Dogs And Grass

Not really in the mood to write anything longish in my blog today.

Just a picture of my dogs enjoying their time in the sun.

My dogs sure know how to enjoy themselves.

Take time out to enjoy the sun during the short break folks!!

To all Muslims - SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI!!!!!! To the rest, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Losing My Mojo....

Hmmm.. What do you do, when you feel that you're losing your "mojo"?

Be it something that you do at work or just a feeling that you're not achieving your very best; what do you do to get back on the horse and get it back? ;-)

Worse still... What happens if someone keeps criticizing you despite your very best? :-(

Gosh... I wish that getting my "mojo" back is as easy as how Austin Powers got his back. (^___^)

I try not to be too serious with myself. I'm sure that it'll come back. I just got to figure out how...

Boom De Ah Dahh!!!! - The World Is Awesome!

Desipte all the crap going around... The world is a pretty awesome place...



Stay happy, ok?

By the way, those of you folks who have subscribed to Discovery Channel on Astro, you might see this ad going around. The song is pretty catchy and you can even download the MP3 here.

Happy Mid-Autumn (Mooncake) Festival

This year, the mid-autumn or mooncake festival will fall on a Sunday. A perfect chance for people to go home to their hometowns to celebrate the festival with their families.

This probably explains why the city looked quiet today. Besides that, last week, there was a rush for mooncakes and etc.

I was supposed to blog about some photos this week but work caught up with me again. GRRRRRR...

Last Sunday, EV and I were on the food hunt - looking for an Elephant, but ended up in the Food Foundry. (^ ^)

Had a late lunch and decided to indulge on some dessert - mille crêpe, to be exact.

Wished sometimes that things were as clear as "chocolate" and "white"...

I ordered a vanilla flavoured mille crêpe, while EV, being a big fan of chocolate, went for her favourite flavour.

Mille crêpe up close... Look at all that cream and crêpe layers!!!

What is a mille crêpe ? It's just a French cake made up of many layers of crêpe. Unlike the Indonesian layer cake - which is layers of baked cake, this mille crêpe is a pastry which is made up of many layers of thin crêpe sandwiched with flavoured cream. Yummmm... Best to finish this when it's nice and cold.

These dragons don't breathe fire...

EV and I ended up at The Curve. The place was decorated for both the Mid-Autumn and Ramadhan festivities. I espied my chinese zodiac "floating" around... These paper lanterns are quite hard to find these days. More so when people prefer the plastic battery-operated lanterns which also plays some irritating music.

I miss the simple days when my Kong-Kong will buy for my sis and I, goldfish paper lanterns. He would proclaim that he made it for us. Guilible kids that we were, we were amazed with our grandfather. After all, he used to make paper toys for us from gold paper found in cigarette boxes.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!!

Enjoy those mooncakes but don't take too much of it as you'll know those cakes will go straight to your bum!!!!

What Makes You Happy?

I've been going through a few blogs here and there and found that people are either very stressed out, suffering from anxiety attacks or just depressed.

Hmmmm... Times are getting tough but I know we'll pull through if we keep our chin up. (^ ^)

At the end of a very long working day (I know, some people work > 12 hours per day and yet, go home and take care of the family), what makes you happy?

What brings a smile to your face the very moment you step into your house?

A yummy meal? (Of course, this picture I took of the "Dragon Roll" from Sushi Zanmai.. Slurrrppp)

Your fur "kids"... or pets - who always give unconditional love.... AWWWW... this picture really melts my heart...

Your supportive family. Folks whom you can spend time to talk to about problems, hopes and dreams.

Of course, ultimately in the end, the secret to happiness is yourself. If you have everything that lie can offer - good looks, $$$, great job and loving partner/family but still feel unhappy; then, you may have to examine yourself to see why you are unhappy.

Like I mentioned in one of my old posts, happiness is about how well-adjusted you are. Of course, everyone has problems and wish that they can run away from it. But the truth of the matter is that, we can't run away from our problems forever.

Problems will always be there and we have to face them - no matter how much we hate it. I'd guess, let's not sweat the small stuff and learn to be content with whatever we have?

Anyway, I'm facing a lot of issues now at work but when I go home, I leave it behind. It's the only way I can keep sane.

To everyone out there.... Hope that you can find a bit of happiness somewhere....

