Project Alpha!

A little over a while ago, I was enticed into starting a blog by my sister.... she had started working in the online media industry and had gotten insight into how you could earn money just by writing stuff on your mind and publishing it over the world wide web for all to see.... "hurm, how hard could that be? Just writing whatever crap that's on your mind and all the kepohs in the world would read it?"

Anyways, fast forward to where I am now... using my blog as sort of a showcase for my photography (although I've only been using the compact camera recently instead of very sayang-ed DSLR) and bit of journalism where I get to write what I think is hopefully read-worthy stuff.... I am still constantly awed by this new media that keeps opening up opportunities for one to broadcast themselves. There're blogs and then there's youtube (am sure you've heard about those who have found fame by posting their homemade videos on youtube) and then there's embedding your youtube videos on your blogs! :)

For those of us who don't live in the land of opportunity, ie the US of A, and feel that we are disadvantaged in terms of getting "discovered" on the internet, here's your chance for a stab at fame:

You can now send in an audition to be a Project Alpha TV Star!  

What is Project Alpha? It's a Malaysia wide campaign to bring to you the real life of the top bloggers in our country.

How? Well you can find out all about it here. For those who are itching for that little bit of fame, please do check out how to participate.

Project Alpha's Facebook

Project Alpha Season 2 is presented by Adidas Action 3 and supported by P1 and MAS. Auditions are now open! Check it out at www.projectalpha.com.my/auditions or projectalpha.ruumz.com/groups.

Chop Chop

If you recall way back when, we discovered that Logan only had one descended testicle. The advice the vet gave then was to wait a few months to see if the other would descend. If it didn't, it was advisable to remove it as it would susceptible to being cancerous later on in his life. Well, it hasn't, so on Monday, he was finally taken for the chop :).

When I came back that evening, he looked way miserable.... probably still wearing off the after effects of the general anaesthesia. Plus, poor doggies are never meant to be put in cones, they just look much worse for wear.

Here was the face the greeted me that evening:

▲ his eyes were red, probably because he was still groggy from the GA

Instead of his usual perky self when anyone went to say hello to him, he was barely lifting his eyelids to see who it was.... poor puppy....

The next morning, the maid was gonna take him for his morning walk, but he only made it to the front of the car porch... but he looked much better... no more bloodshot eyes... and was more responsive....

▲ he came over to the grill to let me pat his head, eyes not red anymore after

a good night's sleep

▲ the manja fella... kept his head resting in between the grills even 

after I was done patting and giving him the sayangs

This morning, he seems back to his usual self.... jumping up at the kitchen window to see what and who's cooking.... hehehe....

Oh ya, he also went for an x-ray for his hips while he was out cold as he looked like his hind legs were bowed. Vet says that his hip dysplaxia was quite severe with only about a quarter of his bone sitting in the socket. This will inevitably cause joint pains when the fella is older and the solution when it gets to that stage would be surgery.

How come dogs are able to bring about such emotions in human beings? Are they the smarter creature?

Painting #2

As my blog seemed to be transforming fast into a food blog, I had to quickly post this up:

Tadah! Finally.... my completed butterfly painting.... it was unfinished for quite a long time, as you can see on this post, it has been close to a month! What was the hold up - I was missing blue colored paint, which I finally went to get from Czip Lee Plus. So, what cha thinks? It's still rather cartoony, ie, where there isn't much tone, etc... just merely making sure the colors fill the spaces without running too much out of line.

Speaking of painting, was at Bangsar Village 2 and randomly walked into one of the shops selling paintings (there are about 3 of them at the top floor now) and saw this series of 8 paintings. They were oil on canvas paintings, in a series of 8, for each of the 8 chinese gods, done by a Chinese painter. His name was Duxi, or another pin yin variant spelling of his name. I really liked those paintings (too bad I can't find images of it on the internet to post up here) and his style seems to be painting Chinese characters in a cartoony caricature but with loads of details for the Chinese garments. Took the husband to the same shop after that time and the 8 paintings had been packed up, ie SOLD! Take a guess how much the set sold for.... they are roughly the size of an A4 piece of paper each. C'mon, your best guess...

