MY COFFEE TABLE

My Japanese style coffee table has finally been delivered! The photos I've taken of it doesn't really tell much about the size and overall presence (I was sitting too close to it when I took the picture) but I like the look of it ... alot! Its low, about almost 40cm in height only.

It has a secret shallow drawer where I've found a new home for all my remote controls etc...

The colour goes really well with the Zabuton cushions that I made. Pity they are not included in this photo.. This coffee table was made my a young friend of mine who is currently honing his creative skill in furniture making... in his backyard! Thanks Kev!

GLORIOUS DIRT

As the natural progression of blogs would be, I have now resorted to blogging about my life, swaying from the very general topics that I've been blogging so far.. Things have been happening lately and one of the highlights of 2008 for me was dirt. Yes, very expensive DIRT.

We found a piece of barren, weed infested plot of land of nothing but barren yellow sand. In which we hope that one day we might build our dream home on it! So after putting my (bargaining) negotiation skills to work, we finally own this space:

View from across the road isn't much but the skies were clear blue on the day and the cotton floss clouds were pretty.. With a little bit of imagination, you can put anything on that land.

We actually thought finding a home design would be an ardous task but it turned out we both agreed pretty much on the same thing. Guess you can say, we're both 'wired' the same way! :) Anyhoo, again, my (bargaining) negotiation skills went on overdrive and have now secured a floor plan that would hopefully last us a lifetime. Here's a sneak peek on how it will (sort of) look like:

It's a jazzed up display home but essentially, it is shaped like this. We're both really into Japanese style home decor and that's where we're heading! I say bring on the bamboo, bamboo and more bamboo!! Oh yes, speaking of Japanese homes, I've learnt that 'shingles' is a design for roof tiles and not necessary a medical condition...

WHOT THA...?

Wow, I have been away and back. Sick again, well again.. and now I'm finally back feeding my blog.. Sorry for the silence, folks. Yes, the travel bug in me has bitten once again and this time my trip to Malaysia has been a quick and hectic one. (My trips are never long enough!)

Managed to squeeze some shopping time in too. The blogger in me is ever ready with a camera at hand! Take a look at this. Condensed milk - enriched with VITAMINS. They probably thought it was too long to print on the lable and shorted it to 'VITAMINISED'!!

Or a stroll by the 'women's products' aisle to browse for the latest offer on sanitary napkins. And hark! What do I see? Stayfree with a new and improved product that is ... **GASP** ... washable???

For those of you who don't know what the writing in yellow means, well, it means "Easy to Wash"!

So I thought ok, interesting... but that was the extend of my shopping for the day and proceeded for a bit of training session in a nice park by the hotel with my teammates. It was a very nice and well kept park but alas, not well enough to stop graffiti.. So we found a pergola to set up our things, and what caught my eye was the writings on the pillars. One can just imagine the strange and exciting things that go on there at night time!


Oh, sweet memories for some but not all, as I read on....

All under the very same pergola..

MOVIE MANIA

I’m finally back after a long and arduous battle of a viral infection! It really took a toll on my body and I’m happy to say, I’m fit enough to resume my blogging!
During my sick days at home, Sam suggested I leave the house to get some ‘fresh’ air. But I didn’t think I could go very far on my feet so he drove me to the cinema to watch a movie! We watched 2 movies, actually, and I was grateful for those few hours of having my mind off being sick..
I insisted on watching Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. I thought the trailer looked funny, so curiosity got the better of me. Turned out, it’s a little bit OTT and try hard scary-movie-meets-date-movie humour. But overall, good escapism (considering the ‘delicate’ situation I was in!) and it was nice to see the two together again actually!
As my health got better, I thought of watching another movie. Well, actually I was hanging out to see Jet Li in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor! (see earlier blog entry) I enjoyed it! I don’t care what other people say about it and bagging it, but I didn’t mind it at all. It was done true to the Mummy ‘genre’ and I didn’t think it could’ve been done any other way. i.e. more serious?? Just think in terms of how the last 2 Mummys were done. One thing I didn’t get… well two things actually.. is firstly, the Yetis. What’s with the Yetis and who do they work for!!?? :) Hmmm…. If they did away with the abominable snowmen, I’m sure they could come up with clever alternate near-death escapes.. Then there is Brendon Fraser. Good to see him again though but does this guy ever age? Surely some kind of makeup can make him look a little more like the father of Alex, who’s all grown up now suddenly with a very distinct American accent as opposed to the little boy Alex (in Mummy 2) who sounded more like his British mum when he spoke! Well, I guess it’s all make believe and I was enjoying every minute of Jet Li…. Oh, and Michelle too..

