The year of the wooden sheep

A very feminine looking goat

We celebrate chinese new year in Feb this year. The shopping malls have put them the CNY decorations in stages. This is BIG's take on the year of the goat. ( Or wooden sheep, depending on which website you choose to follow)

Just as a recap ( for me, for me) there are 12 chinese zodiac signs. And they are;rat, cow, tiger, rabbit,dragon, snake, horse,sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and pig. What animal you are, depends on the year you were born. But here's the catch, when is the start of the chinese new year? All this while I thought it starts on the first say of CNY every year. Beep! Wrong, the Chinese astrological year starts on the first day of the tiger month, which is around the Feb 4th every year.( Which is the start of Spring) According to mr Internet, the easiest way to find out what animal you are, is to consult the chinese astrological chart, all you need is the year and time you were born. There!! You ( and I ) have learnt something new today.

Wantan Noodles, Taman Batu

Wanton, noodles

We had this for breakfast after mass this morning. I did some quick googling and found out that wanton noodles differ within different states in Malaysia. I've always wondered why they serve it with the spoon tucked under the noodles. This one didn't come like so. ( I placed it there for the picture taking session)

My version of wanton noodles this morning was with char siu and leafy veg served together with the noodles. And the soup came with the meatballs. We were given a selection of chilli; green chillies ( to me the perfect choice), chillie padi, Sambal ( yuck!) and some preserved onions which took some getting used to.

Condiments

My Birthday

Cake and gifts! Dare I ask for more?

I had a great week. My birthday was on Tuesday the 20th of Jan. The celebration started on Thursday the week before, where KN gave me bottles of crush juice as a birthday gift. Absolutely delicious and I now crave for it daily. I shall buy loads when I next see it. The weekend saw the parents eating Italian ( my choice because it was a birthday treat) at Publika. We had pizza, olio, chicken wings and caesar salad. When written like so, it sounds boring but let me tell you, the restaurant is worth going to. Recommended by KN. ( She's brilliant and many thanks!) It was so tasty, the parents even said they would return on a non-birthday treat meal. ( These are the same people who only are happy eating Asian food. Malaysian food to be exact. Noses wrinkled when we ate Korean a few birthdays back)

On Tuesday, WNN gave me a gift and card in the morning before scope. And Prof RAM gave me a present during our vetting session. Amazing that she remembered my birthday. Isn't that a sweet thing? And then on Thursday, Sopian and the gang of MOs ambushed the clinic and brought cake with them.

Sopian does a cheeky thing and made me celebrate my 21st birthday ALL OVER again:) Older and wiser and more comfortable with my skin. I love where I am now in life. Many thanks to each and everyone of you, who helped me celebrate my birthday week.

Rock/wall climbing in One Utama

Here i am wall-climbing

In a fit of fit-ness.( hehe) I called up Climb 5 ( after googling the places in KL where one can rock climb- this led to to a few blogs...with wonderful pictures to ooh and aah-over) to find out the price, and book a time. I called at 11:20am, and the only available slot was 1-2pm.  The package is for a beginner. Entry fee was RM48 for one hour. And then you pay RM2 for a locker.( Free if you bring a free padlock) And you have to bring your own socks. As you can see, I wore my jogging gear. And my sleeping t-shirt. ( Comfy clothes they said)

It's best to park your car on the rooftop. At level 5. Which is where the rock climbing place is. Its a short walk from the carpark depending on where you park. Today being Saturday, we parked a fait bit away. The picture above is the second wall we were given to climb. I'll show you the first after this.

The folks in red were our marshals.At least I think they're called that. They were both lovely. Giving us encouragement and yelling which colored stones to either hop on or grip on. And more importantly they had enough enthusiasm for all of us.

This is at the entrance of Camp 5.

We had to sign a disclosure in a form, which included who to call should anything happen to you. And you have ( the expected) declaration that you do NOT have medical diseases, there were at least 20 to tick as you go along.

