Saturday, August 24, 2013

a thing here and there from germany

my aunt is back from germany....and that only means one thing....hahahah.....my online shopping loot is back!

it totally did not cross my mind, until i reached home on friday and saw all the  boxes on the table. wakakaka....happy happy.

first up: swarovski.
a packet of loose crystal comes with my purchase. last time i got a bag of multi-coloured crystals, now just blue and green. but still nice.

bangle....this was an unplanned purchase, just to make up the amount to get free shipping.
not that bad....am beginning to like it.

this is the ring i wanted....and got. i thought it was going to be slightly bigger, but it was ok lah. really shiny and quite regal.

next, from net-a-porter.
compared to those from swarovski, this one is more muted right? i feel the same too....but i hope i will be wearing it and making it worth the price i pay for lah.

got a free measuring tape for my purchase too.

next, no more accessories. it is my health supplements.

this is something new that i am going to try knee. my aunt recommends this and i also trust the brand lah since i have tried its products before.

it has 16667mg of glucosamine sulfat in every 100g powder, i think this is higher than the normal pills that i see. it also has 8890mg chondoritin sulfate in every 100g. so i think it is sufficient already.
and another thing is, it is in powder form.....so i am going to add one scoop to the drink below.

i miss my activize drink!! yummy. so i am going to kick coffee out in the morning. a glass of this with my glucosamine included, i bet i am ready and energised to start the day. i do feel better with activize. just too lazy to get it from malaysia since it is cheaper in germany. not sure if it is cheaper in aussie. but one thing for sure, aussie has that joint health product and malaysia does not. so let me try it first, if it works, i will get my supply from australia next time.
keep my fingers crossed.

ok, time to sleep. just gave my aunt a tutorial on how to complete a level in jelly glutton game on fb. haha.....geng leh. have a good sunday.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

great friday n saturday

with discipline everything is possible. i really believe in that and i also make sure that i get down to doing what i have planned to do.
hence, all homework brought back from work was finished by wednesday and on thursday, it was time for a trip to:
yup, klcc.
but before klcc, i headed to subang first to pick up the multi-action knee strap i managed to find online in the size i wanted (l/xl).
went all the way to paremba square to pick it up from the seller. after rm100 passed hands, this knee strap is mine.

there are different ways one can place the buttresses to suit different knee conditions, i found mine in the last way. i wore it when i was in the kitchen at home yesterday while having to rush from one end to the other baking that cake. haha...the knee strap does give me the support i want.  so it is going to be  a companion when i go for my brisk walk.

after all business was done in subang, it was time to klcc. i went with 4 15-year-olds, hence i decided to bring them to explore petrosains. no one in that group had ever been there, what a shame.
and i was glad that trip was quite fruitful as they enjoyed themselves trying out all the things and taking part in some science experiments. kudos to the volunteers who did their job well but the management has to buckle up to make sure all apparatus there is functioning leh. some are broken and have missing bits.
the tickets are not expensive, rm15 for adult and rm10 for teenager, all mykad holders.

we spent 3 freaking hours there!! unbelievable. paying this rm10 is better than spending it in a cinema. even they agreed.
the queue to go in because we would be seated in a dark gondola for the entrance. those in big groups will just take the lift i think.

you will get all sorts of things from outer space to the core of the earth, and of course everything in between.

mirror mirror on the wall.

a very big t-rex.....who raps and sings. hahahha


they also have interactive art screens which move because of your shadows. so it was fun. my favourite photo and has become my wallpaper screen on the phone. ;)

we paid rm3 each to go into the simulator and it was a fun ride being brought onto a wild roller coaster ride.

formula one area.

molecular walk.

the end of petrosains and time to shop.


got this midnight recovery concentrate for myself to use here in tm. don't have to use moisturiser after using this. love the lavender oil extract in it.

facial cream for my sister.

some samples and a pouch from a friendly sales assistant by the name of david. i actually left the samples at the counter and had walked out of the shop. minutes later, david called me to tell me about it and when i returned, he actually provided this pouch for all the samples. haha.....so it was a good thing that i was careless.

bought a few other things from uniqlo and esprit....but the day really belonged to my tote.
i was actually stopped in my track by a lady who simply could not resist asking me about my bag. she loved the colour combo and of course the cheeky photo. aaah...totally made my day ;)
it was a fun day at klcc.

friday: a day i had set out to bake....but some distractions before that.

