These paws were made for walking...

...not.

This week's theme is walk, and I immediately recalled the photo I had taken previously for the same theme.

I almost decided to just give up on this theme since I had no better idea, then I decided I could at least find some-"one" else to walk!

Guess who?

Let's go for a walk!

I initially took the second photo, but the bear was off-balance, so it doesn't look very nice. In the end I decided on just the paws for a proper "walking" photo. It doesn't really look like walking either...but it'll have to do :P

Batik, Bakery, and Balloons

This lady is preparing a pretty design…

It’s batik!

A closer look:

Then we go to the TeddyVille bakery.

The cookies look more like buns here. :P 

For some reason, there is a hot-air balloon here as well. I’m guessing that it is because there is a hot-air balloon festival in Penang every year, around Chinese New Year. Maybe this is a work in progress?

There is even some text on the hot-air balloons on the wall. I don’t know what “swipe right” and “swipe left” are supposed to mean though...

Psst...I didn't really try to group all the "B"s in one post...these sections really come one after the other in the Teddyville Museum!

A Junho weekend

I searched on my blog, and I'm surprised that I have never written about Good Manager. I watched it quite some time ago, mainly because I saw a funny Uniqlo ad with Namgoong Min in it (I can’t find the ad again...not sure whether I remembered it wrong). The ad was about pants that were so light that you don’t feel like you are wearing any. A comment on the video mentioned the drama, because in the ad, Namgoong Min was portraying a character similar to the character in the drama.

I searched up the drama out of curiosity, and I think that was what made me decide to watch it later when I saw that it was available on Viu. In the drama, the second male lead was an arrogant and obnoxious young man, but somehow looked rather cute when he smiled. Even when he smiles in an “evil” way. So I looked up the actor, and discovered that he was Junho from 2PM.

Now I know 2PM from when the members came to Running Man, but I don’t know all the members. I mainly remember Nickhun and Taecyeon, and also Chansung (I had forgotten all about him, but saw him in a drama and found that I could recognize him). But I couldn’t recall Junho at all. But fine, so now I know him.

Then recently 2PM made their comeback, and Youtube was recommending me their videos. I watched a few, and was rather annoyed that I couldn’t manage to recognize Junho at all! (I also had difficulty spotting Nickhun immediately because of his hairstyle, but at least I could recognize him with a second look)

That would have been the end of the story, but around the same time I saw this drama Wok of Love which stars Junho. I wanted to see how he did in a different role, so I watched it. The drama is extremely funny, although since it's a comedy, there are ridiculous things happening at times. Still, the interaction between the characters was very entertaining, so I enjoyed the show.

But I still wanted to know how I didn’t notice him on Running Man. So I looked up Junho’s appearances on the variety show. It turns out that he had appeared on four episodes. So I looked up those episodes and watched them.

I finished the drama at the beginning of the weekend, and now I have watched all four of those Running Man episodes that Junho was in. In the first two, he appeared together with Han Hyo Joo, and I could see why I never noticed him...he was greatly overshadowed by Hyo Joo! It was her second appearance on the show, and her first appearance had been extremely entertaining and I liked her a lot. So it was no wonder that I focused more on her in those episodes (I think the cameras/editing focused more on her too…)

His second appearance (3rd episode) was with Kim Woo Bin and Kang Ha Neul. Maybe I was looking at Woo Bin… :P 

The 4th episode was with all the 2PM members. There were six of them, so it only made sense that I could only remember those who had made a big impression before! (read: Nickhun and Taecyeon)

It is the end of the weekend, and I feel like I have spent the whole weekend just watching Junho!

Back to Good Manager, the drama that started all this: It was really good, and I remember enjoying it a lot too (I feel that it is better than Wok of Love). The power of Namgoong Min, perhaps?

One thing I noticed is that in both dramas, the two male leads (one of which is Junho) had very nice interactions with each other. In Good Manager it was with Namgoong Min, and in Wok of Love it was with Jang Hyuk. I actually liked Jang Hyuk’s role a lot (he played a “good guy” gangster), except for his awful hairstyle :P

A rough photo

Last week's theme was rough.

Well, here's a rough surface for you!

Vaccination stories

I just got my second dose of the Covid vaccine (Sinovac). When I got my first dose, the nurse showed me the syringe ("see, you are receiving 0.5ml"), and after giving me the injection, she showed me the empty syringe ("see, it is empty now"). At that time, I found it strange, but later I heard that it was because there have been complaints about people receiving empty injections.

This time, the nurse also showed me the syringe before the injection, and after the injection, when I was looking at the other nurse (there were two this time) putting the cotton on the injection site, she told me, "Don't look here, look there", and forced me to look at the syringe which was now empty.

When driving out of the car park, coincidentally the car in front of me had the number plate PPV, which is the acronym for the vaccination center! (pusat pemberian vaksin)

Factory workers and self-employed bears

Now we visit a factory in TeddyVille!

These teddies are hard at work.

See those two bears high up at the back? I’ve just noticed it while writing this post! (Edit: Gasp! There's another one walking down the stairs! Do let me know if there's any more that I missed!)

[Edit: My friend says there's another bear...on the bottom-right of that tiny sign on the table :P ]

What? I’m not supposed to help them?