RM52,500!!!

Damn, I should've been an artist!!! He's got one more bigger sized piece still hanging in the shop also going for the same price. It's worth a look, I think the detailing is really pretty... this one depicts some Chinese soldiers battling each other. 

I have another empty canvas waiting for me.... :) what next? 

Happy Belated St Pat's Day

St Pat's Day was last Friday. And am celebrating it ala Cupcake Chic style with their special St Pat's Day cupcakes just today! :) Sis got them from the Curve last Friday.... just had the belgian chocolate wan which was delicious - the cake was moist and soft, and the icing was creamy delicious.... tis definitely finger licking! (move over KFC)....

▲ Foreground: Leprechaun Chocolate Cupcake (Belgian Chocolate cupcake 

with chocolate frosting edged with green sprinkles) 

Background: Pot O' Vanilla Gold Cupcake (Vanilla cupcake with Green Vanilla frosting)

▲ the inside of the Leprechaun Cupcake - yes, it was as moist and 

as finger licking good as it looks here in the photo

▲ haven't tasted this yet

Ze Bacon Burger....

So since I read this blog post, I have been craving for a burger just like that. Well, it's more like since I saw the photo at the blog post:

▲ Paul's Famous Hamburgers @ Sylvania, Sydney, Australia

Doesn't that look exceptionally sumptious? Incidentally, Paul's Burgers located at Sylvania was near my husbands' family home in Sydney! To put things into perspective, husband and I used to live at least 45 minutes of no-traffic-Sunday-evening-drive away from each other in Sydney. And if you've ever lived in Sydney, you'll know that it's a big big city that requires planning for logistics everytime you decide to go anywhere. So, my point is, Paul's Burger being located in Sylvania, warranted a HOW-COME-YOU-NEVER-TOOK-ME-THERE to the dear husband.

In any case, saying that to him in KL definitely didn't bring me any closer to that burger. So the search for it in KL was on. Got a few suggestions from my fb status update on where to find a good pork burger in KL. One that looked promising, judging from the description of it in the menu, was at Brussels, as suggested by Larry:

▲ He said it was delicious.... 

In any case, decided that I shall make one of my own... and sister was over to have 1 too:

▲ Left: sister's burger with Bega slice cheese Right: husband's burger with mustard, no cheese

Both are ramly beef patties wrapped in fried egg with bacon

And here's mine in the making: 

▲ First, toasted the buns and melted the cheese before slapping on garlic butter , 

then added the bacon, squirted the Japanese mayo over the bacon

 

▲ Left: View of bacon on melted wrinkly Bega slice cheese 

Right: Ramly beef burger patty wrapped up in fried egg on bacon

▲ The completed burger: garlic buttered roll, back bacon, fried egg, ramly beef patty, 

bega slice cheese, mayo, tomato ketchup

It was void of vegetables.. hahaha.. so i just ate the lettuce on the side... was yummy and satisfying... definitely hit the spot. The husband agrees... :) 

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FARK! Just saw the below on this post: 

▲ Hamburger with egg, bacon, cheese, pineapple, beetroot, with BBQ and 

chilli sauce and caramelised onions..... 

I think I need another burger.... 

Oscars Roll Call

With the Oscar's over the last week or so, husband and I have now watched 2 movies that were hot at the Oscar's - they were The Blind Side and The Hurt Locker.

For those of you have been living on an island somewhere but yet managed to get internet connection to find this blog and yet don't know about the Blind Side, it's the movie that Sandra Bullock won her Best Actress Oscar for. And The Hurt Locker won Best Film, yuppps, beating Avatar, the highest ever grossing movie, which surpassed James Cameron's own Titanic.