a birthday card from sk2.........hmmmmh.....slightly too late for me to get the birthday month promotion right? i blame the post service because the card was actually stamped 1 july. more than a month for this to come from singapore! unacceptable!

another latecomer was an sms from the people  involved in informing winners of the star bid & win contest.
i got an sms at 1.38p.m. stating that i was one of the 56 lucky winners of the special prize and was to send 1000 star points and a photocopy of mykad by friday....yeah yesterday itself. how was that possible!!!
so i called them, and when they heard my situation, they gave me an extension till monday. phew! actually this was the second time they sent me the sms. they sent one out on monday but i did not get it and they also wondered why there was no response from me, hence the second sms. phew! have couried the things needed.....now i am just waiting for further instructions.

yup, i won! hahhaa....

when all was done, it was time to start making my red velvet cake. i do have a fondness for this cake and after buying an expensive piece from secret recipe, i decided to make my own.

all the mess on the table. mom was forced to help hahhaa....the more the merrier.

cousin asked: blood or what? 2 bottles of red colouring into the cocoa powder forming a thick paste.

tada, after some flour flying on the floor and table, constant checking on the computer for the steps to do, the cake was ready and had no problem turning it out from the baking pan. love the texture that i saw. it tasted quite good too although i found there was too much cocoa in the initial taste.

when the 2 cakes had cooled, it was time to do the cream cheese frosting. i can't imagine red velvet without cream cheese.
but there was a moment of panic when i realised that i had not enough cream cheese in store. hence, a quick drive to town, i managed to get another tube of cheese. phew!
got the philadelphia's when i was in kl on sunday and the bottom was the emergency cheese.

eeeeks.....more trouble. the cream cheese frosting was slightly runny......sent sos texts to sis in aussie, but no answer. gosh...in the end, dumped in the remaining cream cheese, and it was thicker. phew.

time to layer the cake with frosting......i had too much frosting left......and it is enough for another cake later.....am keeping it for next time.

ta-da. this is the cake. looks good eh? i think the cake is slightly overbaked and it is not as moist as i wanted it. but the taste was not bad at all. quite good lah since it was my first attempt. the frosting was too sweet to my liking. will tweak the ingredient a bit before giving it to others. haha....yeah, i have 2 requests for this recipe.
good achievement day. what a great great friday.

and now...it is time to just finish tying up some loose-ends before work starts again on monday.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

5 lazy days with lots of food.

i am guilty of not doing any productive work for 5 days....that is starting from the second day of raya. i had just been eating and hanging around with my friends. it was public holidays after all and some of them were back in tm, so we hung out quite a bit and it made me lazy.

hence, i have to get out all the photos that i have taken those few days in this post and give myself no more excuse from not starting work the next day. i must get down to finishing my work!! who knows what or who else will come back at weekend hahaha.

first up: what is raya without some lemang and rendang right? well the lemang was given by the neighbour and mom cooked the chicken rendang to go with it. i don't think i will eat my lemang any other way except with rendang. some will eat it with peanut sauce, but not me. ok...i am fussy. we got three sticks of lemang from the neighbour and we gave one to our cousin to bring back to kl.

i went to kl twice in those five lazy days. it was hard not to be tempted by good times with old friends. it is not always we get such chances and whatever opportunity there is, i will be there.
the first trip to kl was to vin's restaurant and bistro in taman tun. i got my direction to the place from my cousin so i had no problem looking for the place.
we arrived earliest at the restaurant and started waiting for those from klang valley. shouldn't it be the other way round???
ordered a classic mojito while waiting. yummy. the restaurant is well equipped with all sorts of wines and liquors, so it is a good drinking place no doubt. the lighting made the place really cosy as well, not to mention good service from the waiters too.
we ordered food to share, hence we got to try quite a bit from their not-so-extensive menu.

chicken masala.

salmon salad.

grilled mushroom.

halibut.

lamb cutlet.

local fried noodles.

tandoori pizza.

creme brulee and choc lava cake.


finally, the bill. don't forget to add three bottles of white wine into the bill ok. so divided by the 7 of us, it came up to rm150 each.
reached home at midnight that day and not drunk.

the next night, another place, more drinks and some more food, and lots of yapping. haha...that is what friends do when they get together. yap, talk, gossip, inform, etc.

this time it is at mani-thai in tm itself. one of my favourite places to sit back and enjoy. however, i wish they can have some finger food in the menu.

beer...2 buckets please.
couldn't stop myself from taking a photo of the flower arrangement again.


our crab meat fried rice and mango salad. i think i had the most rice from that plate. it had been a while since i had such nice fragrant fried rice. mouth-watering.

