Cheong Ko Meen (Hakka Noodles)

If the title is confusing you in anyway, don't fret.. it's cantonese pronunciation of a certain noodle shop that we patronise on weekends. My husband's family is very loyal to this shop because they have started eating this noodle since young from Kuala Lipis. When they found out that this noodle owner has moved to KL and is operating from Cheras area, they have been heading there for breakfast on most Sundays.

If you ask me, I am ok with the noodles. I mean, I won't die not eating the noodles for a couple of months.. But what I like about the noodle is that eventhough the dish is simple, no fancy curry or dark sauces, the taste is still there. Not too salty, not too oily, just nice. I don't have a photograph of the store front, nor the address (apologies.. will try to snap it the next time I am there).

I couldn't get the image to be tilted or rotated.. but never mind lah.. I am sure you can tell how good the noodle taste just by looking at the above photos..

Guess where I am heading next?

You will never believe where I am heading next... Taj Mahal!

The last time I was in Delhi for work, I didn't have time to roam around, plus I didn't have anyone to roam around with... but this time I am heading off to Delhi with a colleague, and we are heading to Agra after our work assignment to visit Taj Mahal! I am excited about this trip.. Will take loads of photos and share k?

Erm... not everything that is sweet is nice

I was trying to cook roast chicken on Christmas eve, and in trying to baste the chicken, I thought I should just brush some honey on the chicken so that it will taste more tasty.

But horror to my horror, I discovered that mum's bottle of honey is filled with ants, and none of us knew! If I didn't notice it, we would all be eating honey filled with vitamin "A" for ants!

The black dots are actually ants so yes, I know how grossed out you are right now..

Merry Christmas!

I just received my first Christmas present this year... so it feels extra special cause it came from my cousin sister, whom I regard as my own sister.

I don't know what to say, but I felt really touched inside.. so I want to say thank you, for giving me the presents.. It has given me the warm and fuzzy feeling inside, just when I needed it.

Thanks!

Ice Kacang (ABC)

We went to this mamak in Balakong the other day, and my hubby ordered ABC.

We were kinda "surprised when the bill came and the ABC was the most expensive drink which we ordered. It was priced at MYR4.00!

Yes, I agree that the ABC is big, but hubby couldn't finish it. So why would anyone want to pay MYR4.00 for something which we cannot finish? Doesn't it make more sense to make the serving size smaller, and charge less? I guess it's the mamak's strategy for more profit..

Mood: Too lazy to go to work..

5 days later...

Are you wondering about how my fruit enzyme juice is turning out?

Well, wonder no more... as I am going to post the progress photo up here.

The kiwi enzyme seems to be doing well, with the "juice"/ "essence" turning brownish, and lots of activities happening, i.e. lots of active bubbles are floating up.

The apple enzyme, on the other hand seems a little... well... erm... slow. Initially it was just as if it was still day 1, with no activities nor changes to the juice. But I shooked it 2 days ago, and things seem to be improving, with some bubbles floating up.

See the pic and you tell me ok? I sure hope this is how it's supposed to be reacting..

Apple Enzyme

Kiwi Enzyme

I made a second batch of fruit enzyme

I really do not whether my apple enzyme last night will turn out, since it was not really according to the recipe.. hopefully it turns out.

So today we went to pasar malam to buy dragon fruits to make fruit enzyme but unfortunately it is not in season anymore so we had to change it to kiwi enzyme juice in the end.

The end product so far, ta-da....:

eh.. cannot upload the photos one? something wrong with the laptop... aarrrggghhhh...! the virus, spyware and adware please disappear from my laptop, files and folders!

Apple enzyme

Kiwi enzyme

p/s: finally managed to upload the photos... yeah..!

DIY Fruit Enzyme

Have you ever heard of fruit enzyme before?

I was introduced to it about a month ago by my cousin. I just bought some red apples, lemon and brown cane sugar to try it out today. Only thing is I didn't measure so I have no idea whether it will turn out the way it should be.

