Dreams!

The good ole violin...and if one looks carefully...there are strips of paper stuck on it.

Violin tuner...for us poor souls who are tone-deaf but still eager to play a musical instrument.

Reading notes....after ten years of playing by heart takes a bit of getting used to. Coordination between eyes and fingers. That's what I wish ..for 2007.

What a busy start to the year

Greetings from an incredibly busy individual. We're almost done with the second month of the year. Imagine that. Time flies....Thankfully no resolutions have been broken. The trick is to make NO resolutions at all. Regardless of how merry you may feel on new year's eve.Such a great silence on my part was greatly due to adjusting to greater responsibilities and entertaining self doubts on ability to do so. Thankfully, the self-doubting alter ego has been pushed ( firmly ) into the background and the usual up-beat optimistic self is back with a vengeance. HULLO Hulllo HULLO!!!

Books I've read since I last blogged:

1. Christmas at Fairacre ( by Miss Read )

2. Tender at the bone ( Ruth Reichl)

3. Ireland - in a glass of its own ( Peter Biddlecombe)

4. The godmother ( amanda brookfield )

5.The lover ( amanda brookfield)

6. Single lives ( amanda brookfield)

7. Shopaholic and baby ( Sophie kinsella)

New exciting things in life

1. 20 inch LCD TV plastered firmly on the wall in the hall.

2. The resurrection of the ole violin and with it painful lessons with many new notes to learn

3.New MP4 player....( functions yet to be learnt)

4. Acquired=One new fangled lamp of dubious aesthetic value..stashed neatly in the hall.

Painful things which have occured so very fast in the year

1. Credit card maxed out on self.

2. Living on a budget as a result of reason number (1)

3.In a moment of weakness promising self...to give up buying trashy mags.

Merry Christmas :)

Merry Christmas everybody:) And a very happy new year 2007. It's back to work tomorrow for some of us. After a break of 5 days, I feel rejuvenated ( almost) to face the big bad world. The few days back home was spent wisely. It was luxurious to be pampered and have food brought to you. Plus I watched Elizabeth 1 starring Helen Mirren. No wonder she won an Emmy. She's certainly made the royal queen come to life. I also watched Midsomer Murders. And when I wasn't watching TV, I was in a horizontal position slurping up the REM sleep. I slept so much, standing up made me dizzy. ( Postural hypotension I'm sure of it )I enjoyed Christmas at home.

Met up with an old friend as well. He and I used to take the same bus to kindergarten. I remember being envious of his mini motorbike one morning that I got mum to drive out and buy me the very same thing.

And my old room mate from Ireland sent me a christmas card, ( I didn't send any cards this year which was awful of me really ) updating me.

Friends and family. THat's what christmas is all about. Have a Blessed 2007.

Deja Vu

Deja Vu = deja ( already ) + vu (seen)

Denzel Washinton's latest movie is good. Especially as I had no idea what the movie was about. Sometimes its nicer to watch a movie without any preconceive ideas. He a virtuoso actor. Travelling back in time takes a little persuading. I liked the movie. Two thumbs up from me.

Snap Happy!

I woke up early this morning. A full bladder rather than the alarum clock did the trick. It's now 7:25am..the coffee mug's half empty ( or half full ),there's a nice calm to the early hours and I'm thinking about life. ( Which is something i do quite a bit these days..is this the sign of old age?)

The thing is, I want a new job. Nothing wrong with the present one. I slept with my face ( the right side ) on a magazine. I have the creases to prove it. ( as if you ever need proof of something as trivial as this ) It must be osmosis working its magic. I found myself gravitated to my folder of old pictures...and fantasizing for a minute...the challengers of being a different job description. I slept on the page entitled "Snap Happy". So sleeping over something really does affect your mind. Point proven.

Monday:)

I hate changes. Daily routine is comforting. I don't find it boring. Okay maybe I do sometimes. But generally, I like the predictability of events. When there's an upheavel....it messes up the daily routine. Take for instance the workings of the past week, we've had friends moving back to another state for work. The group we once were...is no more. I hate that. That's depression talking for those of you aspiring psychiatrists. ( let the record show, I've diagnosed myself before you).

On a lighter note, the two books I've ordered came this week....plus Jeffrey Archer's hardcover's on sale for christmas. What I relief I didn't bow down to temptation to buy the book three weeks ago. There's 25% off ....

Ais Krim Goreng

I first heard of "fried ice-cream" a couple of moons ago.You know how it is, someone mentions it..and immediately the brain goes into over-drive with all the possible questions..such as..

1) how do you fry the ice-cream?

2) Won't it melt?

3) Who thought of it?

4) Does it taste good?

5) Can it be home-made or must it be done in a special way only possible in high-tech kitchens??