Good job, guys!

Next we see a roti-man (er...or roti-bear) and a barber!

A “whole” view of the roti-bear’s shop:

Next, to the barber shop!

A close-up of the friendly barber.

Since the barber looks so friendly, I decided to get a haircut there too :P

Frying fish is an adventure

Every time I am frying fish, it seems like such a bad idea. Before and after the act, the idea sounds better.

Anyway, I couldn't resist buying this fish (the white one) when I saw it at the market this morning. It was my favourite fish when I was small (probably still is, just that I don't get to eat it much now), and I was always very happy when I saw it on the table.

I didn't really recognise the raw fish at a glance, but the seller was calling out its name. It's one of the few fish I know the name of...if I recall correctly, my mother was like, "You like this fish so much, do you know what it's called?"

I bought the other fish as well (RM5 for each kind of fish; they had them in baskets), since if I was going to fry some fish, I might as well fry a bit more. After all, I have a good reheating method.

The elusive Pop Tart

Four years ago (around June 2017...I found the date from a Facebook post), I started looking for Pop Tarts. I had read so much about them in books, and in Jeffrey Deaver's The Blue Nowhere, a hacker keeps looking for Pop Tarts (which he couldn't get in prison, or something like that). I was extremely curious what they actually were, and how they tasted.

But I never found them once I started looking for them. I believe I had seen them in supermarkets that sell international products, but that was before I had set my mind on buying some to try. After some time, I think I sort of forgot about them. It's not like I go to those supermarkets very often either.

About two months ago, I suddenly recalled Pop Tarts. Not sure why or how, but it suddenly occurred to me that I might be able to find them on online shopping platforms, where you can find practically anything nowadays!

A quick search on Shopee immediately found me some Pop Tarts. I bought a packet, and here's what they look like!

I chose a chocolate flavour because it's the "safest", taste-wise. The soy milk was a free gift. It's the size of a 200ml milk pack, so I guess it can give you an idea of how big the box of Pop Tarts is. (but the soy milk is only 180ml...when shaking the box, we can feel that it's not full!)

The box tells us that there's a variety of ways to enjoy Pop Tarts.

I froze a piece, but didn't find it much different from the piece that was not frozen, except that it was slightly harder. The lines of "frosting" on top was nice and crunchy though, with or without freezing. I didn't try toasting, not sure whether I want to...

Anyway here's what an individual Pop Tart looks like.

The filling inside:

To me, it simply tastes like a soft biscuit with chocolate filling. (and frosting, in this case. I don't think all flavours are frosted)

A real fog

This week's photo theme is fog. After I got the idea of making my own fog, I suddenly recalled that I had had the same idea before!

Luckily, this time I didn't need to make my own, because one morning I woke up to see real fog!

It has been rainy recently, and this scene came just at the right moment.

An exaggerated tale

The other day, I was conducting an experiment when some acid suddenly splashed into my eye. It stung like crazy, so I quickly administered first aid. It took a while for the stinging to go away.

Glossary:
acid = orange juice
administered first aid = washed my eye with water
conducting an experiment = eating an orange 

I tell you, it was a really sour orange!

Daging salai

Some time ago, I bought a pack of daging salai on Shopee. It cost RM15 a pack, and I waited for an RM5 cashback before buying it. 

One packet contains 150g of meat. The first time I opened the packet, I used a small portion, then split the rest into a few small portions to freeze. (It is shipped vacuum-packed but not frozen, and it can be stored frozen for several months)

a small portion for pasta

separated out into individual pieces (the meat was all stuck together because it was vacuum-packed)

Practically everyone (or every Malay) who buys this daging salai will use it for masak lemak cili api. But I didn't want to masak lemak because I didn't want to buy santan, etc. So I looked up a few recipes online. It was hard to find recipes that were not masak lemak!

The first thing I cooked with it was pasta with cabbage. It was an adaptation of this cabbage and noodles recipe, because I had some leftover cabbage.

Didn't taste too good... Next I tried an aglio olio with cili padi.

This one was better.

After that I tried scrambled eggs, with sliced onions and cili padi.

This one was the best among all the recipes I tried. I think daging salai really needs some chilli to spice up the taste.

The last dish I tried making with my daging salai was this smoked duck pasta recipe that uses red wine. I had already made it with smoked duck before, and it was good.

However, with daging salai it was less good. I think it's because daging salai somehow doesn't "lend" its taste to the rest of the dish.

In the end, I think I prefer smoked duck to daging salai. (maybe because I am not cooking masak lemak cili api?) Smoked duck is cheaper too, so I guess I won't be buying daging salai any more...

Row, row, row your boat

These two bears are hard at work!

These too, and there are lots of spectators to the race!

A closer look at one of the drummers keeping beat.

The full scene:

Here, let me help you two!

Want to know what it's all about?

Bridge in the sky

It's a lovely day to be sitting on that bridge!

A teddy marathon

After the cendol, we reach the Penang Bridge of TeddyVille!

There was a race going on!

Look at that costume! Is it a banana? (You can see some other costumes too...I don’t really get them...)

Look at all the bears running hard!

Then there are those lagging behind...

Did you notice that there was a ferry? It’s empty though. :P

And here’s the information on the Penang Bridge marathon and the ferries.