hidden gem in tm

it is back to work and it has been a slow day so far. i am not complaining. it is good to start slowly. and tomorrow, form 5 are going to start their trial. wahaahaha....less teaching to do.

i am going to talk about a hidden gem in tg malim. it is the location of a thai restaurant called mani-thai.
it is only recently opened and it is totally way out of the main road.

those who are familiar with tg malim, you will need to go to changkat asa, go till the end of the road, before the bridge that goes over the highway, turn right. you will see a parking lot first on your right. turn in, and park your car.

then walk to the restaurant. this is what you see on the way to the restaurant. magnificent eh? i love the surrounding and the ambience.

how i wish they can have outdoor seatings here. but of course, a lot of mosquito repellant is needed too. it will be very romantic and relaxing to have a beer here under the moonlight.

the furniture is made of a lot of wood.

more tables and chairs and more wood.

click on the photo to see what they have to offer, but you will see lots of red and orange and yellow lah. you know thai food.

that is today's special menu, you can see the prices here. many ppl have said that the prices are exorbitant. well, they are of course not that low, but they are not that high either. just make sure you bring enough when you go to eat here.

catfish and mango salad.

claypot glass noodles with prawn.

we also ordered a steamed sotong. photo not taken...too busy eating.

well, my personal opinion, the food here is ok. not really that good....i have heard otherwise though. maybe the cook was not having its day.
but what i like here is the ambience and the atmosphere. it is a good place to sit and chat and enjoy whatever landscape there is available within the eyesight.

i guess this won't be the last time you hear about the place from my blog.

one week of patience.....bears fruit

well, one week is almost up,and that only means one thing.

my dried agar-agar is done and ready to be eaten!

ta-da! after continuous drying in the sun from monday till today, the outer layer has finally crystalised and hardened and i get slightly greenish-yellowish dried jelly.
hmm....mystery, why does the change of colour occur? it was originally brownish, and now it has become something else.

once you take a bite, it is quite hard to stop. unfortunately, despite the large amount of sugar added, the jelly is still not sweet when eaten dry. so i can't imagine how much sugar is put in those sweet-tasting dry ones.

this won't be the only time i make this jelly. i will make it again when i have one week to spare at home just to do all the sunning and collecting everyday.
the sun this week had been quite intermitten, with only strong ray till mid-noon, but the jelly could still dry. so imagine if the sun had been till late evening everyday, i would have faster progress.

sitting at home for one week made my fingers itchy too and i went online to buy myself two pairs of baju kurung from www.zalora.com
i am not a fan of baju kurung actually but sometimes, when the mood kicks in, i feel like wearing one and now i have 2 more to choose from from my meagre collection of 6 sets.

love the combination of colours in this one.

and i bought this because it is made of linen 100%. quite a crazy decision because when i check it, only i realised how transparent it is. so now i have to send it to the tailor to add another layer of lining before i can wear this set.

actually i have to send both sets to the tailor. the bottom is just right but the tops are quite loose and wide. so i plan to have them narrowed. hopefully it can be done. i don't mind paying extra on top of the price i have already paid for these two kurungs.

no more baju kurung shopping now. till next raya when the mood kicks in again.

a break at 1u

took a break from sitting at home yesterday and went down to 1utama with my aunt to meet a friend.

did not expect to be there that long, went down at 1p.m. and then only reached home past 11p.m.
had 2 full meals, did window shopping at first.....which eventually became shopping, and also got a free shirt. not a bad trip.

let the pictures do the talking here.

our meal at lavender, bakery cum eatery in one utama. for those who have been to the bakery, you will know that their prices are not exactly cheap, so the meal we had in the eatery too was not cheap. the bill came up to rm100 for the 3 things we had, and also a glass of orange juice and a pot of lemongrass tea. but the quality of course was good.
so we ordered scallop pesto spaghettini, nama chocolate cake, and dutch lady pancake.
the cake came in such a small slice and it cost rm18. ouch.

dinner was at oriental cravings, and the bill was half of what we paid for lunch. we had hainanese style wan tan noodles, curry laksa and char kuey teow. the kuey teow was not up to standard and was slightly bland. the curry laksa though was thick and the roast pork in it was good! that was the best among the three ordered.
haiz....how many kilos did i just add yesterday alone???