ZEN MISTRESS

I treated myself to a slick Creative Zen … And now we have 2 at home! I find this easier to handle and better than an iPod. Downloading is easy and I’ve finally figured out how to build my playlist. Unfortunately, to most who would like to borrow it, 80% of it is filled with 80’s music. Depeche Mode happened to be the first band I downloaded onto my Zen! Hee hee.. Yesterday I trained with it for the first time and boy was I pumped! I was in a world of my own, (albeit deaf to my surroundings), much to the annoyance of my other team mates who couldn’t really get my attention! (Sorry guys! Love your work…) The arm band does the job by not slipping from my skinny arms during training and it tucks under my sleeves nicely. But I would’ve preferred it if it wasn’t that big. Or my arms just looked small in it. Anyhoo, I just love my new toy!

HAUNTED HOTELS

I’m not one to believe in ghosts or lurking (visible) spirits from the netherworld, neither do I have what they call ‘the third eye’.. But I have friends telling awful stories about their terrifying encounters with the ‘intangible’ beings, claiming to have been touched or (*gasp*) strangled by one while lying in bed. I’m very sceptical about such encounters and will quickly dismiss it as having a hyperactive brain (nightmares or vivid dreams) while sleeping. Here’s the latest story I’ve heard from a frequent-flyer friend.
He checked into this 5-start hotel over the weekend and when he got into bed, he was strangled, push and squashed the whole night. He later described that he was punching and kicking the whole night. Well, I have those too, even on my own bed! It’s just bad sleep for me, where I feel that my brain is awake but I just can’t move my body. But I’ve never once attributed that to having a ghost ‘squash’ my chest!
Another incident where I was sharing a hotel room with a friend of mine. We were on separate single beds and I was suddenly awoken by her murmuring and ‘whining’. Then I sat up to look at her and tried to wake her by calling her name. She then continued the murmuring and ‘whining’ and stirred. I yelled out her name again, simply because she was starting to annoy me for waking me up! Then she jumped up, tore off her blanket with great speed and bolted towards my bed and plonked herself on me, narrowly missing my arm! She looked pale and dazed and quickly said, “Argh! I’ve been squashed by something! I couldn’t move!” Sigh, woke me up for nothing!
Anyway, does anyone have any haunted hotel experiences to share, you may post a comment!

BROKEN SOLES

What do you do with all the old training shoes that you accumulate over the years? I can't bare to throw mine away. Although they all look 'holey' like this!

These are my beloved 'Fei Yue' shoes, and a few other BATA ones that didn't last any longer either. As training would dictate, most of the damage is done on the R shoe! I dug them all out last night because I was trying to marry a 'decent' pair together, hoping I can use it to train on gravel. I didn't realise the extent of the (worn) condition that none can be saved.. :(

So I got a new pair (again!) today. I don't forsee this new pair to last past January 2009! I got a pair of black 'Fei Yue' shoes last year - I only have one pair and I only wear it as casual wear. There's no way I'm destroying that!

DAY 2 OLYMPICS - GYMNASTICS

Wow, how cool was Zhang Yimou’s choreography of the opening ceremony! And I haven’t seen Li Ning since 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and he HAS aged but to have him ‘run’ that length, slow-mo, his body tilted at an angle, takes some endurance from this 44 year old!

Anyway, day 2 of the Games and the women's gymnastics had a good start. We had first coverage of the Chinese and Romanians on the beam & vault and later floor excercise. And indeed, from my previous post, they have started using the new scoring system – with the perfect score of 17.

In summary, the scroring changes are as follows:

A Score = Difficulty
Starts from 0.00 and builds according to difficulty, with 7.0+ on some apparatus.

