Egg tarts

It's soft on the inside, it's a fluffy pastry on the outside, it's about the same diameter as a good sized mandarin.... it's.....

John King Egg Tarts

Food, food, food!

warning: non-halal and mentally disturbing photos of food to follow, ie, may cause cravings. 

Am not so much a foodie as someone who just likes taking nice photos. So, I never really do food reviews about places I've eaten at, although I may take photos of the food. I don't really do photography reviews either, since am not a pixel peeper (learnt this term from my brother, who is more of a photography geek than I am... he certainly has more gear than me! :P). And I am a canon user through and through... so the conversations with Nikon DSLR users also pretty much stop when they say, "I have a Nikon". No point me asking what model, cause I can't/don't keep track of the different digits and numbers for the Nikon dslrs.

But this post is a bit about both food and photography, as it's mainly a post about foods we've indulged in over the last week or so... food makes such good photography subjects - they always look good!

▲ the deconstructed salmon yee sang at Sun Yau Tak Ding, TTDI

▲ marble cheesecake we had for Larry's birthday at Secret Recipe

▲ have u seen a more perfect slice of roast pork? roast pork on mustard 

sauce at Grand Imperial, Bangsar Shopping Complex

▲ two little dumplings sitting in a basket.... ho hum ho hum..... 

xiao loong bao at Grand Imperial, Bangsar Shopping Complex 

(not that good - bit dry, not much soup inside the dumpling)

▲ smoked duck breast salad at Dish, Dua Annexe

▲ Foie gras at Dish, Dua Annexe

▲ apple fritters with vanilla ice cream, Dish @ Dua Annexe

▲ molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and some strawberry compote, 

Dish @ Dua Annexe

▲ complimentary passionfruit marshmallow and chocolate truffle, 

Dish @ Dua Annexe

oh ya, like any other photographer, I don't like it when people use my photos :P. So no stealing and all credits please. :)

Heatwave

▲ it's so hot, mommy! where's the air cond? 

Our air cond compressor has been out of action for the last week and a bit!! :( our air cond man has diagnosed it as being a faulty compressor, and since it's still under warranty, we have to wait for the technician from Panaasonic to come inspect the damn thing.

Coincidentally, this is also the first time am experiencing the full blown CNY weather in KL! aargh... it is hot hot hot hot!!!!!! husband and I managed a few nites sleeping without the air cond in our room. But i gave up after sweating through my pyjamas one night. So we are now camped out in the other room which has a working air cond unit! *relief*

Picture above of the pooch was when she suddenly rolled over onto the back as if she was too hot lying in the room without the a/cond. After that i opened the door and she beckoned me towards the room with the air cond - she knows it from having slept in it the last few nites. She walked right into the room, had her drink of water and then headed under the bed.... :)

▲ think it'll be cooler under the bed... 

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Just realised that I hadn't been sitting still whiling away the hours of the day of CNY for a long time. My family and I have been holidaying during CNY for the last many years. Anyways, here are some photos to mark the festivities so far:

▲ roast pig for CNY Reunion Dinner at Pik Wah Lau at MABA

▲ cutest ang pow packets from Bangsar Village, my favourite this year

Oh ya, today, Valentines' Day, also marks the day that husband and I got together a whole decade ago. There were no flowers, no fancy dinner, no other fancy presents.... and photo below depicts what our relationship have become: 

▲ hehe.... cyber love... what to do, the internet permeates our lives

Anyhoo, spent the day playing games - Wii, cards and mahjong :) ... conclusion: was a rather "productive" day today. :) Wouldn't mind if this kind of an 'income stream' lasted for a bit... :)

Happy New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai, San Lin Fai Lok.....

Lunch was....