I liked The Blind Side... didn't know it was based on a true story about Michael Oher who currently plays offensive defense for the Baltimore Ravens. Somehow, there's something about american football movies.. it never fails to inspire and I think I got a headache at the end of the movie having held back my tears for almost a good 2 hours. I can relate the sportmanship and all the emotional stuff that movies like these try to depict (think Any Given Sunday to name another one), having been involved in dragonboat rowing, which in my opinion, is a similarly emotionally engaging sport.

▲ picture of one of the crews I had rowed with.... :) think that was when we 

won the State Finals (location: Penrith, the same site for the rowing events of 

the Sydney Olympics in year 2000)

So if you hadn't watched this, I'd say go and watch it. It was good, nothing like I had imagined... I was expecting a dreary, miserable, tear jerking movie where Sandra Bullock plays a mom who adopts a homeless, orphaned African American boy. Thank goodness it was nothing like that.

▲ picture of the real Michael Oher with his adopted parents

Moving on to The Hurt Locker.... this movie was quite watchable as well. I thought it was going to be another slow movie... not a huge fan of war movies... though, hurm.... I can think of a few that I did think were good - Saving Private Ryan, the one with Meg Ryan and Denzel Washington what was that one called now.... Anyhow, let's just say that war movies are not usually my first genre choice.

Anyways... the movie started off pretty interesting.... it basically follows the daily lives of these few officers who belong to a bomb detonating squad stationed in Iraq. But we started the movie late at night, and halfway through I had to go sleep... not because it wasn't interesting, I was just tired. And I watched the 2nd half of the movie the following day, but was distracted with doing other things... so wasn't paying too much attention. So from the bits that i was paying attention to, I think I'd rate this movie a pass. And well done to Kathryn Bigelow for being the first woman ever to win an Oscar for Best Director!

By the way, just read on the Sydney Morning Herald that Sandra Bullock is having marital troubles with husband who allegedly had an affair with some tattooed woman (who has a tattoo on her forehead and was an aspiring medical officer... ermmm....ya, pretty obvious why her medical career didn't take off). Apparently, Sandy seems to be part of a long line of the Best Actress Oscar curse - Kate Winslet just split from her husband and the others include, Gwyneth Paltrow (from then husband Ben Affleck, though Ben and Jennifer Garner do make a cuter couple - sorry Gwyneth), Hillary Swank from Chad Lowe, Julia Roberts from Benjamin Bratt and also Reese Witherspoon from Ryan Phillipe (and she's looking way hotter after her split!).

▲ Sandy holding her Oscar in a gorgeous gold dress on the left and Sandy

as Leanne Touhy in The Blind Side on the right

Canoodling...

Was trying to decide what to eat for dinner with the folks last Friday. It was between tried and tested butter crabs at Bangsar Seafood Village (slurp! those of you who have never tried it, it's the best) or trying out something new at BV2. I had read on 'A Whiff of Lemongrass' about 2 new eating joints that had opened up in BV2, both of which are under the Ms. Read group. Lemongrass was neutral enough with the review and the photos looked pretty good (well, her photos always looked good).... so I was tempted to try it out. And I had an idea as to where the new restaurants were, as I had seen the hoarding up on the top floor awhile back.

So anyway, got picked by sis and was still tossing up between what to eat when her boyfriend said that there was an Astro company dinner at Bangsar Seafood Village that same night. So, that decided it for us - trying out something was the order for the night. 

Off we trooped to the Noodle Bar. And it was located where I thought it was, at the top floor of BV2. 

▲ picture of the back of the menu

So when we got there and sat down, we were presented with 2 menus - one of which was a menu for the noodle bar and the other for the Japanese restaurant next door. Yes - the Japanese restaurant was called For Goodness SakÉ, geddit? geddit? We later learnt that if you sat in the noodle bar, you could order stuff from the Jap side, but not vice versa, as there more limited seating in the Jap side. Made no difference to us, was okay sitting in the Noodle Bar side. 