now let's move on to shopping. the initial plan was to window shop. in fact, i did just that ....in the first round at 1 utama. we left 1 utama in the evening to go to the friend's house at bukit utama. then when we had nothing else to do in her condo, we all decided to go back to 1utama for dinner...that was when the shopping started.

one of the rare pieces i get from french connection. i seldom buy from this brand because i won't pay so much for my clothes.
this lacy dress was bought at 60% discount....and it fits me nicely. so how could i resist? i paid rm160 for it after discount. so the original price was rm400. worth it?

and i call this pair of shoes, my dorothy shoes. remember the wizard of oz and dorothy's ruby slippers? this pair of shoes reminded me of just that. i couldn't resist getting this because of how comfortable it was when i tried it on. i was hooked, the moment my feet slipped into the shoes. that fast. the red....how alluring.
70% discount and i paid rm110 for it. got this from tangs....they do have some nice imported shoes going for a song now....go if you are looking for new heels, or flats. all in leather.

ta-da. bangles to go with my new dress and new shoes? all branded, from christian dior and louis vuitton.
hahahhaa......no lah, they are not mine. if only they were kan? but personally i think only those 2 from louis vuitton are nice, the ones from christian dior look cheap. that is why the owner is going to return the two bangles from cd to the shop and add some more money to exchange for a bag.
i had fun going through some of her things in her condo.

and of course it led us to talk about bags too....

is anyone looking for bags from miu miu and louis vuitton?? this friend of mine is letting go of two bags she bought and never used.

first one to go, boetie pm from louis vuitton. fans of the brand will definitely love this versatile bag. the retail price in malaysia is around rm7+++ and she wants to sell it at rm5000. is there any taker??? that is a lot of saving ah. i think the price is still negotiable.

the second bag is this miu miu nappa bowling bag. also a brand new one and never used. the lining is satin pink and the clasp of the bag is not zip but buttons. it is a very roomy and light bag, so you can definitely dump a lot inside. this bag is going for not more than rm3000. not sure the exact price yet. it is really cheap...don't think you can get a miu miu so big at this price.

so if there is anyone interested, do drop me a message.

into the kitchen i went

whatever i mentioned on sunday's blog, were not achieved.....except one.
i did not go to any raya open house.
i did not go to jog....
but i managed to get into the kitchen and made my jelly. ;)
so i guess craving is more important huh.

well, i did not go to jog because my running shoes were wet from the heavy rain on monday noon. i had a phobia of proton's wet track too since i had fallen once.

so i carried on with my jelly project instead of jogging. just a phone call to mom who was outside at that time, and all my ingredients were home.

after following the instructions on wendy's blog, today, i brought the 2 trays of cut jelly i made into the sun.

i cut the jelly using cookie mould. luckily the sun was pretty strong late morning and at noon. but now, the two trays are sitting in the kitchen dy. the rain has come again. i can see the jelly cubes shrinking dy. waaa.....that means i won't get to eat that much!! can't wait for the outside layer to crystalise. that will be in few more days. patience....and please...sun, come out!

mom got into a cooking project too for lunch today.
we got 3 pieces of lemang in bamboo from our neighbour and some cookies. unfortunately, no rendang to go with the lemang. incomplete right??
so again, it was to wendy's blog for that chicken rendang recipe.

first attempt- successful dy. it tastes exactly like those you get from malay's cooking.

this here is my lunch. two pieces of lemang is really filling for me. no more lemang for dinner....but more rendang ;P
mom is satisfied with the result too....and grandpa.

pre-raya rambling

yesterday was quite a historical/memorable day in my life hahaha....
it is nothing big....just my dad making me a cup of jasmine tea and sending all the way upstairs for me while i was watching a movie in front of the pc.
kakaa... it is already a historic moment for me because my dad has never done this kind of thing for me before. when i told mom about it, she said, dad had never ever made nor brought her a drink.

dad has become more like a dad the older we grow. when we were young, it was always grandfather who stepped in and dad was just like a silent figure moving in and out of the house.
and now that grandfather is old and frail, dad is the person you count on for everything. change tyres, send the car for checks, pay taxes, etc. he is also the person who nags you but also shares with you the benefits of having dark chocolate and a little wine everyday...not to mention to drink tea the whole day.

