Change is inevitable

This year someone asked me "how long have you been working here?"

I paused a little bit before answering.

And then it hit me.
6 years is a long time and had broken my previous record of 4 years from my previous company.

Talking about my previous company...how I missed the camaraderie of the working life there.

There wasn't any office politics, no backstabbings, no gossips and no fake and 2-faced people.

Like most employees, we would ocassionally complain about our bosses and share harmless jokes about them when they are not around.

We would occasionally throw lunch potluck without including our 2 bosses and they would come in and peek at our feast and smile at us. I would make my potato salad and "kimlorong" would boil her trademark sausages and "pundek" would bring her tomyam bee hoon and "ah neh" would bring roti canai. And flushed down with our chilled "tau foo fah" with "tau chui" dessert bought from the wet market next door.
Ah...such simple things in life.

Sometimes they would request me to tapau our favourite breakfast, bee hoon mee from Mt. Erskine market with extra gravy, which I happily oblige cause it's also my fav.

Our bowl of tomyam along a street at Haatyai with freshly chopped groundnuts was unforgettable and the awkwardness we felt during our first traditional thai body massage as we were asked to select our masseurs from a huge glass window. Looking inside, the masseurs, old, young, pretty, thin, plum all seated and waiting to be selected by us and we felt like a dirty old man seeking paid sex.
But we were glad that we chose the older lady with a strong hand.

Most of us suffered Monday blues, but I would wake up on Monday morning and can't wait to go to work. I know it sounded crazy but this is how it was.

Now, 6 years later, though we were no longer colleagues they are still one of my best friends.

6 years is not a long time, neither it is a short one.

Perhaps change is really ineviable.

I longed for those days......

Photo taken during our recent get-together at Harvard's Inn (behind Northam hotel).
4 people are missing in this photo and we hope to have a complete photo the next time we meet again.

The Ultimate Carrot Cake

I finally got all the remaining stuff needed to make my carrot cake from scratch.

Mum called few days ago and I told her that I've got the recipe for carrot cake and it's not just a simple carrot cake with walnut.
Knowing that she like to bake as well, I tried to tempt her a little bit more (or rather "api-api her a little bit)

So I added, that it has pineapple and raisins and nutmeg powder !

"WOW....sure ho chiak wan !!!"

So, I can't wait to start and see the outcome looks as delicious as in the photo.


Main ingredients :
Freshly granted carrot, chopped pineapple, plum raisins and toasted walnuts

Ingredients for the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting :
cream cheese, butter, lemon zest and castor sugar.


Into the over and bake bake bake.



My cake is made out of sweat and blood.
Please don't grate your finger and nail while you grate your carrot.


This is it..................THE ULTIMATE CARROT CAKE !!!


I thought, I would put the the ultimate carrot cake for the ultimate test.

So, I brought some for my colleagues to test.

Fingers crossed.

That day, my department bought the "well-loved" fruit cake from PJ Old Town to celebrate 3 colleagues birthday.
So, my carrot cake was placed next to the delicious and well-loved fruit cake.

Haha..did not hope much at this point as my carrot was competing against the fruit cake (or so I thought).
But I was pleasantly suprise that my cake stole the attention and even happier to have rave reviews on it !

It's so funny that one of them holding my tupperware and asked if she could finish the rest and the other one asked for the recipe.

So, my ultimate carrot cake passed the ultimate test ! :)

My shoe got stolen again !

I can't believe it happened again !

And this is already the 3rd time !!!

This happened 3 years ago and have learned my lesson not to leave my shoe outside eventhough the grilled door it locked.

Now, almost 3 years later the shoe thief stikes again. This time, they stole the shoes INSIDE my shoe cabinet and my grilled door was of course locked and padlocked.

wtf !

I was dumbfounded, that we got hit yet again despite our shoes inside the cabinet ALL the time.
Cursed the thief like crazy and hope that he fell into a drain filled with shit on his way to trade his stolen shoes.

Apart from my nike 4.0 kena stolen, Siong's scholl loafer suffered the same fate !
We were lucky that his Nike was not inside the cabinet on that day.

Once bitten, twice shy....I say 3rd time you got bitten, you fixed not 1 BUT 2 latches and padlock the damn thing.

I cannot afford to take chances any more.

