a 'nutritious' day

so have your waistline expanded over the chinese new year break??

well, i think mine is still the same but after today, i might find the skirt for work tomorrow a bit tight. i better stay safe with expandable rubber waist line for these few days.

anyway, i had my first yeesang this cny- today, well better late than never. went to a retired ex-colleague's house and had a feast there.

we had raw fish and fruits yee sang. the plate was obviously too small, and with all the tossing with chopsticks, it was necessary to use that wok as the base instead. all the ingredients were tossed and they still remained in the wok. the ingredients were very fresh because we only bought this morning from a restaurant in bidor which prepared their own.
fried meatball from kampar.

the ever generous host prepared durian for us. according to the lorry driver, the durians were from bidor ;8. i think they don't come cheap as they are charged according to weight.

well, the pulps do not look that appetising kan? they are rather small in size and thin. but luckily there was one durian which produced thick, creamy and bitter pulps. those finished really fast.

and if yeesang and durian did not make you full, we went out for lunch at a restaurant in tapah too. had few dishes and 2 plates of fried noodles. need i still take dinner??

thank god for the good weather and i managed to go for a 30-minute walk. i could not jog for sure because i was still burping durian at 6p.m. luckily i managed a jog yesterday. phew! less guilty. can't be lazy this week.

dinner time?? i actually planned to just have a cup of drink and maybe a slice of bread, but NO, the kid (carmen la) refused to let me have that for dinner.

fyi, i had been having bread with dried duck meat every weekday last week since the caterer stopped catering ;(. and this week, i also brought back 4 slices of dried duck meat to last me for the week at dinner time. ok, roll your eyes.

had to finish those meat one way or another, so why not? and i don't have to think much about dinner. convenient right? but i will have to start thinking hard because there will be no more dried meat next week. what's for dinner??

anyway, i had dinner, and a scrumptiously wholesome one.
specially delivered to my house at 7p.m. by dear carmen- white rice with fried egg, sweet and sour pork and tomato and vegetable. i had to promise to finish everything including every grain of rice. since she went through so much trouble, i had to fulfil the promise loh.

this is what i will have tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. one extra piece of dried duck meat will go to my colleagues who said they have never tried it before.

i definitely need some supplements to make up of all those lost nutrients in my body kan??

anyway, something for the soul now. read about these 2 books in the star paper. don't worry, there are more pictured than words in the books and the pictures are really amazing. don't trust me?? click the two links and be amazed.
http://veryawesomeworld.com/awesomebook/inside.html
http://veryawesomeworld.com/awesomebookofthanks/inside.html

happy reading!

cookies and post

more cny cookies....and these are goodies i got from parents of the kids. nom nom nom
did not have any kuih kapit at all in tm and i finally got a big biscuit tin full of it! hahaha....i love this thick type instead of the thin one as i feel that the thin one has more coconut milk which i don't like. well, i guess it is all in the mind anyway.

fortune cookies. i am going to have lots of luck with these 2 boxes. ong ah!

crispy and thin almond biscuits. brought the others back because i don't really like groundnuts but dad loves them.

this came in the post yesterday all the way from sabah. even the kids agree that the card is not ordinary. check out all the kites of all the chinese zodiac animals. thanks fil.

this also came from johor. yunli can't help herself from sending me these for the coming trip in may/june. waa...so many places to see and so few days! and not enough $$$. i have so much homework to do! but these guidebooks will definitely enhance the trip.

i love nail polish

do i give you the impression that i am all for non-girly stuff??
a friend teased me when i posted that i was looking for nail polish on fb. and this is a friend i have known since primary school!
this photo was taken by cousin on cny's eve when both of us painted our nails in preparation for the new year. hahaaha....
i seriously need to keep my nails longer if i want to pain them right? one can't help from noticing the fingertips being painted at the same time as well.
i need some patience woi! i do salute those people who have to do washing and yet can still keep their nails long. how in the world do they do that??

a girly friend (all bows and pastels) from singapore shared a link with me-http://www.nailfiesta.com and i am definitely going to buy some nail polish from them. opi for rm33? can you find me a cheaper price? unfortunately, they do not have black shatter too. boohoooo!!! i want black shatter so desperately!

is anyone interested in some nail polish? do i really want to get 5 bottles in order to qualify for free shipping?? (rm150 and above) when will i finish using them?

i want black shatter!!

oh, i so want the black shatter nail polish. no, in fact i want the whole katy perry set from opi. i am hooked by opi since i started using one of their nail polishes.
gosh, but it is so expensive here in malaysia. shall i get someone to get the whole set for me from the states?? i wonder how much it is selling for in the states. anyone???