B Score = Execution
Starts from 10.00 with deduction for errors. (9.0+ is excellent)

Final score = A + B

After watching the Chinese in action on the floor excerise, these athletes have raised the bar (to suit the new scoring system) by choosing up to 5 (diagonal) tumbling runs! The tumbling combinations are SICK but so far the Chinese have nailed the team event.

We have yet to have any coverage on the Aussie girls but we're keeping the telly on. Watch this space...

ALL THINGS WOOD

I had to get some of my string instruments fixed and I dare say, it’s about time. It’s been over 8 years since I last played my cello! It was finally shipped to me just 2 years back and found that the sound post had collapsed together with the bridge, pegs and strings... everything.. Sigh, fixing it ain’t cheap I can tell you that, and I have two other violins that needed some loving care too!
But first things first, I found a very nice couple who repairs string instruments at their property and paid them a visit. Here I was lugging my cases around, navigating through the gates and finally found their workshop situated right at the back of their house. Who would've thought! Such a small and quaint workshop, the smell of varnish, old violins retiring on the walls and sickly looking instuments strewn all over the work bench ready to be nursed back to life!

Well, my instuments are as good as new now, I can start annoying my neighbours!

Many people usually have pianos in their homes, even if no one plays them anymore, they look good as a part of decorative furniture. As for MY household, you will find pieces of violins (even miniature ones!) everywhere, with my 4/4 cello standing bravely in my living room.

A friend of mine from overseas sent this photo of a fine piece of antique ‘furniture’ (no one plays it in the house!) which is apparently about 100 years old. It had a few aesthetic repairs done over the years but it’s a very special piano. If you look closely, the front portion of the piano is made of glass that you can see through the keys inside the piano. So, it’s not all wood!

Before this piano, my friend had an even dated piano!

Although this is not a very good angled photo, this piano is from Berlin and had suffered the wrath of the 1st world war! Apparently it was half bombed and hence the aesthetic flaws and the keys are a little impaired. However the strings are over 100yrs old and sounds 1st class!

080808

So the time has finally arrived for the Opening ceremony! And also for many thousands out there who seized the opportunity to have their wedding celebrations today! How auspicious, the infinite 8.

All eyes on Beijing now and I trust you won’t have a problem identifying the ‘jailbirds’ from the crowd! Last week, Elvis’ Jailhouse Rock music video was on TV and I could’ve sworn it looked like an Elvis inspired design!

But phew, the Aussies will wear these subtle blue pinstripe suits during the march-in and I think they look superb.. a little hint of a certain airline crew uniform but overall, it looks professional!

GYMNASTICS 101

As you know by now, from my previous blogs, I will be following gymnastics during the Olympics, as I am a BIG fan! I’m pretty excited to see our Aussie newbies go up against the Russians, Romanians, Americans and Chinese. Before the events start, I thought it’ll be good to give a quick intro on this sport and what to expect during medal tally.

There are 4 apparatus for women’s Gymnastics, which are floor, vault, beam and uneven bars.

For each apparatus there are 1 head judge, 2 judges mark technical content, 6 judges mark execution. The highest and lowerst score of the 6 is discarded and the average taken for the remaining marks which are out of 10. Although there has been discussion about the new scoring system which may be introduced at the Olympics this year. It’s the new perfect score of 17!

Anyway, one preliminary round determines who qualifies for the 3 competitions (medals) - which are 1 team event, 1 all-round event and finals on each apparatus.

1. The top 8 Teams (countries) of 6 gymnasts each, of which only 3 team members competing on each apparatus.

2. The top 24 gymnasts from the preliminary round compete - with a maximum 2 competitors per country.

3. The top 8 gymnasts compete on each apparatus - with a maximum 2 competitors per country.

The floor exercise will consist of 70 secs of speed and agility to produce a sequence of jumps somersaults and twists.

As for the vault, well, just hope that the competitors don’t miss the spring board and run into it – head first. The vault has been replaced during 2001 and it’s now positioned differently to minimise any misses!

1min 30 secs on the balance beam, which is only 10cm wide!

And lastly, between 70 – 90 secs on the uneven bars.

Now that you’ve brushed up your Gymnastics 101, be sure to catch the exciting action!

