It's that time of the year again..

Not sure if it has become a habit or I'm just being plain lazy, but I always manage to find my mojo to update my blog during the festive season. :P

Anyway, if you're reading and this not realizing that there's merely a few more days till the new year.. well, let's do a virtual high five because I too could not really accept that year 2014 is coming to an end so soon. 

I still remember the last time I spend Christmas was in Perth together with my family and housemates which was simply splendid! Mom did most of the cooking and we had a simple celebration but I remember we were all so happy back then :)

This year though, was different. Very different in fact. It's my first time spending Christmas without the company of my family and close friends back home and I actually felt a little lost. :( 

Nonetheless, I shall not be a buzz kill and enjoy the public holiday anyway because its rare to find myself at home chilling on a weekday :P

This Christmas, I decided to do a bit of cooking and fill the house a little bit of X'mas spirit! So there's my tiny looking tree I bought from Typo with pretty fairy lights sitting on the side table in my living room. I remember when I was little, Mom would take out the giant Christmas tree which was quite heavy from what I recall of.. and we would decorate the tree together with ornaments and lights that actually sings Christmas songs :D Ahh, the good times!

Me and my brothers were suckers back when we were little, believing that Santa Claus would climb through our window (because there's no chimney) and eat up the Chipsmore left for him and deliver our Christmas gifts in our giant X'mas socks. Yes, Mom got us good back then. She even played the Tooth Fairy which will be another story to tell next time. xD 

Anyway, my aunt from the UK brought a lot of Christmas treats for us to celebrate together with my family initially but we had a change in plans. :( 

One of my favourite was the Christmas Chocolate Calender. Basically, you need to open up each day from the first day of December and count the days till X'mas with every chocolate! Really cute but I didn't manage to open them up on time everyday though because I had it stuck in the fridge or else the chocolates will melt from our hot weather. D:

There were a lot of cute Christmas treats that we both possibly can't finish so I'm thinking of leaving them untouched till the fam-bam comes to visit in January! :) But I did took a few out to nibble this morning while exchanging gifts with the boyfriend!

Decided to skip Christmas roast because it is just not possible for the two of us to eat a whole turkey so I made roast pork chops with aglio oglio pasta on the side andddd not forgetting homemade pumpkin soup, recipe shared from my cousin Jeff! :)

This pretty much sums up my Christmas this year. :) Simple but pretty much covers all the elements in this season of giving. I was a little disappointed at first because I missed out celebrating with my family and friends but I'm still glad we get to spend Christmas for the first time in four years together. :)

 Once again, 

Merry Christmas everyone! <3

Dusty old blog

I feel ashamed for even updating because my last post was months.. months ago.

So here's a quick update and a number of excuses why I went mia for so long :P

1. My laptop died on me (finally)

So after 4-5 years for always being there with me, day and night, rain or shine, assignment or just watching dramas, my trusty old laptop had finally given hope on me. I remember the last time I was using my laptop was when I was catching up with series of Once Upon A Time through streaming on the internet. It was job hunting season and my laptop decided to rest in peace just when I was attempting to print copies of my resume for upcoming job interviews. Two words: Perfect Timing.

2. I moved to a new home

After seeking for a number of spaces to stay, we have finally decided on a nice place and moving in is being a pain when you can't fit everything in a little car and making trips back and forth can be a pain in the ass when you're working full time and to top it off, our old place is known and I mean it, known as one of the heaviest traffic jams around KL. Greaaat.

3. Lack of internet

Despite having to use the internet at work, I don't like doing personal stuff during office hours. And it took quite a while to get our internet installed because neither of us were available at home during the day on a weekday for installation so that explains the delay. Thank god we finally have internet now :D

4. New Job

I don't really see why is this an excuse but I'll include it anyway. So yea, it's not so new anymore as I'm entering my third month on this job now :P

5. Family

Just when I was about to settle down after moving in, my family paid a visit which I was pretty stoked about because its been a while since I've seen them and I would love to spend more time with them.

I guess this 5 reasons (excuses) of not updating is quite acceptable but I haven't really state my real excuse though, so here's

6. Lazy

Because watching crap tv and taking naps takes the least effort teehee!

Alright, enough excuses! Will do a proper update soon, after I start picking up my life and make it a little less boring :P

Mid-Autumn Festival 2014 x Homemade Snowskin Mooncakes

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 

I was always a fan of mooncakes but never like how expensive they are sold in shops. 