Thanks to dad ! He brought his drill over the weekend and helped me fixed these latches.



With my shoe cabinet looking like this, I hope the thief don't think that I keep some diomand encrusted and gold plated heels inside.

So, "old shoe never go, new one how to come?"
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My Merdeka fishing trip

So we decided to head back to Pg last week for the Medeka long weekend.
The gals are having a gathering and ah shing is going to be there too !
boy, I have not seen that 'chabor' for ages.

We had our lunch at Coffee Island along Gurney Drive and moved on to Dome Cafe @ Gurney Plaza for some snack and loads of juicy updates along the way. TCS did very well for being a chimui himself for the day.

Later that night, we went out for dinner and mum, dad and meng at BlueReef. A nice cozy little restaurant newly opened by my good neighbour.
Mom likes the food while dad just go with flow.....
I thought I give it a try since it's my neighbour's restaurant and meng helped to design their logo and mom said it's nice and it's just down the hill from our house.

Here's how it look like.....

I was a little suprised when meng said we need a booking cos it's usually full during the weekend. Lucky we did. After we sat down, customers kept coming in and poor neighbour, he had to turned down at least 2 groups of them.
You may want to try them out, it's located at Casa Permai 2. Mom especially likes their
fish & chips. And yes, their portions are big too. And no, I don't get a free meal for promoting them. :P

Anyway, lets move on to my other "fish" stories.

Dad asked us out for a fishing trip with his 2 friends from Holland. I remembered attending their Christmas dinner at their apartment when I was very little.

That morning, it rained and the sea was rough with big waves. I wasn't really bothered cos I loved the ocean so much and this offered me a great escape from the city life.
We caught loads of fishes that day !


I caught 1 and seconds later TCS caught another one ! It's a "Helicopter" fish

Cos this fish can stand like this and it looks like a helicopter. Got pouty lips......nice !

Posing with my 2 helicoper fishes.

TCS happy holding the puffer fish. Look at it's teeth.
Fugu anyone ?????


Arrived at the beach for barbeque.

As you can see, these are the "siputs" I digged out from the sand just seconds ago and straight to the bbq grill. It doesn't get any fresher than this.


Less than 1 minute later, my "siput" has opened up almost ready to be served.



Lunch is finally served. Fresh barbequed "siput" with a dash of soy sauce.....
simply delicious !

Happenings of the past 3 months.....

My friends and colleagues always said that I have very short term memory, I agree with them sometimes.
But I like to believe that I have selective memory loss......

Let me try to recall what had happened the past 3 months .......

Oh.....before I go on I found this picture.....
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of me and Michelle 'flying' down the skytrack, at Dusun Eco.
Apart from the stinking smell of the helmet, the ride down was one of the best ride I've had.


So here are some of the 'happenings' still in my memory....before it get lost.


Suffered from (in my opinion, crazily severe) insomnia a month ago. Till now, I do not know what had triggered it. I used to thought that it was due to work, but I realised it wasn't.
In fact, it was right after my Pangkor trip and a couple of days later...the shitty insomnia happened. Out of nowhere !
Like when you're driving happily along a straight road on your way to a nice dinner and then out of nowhere someone hit you at the back...no kidding, this is real life incident.....I'll get to it next.
Imagine getting 2 - 4 hours of sleep each night for 4 weeks ! The doc's sedative worked but this is only as good as it gets.
I was lucky that I didn't look like a zombie at work, and no one actually notice.
Then hubby saw this article on the newspaper and thought I should really give it a try.
I was really sceptical at first as I have tried many types of supplements already and none of it help.
My last alternative, I thought and gave it a shot.
The result ? I couldn't believe it. I still thought this was a miracle.....I slept soundly and even had a sweet dream that night !
No, this is not a sleeping pill at all. It's a food supplement called Rilax containing a breakthrough, internationally patented and award-winning ingredient from France, Lactium.
What's best is, I have stop taking this supplement and still sleeps like a baby !
Anyone interested to know more....go to http://www.livelife.com.my/product_rilax.html


Last week, met a freaky accident. And it wasn't our fault at all.
We were driving out to Jaya 33 for a food tasting dinner organised by bro-in-law. Taxi in front of us break so we slowed down to break.
Suddenly a bang at our bumper and hubby got out and saw the man fell down from his bike. That fella caused a deep dent to the car bumper, but he managed to get up. He then pointed at the clinic nearby and ask us to meet him there.
What happened next, we couldn't believe it. That stupid guy (perhaps drunk or dreaming) dissapeared. wtf ! can you believe it ? hit people then dissapear before our very eyes.
Anyway, looking at the 'pattern'...maybe a foreigner and I thought he wouldn't be able to pay for the damages also...