Kari wan tan mee at Old Town Kopitiam

Did you all know that Old Town Kopitiam started serving up wan tan noodles? they come in various combinations, there's the normal usual dried stuff, but I go weak in the knees for good dry kari wan tan noodles.... so had this for lunch for the 2nd day in a row now.. :) yumm *slurp*

From left to right, you can see loitering above the egg noodles: deep fried wan tan (translation: dumplings), halal char siew (translation: kosher roast pork @ chicken), taufoo pok (translation: fried bean curd puffs) all sitting on yummy kari (translation: curry - ok ok, so i use my kari and curry interchangeably) sauce.

▲ slurped all the sauce up... yummy

  

▲ the egg noodles banner at old town                   ▲ that's how my father's shirt looked after

New Colors

Yea! Just got new colors from Color Culture, Bangsar Village II :). Went with sis with the intention to buy 1 bottle of new colour. Mom came along and we ended choosing 2 colours, until the sales girl said, if you buy 3 bottles, you get 1 free! So those are the 4 colours you see in the photo - from right to left: Kinky in Helsinki, Meet & Jingle, Royal Flush Blush and can't remember the name of last bottle, since it wasn't printed on a sticker stuck to the bottom. 

The middle 2 bottles were the first 2 colours we agreed on first. And then, we ended up with the other 2 bottles on the sides. My mom is now wearing Meet & Jingle on her feet and my sis just got Royal Flush Blush on her fingers. I've got the last color on the left - all very pretty colours! :) 

In case you all didn't know, buying colors from Color Culture is great because you get to test the colours out on your nails! Love it! That's one the hardest thing about buying nail polish colours, just like lipstick, because you never really know how they actually look like when you wear it, or whether or not you would like it on you. And the girls at Color Culture were very accomodating, didn't show any attitude about us trying so many colours. :) 

So, the 4 bottles ended up costing us a total of RM177 and with the 15% cashback with the Maybank AMEX credit card, it worked out to be RM37.60/bottle, compared to the normal retail price of RM59/bottle. For the price of 3 manicures, we got 4 bottles that we can keep reusing :). Am starting to get the hang of DIY manis/pedis too :). 

So now my collection of OPI stuff are as follows: 

▲  6 bottles (normal sized) and 3 small sized bottles in the Teeny Bikinis

 collection that I bought earlier. the blue in the front is sister's colour. 

Will be redoing the mani for a few of my finger nails before the CNY this weekend :). That way, I get to keep my mani on for quite a long time. 

Renovation Don'ts Part 2

 

 

You know what those are in the photos? Yupps - light and fan switches. Nice ones too - canggih clipsal branded ones. The switches light up when the switch is off, so that you can find your light switch in the dark. But then not all of them light up when off, some light up when the switch is on - err.. am not sure why.

Anyhow...  so why is it appearing in this post about a renovation don't, these being quality branded switches and all?

Try figuring out which switch is for which light or fan - it's a renovation don't because you'd probably be standing there pressing each switch on and off to get to the one that you want. Someone (not me) commented that this is a super lazy way of the architect to organise all the wiring to switches. Having heard that, I'd have to say I agree. To the architect's defense, he was being neat? bahH! I think practicality should take preference over neatness of running the electrical wires. It's actually quite annoying and typically I just end up switching ALL of them on and off. Plus, laying them out like that, leaves gaps in between the switches that could not physically be possible for it to be properly finished with plastering. This is definitely a renovation don't.

Dong Dong Chiang!!!

Snake (1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001)

Positives: Intuitive, wise, perceptive and compassionate. Snakes prefer the finer things in life.

Negatives: Lazy and extravagant. These people may have a problem of depending on others.

Chinese Astrology Horoscope for the Snake in 2010: 
Snakes may not find 2010, the year of the Tiger, especially easy. The quick and often hectic pace may be unsettling for many Snakes. The best advice is to avoid resisting change at all costs, as the more Snakes resist, the harder their struggles will be! Snakes are usually more comfortable in a Yin year and 2010 is a Yang one. However, Snakes have the ability to control or master Metal, so although the overall forecast is an uncomfortable year, it does not bring challenges that Snakes cannot handle masterfully.

