eat and shop.....amidst the busy week

it has been really really busy at work and the pile of work is not going to be lighter anytime soon as well.
the sudden change in the sports calendar for the year means, training will start in october in preparation for the district level competitions come end of october. already the handball boys have asked me when training will start. and my athletics boys will start theirs soon too when they finish their exams.
and since it is the end of the year, there are bound to be exams....so there is marking to be done. i am in the midst of marking now and i doubt i can finish it in the public holiday tomorrow. haiz....work life is a torture now. everybody is counting down to the holidays. hmmh....i guess the next long weekend is deepavali weekend. but....i will also be marking at that time.
adoiii.......

and escapism with material goods is not actually that good.....and it really does not provide any long term relief.....yet......some happiness do come from good right?
so here are some things i got.....and i have not got at the moment but is  already mine. haha

my complete set of hello kitty fairy tale collaboration with mcdonalds from singapore. and i did not have to queue for this......thanks to someone who willingly did it for me. lucky me.

a pair of rubber shoes from melissa, another collaboration good this is.....with karl lagerfeld. it is in australia now as it was bought from melissa's aussie website. after doing a bit comparison with the price in malaysia, i found australia to be cheaper.....so it was ordered on its website then. i hope the shoes will be comfy. i have not even tried this yet as they only have stores in 1 utama and midvalley and i seldom go there. will be getting the shoes in 2 weeks' time.

naaah....i did not buy this book. it is my housemate's. i am just really impressed with the pop-up art of the book. gosh they were really impressive. i have not read this famous story before, so this is really a good intro to the story for me. but i won't be picking up the full story anytime soon. the story is too dark for me. and this book is also not recommended for young kids.

now let's some of the pop-arts.

grrrr......  

a burning house.......

another monster being created.....

the last page of the book.....which i think is the most impressive. amazing.
pop-up books is a good way to start nurturing the reading habit in kids i think. i remember we had one or 2 fairy tale pop up books when young and it really impressed us.  so to parents out there, invest in pop-up books to kick start the reading interest in your child. you won't regret it. but the price is definitely higher than what you will be paying for a normal hardcover children book.

a trip to ipoh was also inevitable in the midst of the busy week. i got a phone call from alliance bank telling me that i had to open a bank account before 13 sept so that i would be able to get my winning money from the star win & bid contest deposited into the account. haiz....rm300 gone to open that account......and i am still waiting for my winning money to be deposited.

so it was lunch in ipoh on tuesday at jose & deli cafe at french hotel ipoh.

it had really nice setting and was quiet on the day we went. maybe because lunch hour was over already.

i ordered their set lunch which comes with tea and dessert.

i told the waiter to bring my dessert out first, i was really hungry. it was tiramisu. yummy!!!

i ordered marinated lamb. the portion was quite big for the price they charged for the set- rm19 only.  it was a good meal at a very reasonable price. definitely worth going again.

and....another trip north was made on friday and saturday....this time, the destination was kuala kangsar.

ping pong competition.......a losing game for me from the start. gosh, those aunties were killers lah. the ginger is hotter the older it is. hmmh.......if only i have learnt to play ping pong properly from young. is it too late to get myself a coach now? but first, there is the paddle to buy. wait lah......

since i could not win in the games, i better used the opportunity to enjoy myself right? and so the saturday day trip to kuala kangsar turned into a food trip instead hahaha.....

started at 6a.m. and the first destination was ipoh, foh san restaurant to have dim sum. so this jakun had never been there before and was determined to set foot at least once in this famous restaurant.

this place was already crowded before 7a.m.

and i learnt that it was self-service here. you have to queue up to get the steamed dim sum from the designated counters. chaik! there are a few trolleys and they will also come for orders for certain dishes, but for the rest, please join the long queues.

the three of us only ordered these. not much eh. my verdict? the lo mai kai was just so-so and they charged rm5 for it. that black thing there with the green blotch, it was steamed bun with yam filling. this one was really unique and good.  the pau was really soft and fine and the yam filling not too sweet. the rest was also so-so. so besides the impressive building this restaurant is in, i can't find any other good words to say about my experience here. prices are definitely more expensive than the other dim sum restaurants in ipoh. the variety was also not that many. i did not see any egg tart. and the thing that i really hate is the queueing up to get your own food. for the kind of prices they are charging, self-service is definitely unacceptable. so i guess that would be my last and only visit to foh san. the next time i come for dim sum, it will be ming court (opposite foh san) of course.

for lunch, we had yummy hainanese food in kuala kangsar town.

we searched quite a while for this place- yat lai restaurant on the main road.

this place still maintained its old charm and the service is also what you would expect from a hainanese restaurant- slow. ;)
however, the slow service was compensated by good food.

lunch at the restaurant is only served from one p.m. onwards. we arrived at 12.45noon and waited till 1.15 to get our food. i guess they really only started lighting the stove at 1p.m. and started cooking lunch then. there was another table that arrived earlier before us and they ordered the hainanese chicken chop. it looked good, and the sauce is tomato base if i am not wrong.

i had soft-boiled eggs on toast, iced coffee and hailam noodles. haha.....what a big eater. the wat tan hor was good and the fried rice was perfect too. i wished i could have all especially the wat tan hor too!!! so this is a must stop place in kuala kangsar. the restaurant is also famous for their steamed buns (paus) which are only available starting 2.30p.m. onwards. we wanted to place order to collect later, but unfortunately, all paus had been sold out for the day. see......how popular the paus are. and this place is also friendly to muslim customers as they can also eat here. too bad no pau for us. the restaurant is closed on sunday.

the end of the road trip.

but it was not the end of shopping trip in the cyber world...........

unless this happens:

that was target america's website. i guess it crashed due to the release of phillip lim's collection on this day. too bad they don't have this on aussie's website. but i wonder if the clothes will be available in store?? who can help me check? hahaha.....i am only interested in a sweater.

ok...enough of all shopping talk. i might be sleep talking shopping later. time to call it a night. better sleep earlier as home is where i can get the best sleep! hate those dream-filled sleep in bidor for the past week. not rested at all.

happy malaysia day to all malaysians. may we stay together in this land we call our home.

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.

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.