My New Year Afternoon

Happy New Year! Year 2009 is finally a past tense and here comes 2010! Today is the first day of the year, I managed to wake up pretty early as I skipped the New Year Eve's celebrations in those major shopping malls or pubs. There are times I would prefer to stay away from the crowd and the massive traffic jam, hehehe...

I had a great time hanging out in one of my favourite shopping mall, Ikano Power Centre. I love to be there especially during afternoon because of the relaxing atmosphere and warm sunlight, thanks to the huge glass panels in place of concrete walls in certain sections of the ground floor. There were plenty of people in the mall but nobody seem to be in a hurry, guess most people are on their 'rest mode', even if it's only one day, it wouldn't hurt to take a break. :)

After visited Ikea to spend my cash voucher on some cooking utensils and a chair for Ben, we stopped by The Bakery Moments for tea time. I had a Strawberry Bolle while Ben had Mocha Bolle ('Bolle' means bun in Norwegian). The bun seemed to be more filling than the normal ones I had from other bakery shops. I'm not sure if this has something to do with the fact that they use wholemeal flour in all their bread products.

A closer look at my Strawberry bolle with icing sugar sprinkled on top... The filling was strawberry jam, but I secretly wished it was strawberry cream instead.

Like the rose prints on my dress? It's a summer dress that I just got from Cotton On @ One Utama yesterday. I purposely picked it for a New Year's afternoon as it looks so happy and cheerful!

Before heading back home, we went to Popular Bookstore and I got a few books and magazines, including one that taught us how to make those beautiful lanterns using red packets, which you can normally see during Chinese New Year. I'll share some pictures with you next time after I completed one or two of the projects in the book.

Just Another Eating Trip

I visited Sushi Zanmai at The Gardens, Mid Valley for the second time about three weeks ago. This is not a serious food review, so I won't be commenting much about the taste of the food. But frankly speaking, although the food tasted okay, there's really nothing much to shout about. Here are some food pictures that I've painstakingly taken with the ultra-sensitive digital camera...

This is the Kakiage Don (small) that I ordered. The topping of the rice as you can see in the picture, is supposed to be tempura made with mixed vegetables and prawns. Sadly all I ate was a little bit of vegetables with thick layer of flour and I can hardly see the prawns; well okay, there were a few tiny ones.

Ben ordered Sukiyaki, which consisted a hot pot of soup and vegetables, a plate of thinly sliced beef and a bowl of raw egg. He was rather suspicious when I told him that the raw egg is for dipping the ingredients before eating. :) Anyway, since he's not a person who is used to the idea of consuming raw food (fish, meat, egg etc), at the end the whole egg went into the hot pot instead!

I didn't had a very pleasant time with Ben sitting beside me having Sukiyaki. The truth is I've phobia with the portable mini gas stove, which in my personal opinion doesn't look very safe at all. If you've seen the email with photos of the seriously injured and disfigured victims after a gas stove explosion accident that were being circulated around the Internet about a year ago, you'll know what I mean. Yup, they were having steamboat/hot pot in a gathering and they were using the same portable mini gas stove you can see in the picture below... Maybe it was just an unlucky accident, but I still prefer electric stove, at least nowhere near the fire, haha!

Home Alone #2

When you're a working adult living in the city, reading can be a true luxury even if it doesn't involve a big amount of money. Yes, you don't need a lot of money (except the cost of purchasing the book itself), but having the time and the perfect setting for reading is difficult enough to achieve, if you know what I mean...

I was studying my Java (it's a type of programming language) book in the living room, because I need to do some hands-on practices using my laptop, so I definitely need my study desk, which forced me to moved out from the comfort of my bed and pillows. Only about fifteen minutes later when I was seriously absorbed into the book, there came an irritating high decibel sound of children screaming and shouting as if they were being chased after by the psychotic killer in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I forgot to tell you that I'm actually living on the eighth floor of the apartment, if the children's screaming is loud enough to be heard as if I'm standing less than 3 metres in front of them, that's just plain ridiculous. I can't imagine how they're able to produce such earsplitting noise. Okay, you might think that energetic and playful children are adorable, but I personally prefer quieter children who are able to sit still to appreciate music and books.

Then, the screaming finally came to an end (yup, meals are served, it's dinner time!), there comes another source of noise pollution; the engine sounds of vehicles. My apartment faces one of the main road, even though the block I'm staying in doesn't face directly to the road itself, there is no way it could help in lessening the dreadful engine sounds. While the TV or music is on, the noise is still bearable. However, if you need a few peaceful hours to study or just read a book, I guess that is merely a dream unless you start consider about getting some soundproof walls.