hmm....and maybe because of that cup of tea yesterday, i did not get my sleep that night. i had the drink at 5pm and i couldn't sleep the whole night!!!! i thought it would not affect me, but i guess i was wrong. i better still stick to my pu'er late in the evening. i doubt it was the air-conditioner. i had it on yesterday because it was really hot.

so today, i had been all groggy and my nose had been running non-stop and i had been sneezing my nose off too- the whole day. please let me get my sleep.

luckily the runny nose only came today. after drinking that cup of warm jasmine tea from dad, i was all warmed up and fired up for my workout at proton city. was already sweating before i left the house, so it was a good warm up for the muscles. proton city park was very quiet, with only few families bringing their kids to play at the playground and a couple of joggers.

i had a really good workout, a faster jog than usual, all 3 rounds round the lake, doing my stretching and then some sprints. whooopii....i did more rounds than those male joggers there. kakaka....the kiasu me pushed my body to complete that 3 rounds although the stomach was going to explode and i could almost vomit.

it felt really good. all muscles felt lean and taut and i don't feel fat at all the whole day. kakakaka.....will do this again tomorrow....but hopefully i can still feel as fired up as yesterday. hope tomorrow i will feel better after a good sleep.

and on the way back from my jogging trip, the car stopped at the traffic lights. i couldn't help taking a photo of the raya decorations and the lighted trees in front of the bus station. it has so much raya 'feel' to it. raya always reminds me of balik kampung to be with your loved ones, and that bus station reminded me of all the travelling people will do every year.
am very pleased with the photo, i have always wanted to take photos of the few electric trees in front of the station.

i had a raya invitation for tomorrow, have not decided whether to go...i should go since i have never been after being invited again and again. maybe i should go there for lunch, before my class starts at 2. then after my class, go running again at proton city to burn off the fat i have taken in the form or rendang and cookies...will attack those pineapple tarts for sure.

another thing i hope to find in her house will be dry jelly. i have missed it so much. can't remember the last time i had it. dry agar-agar always reminds me of raya, because that is the time i get to eat it. gosh, my secondary school days might be the last time i had it. many people do not know what it is.
i googled and found a gem of a blog. gosh, all cooks out there, you better bookmark this page:
http://wendyinkk.blogspot.com/
the name is table for 2 ....or more. must visit. will definitely tell aunt to check out this blog....haha....then i get to sample all the goodies she tries ;)
this is a picture i took from her blog. gosh, i want to have that jar of agar-agar candy!!!
hence, it is decided, if i can't find it, i am going to make it!!! yes, you heard me right. i am going to make it my project this week since i will be home for the holidays! woohoo.....can't wait to pop them into my mouth. all mine!!!!

so if you are interested to make some of your own too, go to this page: http://wendyinkk.blogspot.com/2011/01/dried-agar-agar-candy-ii.html

i will have to sweet talk my mom into buying all the ingredients for me, then boil the agar-agar for me too. kekekeke.....
the drying and sunning part, i will do them. no problemo.
very excited to start this makan project of mine. so i will be praying for the sun everyday now.

one free week

so free, i am so free, i am so free, i am on the verge of being bored!!!!

spent the whole morning surfing the internet and took my own sweet time with breakfast and the morning papers.

it is only 1pm now and i still have so many empty hours to go. i guess i will just fill it with 1 or 2 movies. time to catch up on all my movies. watched one by aamir khan yesterday called:
it is about a dylexic kid and how a teacher helped him to realise his potential. it is a very slow-moving film but will definitely leave you with wet teary eyes.

i think i will move to a taiwanese movie after this. had the time to catch 'we bought a zoo' last week and it was good.

there is no plan at all in this one week break. travelling alone is never my thing. for one, i think i am timid to do so. and the second thing is, security. i am afraid that once i have left the house alone, i might never come back. hahaa.....can't help it right with the state of security in the community nowadays.

am thinking of visiting the ramadhan food bazaar in town later. i have never been to it since they have moved location. then maybe it is time for a little jog before eating the delicacies i buy from the food bazaar. is it possible to leave empty-handed even for a dieter?

aunt will be coming back from aussie soon. luckily, i don't have to make that trip to the airport early in the morning to pick her up. hehehe....i want to catch up on all the sleep i can this week.