Anger Management and Merdeka Wishes

From my last post, you may think that I was really taking it too far.

Yeah, I nearly lost my head because I was stressed out over some massive jam. The truth of the matter was that I've been stressed out for a very long time now.

Ever since an announcement from the HQ that each profit center was to hit 80% utilization, I have been stressed out every week to try to hit those numbers. Sure, revenue collection is not part of my KPI (Key Performance Indicator) but cost recovery from utilization rate of each member in the team; including myself.

I know that I shouldn't let stuff like this get to me, but the pressure is just getting too much. Every week, we're been asked by the boss - "Do you know what happened last week?", i.e. do you know why your numbers are so fxxked up last week? Sometimes, out of anger, I would like to answer back - "Sure, YOU fxxked up the numbers because YOU didn't bring in the sales!". However, I keep this all repressed inside, waiting for the moment when I'm excused from the meeting.

I'm a technical team lead - which means, I lead my team in technical aspects of a project. Somehow, the term is being abused by management because we have the responsibilities as a manager but yet - not really having the title. In fact, I feel like a pseudo-manager all the time now.

Anyway, enough of that.

I had a small revelation while at church yesterday. It happened when I was listening to the church's 50th Golden Jubilee song. A sort of calm and peace came over me as I concentrated on the lyrics of the song. That the greatest celebration was The Word - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1)

It was as though I had been touched by God's finger, i.e. like being poked (not Superpoked! like in Facebook), nudged to return my focus to Him. Sure, the world could be really screwed up at times and it can take it's toll on us; but there is so much more to life, than just work.

With that, I have a renewed sense of self this Merdeka. Yep, that means I've got to take whole of my anger and turn it inside out. Laugh a bit more, learn to breathe more deeply - to calm the mind and also to eat right!!

I'm getting the exercise thing down - by trying to hit the gym at least twice a week - up to 2 hours per session; but food is my biggest downfall and brick wall. Well, right now I'm having my low-fat yogurt and apple and I am resolved to get the food part of my diet right. It's so hard when Malaysian food is soooo delicious and you need a lot of will power to resist the lovely char koay teow or that fatty piece of bak kut in the bak kut teh.

However, thinking of all the saturated oils just gives me the heebie jeebies now. Yeck!!

Snoopy celebrated her 5th birthday yesterday as well as our nation celebrated 51 years of independence. Both numbers are significant although one is larger than the other.

Just like Snoopy wishes for good things to come to her, I also wish for great things to come to our nation. Despite all the things which are happening now, we all wish and strive to make Malaysia the best she can be.

I pray that our leaders will wake up and remember that the job they took was provided by the rakyat. So, the rakyat is the boss.

I pray that our leaders will be granted the wisdom to lead the people and not lead their pockets.

I pray for continued peace amongst everyone.

I pray for the people of Sichuan, China who suffered another earthquake on Aug 31st.

That is my Merdeka wish. Happy Merdeka everyone!

Massive Jams Because of Merdeka Rehearsal??

Wow...

For the last couple of days, I've been stunned as to see how congested our "arterial" road system is in KL. Due to a road closure of Jalan Raja, the entire city was nearly brought to a standstill with jams stretching back to as far as PJ via Federal Highway, KL-Seremban Highway and Damansara/Subang via Sprint and NKVE.. =____=""

Massive jam @ Jln Duta after Duta Toll

So, you can imagine, how tulan I felt.

As usual, during the massive jam, you'll see people at their best or worst.

For example, when you hear the siren of an ambulance far away, people automatically move aside to let the ambulance through. Now, we're not sure if it's a real emergency or not, but best to move aside - it's only the right thing to do.

The worst side of people. Rich (I assume that they're rich because they drive big cars such as Merc, BMW, Harrier, Rexton, Storm...) people squeezing in between lanes WITHOUT INDICATING THEIR DIRECTION in front of smaller cars - Protons (exclude Perdana), Kancils, Kelisas, MyVIs, etc... Mind you, whether if the big car was driven by a drebar or some fella in a suit or tie, underneath that exterior is just a lowlife samseng. Hmmmm.. Come to think of it, maybe they are real-life samseng too.. Kekeke.. You'll never know.