happy jade emperor day

it is the 8th day of chinese new year now, and tomorrow the hokkiens will celebrate their new year. the 9th day is also known as the jade emperor's day so do not be surprised if you are waken up by the sound of exploding firecrackers as midnight approach today.

and it also means that i have been staying away from the blog for 8 days. guilty.
there was no time to write during the first few days of cny with some gambling sessions with relatives and friends. then there were the house-visits as well. but this year has been quieter but i still feel as tired.

and once work started, i have been on the go. sleep also does not come to me.....has not come for few nights now. yawn! hope it will not get worse but better tonight. still positive.

anyway...some photos now..........

my cny reunion dinner dishes. not many but more than enough for everyone.

had chilli crab on the first day of cny. my friend got it for me from kuala selangor- the dead crabs. mom cooked them. i had been craving for crabs for some time and the restaurants in tm also did not have them, so one sms to my friend and he said no problem. it was free of charge too. hahaha....so my other friends also said they want to order for next year.

some of the red packets collected this year. the haul has been getting better la as i got older hahaha. it was more than rm400.

i got this cute handphone holder from my neighbour when she came over to give me some biscuits. she said the rabbit is not as cute as the pig. i was just looking for one.
one of the nicer rabbit packet i got. rm5 from my neighbour in bidor.

cousin en told me to put a slice of lemon into my drinking water as it helps detoxification and it makes the water taste nicer. yes maam. you can do it too. but do not drink it in the evening because you will feel really hungry when you wake up the next day.

i am signing off now by keeping the fingers crossed for some sleep tonight. have to close all the windows and switch on the aircond to block the noise from outside. the rain has stopped outside so that means there will definitely by celebrations tonight for the hokkien new year.

still not too late to wish everyone a happy chinese new year!!!

last dash for cny

some final photos to share on cny preparations.
my sis and brother-in-law already had their 'reunion' lunch today with family friend so it is kinda new year already kan?
is everyone back in their kampung yet? pity those johoreans. luckily the weather forecast says that the rain is back to normal from today and there will be no more flood alerts.
my brother is back and today the old newspapers and books have been sent for recycling. so the spring cleaning is considered done lah. out with the old and in with the new.

have a few extra things hanging at the porch this year. the neighbour saw me on the ladder hanging them and she said, "nowadays it is the female who does all the climbing and hanging. my youngest daughter hangs the big pineapples in my house." so where are the guys?? they are a pampered lot huh.

another potted plant just for cny. i bet you, the plant is going to wither after 15 days.


went out and bought these from the shop to stick on the doors.


these are old ones, recycle lah. will still use them next year.

new one.
X crackers. i don't know whether it is prawn, fish or squid. no idea at all. i don't really like it ah. quite tasteless. looks like i have to attack those crackers when i go to open houses to make up for the lousy ones we have at home. shh...don't tell those coming to our house ah. haaha....but i am sure i will have a part in finishing them lah. munching while reading is the best combination.
green pea cookie. there is actually another cookie baking in the oven at this moment. but i am too lazy to wait. i don't think we will be baking anymore. tomorrow it is pure cooking only. prayers for the ancestors at noon and the reunion dinner at night. i am already full thinking of all the food we will have.
last but not least, the sun is finally out today. i hope the weather is going to be bright tomorrow too. it is quite windy tonight, so hopefully the wind will blow away all the rain clouds and let us usher the new year with a beautiful new day.
above are some of the pre-war buildings still in tg malim and the bus station. see those 'trees' in front of the station in yellow, green and red? they are beautiful especially at night when the lights are on.

more cny cookie

one more cookie today. the easiest of all to make- egg cookie.
actually aunt also made another variation of cornflake cookie, but it turned out almost the same like the one i took yesterday, so no need to take photo lah.

flowers are ready at the prayer's altar.

and today, while searching high and low for past year's cny decorations, mom found the wrong box and we took time to browse through these instead:
how old was atticus at that time?? and look at grandma's glow. gosh, those were the days. he was so cute right? so innocent. but i won't use that word on him now.

so cute and sweet. wish he is chubbier now so i can pinch his cheeks when i see him in his annual trip back here. but all i have is skin and bone and a head that is already much taller than mine.

anyway, i will always remember atticus as the cute cousin no matter how big or tall he has grown because he says i am his favourite cousin (i am sure he says that to every cousin of his too). have to keep his sweetness in my mind especially when he gets on my nerves. that is the only way of not making my top blow. muahaha...

more cny additions

the kitchen and the oven were busy again today.
it was so wet and it has rained nonstop since 10a.m. almost 12 hours now. i think it is going to rain till tomorrow.
bad....you know we will have so much to wash before cny...and the dog badly needs his bath.

anyway, the rain does not dampen the mood in the house and the cold is very much welcomed...shiver!!! haha

making muruku. call it one malaysia spirit lah.