ok, time for a little soup before my movie. if anyone has any plan and don't mind including me in it, feel free to call me yah. ;P

good bye olympics 2012

the olympics is coming to an end in a few hours' time and i will not get to say goodbye to it properly. ;(
the closing ceremony will be shown live on tv, unfortunately the local time here will be 4 in the morning.
there is no way i am going go wake up and go online just to watch it knowing i have to go to work after that. there is no tv here, so i have to rely on the website for the live stream. and with live stream, all my broadband quota will definitely finish very fast.

so i guess i will just watch it when i get to work and use the wifi in the office. gosh, i wonder whether my timetable will be really that free.

i can't wait to see all the british performances which have been lined up for the closing. i think everyone is waiting in anticipation to see another brilliant ceremony. do they have best sportsman and sportswoman for the olympics?? will there be samba girls too since brazil will be the next host and i think there is a segment for them in the closing.

there will be no more chasing results and selecting games and matches to watch on the youtube official channel. the last and most exciting 4 x 100m men relay was a good climax for athletics. what a run by the jamaicans and in world record time. they totally blew everyone away thanks to the last 2 legs by yohan blake and usain bolt. i think bolt dashed all the way till the last milimetre. not even his 100m is as tense. the americans really pushed them. so a little competition in life is a good thing.

i am feeling much better now after the bout of 'i am sick' / 'i am not so sick' period. workload has reduced considerably last week and this week will be better since it is pre-holiday already.
yup, one week break. no plan at all. i hope i get to go for another short break. hmm....who to go with? aaarrrgghh!!! alone? don't want lah. it will make me depressed and conscious of my solitary state.

going to call it a night now. it is a cool night after the rain in the evening. i will miss the olympics. salute to all the athletes who have shown me what our human body can do and motivate me to do something with mine. they make me wanna run and do my training and sweat it out. i will maintain this mode for a while to get fit again. thanks to all the volunteers too who have made it such a wonderful game and ensure the smooth running of all events. if only i could join them. thanks to all coaches who do not cheat in the process of grooming a winner. thanks to fair judging to ensure only the fairest win. thanks to all spectators who cheer for winners and losers and making sure there are no losers at all in all the matches.

good night and good bye london.

one becomes two

ok this is the latest update. from one cup of bitter tea, i have two now.
my neighbour has fulfilled his promise- he bought me the cup which he did not get for me yesterday.
waa.a.....my stomach is full of the bitter tea now. i hope it is not too 'cooling' for my body now.

i am definitely going to get well with all this tea.

will need to sweat it out a bit tomorrow. ...but will do it with a bit of caution. don't want to get into another sick weekend.

black bitter salty broth

my supper for tonight. a dark herbal broth that tasted bitter and salty. i dunno what it is, but anything that is bitter and dark should be good for you.

i am feeling much much better now after taking a rest last night. cancelled my class and i got lots of questions asking me why i cancelled. gosh, they just refused to believe that i could get out of sorts. i had a headache, was dizzy and recovering from a flu. heck, my neighbour even came and check on me. hahaha.....and she later offered to buy me that broth in the picture. how sweet. however, the shop was already closed when she went out for dinner, so i did not get it last night.

the broth tonight is from quin who volunteered to help me get it. i am taking it sip by sip. it is not something you want to gulp down.

saw some photos of queues outside a few baskin robbins outlets on facebook and queues actually started forming half an hour before they were to give free junior scoop of ice-cream for dato lee chong wei's feat at the olympics. crazy. a friend of mine got no 770. so imagine how many more will join the queue when the time came. the free ice-cream will be given from 8 to 10pm. good luck to those who are waiting.
i am going to continue resting here while watching some live feed from the olympic park online.

good night.

sickness beckons

i am finally sick ;(
am having running nose and sneezing non-stop now. mom told me to get an mc and skip work tomorrow, but i decided against it. i had to prepare stuff for the exam tomorrow and the cabinet key is with me. and i am too lazy to go and seek the doctor anyway.

so drove back after dinner and here i am.

the rest in the past 2 days must have made my body slow down. i only woke up at 10a.m. today. wow. i have been eating a bit too well too at home. in fact, non-stop hehe....and that included some junk food as well. i guess my body just could not take the abundance of rest and 'goodness' all of a sudden. kakaka.....

