Big Brains

What would you do if you have big brains?

Grow BIG hair to conceal your oversized skull! Like them.

We are proud of Lok Lok that he didn’t cry when we pulled out his first baby tooth.

Sasha, getting prettier as she grows.

QQ aka Little Jumbo can crawl now and would bite anything at sight!

There is never a dull moment growing up in this family. Heh!

As for the other “Big Brainer”, Yuin is going sailing again – Bon Voyage!

PS. My aunt better not see this. She will kill us for messing around with her expensive wig!

Overdose

I know you people have been deprived from food pictures in this blog, so be prepared for this mega food post!

Happy Birthday, Datin!

It has been quite awhile I pig out with friends on weekend. This month, Ed’s birthday is round the corner so we decided to buy him dinner and throw him a simple party. It ended with him cooking a dinner the next night for us. Paiseh!

We went to Lily Cenario in SS19. The shop is situated behind the New Paris restaurant. Price wise, it’s a little pricey for small portion of servings. However, the taste of the food is fabulous. The ambience and interior design is cosy and “arty”. Even the toilet is decorated. I thought we shouldn’t overly decorate the toilet as it’s not good feng shui?

Grilled Salmon

I had the grilled salmon. Instead of grill, I think it was fried. The salmon was topped with wasabi and ebi (fish roe). It was surprisingly good.

Brownie with Ice Cream

The brownie is not too bad either. Try is ala mode – with ice cream on top. Other than that, Chef Pasta is recommended. The yogurt chicken curry is not too bad either. All in all, it was quite a good gastronomical experience.

Yogurt Curry Chicken

We adjourned to Ed’s place for the traditional cake- candles – making -a -wish party. Ended chatted till 12.30 am. Andrew’s vodka concoction is superb. Try mixing mango juice with raspberry vodka and a little hint of lemon.

Andrew’s Secret Concoction

The next day, my ex colleagues and I went to Monte’s in Bangsar Shopping Centre. Since my senior had some generous vouchers to dine and wine in any restaurants in BSC, we took this as an opportunity to excite our taste buds. Further, Senior just bought a new MyVi and we decided to go on a test drive.

Seafood Salad

It was a late afternoon lunch at 2 pm but the restaurant was modestly packed. I could see why. The portions were just nice for the price. I like the seafood salad. It comes with baby octopus, shrimps, salted salmon, caviar and vegetables. Yes. You got it right. Caviar at RM23.95++. The rest of the food was typically western. The grilled halibut which I had was not that fantastic. Perhaps you might want to try other combo meals which look quite good.

Prawn & Chicken Combo

We adjourned to Bangsar Village to check out the new place. Even a shop, as typical as Vincci is slightly upscaled. Pig skinned bags which look like typical bags you can get in Bangkok for RM20 cost RM499 here! Christ! I will reserve my shopping in Bangkok.

After walking around the shop, we didn’t have anything much to buy or rather, our pockets are not that deep for us to splurge on the items here, we ended up, acknowledging our poor fate by eating our hearts out at Bakerzin.

Frasier

Chocolate Amer

Strawberry Shortcake

Opera

The cakes are delicious! The Lavender tea tastes a little way off our usual, typical Malaysian tongues. Instead of releasing stress, we find it is stress inducing with the terrible taste in our tongues! Go for lemon grass tea.. it’s better, even if it does remind me of mosquitoes repellent I used in my camping trips.

After that, we took a spin in Senior’s new MyVi and I headed to Ed’s house for another round of gluttony.

Datin’s Delicious Mushroom & Onions scones

If you ask me, how I managed to stuff all these goodies within 2 days…  it’s beyond me and I hope it won’t happen again… Okay!! I will diet tomorrow.

Soul Searching

The ride towards Kuala Terengganu was an uncomfortable one.

“It’s like riding on a galloping fridge!” I told a friend. It was freezing cold that even with my layers of fat, I couldn’t insulate myself. The driver kept on jamming the brakes when taking corners and the suspension were not that “springy”. Hence, we ended up riding on a “horse”.

I was alarmed when I was told the bus we were riding on – its permit would expire in 3 months time. I prayed hard we would reach safely.

Somehow, I managed to snap out from my restless sleep when the bus went over a bump and it was right on when we were passing by Paka Power Plant. It was beautiful. I will never forget the breath taking view of fires and lights illuminating the dark night. On my trips to Kuala Terengganu all these years, I always look forward to this scenic view.

Reaching the jetty, the unfriendly weather greeted us with heavy down pour. Already groggy from lack of sleep, my face was as gloomy as the sky. What is this man? It’s raining in July in the East Coast? The weather is getting crazy these days.