I got bullied by such a fxxker driving a black Honda City license plate WQK 6488. That fxxker had the nerve to drive up and just cut in front of me, out of nowhere at Jalan Parliment heading towards KL. I refuse, because he could have easily cut in BEHIND me. The fxxker lowered his window and shouted to indicate that he wanted to cut into the other lane leading to Jln Mahameru/Jln Duta.

I didn't wind down my window.

I let him pass.

The fxxker cut in front of a Citilink truck and proceeded to inch his fxxking car towards the junction to turn off to Jln Duta/Mahameru highway.

What a fxxker.

He was wearing a blue-shirt and yellow tie. He hung a black jacket on a hook at the back. I assume he was fxxking late for some fxxking meeting.

So what.

Everyone is stuck in the fxxking jam.

Everyone is late.

You wait for fxxking turn.

I just want to let you know that the driver of this car - WQK 6488 likes to bully people. Especially women.

It'll be the same tomorrow. So, better to wake up earlier and get to work early before the police close the roads.

*Sigh*...

Beijing Olympics Closing Ceremony... WT*.....

Ehhhh... What can I say...

Was I expecting too much?? After the mind blowing opening ceremony, I would expect that the closing would be just as fantastic.... I was wrong... -___-"

All I can say was that the Beijing Olympics Closing Ceremony was a tad bit too tacky for me. I was quite amazed with the suspended drums but when the entertainment part of the ceremony started, it felt all too tacky - it was just a bit too much.

Too many singers on stage. Too much lip syncing... (or was that Astro's "live" broadcast feed issue?)

Oh yea, too many ads as well. Every 15 minutes there was an ad. Ridiculous.

I believe that Zhang Zhi Mou didn't have a hand in organizing the closing ceremony, right? Oh well, traditionally, the closing ceremony is a time for the athletes and other participants mingle and have fun, hence the festivities shouldn't be very long.

Anyway, the handover ceremony to London 2012 was also a bit tacky for my taste. A double-decker bus with "London-Beijing-London"... and David Beckham kicked some ball into the crowd?? Kekeke, well... He is one of the UK's greatest import - after fish and chips. :-P

The only thing I liked about the closing - the amazing fireworks.

Besides that, with all the world records and athletes' stories about winning and losing at the XXIX (29th) Olympiad, it was certainly another one to remember for some time to come. (^___^)

Morning Views

I took these photos some time back but never found the time to do my post-processing and of course, putting up in the blog. ;-)

Anyway, it's scenes from the early morning when the sun was just rising from it's rest.

Snoopy can barely keep her eyes open.

She spent half the night up barking at some noise that some creatures made on the roof... Possibly rats, squirrels or cats??

I love the way the leaves of the tree in the garden cast a shadow on the wall.

Rusty taking the time to smell the grass. "Did something pass by here?"

Finally, miss Snoopy was able to drag her butt off the couch to go sit in the porch, waiting for the sun to rise fully so that she can do her "sun-worshiping", i.e. morning sun bathe

Morning dew...

Found that there was a small ladybird perched in the lily.

Fly meets ladybird

I got as close as possible to the stamen of the lily to take a shot of the ladybird...

The pictures aren't so great but I was learning to take some shots in a slightly low-light condition. Just have to take a deep breath, keep very still and then, take the picture - hope for the best!

Note that these pictures were taken with a digital camera and I've not gotten to the DSLR level yet! :-)

So much to learn....

Long Awaited B'day Celebration...

I've been waiting to celebrate my b'day with my very close friends for a long time now. My b'day is actually close to the end of July but usually, my mates are soooo busy that we have to postpone until some time in mid-August. :-(

At one time, we had to postpone my b'day until September!!!!

Anyway, better late than never.. ^__^

This time round, my request was simple - to satisfy my carnivorous cravings... *heeheheh*

So, we ended up going to Bruno's Restaurant and Bar @ Jaya33 - after reading KY's review about it.

Two bottles of water... Not free... :-P

It has been some time since I've met up with my friends especially with those who are married with kids. The best part is, their husbands understand that their wives need time to be with the girls and so, offer to take care of the kids for the few hours with us... Awwww.. :-)

My attempt to "camwhore"... Someone's hand is blocking....