My rented shoes.

Here are my shoes. The marshal said it must be super tight otherwise climbing would be difficult. So these were super-duper tight. My toes were a little curled up inside. And I felt like the width of my feet was slowly being morphed into a size 2 cm smaller. But that feeling was only at the beginning, once we started our exercises, the shoe felt just nice.

Baby walls to start with

We started here; you can see the floor is padded. Which made walking hard. And the walls aren't that high. During this climb ( our first) we didn't wear harness. So we were told how to fall. ( Very encouraging.Not!) I climbed twice once on the easier side and the second time on a harder stretch. I scratched my right forearm a bit on the sides as I attempted to hurl myself over the yellow barricade.

This is me, at the baby wall

I had a brilliant time. My only regret is not being able to climb right to the top on our last ( and steepest) wall. My limbs were a little less useful and I got stuck slightly more than halfway up and had to climb down. Am definitely returning for my second climb. And am considering joining as a member.

Sunny weather...finally

Sunny day at the pool

We had good weather on Saturday morning. Just look at the glorious sun that morning. I captured this at the pool just before my morning swim. This week's swim was nice. Unlike the previous one where I felt cold and miserable for 80% of the time I was in the water. And more importantly, I got to use my new fins and mits for the second time.

Swimming burns calories. I am sure. But I think you have to swim at a decent pace and not lol about like a baby whale...floating like a porpoise. That would burn all of the 4 calories only.

Coffee and cheese tarts

Anyone had any coffee from Plan B Roasters at Publika? They had some minor refurbishment. And one of the changes is a wall of tiles. I don't like that. It reminds me of being in my old chemistry lab.  Chemistry wasn't very nice because the class would be on a Friday afternoon. And I was nearly always in a mad rush to head home. The other new ( but not so good) thing is they've scrap the loyalty card. Buy ten get one free coffee. It was a good deal. I had two free cups of coffee before this deal ended. Which means I have had 20 cups of coffee there. ( Woo! Never thought of it that way before)

I had this brought to the clinic on MOnday morning. A friend gave me this for seeing her dad in clinic. How sweet is that? As a rule, I don't like sweet tarts but this here yellow cuties were mighty tasty. And I enjoyed mine very much. I also shared them with my mos and staff.

Here is new semi-obsession. Crepe cake. Do you think I have the skill to make thin tasty crepes? And do you think I have the patience to make 20 layers of crepe cake? It's close. I may depending on my mood. In the meantime, I'm trying to decide whether I should buy this ( very nice) crepe cake book I saw at the local bookstore. I saw it in mid 2014 already. Nobody has bought it. Which makes me think, maybe it's not that good. But the recipes sound very do-able. And they explain it in clear language for a novice like me

The picture above is banana crepe cake from Coffee Stain at Fahrenheit.  Look at how neat the layers are. And if you're curious you may actually count the number of layers there are.

iphone-6-plus

Old and new phone side by side

This was meant to be a christmas present. From parents to me. Would you believe there wasn't a single iphone-6-plus 64G available before the christmas break? ( The shops I went to anyway which were the ones in the main shopping centres around klang valley) And in January of this year...this zero-stock status persisted.

Here are the shops I went to:
1. Machines ( The gardens ) They put up a poster at the entrance which you can see from a distance.
2. Machines ( Midvalley) Same status. They didnt put up a poster tho
3. I-store (Publika) No stock boo!
4. Loop ( Plaza Damas) No stock
5. Apple store at the shopping centre near the curve....they had a Gold iphone 6-plus. ( Gold is hard to love so I hesitated )

These are the shops I called:
1. Machines (KLCC) No stock
2. Epicentre (Pavillion) No stock

With such a bleak outlook, I'd almost given up hope of owning one in January. Lo and behold, I remembered epicentre at Fahrenheit as a shop tucked in a corner on the ground floor. Generally, Fahrenheit is less well known. Although it is in the Golden triangle of shopping tucked between Lot 10 and the other posh shopping place the name of which has totally slipped my mind now. ( It''ll come to me soon enough)

Ring Ring ( And yes they had stock of Iphone 6-plus in Silver)
And so I now have my very own.