cornflake biscuit

some nuts and raisin biscuit

my favourite- more pineapple tarts!!! this photo is specially dedicated to karen: come and get your tarts muahahaha

some festive air in da house

i am too tired to think much. so better express them in photos.

some kids have started jogging in anticipation of chinese new year. to them, cny means eating all sorts of cookies. on the contrary, i keep my appetite to the minimum when i attend open houses during this period. the only biscuit that attracts me is pineapple tart...and i guess i am bias, ours is still one of the best. haha....
top left, i got a can of fried seaweed and spring roll at work. dad said no to buying fried stuff. so i had no choice but to finish that one can in one week in the office. made good bites and no wonder i ended up with a hoarse voice at the end of the week. ;P

as for mandarin oranges, i am not taking any. just don't like them. have not eaten oranges for so long because of what the chinese sinseh said about blood circulation. i miss orange juice.

and the bottom right picture- dried duck meat. rm30 for 500g. if you buy pork's, it is at least rm35 for 500g. to me, they taste almost the same. but definitely better than the jerky aunt brought back from australia. no wonder atticus loves malaysia's version so much. those in australia are as tough as leather literallly and not as tasty. so breakfast now consists of an apple + buttered toast + dried duck meat. muahaha....satisfied.

we only have hung these at home. still feel so bare. feel like maxing the decoration a bit this year just to get into cny mood. the haul of cny card is not bad (mid bottom picture). i got one card from behrang adun lagi. mom could not help from scolding when she saw his picture on the card. he was one of those who jumped ship after being elected.

and i got this box instead of a greeting card. such a creative idea. the carrots are easily identified but the rabbits are kinda distorted right? still, i think this is such a novel idea.

i hope i will have more things to come related to cny. more 'ong' and more decorations hanging in the house!

aah....one week break

are you in chinese new year mood yet??
all the neighbours in bidor have colourful lights hung outside and their houses are lighted beautifully every night. they do put me in festive mood.

and today- mom was busy in the kitchen
tomorrow i will take more photos of the festive things already in the house. hmmh.....i wanna hang things outside the house too. some shopping on sunday??

in the meantime, my dog bite scar is still recovering.
it is still red and it still feels raw. that is going to be a permanent scar right. it has been almost 3 weeks right...or more? i think it happened on 3rd jan. gosh....one month. i still try not to exert too much pressure on the area because it still feels painful. ;(

and aunt is back from australia today. that means i am out of my room again and back into bro's room. and i also got a tube of pimple cream from atticus. gosh....my skin condition is really not good. i am using the same pimple cream that my 13-year-old cousin is also using. sob sob. atticus was the one who introduced this cream to me when he came back recently.
so there are a few breakouts now due to the monthly hormonal changes....so the cream comes at the right time. please let all of them disappear before chinese new year.

analog versus digital

i am referring to alarm clock here.
i think most people rely on their handphone now for the alarm right? i also wake up to green day singing from my mobile phone every morning, but the room seems incomplete without an alarm clock.

got this few months ago. it was less than rm40. i actually wanted one hello kitty alarm clock....but the person i told to help me get it from in kl refused to pay rm100 for it. she was not paying for my clock ok....i had to pay her back. anyway, she got me this instead because she said it was silly paying for such an expensive alarm clock.

however, the clock only ran well in the first month. after that, it was down hill all the way. i thought it was the battery. so i changed the battery. but the problem still persisted. the clock was always slow!!!

so this month, i have decided- enough is enough. i am going to get another alarm clock.

and this is what i got yesterday at kinta city, ipoh.



it is no hello kitty but i love it. and it is even cheaper than the first clock. so i wonder if the quality is going to be worse???? hmmm....

play the video and you will know why. it is so cute with its changing lights and all the sounds of nature used as the alarm tone. plus, it is a digital one so i can set the time to the exact minute.
setting time with the previous clock was never exact. i wanted to wake up at 6.05a.m. but the clock rang at 5.55a.m. aaahh!!! 10 mins of sleep ah! hahahaha

well, let's keep the fingers crossed that this cute white bubble above will serve me fine.

so what is your alarm clock??? or you don't need one at all?

a none public holiday

it's a public holiday- thaipusam but it is still work for me. lots of markings to do and is till have not finished yet. looks like the night will be spent reading 'how to eat wisely'-2 classes.
and tomorrow, i have more books coming in. the sight of the brown cover of the exercise books can instil fear in me now.

spotted in the newspaper this week:

an advertisement of dried meat. why do i take this down? well, the company is owned by one of mom's relatives and that is where we get our annual supply of sweet meat gwai fa meat. atticus' favourite. i have not seen their advert in newspaper before, hence i took a photo of it.