LION DANCE

Ever wondered what those Lion heads are made of? I’ve done a lot of Lion Dance during Chinese New Year and I can tell you that those Lion heads can get heavy after awhile. During my trip to KL, I visited a warehouse where they specialise in making Lion heads. This place is very famous in Malaysia for their production of handmade, top quality lions (to withstand the vigorous movements in very crowded areas!)

This is the skeleton of the lion head, made of very thin rattan (cane). It’s tied and shaped together neatly by small pieces of fabric string.

Then they cover the skeleton all round with very thin pieces of what looks like muslin cloth (but don’t know what they’re actually made of!) soaked in a sticky paste. Kinda like something we do in Kindy with making paper-marche.. Once dried, it forms a hardened shell. Then the artwork begins. The 2 photos above are artwork ‘stations’ where the first base colour and glitter paper goes on after the ‘paper-mache’ dries up.

Check out the paint that they use to mix and match. This is how a typical paint table at every artwork ‘station’ looks like.

This lady here looks after the finishing touches. After all the paint dries up and all the glitter paper is glued on, she applies some kind of sealant all over the lion. Someone pointed out to me that the lion that this lady is working on is a lion specially made to perform on wedding occasions. If you look closely, on the front of the lion head has the word ‘Hei’ in red? Which means double happiness (for the couple)

Once the finishing paintwork is done and all the fur around the eyes have been glued on, they hang it up on the wall in a row..

Here’s a couple of striking designs that I liked..

WHOT THE..?

My trip to KL was fantastic. Short and sweet and shopped all weekend! Like any tourists with their cameras ready at hand, I was snapping some pictures of rather unusual business sign boards. Check these out:

This was taken at a coffee shop where their specialty is delicious toasted bread with kaya (caramel spread) & butter. I guess they thought this slogan fits into their product, only thing is that we can’t just TAKE their bread, we have to pay for it!!!


This is such a copyright infringement! This shop sells all hair products, including hairsprays and hair gels.. Go figure..

Talk about advertising!

Moving on to somewhere else outside of shopping malls, I came across this very old and tattered sign. Eww.. I’d say, bring your own trunks and you wouldn’t wanna wear their swimshits!!

Another sign on our bathroom wall, taken in Beijing. I know things could get slippery when you run hot water in an enclosed bathroom but didn’t realise it effects the land beneath us too!!??

SECOND BEST

Ah, so the Tour is finally over. And sad to say, wasted… in the overall standings, Cadel came second behind the yellow jersey Sastre by 65 secs. Sigh.. well done anyway. We haven’t seen the last of Cadel yet, there will always be next year’s Tour de France. Now we focus on Beijing Olympics and will start cheering for Cadel again!

LE TOUR UPDATE ON THE YELLOW

Aiyah… wasted! As of yesterday’s Stage 17, our Cadel Evans slipped to 4th place and is now 1min 34secs behind the leader Carlos Sastre. What do you think, is there still hope for the yellow jersey? It ain’t over yet, don’t forget, there is still the Individual Time Trials in Stage 20 this Saturday – which will become the race of truth! I’ll be watching Stage 19 LIVE from KL tomorrow and will most definitely be glued to the TV on Saturday as well! So join me and follow The Tour, wherever you are..!

OLYMPIC MASCOTS

Having just visited Beijing last November, I can say that China is well on their way in preparation for the big 8.8.08. This year, Beijing is introducing 5 mascots for the Olympic Games! Let me introduce to you BeiBei, JingJing, HuanHuan, Ying Ying & NiNi. This picture was taken at the Olympic Sports Centre Stadium.

Beibei is the Fish, JingJing is the Panda, HuanHuan is the Olympic Flame, YingYing is the Tibetan Antelope and NiNi is the Swallow. When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni means "Welcome to Beijing". I’ve read that each mascot has very specific (and elaborate) meaning and symbolic purpose. Let’s see:
BeiBei carries the blessing of prosperity. The fish is a symbol of prosperity and harvest. BeiBei is known to be gentle and pure. She represents all in water sports and she reflects the blue Olympic ring.
JingJing the panda makes children smile and as a national treasure and a protected species, pandas are adored by all. As such, JingJing symbolizes happiness. Jingjing is charmingly naïve and optimistic. He is an athlete noted for strength who represents the black Olympic ring.