As soon as we gotten ourselves to Lang Tengah Island, we were hurdled into the reception area for a short briefing by the owner of Redang Lang Resort. I couldn’t remember his name, but he was in his early 40s. He looked somewhat unapproachable. Maybe he’s sad over his balding head. He’s probably a scuba diver based on the tanned torso and muscular build. I didn’t really like the briefing as everything was mentioned in ringgit and sen.

Snorkles and life jacket – RM20 for 3 days
Open diving introduction – RM100
Marine Park pass – RM5.00
Internet – RM7.00 hourly
Massage – RM50 per hour
Pool – RM3 per game, etc.

Redang Lang Resort looks fine on the outside. Well maintained. Your typical budget resort. I heard this place is the cheapest you can find on this island (No wonder they charge everything). Sun-tanning lazy chairs with umbrellas, a small volley ball court, scuba centre, canoes for hire, etc.

However, the moment we entered our room, a smell of decay excites our sensory buds. “Gawd!! Something must have died in the toilet!!” my third aunt kept insisting.

It took about 5 flushes before the smell go away. Whenever we were not using the toilet, we would still flush as the smell would penetrate the room when the air conditioner was turned off. I heard other rooms were not as bad as the one I was staying in. Shucks.

Since I didn’t get enough sleep in the “galloping fridge”, I made up for loss of sleep in the something-must-have-died-in-the-toilet room while the rest went to the Marine Park. It’s the same every year – the fish, the Murray eel, the barracudas, the big colorful clams, etc. I am getting a bit squeamish to deal with fishes and mollusks these days. I enjoy eating them so I can’t be friends with them. That is why I never bother to take up scuba diving. Actually, the main reason is, the sharks might mistake me as a walrus if I don on a wet suit. Geez.. I can’t shake the image being gobbled up by sharks off my mind whenever I imagine myself going for a diving trip.

I was lucky to drag my ass up to take a walk on the beach approaching dinner time as it would be the only chance to watch sunset. Other days – it was raining and raining and raining. Even on our way back to the jetty – it drizzled all morning.

On second day, when others went for jungle trekking, I looked at the weather, it was good for a swim. I had to baby sit my two aunts as both of them don’t know how to swim. I taught them a few strokes. But my fourth aunt preferred to just soak in the salty water. Another colleague joined us. I told her, she shouldn’t use a life jacket if she wanted to learn how to swim. Since we have nothing much in our agenda, I built a sand castle – I decided to make Angkor Watt but it looked somewhat distorted. Yes – I was THAT bored.

The sea was very beautiful. Like Redang Islands and Perhentian islands, the different shades of turquoise simply take my breath away. The sand was not white and “sandy” though. It was littered with dead corals washed off from the sea and rubbish can be seen everywhere. It is sad that such nice and deserted place, perfect for a quiet getaway to rest and relax is not well maintained.

A short walk from our resort towards the rocky area were good as we get to see some beautiful rocks formation and animals from the islands. The seabed was filled with sea cucumbers! My aunts were very excited and they almost wanted to harvest all the sea cucumbers to bring them back home to cook a scrumptious meal. I stopped them from even thinking about it.

About 10 minutes walk from our place, there were two other resorts. The Lang Sari Resort is situated overlooking a sea filled with corals. You can even see corals right from the beach front itself. It was that rich! I could see the place is deserted. There were not many people on the beach front. It looked somewhat haunted though. However, the canoes are for free. And nobody actually use the canoes apart from two little local girls.

The other resort is more up scaled to cater for foreigners who wanted comfort and have plenty of cash to burn. I think it’s called D’Coconut Lagoon. It has its own private swimming pool overlooking the calm sea.

Lang Tengah has only four resorts and half of them looking really dead and some even look haunted. It gave me the creeps when I walked past the resort next to ours – the Blue Coral. I think it’s closed for renovation.

Since it rained later part in the afternoon and evening, we were somewhat stranded in the resort. We didn’t fret though. We amused ourselves with karaoke, playing mahjong and pool. This time I learned how to play gin rummy using mahjong tablets. I am glad I picked up a game and hook on it ever since! So anyone game for a gin rummy, let’s hook up!

Even though our room was uncomfortable, we snored till morning. The food was surprisingly good. Good as in the taste and also, nobody got diarrhea after eating.

Nobody give a shit about what you do – we could just walk about everywhere without the slightest care. A friend of ours came across the spot where a turtle came up to lay eggs at night. The people here did conservation of turtles. As soon as the eggs are laid, they would be dug up and sent to conversation centers.

Despite the uncomfortable ride, the smelly toilet in our room and it rained almost every damn day when we were there, I was glad I get to spend time with all my three aunts (Mom didn’t want to go because she has to take care of the three monsters at home).