last makan trip- on sunday, to kl, the curve. i was invited to go to the gym and join a cycling class. well, piqued by my curiousity, of course i took up the invitation. and the thought of being able to do some shopping spurred me further.

breakfast was at o'briens at the curve 2 hours before gym session.

i doubted my food could digest in the 2 hours before the cycling session, but what the heck. the crispy chicken and egg mayo were hard to resist. gosh, i seemed to be hungry all the time.

so the jakun me, entered the gym for the first time, well this sort of gym. everything was new and shiny to my eyes. luckily, i had two very patient friends who told me everything i needed to know and showed me the directions and what to do. phew! i did feel lost.

these are the stationary bicyles in the cycling studio. gosh, i was so so worried on the intensity and the strain i would put on my injured knee. the butt was in pain starting from the first five minutes already. the cycling session was 45 minutes long. so ya, my butt suffered for that long. i did not follow everything the instructor ordered of course. i would be crazy to push myself to the highest intensity and injure my knee.  sweat i did here in the studio but frankly, it was not really my cup of tea. i would still prefer the treadmill anytime.

so how did i feel after the gym session? well, my body was not that used to working out in an air-conditioned indoor area and the sweat found it hard to come out. but i did sweat a bit. my knee? unfortunately, i did feel the strain on the knee and the exhaustion. so i walked around the mall after that with a sore left knee. yup, it got really sore.

tea time.
japanese food. just 3 of us, and we ordered quite a lot till we forced ourselves to finish everything. and they had no soft shell crab. crap!
california maki.
sushi platter.
tempura.
tofu.
salmon.
hmm.....dunno what maki. haha
japanese omelette pancake.

burp! paid rm50 each.

next, it was walk walk time to help the food digest.
we walked with aims, not aimlessly.
first, i had to help a kid look for a pair of running spikes.


found these from brooks. not really within the budget, but the pair here is for sprint, so it is what he is looking for. unfortunately, the biggest size was just a 7 in the shop. not meant to be. well, at least i know which brand to look for now.
i also found a pair from mizuno, but it was more than rm300. waaay over the budget.

now i have to look for a  brooks agent to contact so that i can get a pair in size 9 or 10.

and while searching for spikes, i also found this:
knee strap. i tried it on, and gosh, it was such a relief to my strained knee. how i wish i could walk around with that knee strap on. the size was too small, hence i did not buy it.
today, i did my search online, and finally found someone who brought the knee strap into malaysia via the low yat forum. bless that forum. you could really find answers to all your questions there. texted him, and yippe!!! he has one in l/xl. just one! phew! have arranged for my brother to pick up from him. he charged rm100, which is cheaper than in the shop.

besides getting sports related goods, i also got dog shampoo (mom's request) and some ingredients for baking. fingers crossed, i should be able to bake by the end of the week.

reached home on sunday only at about 10.30p.m.
still in time to submit my bid for an ipad mini with the star newspaper.

so counted all the points i did. the points i had accumulated was 10 times more than the required minimum bid for that ipad mini. fingers crossed now.

and today....was invited out for another makan. gosh....see eat eat eat. a friend dropped in from sungkai and off i went for dinner at a new restaurant in tm.

no, not the above, just want to show the new bak kut teh shop here. will go and try next time,

i had my dinner here in restaurant 123. opened by a mainland chinese. my friend brought his own vege from the garden and 2 fishes from his own pond. haha....so everything was fresh no doubt. i did not eat that much. just a nibble here and there as the runny nose made me drowsy and had no appetite.

after dinner, we went to look for a place to have a drink.....beer lah.......and we drove all the way to mani-thai- not opened. drove all the way to taman bernam, the two cafes there- not opened also.
so finally we went back to behind billion, to the newly opened food court called china town food court.


i think it was only opened this month. i could still smell strong smell of cement. the crowd slowly trickled in. there was a big lcd projector showing movie. music was also turned on. there were quite a few stalls not opened yet. we had some meat rolls and chicken wings....and beer.
well, that is one place you can go to if you want a drink and some food next time. but i still like mani hahhaha.

ok......have to end this post now. it is 2 in the morning. crazy. my nose is no longer runny, and i hope it won't run tomorrow. aiyoh....i sleep so late....die lah.
the iaaf athletics world championship on tv is accompanying me while i am typing this. the time difference in moscow really sucks. all the  final events only  start after midnight here.
can't keep up.

must do all my work these few days!!!