Went online and search for recipes for try making my own version of snowskin mooncakes. 

Apparently the steps are really simple and it was like playing with Playdough.

Since I was back home, I dragged Mom to get the ingredients and started making them!

Guide to make Snowskin Mooncakes for Dummies: 

You can get everything from the ingredients store and the one I went even had the pastes ready made so it saves us time and we can easily skip that part *Cheatinggg

1. The Ingredients

Glutinous Rice Flour (Gao Fen)

Icing Sugar

Shortening

Water

Food Colouring

Toothpicks

Mooncake Mould

and lots of patience!

2. The Mixture

Depending how many flavors you will be making and the size my measurements below were enough to make 10 small and 5 large mooncakes:


200g Glutinous rice flour
200g Icing sugar
100g Shortening

Mix all three and whisk them thoroughly.

Prepare approximately 230ml of water and if you like,

add food coloring to have pretty pastel mooncakes!

*Tip: Food coloring can be strong, to achieve the pastel-like, use a toothpick and dip the coloring into the water to avoid the strong texture!

3. The Dough:

 Pour in the water into the mixture while whisking until you achieve a lightweight dough. This is where the fun comes in!

As for the ready-made paste, just roll them into little balls depending on the size of how you like your mooncakes to be, the filling should be 2 times smaller than your dough. 

For the dough,

roll and flatten them, add the filling into the center of the dough and wrap them into a bigger ball.

Avoid creases around the ball as it will result in cracks.

4. Almost there!

Prepare a plate of glutinous rice flour and roll the dough around it till its fluffy. 

Get your mooncake mould ready and place the balls into it!

Fill the dough into the mould and make sure it's pressed hard to achieve the mooncake shape! 

5. Voila! 

Serve them chilled and take a photo with fake flowers for your accomplishment :P

I hope this lousy guide will set you on your quest to make yummy mooncakes as mine turned out.. fine. 

Except the part where I missed out the fillings on one (or a few) of the mooncakes and serve them to my ex-colleaguessss 

(Hahaha so maybe baking isnt my forte, im workin on it :P)

***

One thing I like about special occasions are Chinese celebrations. 

For some reason, there's always a thing to celebrate in the Chinese calender and dinner gatherings are always a must! :)

I had my dinner gathering earlier this year with a bunch of awesome ex-colleagues. 

Thumbs up for Carina for preparing everything and her Bf, Leon for letting us crash his place :)

#Carinaknowsbest

Flashback to a year ago and I had steamboat for dinner too with my homies back in Perth. 

It was great to see everyone again! :)

After dinner, we head down to lit up our lanterns!

There weren't any sticks provided on the lanterns so we had to go for an alternative by picking twigs/sticks to instead

which kinda explains why Eric has a big ass stick that could hold 3 lanterns. lol 

 Hope everyone had a good one!

Long ass post finally done,

Bai ! 

20 Facts about Me :)

Since everyone is randomly giving out facts bout themselves, 

I thought maybe I should join in the fun too!

(legit excuse to update my blog :P)

I actually did a Dayre version a few months back on '50 Shades of Me' but I thought adding another 20 on top of the last 50 wouldnt be problem right? 

Besides, all I need to do is talk about myself :B

So here goesss:

1. I am very indecisive.

I tend to over-think stuffs and seek for advice from people before actually deciding. I guess it's probably because I'm too caught up with the consequences. :\

2. I.love.desserts. 

Be it ice-creams, cakes, chocolates? Anything sweet will definitely make my day. *shakes head

3. I enjoy reading.

 If I find an interesting read, I would try my best to finish it regardless of doing anything else. Everything can wait! Let me get to the ending first! 

(This actually implies to watching series/dramas too)

4. I guess I'm stuck in between an introvert and extrovert. 

I can be shy at times but there are times I can be overly friendly too! I guess it depends on situations :\

5. I am very self-conscious.

 In terms of weight and height. :( But to be honest, I havent really made an effort on fixing it D:

6. I hate durians! 

Bleughhh. I used to eat them but grown to hate the taste/smell and not to mention the aftermath of eating durians. So yea, no durians for me thanks!

7. I'm a leftie! 

Oh, and I also have ridiculously neat handwriting which everyone keeps telling me. :P *showoff

8. I would go for Asian cuisine any day.

 Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese over bread and butter okay?

9. I love sunglasses! 

Love to try out different styles and I feel they make me cool like that. Hehee. 