Living in the city can be rather stressful, despite the conveniences to be able to access to loads of information, opportunities, entertainments, and of course those not-too-great-anyway sales and promotions. The noise pollution alone is enough to drive some people crazy (people like me...).

Guess it's time to prepare my own dinner now! And of course, I won't forget to turn on the TV to block off the intolerable amount of noise. Talking about quality of life in the city, suddenly it sounds all so senseless...

Home Alone

There is nobody around the house from today until Sunday. One of my housemate went back to hometown, while the other one went to Langkawi for a vacation.

Contrary to the common belief that I might feel lonely being alone at home, I quite enjoy some precious moments of tranquility. This is the right mood and setting to pick up a book and read. I've not been reading for ages (except casually flipping some lifestyle and fashion magazines), so this will be the perfect time indeed! My bookshelf is currently filled with more than a dozen of unread books, which I got from various warehouse sales and promotions. I guess that instead of becoming an avid reader, I now look more like a greedy collector. :)

Besides of doing some readings, I've to do the household chores such as cleaning up my room, decluttering my study desk in the living room, and doing my laundry. Is there time to sense the loneliness of being the only living soul in the house for two days? Well, I guess not. Doing the laundry alone requires me to spent a whole day, or at least half a day. To add to my chores list, there are pots and dishes to be washed after cooking my meals. It's a long and neverending list...

I'm going to enjoy my two days home alone, and maybe, I'll pick up Java again for the sake of my long malfunctioned brain... Adiós for today!

A Hearty Meal of Couscous

I cooked couscous for lunch the other day. It's a pretty simple dish, as I used instant couscous that takes only 3 to 4 minutes to cook. Instant couscous are packed in boxes and sold in nearly all major supermarkets, so you wouldn't have a hard time looking for it. :)

The couscous has to be cooked in hot water until fluffy. I added a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of butter for richer flavour. Other ingredients (chicken meat, sausages and frozen vegetables) were cooked separately with dried herbs and then served with the couscous. All it took was only half an hour, and "tadaaaa"...! A deliciously healthy meal.

Events from the past 2 weeks

It's been more than two weeks since I last updated my blog. Plenty of things happened during this period and I really don't know where to start, so I guess it'll be easier to make a list instead...

• My wardrobe arrived a day late due to some transportation issues on the furniture store's side. It's not the ideal size, but guess I've to accept the fact that I'm short of cash to get a larger one.
• Quite a number of people in the company were retrenched. I'm not one of them. Is this good or bad for fishes in a bowl of stagnant water?
• Coach is having a sale and I succeeded in resisting the temptation to get one!
• I had my first visit to an Izakaya (a Japanese style bar); Izakaya Shuraku in Solaris Mont Kiara. The place is pretty small and crowded, nice for chilling out with friends, but definitely not one for a nice and quiet dinner.

A Busy but Great Week

It's been a wonderful week lined up with various events.

I went to the Zara & Massimo Dutti warehouse sale and returned happily with some great purchases, which should be able to last me for at least another two months (before itching to shop again...). I attended two wedding dinners; first one was a traditional Chinese dinner in the restaurant, second one just took place tonight in the Courtyard Garden Restaurant in Damansara Heights. The place was tastefully decorated and the ambience was both relaxing and romantic. It's a pity I forgot to bring my camera to capture all the lovely moments and nice decorations...

This afternoon I finally went off to search for a perfect wardrobe. I've been using my IKEA 'doorless' semi-transparent plastic sheet cupboard for years and have grown so fed up of it. Yes, it's practically without a door, which is replaced by a white 'curtain' instead. It does look modern at first sight, but when you discover how easily the layer of dust formed on the clothes and stuffs in your cupboard, it's too late to regret. Besides that, I've got too many clothes that the small cupboard can no longer hold. So it's time to get a larger wardrobe with a 'door' (yup, that's a must!).

After nearly two dreadful hours of visiting furniture stores without air conditioning in their first floor showrooms (where all the wardrobes, mattresses, etc are displayed), I picked a pearl white sliding door wardrobe with imitated wood texture patterns in a store with fully air conditioned showroom. Maybe the cool air enabled me to finally think and make a decision, or I was just too tired to continue searching? However, it did accelerated the whole decision making process, although it's way out of my original budget. Luckily Ben has agreed to give a 50% subsidy. :) My new wardrobe is going to arrive on next Wednesday evening, I can't wait to see it!

Moral of the story to all furniture store owners out there, please make sure your air conditioning systems work properly in the first floor showrooms; some people really can't think under hot and stuffy condition.