This is me with HuanHuan! I fell in love with Huan Huan, I wanted to bring this home! No wonder I was attracted to the ‘red flames’ of this mascot, as I’ve read that HuanHuan is a child of fire, symbolizing the Olympic Flame and the passion of sport. Huanhuan is the big brother and stands in the center as the core embodiment of the Olympic spirit. And while he inspires all with the passion to run faster, jump higher and be stronger, he is also open and inviting. Huanhuan is outgoing and enthusiastic. He excels at all the ball games and represents the red Olympic ring.

YingYing is fast and agile like all antelopes, and can swiftly cover great stretches of land as he races across the earth. A symbol of the vastness of China's landscape, the antelope carries the blessing of health, the strength of body that comes from harmony with nature. Strong in track and field events, YingYing is a quick-witted and agile boy who represents the yellow Olympic ring.

NiNi's figure is drawn from this grand tradition of kite flying designs. Her golden wings symbolize the infinite sky and spread good-luck as a blessing wherever she flies. Nini is as innocent and joyful as a swallow. She is strong in gymnastics and represents the green Olympic ring.
So, which is your favourite?

AUSSIE OLYMPIANS

­­­­­­­­­­­­I can’t wait till the Olympics Opening Ceremony. I have full confidence in China to come up with a massive, culture-rich choreography and I bet there will be loads of Wushu on display. Mark my words! But on the sidelines, I will be cheering on our Australian Gymnastics team. This Olympics, I’ll be keeping my eye on our very own Western Australian girls Daria Joura, Lauren Mitchell and Olivia Vivian. 16 days and counting!
Meanwhile, back at the Tour De France, no rest for the Aussies who will also be competing in Beijing right after the Tour finishes on Sunday. On Road race we have Cadel Evans (in Individual / Individual Time Trial), Simon Gerrans and Stuart O’Grady (both Individual). A non-competitor at this year’s Tour (but certainly not a stranger in past years) Brad McGee will compete in track racing Individual Pursuit 4000m and Team Pursuit 4000m. Good luck boys!

LE TOUR UPDATE

Darn it, looks like Cadel has let the yellow slip off his back and onto a well deserved Frank Schleck at Stage 15! Although Cadel’s position has now slipped to 3rd place, 8 seconds behind Schleck, I still have hopes for our Aussie – it ain’t over until Paris!
It was a gruelling Stage 15 filled with riding tactics and bone breaking crashes and Cadel finished relatively unscathed. But the not-so-lucky Oscar Pereiro was a victim of a nasty crash and suffered multiple fractures... and he's out...
Well at least the pressure's off Cadel for now, perhaps a good strategy to concentrate on the mountains later in the week. Stay tuned!

WUSHU-MANIA!

Well, apart from Le Tour there is one other sport that supersedes it to be my passion in life. WUSHU! Yes, I live & breathe Wushu and I can’t imagine myself not ever doing Wushu. Just a quick WUSHU 101 for my fellow readers out there, before I continue with this entry. Wushu (or modern Wushu or Contemporary Wushu) is referred to as a modern exhibition sport based on traditional Chinese martial arts, created in China.

Practicing Wushu and competing in world competitions have been my life for many years and although age is catching up with my survival in such a competitive elite sport, I’m finding myself moving on to expand further in teaching and studying of this sport. I’ve slowed down a lot the past couple of years, post-ACL injury, and have discovered the internal art of Taiji Quan. My particular area of study is the Chen Style Taiji.
Anyway, here are some of the highlights of my competition career and other candid Wushu shots.. Enjoy the photos! We continued with our competition training over the weekend and this morning at work, I walked like a cowboy who’s been riding on a horse for miles. Get your mind out of the gutter! I meant my thigh muscles are so sore, made walking real hard this morning. My training started with some running to warm up, after I asked Sam to drop me off at the end of the road and I ran all the way to school! Then did some stretching, basic plus nandu kicks (combo of difficulty movements + kicks) and some weight training. Legs, calves and arms. And then more floor stretching. This time our residential stretch master (my Sammy!) folded me in half and pressed me down for a few sets. Then it’s the side-splits stretches. Again, was folded in half and pressed. I found that I can do a low balance with leg inserted behind much easier now! Here’s how it looks like.