Happier side......
Bro-in-law registered for marriage on 080809 at Tien Hou Kong......

Bro-in-law looked dashing and wife lookin' gorgeous and pretty ! smile....

The big THREE OHhh !!!

They say that.......


30 is the new 20 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Got up this morning and the wind is blewing and then followed by some rain.

Wind and Rain....always my favourite weather.

And I thought the heaven is celebrating with me.


Happy 30th Birthday to ME

Dusun Eco - branch teambuilding (read: National Service)

okm (our organizer) said that the rooms are gonna be very basic with no hot water, no aircon, no power point to charge your handphone, you can bring your sleeping bags cos there's no mattress sheet.....and oh.....please bring your own toilet paper and masquito repellent and salt to put inside your socks.

wtf !!!

Then, I thought to myself, it's just for 1 night and after that I got a week leave to 'recover'.


This is our very extremely basic chalets. The floor creeks and the walls seemed to shake when you open the door. All the beds and pillows does not come with covers, but they provide those at their office. Only thing is you have to get it yourself. Luckily, I brought my own sheets. After each meals, you have to wash your own plates and cups and utensils.
wtf, like National Service camp.

Our first obstacle. climbing over these wall.

Next obstacle. Quite scary when you're at the top and everybody trying to be helpful by shouting where you should put your legs.

You have to walk pass all this ropes without holding on to anything.

This is one of the toughest obstacle. You have to balance yourself on 2 ropes at this position and drag yourself to the other side.


fun fun fun. After those hard ones, this one is so easy, can dance and pose halfway to take photos.

I have made it ! on to the next......

2 monkeys perched at the top.

Not the toughest, but the scaries obstacles. Not sure how high it is, but it's one damn scary bridge. I was drenched in sweat by the time I reach the other end cos I was concentrating so hard and making sure that I don't loose grip and fall.


Only 8 people at a time.

Last obstacles of the day : build your own raft and race across the river.
We took 30 minues to built this raft and halfway along the way, I realized I was in the wrong team ! wtf. don't tell anyone, and continue to tie the bamboos together.
The water was sooooooo coool !!! happy !

The "Fan" club president.

Next day, we went jungle trekking. I knew there was gonna be leeches, just that I didn't expect to see one, maybe 2, 3......but i bought 1 packet of salt and a can sheltox with me.
I hate those &%@$% blood sucking leeches. I saw 1 along the way and freaked out...and started to sprinkle my path with salt.
We spent the entire 2 hours inside the jungle, very intense and physically demanding workout, ever !!! I never sweat this much in my entire life !

Everyone survived the jungle to take this picture......

Later we went to this place....Kow Po shop. Famous for its ice-cream at Bentong town.
I had pandan ice-cream ABC. Best pandan ice-cream I ever had....can't find this flavour of ice-cream elsewhere.


Delicious !!!!!

Another gals night out - 14 March

That night we gathered to celebrate KPL's 'hari ini dalam sejarah'.
We were suppose to have a full day girls outing, however it turn out to be just a dinner event.
So we cancelled our hiking to pg hill as QAL got freaked out by her overloaded housekeeping job while vacuuming her apartment floor and TBH gotta work overtime.

So we decided to have dinner at the new Italian restaurant at chulia street, which was closed when we reached there at 6.30pm. wtf.
I passed there the night before after having "kay moey" with my parents and that
place was full !

Maybe the owner decided that it's saturday night and nobody would come and eat that night. wtf.

if business is good and the owner decided to close on that saturday night.......unbelieveable......

Hungry and with no back-up plan, we decided to wait for KPL and Kelly by the road side.


where are you, kpl????????

why are we waiting ????

stomach grrrrrooowlingggg.......

Few venues were suggested, and we decided to have our dinner at Jacks.
In front of Slippery Senioritas. Good ambience. I thought their main course was either to big or too small. So TBH and QAL both ended up eating half a chicken each and KPL maybe a few kg of pork ribs.

drinking wine.....