We spoke of our family matters, the people that passed on, how we wish our mother/ grandmother is still alive, etc. I think no matter how harsh our parents can be to us, we have to respect the way they treated us. They actually care for us. I don’t know. I seem to have this mental paradigm; thinking that my mother expects too much from me and it sometimes drive me to the wall. I think I ought to learn how to communicate better with the person that brought me to this life.

I am fortunate enough to be reminded that I should show appreciation and gratitude to my family when they are still well and alive than only to regret not having done so when they are gone.

I didn’t know this year’s company’s trip would end up a soul searching trip.

Deep stuffs. I would leave this thought to another post.

For more pictures, click here.

Greek God

I was at the Bed – the club made popular by the series – Sex and the City.

I took a seat.. or rather, a bed and soon, I was lying down with a gorgeous hunk. I couldn’t really remember how he looked like but nothing short of a Greek God in Armani Suit. I could remember his smile though. Exactly like James Franco’s. Simply delicious.

There were many tall and slim girls walking around trying to entice him but he focused his full attention on me. I was really flattered.

Him: I am a lawyer by the way.

Me: A lawyer! Christ! I have very bad experiences with lawyers!

Him: Oh come on. I think I deserve a chance. One bad apple doesn’t mean the whole tree is rotten!

Me: Let me think about it.

The conversation was a bit hazy but I think I did mentioned something about not trusting men from the internet or something. Must be having too much Champagne.

We exchanged call cards and promised to keep in touch.

I was crossing the road with a friend. As I was crossing the road, we were chatting and suddenly, I blurted out to her in between conversations:-

“I don’t like men who drink too much. As age is catching up, I think I would prefer somebody who is pious.”

Then I woke up. I could feel shivers running down my spine.

Must be imagination ran wild while I was in Lang Tengah last weekend for a short getaway. But pious??? Where did that come from??

Whatever it is, I wish I never had woken up when I was in bed with a Greek God.

When I Was Just A Little (not quite) Girl

Got tagged from Kleio da Muse! This one is quite a toughie.

My dad was a retired army at age 44. He opted for early retirement because the army didn’t pay much and he has 3 school-going children to feed. Needless to say, it’s almost impossible to live on government salary.

He decided to try his luck in Kuala Lumpur after my mother pestered him to follow us to Kuala Lumpur for better career opportunity.

I was so reluctant to leave my very much loved friends and my comfort zone – Convent Taiping school. I insisted to go to school with higher or at least equal standards but was disappointed that Convent Sentul was full. I was seconded to Puteri Titiwangsa Girls’ School. I only spent three days there as my parents decided to send me to a school closer to home. That was how I wound up in Selayang Bharu and hated it.

While I was in Puteri Titiwangsa for only three days, I still remember how I terrorized my classmates with all the correct answers to History. I think I gotten only one wrong answer – confusing between Ayuthaya and Ayuthia. I couldn’t remember what the question was. In short, I liked to show off. Haha.

When I was transferred to Selayang Bharu, I was placed in the second last class in Form 2. I didn’t know how I ended up there but apparently, that was the only class with an extra chair and desk. To make my nightmare worse, on my first day in this run-down school, there was a pop quiz on Geography!

I protested. I told the teacher, this was my first day in school. I wasn’t prepared. She reassured me and said, the test was merely to gauge our understanding on the subject. I relented. There was only one section which I totally didn’t know the answer as they were the Form 2 syllabus and I hadn’t even started my Geography in Puteri Titiwangsa, 3 days ago.

The second day in school, I was biting my finger nails waiting for my Geography results. Pn. Zaiton came in the class with a solemn face. She announced that only two out of 40 students passed the test. I feared for the worst. The person who scored the highest – 69% was me! (Without studying) The other girl who passed barely scraped past 40%. From that day onwards, I knew that my expectations on the standard of education was over.

Of Differences and Barriers

I was a little better than Kleio da Muse in terms of communication skills in Mandarin. I wasn’t competent enough in my Mandarin but I got by. My Mandarin night classes when I was in Taiping paid off. But my Cantonese sucked big time. Even till today, my Cantonese is heavily tinged with Hokkien accent. Apart from the embarrassment of pronouncing “Aquarius” in Cantonese – I pronounced it as “Sui Pei Jor” (meaning lousy or inferior) instead of “Sui Peng Jor”, I think my classmates understood me perfectly.

One thing that separated me from the pack was my seriousness. I was pain-in-the-ass- no-nonsense girl in school. Being in the crème de la crème class in school made my classmates and I almost invincible to teachers. I didn’t really get along well with my classmates as they were really ah bengs and ah lians – we had nothing in common to talk about. I was pretty much on my own till a new classmate joined me in Form 5 (Lenny). I hung out with friends from other classes instead. The Monk, Lai Ma, the girl with broom-like hair (SP), the girl with the tiniest waist in school (KF) (23 inches!), the new pretty girl from another school (PK) and Kleio da Muse.