This was taken about a year ago, but now I can go slightly lower than this. Should’ve taken a photo of it yesterday! Would you believe it this is a difficult movement in Taiji?? Yes, this is the highest scoring low leg balance.
I hope to bring my camera to one of my training sessions and post some more updated photos..

LE TOUR

I’ve always wanted to blog about the Tour De Fance but I guess its still not to0 late to do so – still around 7 stages to go.. Although the Maillot Jaune is not determined yet (with only like a nail biting 00’01” of a second ahead of 2nd place so far!) but I’m hoping for our Aussie silent achiever to keep the yellow till the end. Go Aussie!
I have to admit that The Tour was dead for me along with the retirement of Lance Armstrong. I’m a huge fan of Lance and he made the tour special for me. But although I’ve stopped following it closely post-Lance, I’ve made a point to catch up with this year’s tour, this time rooting for Cadel Evans!
But I am really impressed to see sprint legend Erik Zabel in the starting line (again) this year, would’ve thought he would retire by now perhaps?? In very recent years, saw him being beaten by some notable Aussies like Robbie McEwan and Stuart O’Grady in the sprint finish, which as of today Oscar Freire is looking good in Green at 219 Pts, with Erik in 3rd place and Robbie on 8th place? Although, I can’t seem to find full list of standing for Green Jersey on Le Tour. Anyone knows, can post me a comment.
Anyway, back to Cadel. Clenching the Yellow at such an early stage (10th), will see him work extra hard to keep it on his back all the way to Paris. No rest for the wicked, I say, and I read in the web that all he wants is just a good night’s sleep before the L’Alpe-d’Huez later in the week! That’ll be THE test and I’m definately looking forward to catching it LIVE. Well, LIVE as in on TV of course. Although it’s been my dream to visit France in summer to follow the Tour and bask in the fields of sunflowers. (even if it does hell on my sinuses, its all worth it!)
But, yea, it will be interesting to see how our Aussies fare in this year’s Tour. Watch this space for more updates this week.

BATMAN JUST GOT DARKER...

We just couldn't wait for the weekend and went to watch The Dark Knight on Thursday night. We thoroughly enjoyed it, particularly watching Heath as The Joker. In my opinion, he stood out the most in this movie and he brought out the psychotic character which just effortlessly overshadowed our hero caped crusader. Made Batman look moody and emotionless, who I suddenly noticed speaks with a slight lisp! Actually both The Joker & Batman look like they have cotton wool stuffed into their cheeks. But I applaud Heath, he did a fantastic job, won me over Jack Nicholson any time. Storyline, kept my attention 100% throughout. The question from The Joker still haunts me though, "Do you know how I got these scarssss?". Well, you'll just have to go and watch it yourself... I didn't mind it being over 2 and half hours in duration but my only advice to all is to have a good wee before the movie!

ENTERTAINING THE POPE

All that hype about World Youth Day and Pope BXVI visiting Sydney! There were celebrations throughout all the states leading up to his arrival. And even though Perth was not in the man’s itinerary, we did have a good day of celebrations on the 10th and many ‘pilgrims’ from all over the world came to join us at The Esplanade. I am proud to say, as a representative of my parish, I performed at the World Youth Day celebrations in front of some really loud and supportive revellers! We had loud cheers and everyone loved us and we had so much fun and the energy was really high! Not your typical solemn religious gathering surrounded by priest, nuns, vicars, talbots and brothers!
And what caught my attention this morning when I was watching the morning show on TV was the rapping priest from the Bronx! How cool is he, imagine, rapping the Gospel to the Pope? Well, if it was me and I had a minute with the Pope, I’d like to teach him some Tai Chi! :) That’ll be awesome…

GIRLS' BEST FRIEND

Can’t afford diamonds? Or simply turned off by diamond trading after watching Blood Diamond? Whatever your reason may be, you can’t deny yourself a little bling in your life. My good friend in Singapore told me about Diamond Simulants like Moissanite (or Silicon carbide) which she believes that you can hardly tell the difference when presented next to a real diamond! Well, I did a Wikipedia on Diamond Simulants and read up about its gemological properties and I think if I’m ever looking to shop for some bling rings, I’d probably consider Moissanite.
Let’s talk price here… hmmm I guess it depends on the manufacturer but so far I found the more affordable one is Gordon Max. I saw some classic rings that were under USD$200, well within my budget. And they have stores around Australia, Singapore and also one in KL. How convenient for my trip there next week! **All smiles** Will see if I end up buying any diamonds and will post it up on my blog then!