Bruno's menu is quite extensive and so, we took a loooonnnng time to put our order. Now, they serve Iberian pork which is supposed to be a very high quality pork from the Black Iberian pig, i.e. from Spain and so, I was definitely looking forward to that. The waiters/waitresses didn't seem to mind that we took our time - it was a slow Sunday afternoon and we were just about the only patrons there.

We ended up ordering some appetizers, a salad (my friend says we need vegetables to balance out the meat!!) and a couple of main courses, while the others decided to order their own meals - pasta and sandwich.

Asparagus wrapped in Iberian pork proscuitto with thyme

The starter was especially yummy! It reminded me of Jamie Oliver's recipe where he wrapped proscuitto around a few stalks of asparagus. The bacon melted in our mouth and the asparagus was cooked well through.

A very blurry picture of an Iced Latte. Wonder where my camera was focussing... -_-"

I didn't take a photo of the duck salad since it was quickly devoured by some 4 hungry people. All I can say that the salad consisted of some mixed greens with a very light citrous dressing. Delicious!

A very large chicken sandwich...

My friend's chicken sandwich came and we were quite shocked! The portion was huge!! It was certainly large enough to be shared with another person... Based on my friend's opinion - it was very scrumptious! The chips are nice. These are the type of chips I like - fat and thick, unlike the skinny ones you get at Mackers (McD) or Burger King.

Seafood Paella!!!

I love seafood paella. The first time I had it was at this Mediterranean restaurant at Sri Hartamas which has long since closed down. :-( The paella there was dry and had not much seafood. Bruno's seafood paella was moist and very flavourful. At times, I felt that the seafood taste was overpowering. However, the rice used to make this dish is quite authentic - short grained rice.

The main event - Pork Ribs!!!!

Finally, the dish I was waiting for arrived - the Iberian pork ribs. **SLLLUUURRRPP** I couldn't take the entire length of the ribs as that would not allow me to show the close-up view of how moist and tender the meat is, even after being barbequed!

Now, don't be shocked at the size of the serving, this serving is for two people and it comes with a nice side of vegetables and baby potatoes. The cost? RM120 for two people. Pricey but worth every single sen!!!!

After all the meat, we felt we still had some space to spare, and so, ordered a desert.

Chocolate Lava Cake... to be shared by 6 people!!!

We went with the chocolate lava cake and my friends - expecting a very large cake, was surprised to find that a small cake the size of a chinese tea cup was served. The dessert was good but then, it still can't compare to Delicious' Classic Chocolate Cake...

In the end, the lunch was very satisfying and I've certainly fed my inner "lion" for the time being. ^__^ Did I feel guilty about this? Well... slightly, after all I did do a pretty grueling workout the day before. And after that meal, I went for another session again a few days later. LOL!!!

Thanks to everyone - Di, MY, DB, YC and CPP for organizing my b'day this round. Yes... I'm glad to have celebrated my "23"rd b'day... (^__^)

Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony - OMG... Mind Blowing!!!

I'm a sucker for Olympics Opening ceremonies.. Kekeke..

You can't help but see that the trend of the opening ceremonies is that each city/country hosting the games will go all out to "wow" the spectators and participating nations; topping off what the last city did.

Nevertheless, this time, the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony certainly unfurled like an epic story - which is fantastic as it explored and explained China's contributions to history - 4 greatest inventions (paper making, movable type printing, gun powder and compass) . Cheh wah... For once, I felt so damn proud of my Chinese heritage. However, I'm more proud to be Malaysian. ;-)

Anyway, the scale of the ceremony was just mind blowing. From the synchronized acts of the many participants counting down the start of the ceremony; to the endless array of beautiful girls in various costumes (native, modern, or cultural) - it certainly felt as though I've sat through an epic movie lasting 4 hours. Why not? The whole thing was supposedly directed by Zhang YiMou.

I've got take my hat off to the organizers. It was certainly a fantastic feat they pulled off! Congratulations Beijing!! It was certainly a night to remember... All those fireworks... WOW!!!!

At least for the next 16 days, it is time to put aside differences between race, nationalities, political affliations and religion to concentrate on the biggest sporting/human event in 4 years... The spirit of the Olympic games.