KPL and QAL waiting for their pork ribs and half chicken.

3 flavoured butter and Bee Hean's half eaten bread.
spinach, carrot and the yellow coloured one is regular butter with sugar in it.



Cheers !

Nice angle taken by TBH.

Take #5

Almost perfect.

Clubbing inside SS.

Austria & Germany - Vacation (last part)

INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA

Finally, I have reached the final part of my Europe blog.

So, we finally arrived in Austria. When our coach crossed the border from Italy, it's already dark and I could barely see anything outside. I'm not sure whether it's the cold winter or the laid back lifestyle as I can hardly see any shops open when we arrive at about 6.30pm.

Checked in to the hotel after dinner, turned on the telly realised everything are in german, austrian, whatever. wtf. *sleep*
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Next morning.........


snow !!!! hehehehe !! yes....I could make ice kacang on the spot if I got some syrup and ground peanuts with me. happy happy happy !
This is the hotel we stayed for the night. Very cozy.


Ski jump stadium. Innsbruck is one of the most popular winter sport centres in Central Europe.



Triumphal Arch.
The cold and dry weather caused my hair to stick out like chicken feather. The crazy hair situation was worst when I woke up in the morning, like 'crazy chicken' and I managed to tame it a bit by slapping it down with cold water.


Innsbruck is the home to Swarovski Crystal. You can get all your swarovski here. Ah Siong is not a swarovski fan but I think he fell in love with all the animal shaped crystal. Everything is so pretty here. The shop is so friendly, they even allow you to take all the photos you want here.



Beautiful and richly-couloured buildings can be seen everywhere in the city.


Mozart stayed here briefly when he was a teenager


Alps at the background.



MUNICH, GERMANY

Germany wasn't on our itenary and me being me. Since, our itinerary is less hectic here, our tour leader offered to bring us to Munich. Being the super "kaki bunga" I got really excited. He would even consider brining us to Slovakia, if everyone agrees. At that point, I wanted to jump up and said "I want I want I want". But of course, everyone must agree on the de tour. I silently hope everyone would.

So when voting time arrive, everyone have no objection and I was over the moon. I almost wanted to put-up my feet if I need to to garner more votes.

We all paid 30 euros each, but it money well spent.

So we left Innsbruck and took a detour to Munich.
We spent the rest of the day in Munich and reached Salzburg, Austria for dinner the same day.

City of Munich.

Marienplatz ( St. Mary's Square). Behind is The New Town Hall. Very gothic looking.
The strong wind over here numb my nose and fingers, I had to hid behind the pillar and spilled mustard on my glove while eating german sausage with my gloves on.



Bicycles !

So, I finally decided to get me a LV here. Coming all the way here and didn't get one seemed like almost unforgivable and with the Value Added Tax (VAT), I might not forgive myself when Ireturn.


SALZSBURG

This city is soooooo pretty and the scenery here are almost poscard perfect.


view of Festung Hohensalsburg Fotress taken from Mirabell Gardens. the biggest and most fully-preserved fortress in europe.


Salzburg is sooo breathtakingly beautiful. This is one of my favourite shot.





Mirabell Gardens.

Mirabell Gardens at the other end.


Easter In Salzburg ! Thousands of brightly coloured easter eggs for sale.

I mean thousands all stacked up. They are all so pretty !


Getreidegasse. Austria's most beautiful shopping centre.

We stayed at Renaissance Hotel, Salzburg. This is the best hotel we stayed throughout our trip.


VIENNA

Schonbrunn Summer Palace in Hapsburg, Vienna.

At the palace compound

Inside the palace private gardens


Belvedere Palace


Rauthaus. Vienna's City Hall. If only our city hall looks a bit like this.

Hofburg Imperial Palace.
Used to be the Habsburg's winter Palace, but currently serves as the official residence of President of Austria.


Palace compount all covered in snow....breathtaking !

At the compound in front of Schonbrunn Palace and it's snowing. Weeeeee !!!


Status of Marie Antoinette


Snow covered bench at the palace compound



Breakfast at the hotel in Vienna


Outside the hotel ready to depart to the airport.
With a layer of thermal cloth and my muffler, I still managed to take few more photos.