My dad was hungry, so most of the stuff on the menu looked appetising. I ended up whipping out a pencil and marking the stuff we wanted to order on the paper menus :). 

So that night we had: 

• yam and vegetable fritters (tasty, my dad ordered a second helping)
• pandan chicken (these came in tiny deep fried chicken wings, nothing wrapped in pandan leaves)
• duck confit salad (was very tasty, but I thought was expensive for the serving portion)
• raw salmon with slices of pineapple
• the prawns and glass noodle salad (taste was there, although Chris thought it was a tad too sour, and I thought the glass noodles was a tad dry/undercooked)
• snapper fillet vermicelli 
• dan dan mien (first tried this in Din Tai Fung in Singapore and fell in love with this dish ever since, the one here was tasty enough, although the peanut sauce is not as thick as one in DTF, but it's tasty enough for me to go back and have it again)
• unagi omelette (yum! loved it, this was from the jap menu - think my sis will agree with me on this!)
• beef wrapped around asparagus on a skewer 
• yam and red bean ice blended drink
• pomegranate and something else something else in coconut milk, some thai tong sui (was so-so... my dad ordered this, I let him try the yam and red bean ice blended saying that he'd probably prefer that and he did, cause he ordered a glass of it after tasting it... hehe....)

That's a lot of food, huh?! hahaha... ya.. did I say that my dad was hungry when we got there? :) 

Total of the bill for all of the above which fed 5 people: RM178. Pretty reasonable I thought, what say you? I'd go back again too for dan dan mien and unagi omelette :). 

▲ photo of the place

▲ interesting decor in the place which consists of 

hanging table lamps from the ceiling

▲ only picture of the food I got - cause we ate everything so quickly when 

it came and forgot to take any other photos! hahaha... this is half eaten yam 

and vegetable fritter

Thong Thong Thong....

The following are photos of my ipanemas... 

▲ first pair that broke which was later repaired by the husband

▲ gold/beige with maroon flowers on the sole bought after blue pair broke

▲ my red pair that i bought for CNY 

hehe... I forget, but I think in Australia, thongs refer to flip flops like my ipanema's. But ask for thongs in the US and u'd be looking at g-string underwear. Or is it the reverse? Have been equally exposed to Aussie culture, having lived there for quite a few years, as the American culture, having grown up watching American tv. But now that I've not lived in Oz for a few years - I forget!

Anyways, can't wait to put on a pair of heels again. I used to walk around anywhere in 3" heels, at the very least, since I am vertically challenged.... :( 

Curry Chee Cheong Fun

One day at work, my sister had curry chee cheong fun that was tapau-ed for her by her colleague and started raving about it. So of course I had to get her to take me go try it! Have this thing for dry curry anything, noodles, chee cheong fun, wan tan mee... hehehe.... 

Off we went to Damansara Kim, it's the area behind the Damansara Specialist Clinic opposite to TTDI. There's this cheery li'l lady who mans her stall in a coffee shop (didn't get the name of coffee shop)... who managed to up sell us RM12 worth of chee cheong fun goodies, as pictured below: 

 

▲ the chee cheong fun stuffed with turnip and dried shrimp with kari sauce

▲ view from the top of the stuffed chee cheong fun

▲ the other chee cheong fun stuff which i'd much prefer to be all mixed 

together with the kari sauce but she made it dipping style instead

▲ the little boy sitting at table behind Yen who kept flirting with her... hehehe

he would look at her and when she looked at him, he would look away, playing

hard-to-get... hekeke... will be a charmer

Conclusion: curry sauce was yummy... next time we go, will get aunty chee cheong fun to mix everything up together with the sauce and add extra sauce too :)

Chicken in a Biskit

Lookie what we have here:

Was strolling in the Village Grocer yesterday night picking up some things quickly just before heading back home after dinner when I saw the box of chicken in a Biskit pictured on the left. What was this - a new packaging? The picture of the biscuits in the front of the box certainly looked familiar. But I was more used to the friendly green packaging seen in the right picture. It looked... slightly wrong? And I couldn't help the slight feeling of betrayal as a consumer. 