Tea @ Zang Toi

Some of us are familiar with this designer, Zang Toi.... Well, I'm not much of a fashion buff but I do know that he is 1) a "fehmes" (famous) Malaysian and 2) a fashion designer. (^ ^)

A few of us got together for Rakuzen Japanese Buffet lunch at Chulan Square last weekend and after a few hours of gorging on lovely salmon sashimi and etc., we needed to burn off those calories by walking around Pavillion.

Now, all that window-shopping certainly got us feeling thirsty and one of my friends suggested that we try this Fruity Ice-Tea at Zang Toi's cafe. According to her, they also serve a fantastic Tea Lime cake.

Hmmmm...

I'm not typically a food blogger of sorts but took the opportunity to snap a few photos of some food... and surroundings... These were taken with my HTC TyTn II...

Lovely surroundings... The decorative mirror is on sale. Costs about RM1,900. Hmmmm... It's a bit too decorative for my taste. :-)

The refreshing Fruity Ice-Tea. I tasted a hint of lemongrass and the drink had lots of diced lemon and orange peels to enhance the flavour.

The Tea-Lime cake as recommended by my friend. The lime sauce is poured all over the cake, making it sweet and sour. The cake's texture reminded me of sugee cake.

We decided to be adventurous and ordered another cake as well. This is the Pandan and Banana Cream Cheese Cake. I'm sure you're wondering.. Does pandan and banana go well together???? Surprisingly it does! The cream cheese was savoury, giving this cake a very good balance in taste.

Well, I certainly enjoyed the desserts there. I'm not sure if the main courses are good but it sure is fun to sit in a cafe situation within Parkson's premises - having shoppers give you a funny look as they browse amongst the clothes rack.

Nikon or Canon???

I've been contemplating for a while (actually ages!!!!) to see which camera I should go for in my pursuit of my hobby.

I've been using my old workhorse the Nikon 5900 for a very long time and so far it has served me well.

However, with a huge crack on the body of the camera and the battery cover hinge broken, I'm wondering if it is worthwhile for me to get a new camera or have it fixed!

Anyway, after looking and drooling for ages around both Canon and Nikon sites, I've discovered that Nikon has a cool tutorial site for new owners.

Here's the link --> Nikon Digitutor (http://www.nikondigitutor.com/index_eng.html)

So, can anyone tell me which camera I should go for?? :-)

Bored....

It's that time of day...

Yep... A picture says a "single" word.... B O R E D

Actually, there was nothing much to be bored about but we were waiting for our food to come. So, I snapped this photo...

Picture taken with HTC TyTn II...

Speedy Dogs...

Both Snoopy and Rusty are Jack Russell Terriers, i.e. small dogs with "big-dog-mentality". They both certainly amaze me as they constantly do things that defy their small/tiny physique. So, it's no big surprise that they're both my inspiration in everything that I do.

Their "can-do" attitude often translate into pure energy. Now, it's not easy to photograph these rascals. They are often on the move. Even if I do issue a "sit-stay" command, they can only sit for about 10 seconds before they go off again.

Both Rusty and Snoopy like to play with each other. Often, Rusty is the instigator....

When Snoopy gets all excited about something, she sure can move fast!!!

Recently, I decided to play a little game with the dogs around an overturned pot. I would place some food there to entice to see who would reach the pot first. Snoopy got there, took a few bites, turned around to look for Rusty before zipping off! I like this shot as my focus is not on Snoopy but on the pot and so, it has a nice "speedy" effect. Zoom in for a better look!

Eventually, both of them will run out of energy at some point. Snoopy likes to relax on this chair while her brother tries to squeeze his way to get the lion's portion of the couch...

Phew!!!! Now, I want to take a break...

Feels Good To Be Back At The Gym...

I've been sick for the last couple of weeks and that has wreaked havoc with my exercise routine...

So, on an advice of a new friend, she asked me to keep a journal of my exercise to keep me motivated with my weight loss and health program.

I joined the gym in July last year because my sis was getting married. So, I was quite excited when I started my sessions with my PT (Personal Trainer), who was pursuing her degree in Sports Science or Medicine at a local uni here. She was a state runner and was in peak condition. With her help, I managed to shed a few kilos and also discover that my right knee was problematic. :-P

All in all, I love the gym! I'm finding that I can do longer cardio sessions and am about to hit that golden number of 40 minutes of pure cardio.. :-P Of course, whenever I get the flu and my lungs get all so congested, I can't run on the cross trainer for more than 5 minutes........ (T.T) WHICH IS WHAT HAPPENED TO ME ON TUESDAY!!!!!