Grades & Studiousness

I was one of the top students in school. Probably I wasn’t very popular with the boys (haha!) due to my horizontally-challenged body, I spent most of my time hitting the books. Sad life, huh?

I hated Additional Math the most. I think I flunked once in one of the monthly tests and was devastated. That was the first and only time I ever flunk a paper in school.

I was quite competent in language subjects – both English and Bahasa Malaysia in which, had posed a problem to my Bahasa Malaysia teacher. I couldn’t remember the bitch’s name. I remembered I was called a cheat when I scored the highest for my Bahasa Malaysia composition paper. The bitch.. errr.. I mean, the teacher demanded to see my hand writing to prove that it was me who took the exams on that particular day. I showed her my exercise books to compare my hand writing and she was still unconvinced.

“Saya masih ada kemusykilan” – her exact words.

To prove that she is “kanalan” (hokkien swear word) for calling me a cheat – I showed her my recent SRP (not PMR – yes, I am THAT old) result for BM. I obtained an A1.

That shut her up completely and the entire class roared with laughter. My classmates applauded me for my bravery to stand up against the tyranny of discrimination in school. Our young minds were polluted to believe that only certain race could excel in that language.

She retaliated by regrading my composition for “kurang isi” and slashed off half of the points. I was fuming. From that day onwards, I never once acknowledged her presence. To me, she was as good as dead. Even my classmates – all three races picketed against her. We never paid attention in her class and our standard answer to her questions was – “Entahlah, Cikgu. Aku tak tau.”

I had my sweet revenge when I scored an A2 in my SPM BM and threw the results in her face.

The Popularity Scale

Like I said earlier, I wasn’t popular. Okay. Probably I was a little popular – the headmaster in school knew me by my name. That was probably because I was the only one who converse with him in English, I wore black instead of white shoes to school and probably the fattest student. How to miss me if I stick out like a Blue Hypo mascot?

Most students in school knew my name but didn’t know who I was. That was because I was in the second last class for Form 2 (the last class was obviously hopeless – teachers never went in the class) and yet, I managed to score the highest marks for Geography, English, Bahasa Malaysia and History. My name was abuzz in school and yet, I kept mostly to myself. Okay. I admit. I was a bloody nerd.

I had gotten myself a place in the first class when I reached Form 3. During assembly on the first day in Form 3 (D Day), I was shoved by my previous Form 2 classmates to go into Form 3A1. I refused. What if I didn’t make the cut? I prefer to hang out with my current classmates and helped or rather let them copied my homework. I was relieved that my name was called in Form 3A1. At least, I was not a “perasan habis” case. Haha! That was how I got to know the Monk.

Being a President in the most prestigious Interact Club had it set backs. I was not a sociable person as I preferred to hit the books than to meet boys from other school. But I had to do it for the sake of my “testimonial” in my school leaving certificate which proved to be an utter bullshit and a waste of time.

Most of my friends – those cute IT girls in school had their fair share of attention from the opposite sex while I was left lurking in the dark. I knew some of the boys befriended me only because I was the President and they wanted to get the phone number of my very sweet and pretty Secretary – Kleio da Muse. Hahahha! My inferiority complex hit critical point.

I ended doing most of the backstage work which did not need much contact – like taking photographs of event, script writing, sending invitation, arranging chairs, prepare for games, etc. I think that was how I picked up my photography skills (ahem!). We did a lot of charity work via Interact Club. It was an eye opener for me. At least it had taught me not to take things for granted.

I was even coerced into being the Vice Secretary of the Chinese Society against my will. I never attended any meetings but still wrote minutes because the Monk, the Secretary of Chinese Society would call me after every meeting to help him translate minutes from Mandarin to Bahasa Malaysia.

I was a reluctant member of the Volley Ball Club. Just throw me the ball and I would smash it and yeah, yeah – please put in my testimonial that I was a member. Thank you very much.

I ended up reluctantly as the editor for English section for our annual school magazine. I think everyone in school hated me because I “vetoed” most of the students’ contribution for the sake of keeping English – ENGLISH. Geez. At that time, the standard of English in school already deteriorated beyond recognition. I ended up composing a few poems and essays – just to fill the space.

I was the reserve in the school debating team (Yes, I didn’t want to join either!) and was selected to represent the school in inter-school Science competition. Oh gawd! Super nerd!

Geez! I didn’t realize I was such a nerd in school! Thanks but no thanks, Kleio da Muse!! Haha! Kidding!

I could rattle on and on but I guess I better stop here before I bore you shitless. Hehehe. Since this is quite a tough (and bloody long winded!) meme, feel free to write if you wish to and inform me when you do so. Well, I had fun reminiscing old times when I did this, I hope you would too.

Other school related posts (or rather characters from school)

Puppy Love
A Better Woman
The Lai Ma Terror