Also it helps me cover my tiny squinty eyes! .__. 

10. My soft spot is probably my heart. :\

 Like I said I tend to over-think which is why there are times I regret on my past actions and feel guilty for the whole day. 

11. I would love to learn more languages.

 Currently trying to pick up on Cantonese by watching TVB dramas and listening to my friends talk! :D

12. I hate awkwardness.

I try my best to avoid it but sometimes its hard so I choose the quickest exit before things gets worst! :\

13. I have yet to figure out what kind of talent I possessed.

I suck at Maths, Art can be a bit boring for me and I dont think I can channel myself into Music. So yea, we shall seee. 

14. I grind my teeth when I sleep.

I grind soo hardd to a point where its so loud and it makes screeching sounds without even realizing how have I actually done it.  

15. I haven't been living with my family for almost 6 years. 

I missed it every time I come home or when they're here to visit :(

16. I LOVE TO TRAVEL! 

I have a bucket list of places I'd like to visit but I know it's an expensive hobby. :\ *save money firsttt

17. I tend to scrunch my forehead a lot when I'm carefully listening to people talk.

 It makes me look like I'm annoyed or something but actually I'm just trying to stay focus okay? :P

18. I do not enjoy exercising but I'm slowly trying to like it. :\ 

Maybe if I do it everyday, I might get used to it? Hmm. 

19. I have started a keen interest in organizing and designing interior homes.

 Love going to Ikea for no particular reason but to always have this "I know where I can put this in my future home"excuse at the back of my mind. 

20. I get easily attracted to all things colorful! 

From flowers to food and even clothes. When I find them nice, I'll take a photo of it and look back at them again another day. 

Phewww!

 20 facts and that's a wrap! I feel like they are all pretty elaborated and reading them again gives a better picture of how well I understand myself. 

No wonder everyone's doing it, it's kinda fun hey?

Alrighttt, enough vanity for today!

Shall update once I have a topic to blog about soon!

x

S.wine: Of pork and red wine

Hello!

Just dropping by to do a quick update since I've been procrastinating lately

Truth is, I was busy reading and before I carry on with my next read, 

I'll blog first :P

Last Tuesday marks a special day for the both of us

as it was our 4th year together 

We've been pacing up and down with our own things in life

and finally made an effort to go out and have a nice dinner for a change

besides, it an annually thing so maybe it's okay to splurge a bit :P

To be honest, 

we had trouble choosing places to eat,

and we didnt want to go somewhere that is overprice and wasnt worth eating

So I did some research and thought, hey, maybe we could try here instead:

Located in the corner of Ben's Independent Grocer right inside Solaris Dutamas,

some people may even call it a hidden gem

The restaurant was literally next to the winery section

so its quite obvious to say it is 

Non-halal.

On a Tuesday night,

I honestly did not expect the place to be so crowded

so we casually went there without making any reservation

It was quite crowded but it didn't took us that long to get a table

while waiting we went browsing for cheap and quality wine

to go with what we're having for dinner

PORK of course :P

Definitely not a wine expert but judging from the price RM35-ish and where its from and the year,

it tasted quite nice la hehe

*So here's a tip I can share with you:

You can buy a bottle of wine from the Grocer and bring it in the restaurant,

the waiter will be more than happy to provide wine glasses for you

(Its cheaper and you have a variety of choices than ordering straight from the menu)

Ordered what we wanted and surprisingly not long after,

our food came !

Table for 2 was quite small for us so it was a little difficult to fit everything in 

First off was the very famous,

Warm Pork Confit, Watermelon and Lychee Salad

Do note that it contains nuts

This dish is quite unique with the combination of ingredients

I'm not a fan of weird combinations but this doesnt taste weird at all, 

it has mint leaves in it which sort of give a refreshing, sweet and sour taste to finish off

Anddd, they are not being stingy when it comes with the pork confit ;) 

We each had a dish of our own and we shared the salad

So I decided to go with what I would always go with:

The Traditional Spaghetti Carbonara

With bits of pork strips and cheese

and to top of with a raw egg topping,

it was personally too heavy and creamy for my liking

But if you love creamy pasta, this might probably be something you might want to try