Besides that, I love the weight training sessions as it's a chance for me to turn my oodles of fat into muscles. Kekeke.. It's a slow process but I just love it whenever I can slowly increase the weight on the triceps push-down so that I can feel the burn with each repetition. There's a certain sense of accomplishment whenever you can complete a set with a new weights on the machines..( ~.^)

There's also an added advantage. While working on my core and back muscles, I found out that while losing the fat, I didn't experience so much pain with my back anymore!! Of course, you must do these exercises in moderation...

Contrary to what people say, we gals will NOT grow big muscles like guys do because we don't have a high amount of testosterone in our bodies. So, what we'll get is well-toned, lean bodies. Think Jessica Biel in Blade:Trinity... >:)

So, what keeps me going?

Besides the sado-maso tendencies of "torturing" myself but funnily though, the more I work out, the more relaxed, happier and addicted I get! I used to be a sports junkie back in Uni, playing basketball with my mates about 3 times a week. Although I never got to become as good as Sakuragi Hanamichi (Slam Dunk), I loved the game.

Of late, I've also started to compile gym music to keep me going too. The concept is pretty much a cheap version of the Nike+ where you can wirelessly connect your ipod to this device in your Nike+ running shoe to play music, keep track of running stats while you exercise, i.e. walk. I got very close to getting it... So, instead of having an ipod, I got a Sony MP3 player and it's got all my favourite workout songs.

On my gym music list, my favourite songs so far in my large list of songs...

• 4 minutes - Madonna + Justin Timberlake
• Fergalicious - Fergie
• Stronger - Kanye West
• Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk
• Can't Stop - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Don't know why but whenever I hear any of these songs, I try to push myself to work harder... In time, this list WILL continue to grow.. :-)

As a closing thought, I was browsing through Nike's website and came across some cool training videos of some athletes training. Some of the exercises I've done before with my PT and it certainly breaks the mundane run-on-the-threadmill and lift-weights-until-muscles-sore routines. Have a look.. --> http://www.niketraining.com.my

Yes.. Maria Sharapova's training videos are there.... *roll eyes*

Feed The Fishes....

Last Friday happened to be the last day for my colleague and we decided to have a good round of makan and fun before she starts off with her new job.

However, everyone happened to be bored with the usual fare and so, she suggested that we try out the Kenko Fish Spa at Pavillion after dinner that night.

Now, my friend Deborah has gone to the Fish Spa before at Midvalley and she thoroughly enjoyed herself there, although it was a bit ticklish.

So, after we fed ourselves really well at Wong Kok Char Chan Teng, we decided to feed the fishes... our feet's dead skin cells!!!!

The plaque is multi-lingual so that visitors from foreign lands who do not understand English may drop by the spa... Funny that Mandarin is not on the plaque but they have Arabic, Japanese and Korean.... ????

Here we all are... Victims err Customers waiting for our turn to go up to area where all the fish were waiting eagerly for our feet... (Why does the theme song of Jaws keep playing in my head???)

I nearly did not get a chance to try out the actions of Dr. Fish as I didn't feel like going for it since I've promised EV that we'll both try together. Of course, EV said a few times that she hesitated to go as she thinks that her feet stench might kill the fish first. (^_____^)

Not to worry! The spa has an area where you can clean you feet before and after your treatment. So, all of us took off our shoes and socks to have a good rinse before we soaked our feet in the pool.

This picture isn't very clear as my colleague and I were splashing around the pool to discourage the fish from "locking on" our feet. However, those efforts were futile as their sense of smell locked on to our feet like homing missiles!!

How did it feel? It was certainly ticklish. Very.. in fact. I kept laughing and giggling throughout my session. I nearly got my head bashed in when I lifted my feet off the water and my colleagues beside me kept yelling "Put your feet down!!!!!"

Every time I lifted my feet, the little fishes will quickly swim off to the nearest feet to feed. So much for the theory that fish do not feed at night...

Here's a pic of my colleague's feet as she fed the larger fish situated in the other pond of the spa. Since the fish were bigger, whenever it nibbled on the feet, it felt a little bit painful. I tried both sizes of fish and it certainly felt better in the pond where the fish were smaller.

