So, on the eve of CNY, since we didn't go back to Kuching and my parents cancelled their plan to come over till next month, we decided to cook and invite the friends over for a gathering. As I said, my day on CNY eve started just before 7.30am and finally end at around 2am. I cooked what I planned, i.e. pork leg pak lor (soya sauce pork leg stew lar), mixed vege, mix pork soup, lamb stew, bake chicken with bacon, savoury prawn, fried fish (instead of steamed fish since I cant find any white prompet at the wet market) and half a roast duck (bought this from a coffee shop near the wet market) and of course, white rice (6 cups! :P)

Almost everything is gone except for some mix pork soup, pork leg (which I purposely cooked more), prawn and lamb. How many people were at the gathering? Let me do mental calculation, ermm...12 people with a few kids that is under 5 years old. That mean that everyone eat at least half cup of rice and I know I cooked enough for maybe 20 people? HAHAHA! I hope it is because everyone really enjoyed the food that was cooked that night.

Some of the dishes after we have eaten. I forgot to take the photos before we start eating. I think everyone was super hungry by then and cant wait to attack the food:)

Playing cards and watching tv after heavy meal

Babe and I went to bed at around 2am-ish. I think it was later than that because after everyone left and I finished cleaning up, both of us just sit around in the living room and laze around for awhile. CNY Day 1, I woke up at around 9.30am and started to prepare the ingredient to cook Sarawak Laksa. And also mix a batch of no-bake cheesecake and leave it in the fridge to chill. Also did the final ingredient for the chocolate cheesecake. (I know, wonder woman!!HAHAHA!! I still have time that day to go out with babe after cooking and preparing all the stuff to go look for ice cubes at 7-11 and Shell. Don't ask me how I did it. Everything is in a blur now...)

Laksa Gravy without the coconut milk. Since I cooked such large batch, decided to mix the coconut milk in separate pot according to how much to consume or else the gravy might spoil.

Beehoon blanched with hot water and cooled with tap water to prevent further cooking. This prevent the beehoon from becoming too soft

THE TOPPINGS

Shredded Chicken

Egg omelette cut into strips

Parsley

Beansprout - blanch

Prawn - blanch

Scrimp paste

Lime

THE OTHER FOOD-STUFF

Goodies & Titbits

Chocolate Cheesecake

No-bake cheesecake

All in all, it has been a great 2 days. I am glad that we decided to go ahead with the gathering on CNY eve. Although I still miss my parents, brother and sister in Kuching and wonder how their CNY eve was like, at least this helps to reduce some of the homesickness. But it also makes me more determine that next CNY will be near my parents, either they come over to KL or we go back to Kch. Sigh! Miss them so much. Am looking forward to them coming here next month. Eiks! Need to clean up the spare bedroom!!! HAHAHA!