Having spent a good number of my development years living in Sydney, Australia, I kinda grew up on Chicken in a Biskit in a green box. So there was something about me (well, not just me...) and Chicken in a Biskit. It used to be a sure item on our grocery list for Woolies (short for Woolworth's) while living in Australia, but back here in Malaysia, it's such a luxury. When it was first made available in the Village Grocer in BV, it was a piece of news worthy of an sms from my friend when she saw it selling there. And, of course, it's also a luxury in terms of price - the price for one blue box was RM17.90!!!!! OMG! *faints* 

Just.couldn't.justify.my.chicken.in.a.biskit.craving.for.that.price!

And because I haven't had it in such a long time, I had to borrow this photo of the actual bikkies inside the packet from here: 

I always ate them by putting the whole piece into my mouth and then slowly suck the salty chickeny flavour off each piece of biscuit while it melted in my mouth. hahahhaa... so anyone coming back from Australia with suitcase space to spare for some salty bikkies? *puss in boots pleading eyes*

Note that this it THE Chicken in a Biskit by Nabisco, not the one by Arnott's.

Premium Parking

Did you know that most of CIMB's premium/preferred customers rode motorbikes? Nor did I, but it certainly looks that way from all the motorbikes parked at the TWO spots supposedly reserved for premier customers of the bank. Check out the photo below:

It's taken with my camera phone, so you have to squint a little to see round 'CIMB Preferred Customers Only' sign at the sidewalk, right behind all the bikes. Just in case you were wondering, this is the CIMB Lucky Garden branch.

CIMB was thoughtful - they reserved TWO spots! but alas, two spots are obviously not sufficient, not even for ONE car. 

Wonder what's the demographics of the preferred customers at other CIMB branches? 

My First Painting

Have finally started on my painting project! hahaha... i've been wanting to do this for a while. I bought a small canvas quite a few months ago (maybe at least 6 months?) but didn't buy the paint at the same time. Coz I figured that I'd want to know what I was painting first before splashing out on all the colours of paint in the store So that meant requiring me to decide on what to paint and then drawing it out first. 

I finally drew my picture last week and went to Czip Lee Plus in Bangsar to get paint brushes and acrylic paint. Urm why acrylic? I just got the impression that they were 'solid' colors, cause I know I didn't want to do watercolor style painting. That's about all I knew about acrylics. And as i started on my painting, I mixed the color in with some water and then wondered - hurm, do acrylics take water? hahaha.. that's how much I knew about acrylics. Anyways, i later wikipedia-ed it and yes, you can thin out acrylics with water. But once it dries, there's no way you could thin it out again with water.... quite different to paints I used when I last painted in school for Art - more than 15 years ago!

Anyways, here's a photo of my finished product (on the right) and one that I had started but not yet finished (on the left). I need to get blue paint to finish up the butterfly one on the left. I think the butterfly wan looks rather pretty with the colors. Oh yea, i can't really take all the credit, cause I generally draw out a copy of a picture I want to paint after googling images. :)

Conclusion: it's been really enjoyable.... as I am not very good with sitting still doing nothing - actually this 'restless' feeling happens on and off. Like for example, i couldn't just sit still and just watch tv, i would have to be doing something else, like maybe paint my nails or something. And now, doing the painting really allowed me to use up that energy. Guess I just have restless fingers.

Maybe after i get the hang of some techniques, will graduate to a bigger sized painting :). As you can see, there's not much artistic ability involved so far, just merely making sure I apply colors within the lines. hahahaa... :P and that's what my husband said - why so commercial wan? not artistic at all.. humph....