Guess I will have to wait 2 weeks to find out. If it turns out I will post the photo here, and let you know how it taste.

If first you don't succeed, try again.. hehe..

It's my handphone charger this time

Argghhh....!

Someone stole my handphone charger from my cubicle!

Must this happen to me everytime? The last time it was my chair, and the time before it was my dustbin and now my handphone charger.

This is a rotten way to start a working day, and I am upset!

I am going to label everything I have on my desk, and warning people not to touch nor REMOVE my stuff!

Is There Anything I Can Do For You?

Does that sentence sound familiar?

This is what I often hear when I call for service, be it telecommunications, IT helpdesk, banks etc..

I have no issue with that statement, but I find it insulting when it is used as a standard text or closing statement with your customers. More often than not, my problem would not be solved before they happily ask me " Is there anything else, Miss?" I really want to tell them "No, don't offer to help on other issues, please fix my current issue FIRST."

How can companies train their employees to say this line when they have obviously not helped to customers' current problem? What makes them think that they can solve my next problem if they cannot solve my first problem? I give up... this was the conversation that took place this morning.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

After explaining the problem with my laptop, this was the reply: "Oh, it appears that this can be a problem with your laptop configuration. You need to call back the SAME number and press 1 instead of 2".

Alright, I didn't want to argue and said "OK."

Then it came " Is there anything else I can help you with, Miss?"

Feeling naughty, I said this: "Yes, can you transfer the line?"
"No I cannot, you need to call back the same number and press 1"

Duh......... if you cannot help then don't ask to help. Such standard text should be used sparringly, and used only in the right context, not as a acceptable closing statement!

Sigh, don't they ever learn?

As promised..

As promised.. I went to scout for items to snap in my office, and I saw my collection of souvenirs/ food from my colleagues which I have found too cute to be eaten..


So I snap photos of them and will post them here!

Mickey Mouse cookie, courtesy of Bryan

Maple syrup candy, courtesy of Geraldine

Pepper sweet, courtesy of Ee Laine

Guess now that I have the photos, I can start to eat them.. haha..

Presenting... my new camera!

Tada.......!!

This is my camera... yeh yeh! I don't have to share camera with others anymore.. I can carry it wherever I go and snap all the photos I like. I even got a 4GB memory card so I can snap more than 2,000 photos before having to delete any!

Let's see.. must find something to snap today... ok, will snap interesting things in my office and post it later. For now, just admire my camera... hehe..

Erm...

Got this from somewhere, and really like what it says!

Oh yes, I got my own camera finally! It's courtesy of hubby, as my birthday present..! Thank you, *muach*!

I got the same camera as hubby.. haha.. maybe because I am too used to his camera and its features. It's of the same colour too! So we's have to tag our cameras to differentiate them.

But funnily though, I haven't had the urge to take photos like I used to (when I hogged his camera)..

Spoilt for choices

Over the weekend, I went to MATTA fair, twice.

My other half went everyday of MATTA fair, all because: we couldn't decide where to go.

My initial destination of choice were either Hokkaido or Athens. While at MATTA fair, destinations like Australia, Eastern Europe, South Africa and Turkey swayed my path. The more brochures I took, the more confused I got; the more travel agencies I talk to, the less decided I became of my destination.

I thought we were doing fantastic when we finalised Eastern Europe, Turkey and South Africa as our top 3 finalist, and even better when we decided on South Africa as our destination. We had all the costing and questions worked out for final visit to MATTA, when something someone said during the fair made me changed my mind.

All of a sudden, we were without a destination anymore! I was almost in panic, and totally confused how a task as easy as finding a holiday destination could end up so complicated.

To cut the long story short, we have finally decided on Turkey. Phew....!

Unbelievable..

My mum was on board an airplane last night on her way back from Newark to Kuala Lumpur.

She said the aircraft was a little noisy thus she requested for ear plugs. This is the funny part, the stewardess told her that the airline does not carry the item anymore, and gave her 02 cotton balls instead. I am not joking, and this is both amusing and unbelivable as well as shocking!

