Dear Santa...

Yeah... Yeah.. Christmas is around the corner - I GET IT!! 

I've been procrastinating my Christmas shopping as I got distracted by the lovely Christmas decorations at all the malls. LOL!!!

Gosh, I still need to shop for the Secret Santa event in my office and the dinner is this week! Alamak! Really cannot procastinate any longer!!!!

Anyway, going through my Flickr page I discovered that one of the shopping centres has put up a mailbox for Santa Claus. Now, we don't have a very active "Dear Santa" tradition here in Malaysia but since Bangsar is an area where a lot of expatriates shop; I'd guess this was quite relevant. :-)

If you could write to Santa, what would you ask him for?

Steamboat With Friends

I didn't do quite much this weekend except to hang out with my Mom and friends.

I had an errand to run which was to get some presents for our close family friends' kids. So, that involved me shopping mall hopping for the last few days. Well, the best part is that I managed to get the presents bought AND wrapped at one go. *Phew!!* - I'm kind of hopeless in the gift-wrapping department.

It had been quite cool at night with all the heavy rainstorms lately and so, EV was in the mood to have some steamboat. Basically, its a hot pot where we cook food slowly in some broth.

When the soup is ready, we just put in the ingredients to cook. The ingredients include seafood, some meat, vegetables and often at the end, when the soup is well infused with yummy goodness, we add in some noodles or eggs. It's quite a healthy way to eat provided you take lots of vegetables and lean meat. (^^)

The set we got was quite basic. Some seafood of prawns, clams and bamboo clams along with plenty of fish balls and tofu. It was not great but there are better steamboat places than the one we went to. 

After such a heavy meal, we all took a walk around Bangsar (yes, that's where we were) to help our friend hunt for some Christmas goodies. She was on an errand to look for some Christmas dessert. There are certainly a few cafes and bistros around this area but most of the goodies were beyond her budget.

We finally settled for a traditional Yule Log from Theobrama Chocolate Lounge, where EV and I tried out previously. We tried out their Chocolate Almond Cake which was just rich with dark chocolate with very little cake. Perfect for those serious chocolate afficionados. 

Yes, the cake is awfully small to be shared by 4 people but since we're watching our waistlines, it was a wise choice. :-)

Before that, we walked around Bangsare Village II and saw this HUGE decoration in the middle of the mall!!!

This Christmas tree @ Bangsar Village II is pretty awesome. Instead of putting up some fancy "fake" tree like other shopping outlets, BVII has taken a "green" approach. If you look closely at the tree, you will see what I mean...

The tree is made up of recycled PET bottles! Now, that just makes a lot of sense. Recycled goods can make beautiful decorations too! I marvel at the people who took the time to put up the decorations for this. 

Anyway, more beautiful photos of other shopping complexes to come up next! However, personally, the deco at Bangsar Village II will be my favourite this year. ;-)

Early Christmas Present

First of all, my hearts and prayers go out to the people and their families who were affected by this morning's landslide at Bukit Antarabangsa. May God watch over you during this hour of need. It just amazes me that 15 years on, we have not learnt our lesson about hillside development.

Anyway, on a slightly happier note; I got my AIPO Dry Cabinet this morning! Yippee!!!

Don't worry, the box will be recycled. Should Rusty be naughty, he will be shipped off to Obedience School! :-P

I had my eye on this cabinet ever since I got my camera in October. After some enquiries and research, I decided that I would get this cabinet. I was thinking of using a Lock-n-Lock box with some Thirsty Hippo and silica gel to store my camera. However, being the lazybum that I am, I know that I will forget to change the Thirsty Hippo and silica gel after a few months. **sheepish grin**

I was very lucky to have chatted with my friend online about this cabinet a few days back and found out that he was going to buy some cabinets in bulk with his other friends. He convinced me that the 48 litre was quite a worthwhile buy even though I don't have much gears to store for now. So, I managed to get my box with some discount!! \(^.^)/

The cabinet comes with a small LCD window which will indicate the humidity and temperature of the air within the box. Yes, the dry box does come with a power cord. It is also important to note that the box needs to sit in a well ventilated room too.

It sure looks small and cute...

After I got the package, I noticed that the cabinet is not very large. From the picture above, you can tell that the box is about 1 sq ft in width. Besides my gears, I can also store my other important documents such as my certificates too. 

If you want more information about this, do check it out at Shashinki.com.

Yeah, I know it's a bit extravagant to get myself an early Christmas present but this will be a gift which will last a looong time.