i will be taking these before i hit the bed. hopefully tomorrow i will be better. will take things slowly these few days. well, after all most of the kids will be having their exams, so things will be slower at work. but of course, there are the papers to mark. aarrrrghhhh!!!

i have found a channel to watch the olympics. they actually have an official channel on youtube. blessing! so if your situation is like mine, where you don't have a tv at home or you have tv but don't subscribe to astro, you can go to : http://www.youtube.com/olympic
just make sure that the internet speed is fast enough so you can get uninterrupted streaming of the live events.

mine is rather erratic but i am not complaining. getting some is better than nothing.

oh, lee chong wei lost his match against lin dan but there was nothing to be ashamed of. it was an even game and it was neck and neck till the end. i heard he will be arriving in malaysia tomorrow. gosh, can't he take a break and escape to one of the nearby european countries? there will be more interviews and reporters to meet. ain't he tired? will be he in the same flight as the prime minister and his wife. they flew there just for his match. urggh.....a waste of tax payer's money. that elusive olympics gold medal was really that important eh?

okok...none of my business. good night now. i need my rest.

so much to do, so little time

it is an extended weekend. monday is public holiday. yippee- it is nuzul al-quran.
but my 3 days are already filled with all sorts of work-related activities.
papers to mark, books to mark and marks to be keyed-in in one of the stupidest and slowest apps and online system.
so far, i have only finished one- keying in marks online. now i am in the midst of marking the stack of exam papers. i wonder if i will ever get to marking essays when the 3rd day ends. i have a feeling that it is highly unlikely. gosh, there is soo soo soo much to do!!!!

and then there is the olympics, badminton in particular.
men's doubles made our hearts break when they lost tamely to the formidable chinese pair. the 2 malaysians did not even stand a chance!
and today, there will be the play-off for bronze medal for this pair....and i hope they will be strong enough to fight the korean pair who beat them in the quarter-finals. wuhuhuhu......i am going to cry first for them because i have a feeling that the koreans are not going down fighting. i saw the koreans play the danes in the other semi-finals yesterday and they were really strong too. but of course, in the end, it was the danes who proceeded to the finals with their never-give-up attitude. i salute the danes! and i am going to be rooting for them to win the men doubles just because i don't want the chinese to have a clean sweep of every badminton title.

and yes, i predict that the chinese will take the men singles title as well coming from no other than the super dan. lee chong wei will play lin dan tonight (malaysian time) and the whole country will be rooting for chong wei of course, well yours truly too. but looking at their records, lin dan has won more than half of the matches they have ever played, and lin dan is going for the kill this time around too since it might be his last olympics. yes, it is chong wei's last olympics as well, but i am sorry to say that my confidence level for chong wei is not really that high. i am prepared for more heartbreak tonight. sob sob sob.

but of course if chong wei wins, i will be jumping for joy with him and crying tears of victory with him too. come on chong wei! go for the gold bar!!! hehehhe......that will be my shout for him. how many olympians can boast of having a gold bar added to the gold medal won in the olympics? you can retire after this and plan your fairytale wedding with your girlfriend.

so tonight, with a bit of help from twisties, bbq curry, i am going to add some spice to boost my confidence to cheer for lee chong wei.

can't wait to hear negaraku being played at wembley arena.

all that glitter is not gold

yup, all that glittering baubles that i have are not gold. they are just crystals.
this will be the last picture from the bags of goodies i got from germany.

swarovski gave a small bag of loose crystal with their online purchase this time around. if i have known, i would have separated my items into two bills. then i would get 2 bags. chaiks!!!
they are really pretty little things but i have no idea what i am going to use it for yet.

so how many olympics sports have you watched so far??
me? zero. but i have been getting quite a number of updates from the kids. it seems to be the topic of conversation nowadays. however the name of country most mentioned is only china, china and china. i guess china is on the way to winning another olympics.
i don't think i will be catching any when i go home in the weekend too. all those brief reports are anti-climax. i will stick to checking and reading yahoo sports news.

enjoy this video. a kid of mine recorded this 2 years ago. we were rolling on the floor laughing after seeing this. lol. the little girl was not ashamed that she did this. it made her cross out one of the things in her bucket list. she had a video of herself in youtube. how many of us can do that?