Ming on the other hand had the

Pan Roasted Pork Chop with Sauerkraut

Basically pork chop with mash in seeded mustard and cream sauce

I was actually eyeing on this but I gave him and go for the boring old pasta,

But he thinks the portion is a tad small so

we ended up exchange dishes and I had the pork chop instead :P

Pork was slightly dry but I guess this is where the sauce comes in

and it also went well with the Shiraz :D 

There were actually a lot more from the menu that I was quite eager to try

but we were both utterly full

and there wasn't even any room for desserts left D:

 

 Definitely a porky experience I must say

even the interior did not fail

to embrace it haha xD

Overall we both enjoyed our share of pork and wine

and it was a rather simple way to celebrate our day together

just the way we like it! :)

To many more years to come

For more,

S.Wine Cafe 

Level UG1, Publika

1 Jalan Dutamas 1

Solaris Dutamas 

Kuala Lumpur

50480

Neon Run 2013

Hi!

Trying to keep with the habit of blogging once a week 

and I notice I did not blog last week :P

Thought for a bit to blog and then decided

to browse around my drive to look for topics to blog about

Finally found a folder that draw my attention

Realize I should have blogged about it but totally forgotten :P

So yea, another overdue post

from one of my days in Perth

***

If you know me well, 

 I am very much known as a common couch potato

I dislike getting all sweat and sore 

it's just not my thaanng.

But I remembered looking at pictures of people

that went to the Color Run 

as thought,

"Hey, this run thing actually looks fun"

Gather my guts and asked along my homies and Bryan

if they were interested with the upcoming

Neon Run 

I remember joining the run wasn't cheap,

we each had to fork out around AUD$40? just to participate in that 5km run

Yes, I kept questioning myself if I was crazy to spend that much money just to run

which is something I didnt like at the first place

But after the run,

I TOTALLY CHANGED MY MIND ON EVERYTHING

So after purchasing the tickets online,

we parked in City and took the train over to the location

it was located at Showgrounds where they used to hold the Perth Royal Festival

And obviously,

errbody should know that the theme was 

NEON!

We were a little underdress to be honest because

they were people applying glow in the dark makeup,
dressed in neon tutu skirts

while on the way in the train

But check out our cool Hipster shades!

I think we pulled it off nicely 

*pats shoulder

So basically upon arrival, 

we had to collect our teeshirts, a wristband which lights up!

and our numbers 

Team #orangkampung

The atmosphere was crazy, 

everyone was all in bright neon colors 

and they blasted loud music

which kinda seem like a rave to me 

Also, forgot to mention

when we purchased our tickets,

we get to choose to be either a

 Runner,Jogger or a Walker

Guess what we chose?

We damn kiasu la, dont wanna go for runner cuz we were afraid we couldnt catch up

So we end up being the

Walker

Participants will start the run in groups,

so while waiting we took lots of photos

while getting ourselves 'glowed' up

Made full use of the glowsticks,

by making them into chokers, bangles,

heck we even poked them in our hair ! 

Ys and Vivien, 

two ladies whom I live with on the same floor for a year

And Dafu, who lives in the room downstairs! :D

This is the crowd if you can see it right,

it was actually massive

all prepared to conquer this run!

At the starting point, 

where they blast loud music and we had our moment to start the run

Thank god the run was at night,

so we don't have to worry about the heat!

 Readyyyy?

Lets goo!

See those giant half moons in different color?

Those are the music zones that we had to go through

to complete the 5km run

Oh yea, we met some interesting participants along our way,

Now this is what I call 

'semangat'

 Back to the zones,

each zone represents different genre of music

So there was like a rock zone,

so once you enter you will hear rock songs played

while you carry on with your

run/jog/walk

 This us at the Disco Zone? 

If not mistaken, cuz I remember we had like a disco ball effect 

when we reach haha

Bumped into someone who decided to come in a bear suit wtf

ahahaha

Along the way, we pass through pitstops 

where there were refreshments in little cups too

So 5km went by like a breeze!

 And we finally made it to the Finish Line!!!

*throws confetti

We made ittt!!

The run was not all 

they had an after party for the runners,

There was literally a stage,

with performance,

invited DJs and dancers

so participants could enjoy the night after a good run

Our excited faces because we finish the 5km run

It was like a mini concert,

and everyone was like dancing and singing along

in sportswear some more hahaha

 

Even took photos with strangers,

which I believe these are not the only pictures lol

Overall, it was a good night

spend it by doing something I would probably avoid

in a fun and interesting way!

Okay, 

so I can now mark off

going for a marathon in my bucketlist

(though I didnt actually include it in my bucketlist, but yea :P)

Till my next update!

xx