Nandos: Love it ...hate it?

Quiet but a tad chilly

 My second visit. And it may well be my last. I had a yearning for nandos only after some research last night on food with little carbs led me to the nandos website. Only because I remembered in time, that there was on at Publika which is tucked in a corner away from the crowd. Not that there is much of a crowd there on weekdays. ( Which is a major plus point for dropping by on the way home for coffee and a meal). Let me clarify this is my second visit to the Nandos at Publika, I have also been to the branch at Jusco Maluri. Again, because its close to work. We've been there for lunch on a quiet working day at least once before I believe.

1/4 chicken with some "posh" salad

 So this is what I had this evening. If you think it looks small, you've spot on. Hardly a decent meal for a starving working person who had to sit through a rather lengthy meeting and traverse through traffic in town to get here. So no, this is not my idea of a good meal to end the day. The chicken was nice and tender. And tasted good. Pity it wasn't meatier. the salad I would avoid at all cost. It tasted cold ( salad..yes yes I know) and the beans were a tad hard ( undercook is another word which comes to mind) and it tasted vinegar-ish. )Each mouthful was a bit of a job swallowing.

Sauces arranged neatly by an OCD person surely

 The ambience is nice though. I love the lighting, the seating arrangement and the wooden floors and walls. It makes it inviting and cosy.

Interesting wash basin...tap and soap dispenser

And I especially like the delightfully inventive wash basin tucked at the end of the premise inside the shop. Just so, you may practice good hand hygiene.

The mean machine

30 minutes and you will feel THE pain

I used this machine for the first time ever in my history of visiting gyms. ( Haven't been to many truthfully) This was because the treadmills were all used and the bicycle was also utilised. Turns out....this here machine can cause you some pain. And i worked out quite a sweat just by pedalling away under the program " cardio". the heart rate went up a bit and I walked funny a few minutes after this.

At the end ( after a round of weights ) I returned to the treadmill ( this one...it was unoccupied) and did 10 minutes of running. That felt like a breeze. In comparison to this cycle. Woohoo. Perhaps my stamina has increased. Still no sign of loss of weight.

Midweek already?

2015, I have a request for you. Can you not gallop your way through this year? I have plans to enjoy the days and weeks,savouring the different days and I also plan to enjoy the nice sunny weather we appear to be  blessed with currently. A small request. Thank you.

On a different note, my shoe fetish will have to take a back seat. After bombing out slightly over a thousand at French Sole plus the unlikely event they should have another 50%-store-wide-sale so soon.....it looks very much like I shall be left to enjoy my purchases in peace. With little distraction of buying more shoes.  I read somewhere that shoe-shopping is a favourtie for most because despite gaining weight ( pregnancy odema being the exception to this rule) you always get to fit the same shoe size....making the feel-good-factor right up there, just slightly below winning a lottery.

Happy Wednesday everybody. And 2015....please remember my request.

Swimming Fins...finally

Flippers

Have you ever talked a thing to death? And when you finally get around to the actual topic or actual experience....the whole thing seems flat? Well my flipper experience was anything BUT this. Let me tell you the swim this morning before work was brilliant. Putting them on felt a little daft. I wasn't the only person at the pool. There were two other ladies who thankfully seemed more absorbed with their actual swimming ( one was teaching the other to swim) than to what I was doing.

Once in the water it's best not to try and walk. Otherwise you will soon realise there is little friction and the slippery feeling isn't pleasant. I suggest you start swimming straight away. It felt heavy at first and my first 5-6 kicks weren't great. It felt like a drag and initially I didn't move fast and my limbs felt a bit heavier than usual. But very soon after, I felt the gliding movement and it felt absolutely brilliant.