YONG TAU FOO

Ah hah! Alas, I found a fantastic Oriental Supermarket that sells YONG TAU FOO! But damnit, they are expensive here man! Something like $12.99/kilo. I just miss my YTF laksa, my YTF korn-low (dry noodles) in sweet sauce.. Hmm, so much cheaper to eat in Malaysia. But let me tell you, YTF has now evolved into all kinds of shapes, sizes and ingredients! I swear to you the other day I bit into what looks like a fish ball but then cheese starting squirting out. Cheese! In my fishball, can you imagine! What would they think of next.. But hello, look at these variations of YTF other than the regular stuffed brinjal, bitter gourd or ladies fingers:
So instead of plonking it into some soup the way YTF is usually served, I came up with another delicious idea on preparing it. I fry all the YTF in a little oil and once it’s a bit brown I dish it out. Then I drizzle a little Kecap Manis on it and there you have it, yummy (dry) lightly fried YTF..
Kecap manis is a dark brown, syrupy, Indonesian soy sauce. It has a sweeter flavour than normal soy sauce. It usually contains star anise and garlic, in addition to sweeteners such as palm sugar. Kecap manis is often referred to as Indonesian soy sauce. This bottle of kecap manis is like the standard essential item in any Indonesian household. My partner’s mum swears by it and uses it in practically every dish she cooks. Love your cooking, mum!

CAESAREAN BIRTHING EXPERIENCE

Recently I've gotten in touch with some of my old classmates through facebook and MSN. Ah, technology! It was great catching up with them after 17 years and finding out their progress in life. Apart from reminiscing about good ol' times, they were also starting to swap baby stories and sharing motherhood experience. Seems like a third of my old friends have kids of their own now and blissfully became stay-at-home mums!

Then came the sharing of labour experiences.. Some had lots of pain, some loved the experience, some wanted to kill their husbands for causing all that agony, and some just didn't feel the pain. One of the girls in the discussion group is about to have a baby and is choosing to have a caesarean. Then she started a discussion on C-section, in preperation for her own labour.

I did my own research, maybe one day I might have a kid and would probably choose C-section myself. Who knows.

There's a friend who had her son two years back under Caesarean and posted the video footage of the whole entire procedure and posted it on her blog! She has kindly invited us to link that footage so we can share it with those of you out there who are curious in knowing what this procedure entails. Very interesting actually. Enjoy this wonderous Caesarean birthing process! (Please click on the hyperlink)

MAKAN-MAKAN

I’m always looking for recipes to try and quite frankly, I kinda like cooking/baking nowadays. I was never one to cook, it has always been take away or eat out! There is this website that I’m a member of, Recipes4All - you can click on the name and it will bring you to a website filled with exotic Asian recipes!
The recipes are simple to make and exotic and is just a click away. How easy is that. You can also share your own recipes with others by registering and posting it on the website.
Think I’ll try some Indonesian food today – Soto Bangkalan & Nasi Gurih sounds yummy!

RETAIL THERAPY

Sigh.. So I had a bad day yesterday and I went for a late afternoon retail therapy… Damn, I hate to say it but it works! I felt sooo much better after that, grinning from ear to ear carrying my bargain find! I bought a fantastic turquoise dress with plunging neckline. Tried it on and went Wow! I gotta get this – price tag $50.. Then I spotted a ‘Lemon’ top and thought, well, I though this will be perfect, in preparation for summer!! :) Then I looked around the store and found this chunky bling bracelet –3 shades of blue shiny beads set on a gold base. Hmmm.. goes with the dress – why not!

It’s on sale too anyway! ~ I'm a happy girl....