As you can see, the deco around the pond is very soothing. In fact, despite the ticklish nibbling, the experience was a very relaxing one.

In the end, my feet did feel a lot smoother and surprisingly lighter! No idea why I felt that way but that was what this other colleague felt when he tried it out for the first time too!!

How much was it? We had a group discount since there were 12 of us, and so, each person forked out RM31 for 30 minutes each.

I can remember that one of my colleagues felt it was such a torture that she kept looking at the screen to see if her number was called. LOL!!!

So, will I try it again. YES! Just to watch EV squirm about .... HAHAHAHAHAHAA

My Blog Not On Strike-ar...

Despite what is going on in the media about bloggers going on strike... My blog is not on strike.....

I'm just busy with work... (^____________^)

Will get back to writing my blog sometime this weekend when I've downloaded some pics from my camera. :-)

Artery Clogging Dinner... Yeah!! It's REALLY That Good!!

OK OK.. For the last couple of posts, I've been putting up pictures of sinful food. I can't help myself.. LOL...

I just can't help myself...

Anyway, my Nikon 5900 is starting to act "funky". I've been messing a lot with the focus mechanism so much so that it doesn't focus the shot properly now.. :-(

I came back home from another grueling day at work. It is grueling when your boss sends you mixed signals about work. It's soooo frustrating but I'll rant about that another day... Or maybe, not at all!!

My aunt, i.e. my mom's brother's wife from Perth who recently came down from Perth bearing meaty gifts. The lovely pork bacon and now, the seriously delicious scotch fillet beef (a.k.a. rib eye) were from here. My mom had a reminder SMS from her to cook the beef and so, she decided to grill it for us.

Grilling is so much easier now that we got ourselves the grill pan from my mom's last trip to Thailand. We grill fish and meat on it and it has that nice BBQ grill marks without the hassle of the messy BBQ.

I'm a carnivore... It's in my birth signs.. i.e. DRAGON + LION = Ultimate Carnivore. (^____^)

So, I told my mom that I would like my meat... ahem... MEDIUM WELL. Yes, that means... a bit of blood still left in the meat. This means that my meat will be really tender when it's cooked.

Me: Is it done yet? I like my meat medium well.. *slurp*
Mom: No.. not done yet, I just put it on the grill. It'll need about 5-10 minutes to cook.

Me: Wahhh.. So long. I don't want well done-le. It'll be like eating stone. Besides, well done meat is hard for me to digest.
Mom: Don't want to eat blood-le... Eeeee...

Me: Hehehe... 5 minutes on each side enough or not?
Mom: Nooo.... LONGER!!!

Chinese food is rarely eaten raw or semi-raw. We just have this aversion to seeing a lot of blood in our dishes... I may be wrong but this is the impression I get from the older generation.

For some of us who are lucky enough to explore the many types of food out there, we may like raw food like sashimi or the Italian style carpaccio (raw beef), we would certainly relish the freshness of the meat eating raw or semi-raw.

My bro-in-law commented that in places like Canada, they prefer to eat their beef either Rare or Medium-Well as they find that if the meat is well-done, the beef is just too difficult to digest and cause you to feel very bloated after a meal. I do agree with him after seeing a friend struggle with a Porterhouse steak which was 21ounces in weight!!!

After learning to eat my meat cooked at Medium Well, I find that I don't get that bloated feeling after a good steak meal. Of course, eating meat cooked at Medium Well means that you're running the risk of getting worms or food poisoning.. ewww.. However, if the outside of the meat is cooked well, you shouldn't have such issues. :-)

Anyway, here's a parting shot of the meat after I cut it with a semi-blunt knife.. Notice that I've used the word "semi" several times here? LOL!!!!!

OK.. Aside from the red meat, I had my portion of vegetables, i.e. double the portion of the meat serving. So, it's a healthy meal after all.. I'd guess?? (^____^)

More Wedding Day Videos...

Got more wedding day videos here...

1. Church Ceremony

2. Wedding Night Banquet

I missed most of the banquet as I was busy helping out the registration table that night. Anyway, it was one of the dinners where the banquet started almost on time and didn't end too late. However, at the end of it all, I could only say... "PHEWWWW!!!!!"

Enjoy the videos.. ;-)