I got the above from here. It's not great, but hopefully it'll just be a better year than the last. So let's wait and see. Feel like getting loads and loads of 'dong dong chiang' decor for the house - a trip to Petaling Street beckons. This year the first day of Chinese New Year also falls on the same day as Valentine's Day. So there goes my plans for something special to mark the 10 years the husband and I would have been together (not married, just since we started dating till now). 10 years = 1 decade = wah, damn long time!

Anyways, my logo for the coming festivities:

Renovation Don'ts Part 1.1

On the same point about heights of kitchen benchtops that I had posted about here ..... just driving home the point:

▲ she climbed on a stool after her arms got tired from having 

to mix batter for cookies in a bowl on the super high benchtop

and didn't even notice that the other ppl in the backgroun

were also tiptoeing!

New renovation don't coming up soon!

Must Love Dogs

You know that romantic comedy starring John Cusack and Diane Lane?  The tagline "must love dogs" was actually included in a personal dating ad that the sister to Diane Lane's character had advertised for her in the movie.

The statement has been popping up and again in my head, well, because there are about 5 dogs currently in my life! hahaha... note: i said "my life", not "my house"because the 5 doggies are, thankfully, spread out between my house and my parents' house. Growing up, I always loved dogs, but parents never got us one when we were kids. I remember one that strayed to our house once but we didn't get to keep that doggie. So in the last 10 years of my life, have gone from zero dogs to having many many doggies in my life!

Just felt like doing a post to introduce all them 5:

Bubbles Lim

Breed: Maltese
Age: 10 years this year
Owner: She's my li'l precious
Nickname: Poochi, Old Lady, Babuji
About her: Loves to eat, will beg for food, opinionated, territorial, a little chilli padi who will pick a fight with dogs of any size but is still scared of the thunder and fireworks. Doesn't like football games on tv because the husband will usually go, "AIYO! AIYO!"- same goes for action movies.

Logan Loh

Breed: Golden retriever

Age: 1 year this year

Owner: Father-in-law's

About him: The sweetest dog who loves being patted by anyone and everyone. FIL's dog who basically lives with us in our house. During walks, he will come nudge your hand for a pat on his head while walking! Also loves being combed - will lie down at your feet as soon as you have the comb in your hand. He looks a bit moody in this photo though but maybe he's bored most of the time having to entertain himself.

Gracie Lim

Breed: Golden retriever

Age: 2 years this year

Owner: Brother + sister-in-law

About her: Very well interacted and smart dog although always needs your attention all the time. Always whines, for some reason, especially if she's been left alone in the house for a while. Between Logan and Gracie - she is the more dominant one. Otherwise, she's a great dog for my dad, because she will keep coming back for more no matter how much he wrestles her, pushes her away, kacau's her - unlike Bubbles.

Buddy Lim

Breed: Maltese mix poodle (we think - he was suppose to be a maltese puppy!)

Age: 9 years this year

Owner: My parents (although he's more like my parents' maid's dog)

About him: Poor fella was sick from the time he was brought back home and now has early onset of cataract in his eyes (he's pretty blind). But the sweet fella still finds his way around the house and will come for a scratch at his chest when I'm in the house :). Spends most of the day sleeping and plays hide-n-seek with the maid.

Cookie

Breed: Terrier mix

Age: should be 1 year this year

Owner: not sure (maid brought her home from her friend who didn't want her anymore)

About her: read all her background here, here and here. She's gotten much better with us, the people folk. Will come greet and go into a playful-please-scratch-me pose now. She's a cutie and quite smart too although she's a bit rogue-ish! She needs a bit of training cause she's a little rough around the edges and is on a biting/chewing spree. But can't blame her - she's got no toys to keep her entertained! She doubles as a good pretty good guard dog too - have seen her bark really loudly at strangers who pass by the house.