This is the cotton ball..

Giotto and Hanuta

I am sitting in my office now, and enjoying Giotto and Hanuta.



In case you do not know, Giotto is sphere shaped, with chocolate filling inside and hazelnuts rolled over each sphere on the outside while Hanuta is better known as Hazelnut Sandwich. A thick layer of rich, luscious hazelnut chocolate with bits of hazelnut throughout, sandwiched between two crisp, chocolate wafers.



My colleague says Giotto taste a little like Ferrero Rocher, but I disagree. I think Giotto taste so much better, maybe because it is not available in Malaysia hence I treasure it more.

Anyway, I must really thank Hayashi for buying this back and sharing it. She is a real angel. Thanks!

My LAN cable is missing... again!

In my current cubicle at the workplace, I am always missing something.

Due to the nature of my job, I am not always in my sitting area. And almost everytime when I return after being away for a week, something goes missing.

The first time it was the LAN cable, which we recovered. Next time it was my dustbin, and thereafter it was my chair!

So much so that I have labeled my dustbin although it belongs to the company.. think I will have to do the same with my chair and my LAN cable now. A colleague suggested that I should keep my LAN cable whenever I am away from my desk for more than a day or two.. but it is annoying to do this..

The people who normally take these things are the ones who want to use the meeting room or conference room. I don't mind them borrowing my stuff (since I sit closest to the conference room), but PLEASE RETURN the items after you use it. It is frustrating chasing and hunting for basic work items everytime you step into the office.

So, please be considerate, whoever you are.

Flexible Employment Program

Hmm... this flexible employment program has just been launched, and I am considering taking it.

Previously I didn't think I would have much difficulty deciding which option I want to take, but now I am in a dilemma all over again.

I know I want a validity of 3 months, whether it's the voluntary leave program (VLP) or part time leave. But knowing that I am project based, I will never be able to commit to the part time program. I will be at the losing end unless I put my foot down and said I can't do certain things as I am on leave. But then again it is not as easy when you are project based, you are bound to have ad hoc meetings, last minute changes.. the entire strucutre of project management is very fluid to begin with!

The other problem is there is no 3 months VLP program, I am just trying my luck to ask for it. The normal VLP offered is for 6 months or 12 months. If I am away from my job for 6 months I probably wouldn't want to come back after that.. so that option is out. Assuming that I am able to sustain financially for 3 months AND I get the green light for 3 months VLP, there is still another obstacle. I was just made to understand that the you can either choose the travel benefits or the medical benefits.. sigh.. how to choose?

Hot Hot Hot

Weather for the past few days has been dreadful, with temperature easily rising above the normal 32C.

It is so hot that I can't feel my air con even after turning it on for an hour. Am if I attempt to walk out to the living room, I will sweat within minutes. It is simply too hot. Good time for an ice cream.. hmm..the ice cream parlours/ chains/ sellers must be doing well this week.

Help help, we need rain to cool the temperature down..

Durian Feast.. Oh too much of it..

I have simply been indulging in too much of durian eating of late.

It's all mum's fault. She "dragged" us to eat durians. First it was her friend who recommended her some durians and she brought us to her friend's durian stall in Taman Danau Desa, we ate there and tapau some home.

Then she "tumpang" her friend to buy 10 more durians from a durian orchard in some kampung. We had durian phobia after that, and we told mum that we do not want to eat durians anymore this season. That was a little more than a week ago.

Tonight, she asked us if we want to go seksyen 17 pasar malam to eat durian, I couldn't resist the temptation and said yes (the mind is weak...). So we ended up in seksyen 17 night market, and ate some durians (this was right after our dinner mind you, so you can imagine how full we were before, and after we ate the durians). Discovered something funny though, that abi is not used to eating durians by the "roadside". I am not the least bit concerned about eating durians by the roadside because I'm kinda used to it. Haha.. at least this is one thing he is new to, now he cannot laugh at me for being ulu and not knowing about eating durians and rice as meals during dinner.