For lunch ( which was a wet affair seeing as the cyclical rain decided to pour just as we were parked making the manouvre out of car dodgy) We had fried ice-cream.Sharing one single umbrella with 3 other human bodies of various shapes and sizes isn't easy. We made a couple of trips in pairs and just as we sat down for lunch, the sun came out and the rain ( magically ) stopped. Apparently this isn't at all surprising in Kuala Trengganu. How unlike our capital city, where rain once it starts refuses to ease off for hours on end.

I had fried ice-cream for dessert during lunch. It was lovely...brought back childhood memories of chomping down ice-cream before it melts. Memories are triggered by taste as much as the sense of smell.

Bora Ombak restaurant

For good food, some poeple would travel quite a bit. For a free meal ...some people would go to the ends of the earth..almost. I've only just realised, the area surrounding Ampang Point is scattered with restaurants.Ampang is an area alien to me. ( Apart from visiting the RSPCA, a friend, a friend's wedding and the second hand bookstore at Ampang point...I rarely venture this far from home). We had dinner at Bora Ombak restaurant...by virture of its name, one would assume its an Indonesian restaurant. Surprisingly, the menu had steaks and pasta dishes. I opted for the safety of Indonesian food. ( Would you order Pasta in a chinese restaurant??)

It had a Balinese theme scenery. We arrived around 7pm and opted to sit outside. It proved a tad humid and when the thunder started rumbling ...we moved indoors. The ambience is one of serenity and calm. Our initial waiter was slow.....but the second waiter proved attentive and courteous. The service ....I thought was a little slow considering we were ( at one point in the evening ) the only customers at this restaurant. Looking around, there were ample seats which made me wonder how well they would have cope if they had the entire place filled with customers.

The background music was a peaceful petiticious piece....which proved soothing. Not many customers so we had loads of privacy. And another plus point was the fact the waiters kept a safe distance from our table allowing us time to savour the food and gossip.

Bora Ombak Cafe & Restaurant
Bora Ombak Cafe & Restaurant
G1, Kompleks Sukan Ampang, Persiaran Memanda 1, Taman Dato' Ahmad Razali, Ampang, 6800068000 Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: 03-4251 6303
Fax: 03-4251 6302

Keropok Lekor

This is what Trengganu is famous for. And this is what we bought on our last day there. Its made out of fish paste grounded and mixed with sago. The inferior ones have less fish and taste more of flour. Its long and chewy and dipped in the right chilli dip, its a perfect snack. It also comes in thin slices which are called "keping".

Batik

The word batik describes prints made from the resist-dying method. High quality hand-made Batik is expensive, but there is still considerable market for it.Most batik is done by machines. Trengganu and Kelantan are famous for their Batik where the artistic people go to great pains to produce some of the loveliest liveliest prints you've ever set your eyes on. As you go further down South, the prices of Batik gets higher and the choices more limited. Government servants are encouraged to wear Batik prints on the 1st and the 15th of every month. We nearly almost always forget.

Last weekend, we travelled 6 hours to Kuala Trengganu to visit a dear friend. Not only did I not contribute to the driving, I slept shamelessly throughout the journey. Only waking up at the designated stop for food. There were the usual taunts from the others when we stopped. I woke up in the outskirts of KT with a creaky neck and a numb left third toe.

It was scorching hot the following morning. Unlike KL with its humidity, the minute them beads of sweat start forming, they've wooshed up. I drank three wholesome glasses of water and not a drop of pee came out of that.

Everyday scrunchies!

What are the accepted rules of scrunchies?? Just to be clear...a scrunchie traditionally is an elastic band encased in cloth which may be satin, cotton, patterned or otherwise. Up-market scrunchies are available from Evita Peroni. Be warned...when jazzed up, the prices escalate exponentially. Here's my collection. A meagre one. I don't have all the colours possible...and on bad days ( where depression rules ) I have been seen wearing a pink floral emsemble with a ( shudder) GREEN scrunchie.

Marmite sandwich

Did you know that marmite is made of...

Yeast Extract
Salt
Vegetable Extract
Vitamin: Niacin
Spices
Vitamins: B1, B2, Folic Acid, B12 .

Fancy that! I 've reaquainted myself with the joys of marmite. It's yummy. I dun have a toaster so I've made do with plain ole marmite sandwich every morning. This natural by-product of brewer's yeast taste salty and it gooey when you dig it out of the yellow-lid jar. My secret to getting just the right amount on your bread slice is simple...use a teaspoon...dip it in...and then let it trickle down....until just 3/4 of the spoon is covered in marmite. Then you spread it ...thinly. Here's the dodgy part....too much marmite will leave you thirsty and crabby. Too little and you wonder what the fuss is all about. Just the right amount ...teamed with hot coffee is my idea of a perfect breakfast.

( use a separate utensil for butter/marg and marmite...nothing is more rude than leaving crumbs in the marmite jar. )