I also bought mits and after 3 laps or so felt brave enough to put them on. Once I made sure those ladies were still absorbed with each other that is. Together the mits and flippers made the swim a good good good one.

*note this isn't a long-blade fin. So it's not a cheating fin. heheh

makan apa?

This is what you may hear from anyone near any meal time. Since the middle of last week, I've had this urge to have mee siam from Nyonya Colours. I got  my wish on Sunday evening. Persuaded the parents to eat at Nyonya Colours at the Gardens. We were lucky, we got a parking spot almost immediately, we also got a good place to sit and the queue wasn't long.

Mee Siam is a nyonya dish. the real deal has some gravy with it and tastes sour from lime.  It is definitely inspired by some dish from Thailand. Even the name is a dead giveaway to where the inspiration comes from. This version is dry....and the taste is just sour enough to make me happy.

Monday

Happy times

The second day of the week. ( That's right because the week starts with Sunday and not Monday as what most people may think) I spent the saturday being in a temper and got some flowers as a result of this. So here's the thing, it's best not to lose ones temper and if you do, try and reign it in as soon as you can.

Sunday was way better. And Monday has been peaceful with the smooth traffic because the school holidays have been extended by a week. ( The flood victims up north have some extra time although I think 1 week is barely enough to get over the shock. The shock of losing ones house for some, the sorrow of losing a loved one, be it family or friend.) My prayers are with the families who have to rebuilt their homes and their lives as they usher in the new year.

2014 has been a sad year for Malaysia. We have suffered tragedy and bad publicity from three air flight accidents, two our of the 3 plans remain missing and the third more recent one flight accident just days before the start of 2015 served as a reminder of the two previous accidents.

Closer home, we had he flood in Kelantan in particular and many parts of the East Coast.It is not uncommon for floods in Kelantan. However, this year, the floods affected many many many more areas with higher water levels and lives and houses lost.

We bid farewell to 2014, and we welcome 2015 with hearts filled with hope for a peaceful country and closure for the family members of the flight accidents, enough resources for the families affected by the flood and finally a less bumpy road for our country and its citizens.

Doing something to lose weight

The gym at my new condo

 Righto.  This is a post on my first visit to the gym at the new condo.  Very airy. And the view is of Segambut as you jog your kilos away. And there is a ping pong table to the right as you enter. Two guys were playing ( for ages!) And there were three people on the treadmill. Leaving me no choice but to get on the elliptical machine. My first time I persevered long snuff on that machine. I did ten minutes of cardio...followed by 10 minutes of treadmill and 10 minutes of the elliptical again. And then a feeble attempt at some weights. That didn't go so well because I only half remember some steps. I suspect I'll have uneven bicep size if I am not careful.

Flipper and watermelom

And to continue on with the exercise mode, I've finally after nearly 1.5 years of talking about it on Facebook and real life, bought a set of flippers. Egged on by my dad who claimed 40 years ago he too had some flippers. He described it with hand gestures. Technology back then must have been archaic cos they appeared to be some BIG WHOPPING flippers.

And I also got around to having my toenails painted. Watermelon but slightly more pink than usual. It turned out okay. Creative nail boutique at Hartamas really does a good pedicure. And their colors last and does not stain the nails. I wouldn't recommend Nail Parlour at Publika. Not good service. It felt rushed. And the place was too brightly lit. And the girls talked TO each other as they did the nails without paying much attention to detail.

Happy New Year I miss home cooked food

Bowls

This was taken during my christmas break at home. Here are the bowls waiting to be drenched in yam-and chicken broth. Home-made. Just the way I like them. I miss home-cooked food. A report on the weight. I have succeeded in becoming tubbier. Middle-age spread. They don't call it that for nothing. And so here I am in 2015 January trying to get my exercise mode in full gear.

So far, I've gone to the gym 3 times. And apart from aching limbs I don't feel any lighter. I shall persevere just so I'll be able to get into my cheong sam this chinese new year. Wish me....a lighter new year.