what is chinese new year without dried meat eh? ok, they are not good for health and so on, but how often do you have them? i don't think i will be seeing any pork dried meat in the house since the price of pork has increased a lot. i am going to order dried duck meat instead from bidor. people cringed when they hear duck meat, but to me, once the meat is marinated and grilled, the taste is almost the same lah. i am getting the duck meat for rm30 per 500g.

next up- sharing the different sizes and heights of tiffin carriers found in my house today. as we get more environmentally-friendly, we will see more of these in houses right? the largest one is used to hold my daily dinner from the caterer- 3 dishes and rice at the bottom. the other two, well, the kids brought me some food yesterday and this morning, and they also chose to use tiffin carriers. bravo. the young generation is also conscious about the environment. the one on the right is really cute because it is the smallest tiffin carrier i have ever seen, like the size of my palm.

and i am supposed to do some homework tonight........but now i have to cancel because marking is more important. a colleague lent me this book. among the four who are travelling to paris in june, i think i am the one doing the most research work. the rest plan to follow me, but what if what i want to see is not what they want to see?

wanna ask about moulin rouge. has anyone been to this show in paris? is it worth paying to see topless cabarets and can-can dance? i checked the price online and it is almost rm400 for a 90-minute show. i was kinda shocked by the ticket price. that sort of puts me off.

this sunday...

more blings blings from swarovski to wash the eyes.
i helped a friend to order them.

this merry-go-round pendant is so cute.
she was actually going to order my milady trinkets pendant....but changed her mind after i ordered it first. so she ordered a milady cross instead.
this is a charm. only 11euro. cheap hor?

grandma is better today. i guess it is a yo-yo condition. sometimes she is bright and alert, sometimes she is puzzled and bewildered. aunt is telling me to make her drink some 'energy' drink from fitline. hope it works.
drove her out to town for a haircut.

beanie needs another injection for his skin. who is going to put the muzzle on?? hope it won't worsen lah. bro is coming back this coming weekend. hopefully he can help to put on the muzzle then we bring him to the vet in front of our housing area. he has the medicine for the injection. mom walked him to the vet this morning. but i don't think the vet dares to inject him without a muzzle.

of gloomy weather and more dog bite

beanie update- he bit dad's finger when dad was trying to check a red patch on his skin. haiz......that dog is almost untouchable now.
i still have a slight phobia when the thought of chaining him up cross my mind. i think i won't be doing that task for a while yet.
and his skin disease is bothering him again. he has red spots under his belly and near his groin. it is not pretty looking. can see small round bumps like oil seeds protruding. aiyoh....so leceh!!!! we can give dogs pills we take right? will ask the pharmacist to prescribe anti itch and something for his redspots. i wonder whether the redness comes from contact with long weeds outside.

another problem to worry about is grandma lah now. the old folks have been coughing for more than a week- both grandpa and grandma. for grandpa...well, it is almost a common occurrence lah...so he is sort of used to it and knows how to take medicine. with grandma...haiz...the cough is like saping the life and energy out of her. the cough is not that bad, in fact, it is quite slight only, but she can't get the phlegm out of her throat. you don't hear her cough one. her energy level is at red- very low. it makes her more prone to mumbling and confusion. i don't want to use the A word. just this morning, she picked up the phone, then she told me she had forgotten how to use it- whether to press the numbers first or to press the green dial button. huhuhuh. i ended up making the call for her.

the gloomy weather also does not help and they complain of cold everyday. maybe i should tell her to drink her brands chicken essence since she has them in stock also in her room. can help kan?

to my swarovski cyrstal fondness now. who does not like bling bling?? especially when the euro is so low now and there is 50% discount on the items??? and free postage when you buy more than 75euro.

so here are 2 items i ordered:

this is my colleague's. luckily she ordered something......that means i don't have to pay for postage lah. ;P

this is mine. it is 55euro. i hope the chain that comes with it will be long. well, i will only be seeing it in july. so wait lah.

healing just fine

latest condition of the palm:
i am healing just fine. come tomorrow, i will have no problem soaking the palm in water, i think. but as for exerting unnecessary pressure on the palm, i am not going to do that.
the bandage has been replaced with a small plaster.
many did not believe me when i told them i was bitten by dog on monday and tuesday. almost everyone thought i was pulling their legs. haiz....
it is a very fast recovery. thanks to the durian i had in the weekend which provided me with a rich source of protein for new cells building? hahah...
thanks everyone for their concern too.

i will finally be able to wash my hair using both hands. i need to use my feet to wash clothes and to wring the water. it was a very energy and time consuming activity. luckily the sun was out after many days of gloom. so those wet wet clothes were dried. still no high-five but should be able to do so this weekend.

what an eventful january and it is not even the middle of the month.