My Indulgence Experience

if it's not told by mum, i would not have know that the little white bungalow located next to Ipoh Specialist Hospital is actually a restaurant. i've passed by that place countless time, i saw the house but incredibly, never the name of the place...until we went there last night, only then i realised the name at the entrance: Indulgence, with a small caption beneath: restaurant & living.

i was like, ooooooo...so "this" is the place!!! very very excited because when mum mentioned this place few days ago, i went to google for this indulgence and turn out, it's a fine dining restaurant and boutique hotel. my typical perception on fine dining then were :

exquisite, luxurious, soft music, cosy seats, bottles of wine, small food portion served on larggggeee plate, raw fresh oysters, lobsters, foie gras, truffles and...$$$ ! true or not?

anyway, this restaurant really befits the name. nice ambience, be it for families or couples, accompanied by lounge music and nicely decorated. yes, to me and sis but no for mum, dad, and uncle. they were saying that the soft yellow light makes it hard for them to read the menu. lol!

actually, we didn't know what we should order. maybe fine dining's menus are always full of text and pictureless. i dunno. so, some terms are unfamiliar and we have no idea what's the signature cuisine in the house. what we should taste..than, the waitress came and she gave us a few suggestions. (phew! or we would be sitting there, still unable to decide while other customers coming in later than us begin cutting and sipping..haha..utter nonsense) so, mom ordered pasta and lemon freeze, dad's taking rib eye beef and magnolia ugly, uncle's having lamb rib and pineapple mint, sis's puffed chook(i think it's smoked pumpkin-stuffed-chicken) and ice honey lemon and i ordered salmon trout and passion mango. nobody order wine though.

the dishes arrived, yes, as expected, the plates are big but surprisingly, the portion served is quite large. but dad and uncle are big eaters so, it's not enough for them. (later of the day, both gulped down a bowl of curry mee, dry curry mee and satay...)

although what we ordered yesterday can be found in any western food restaurant[at cheaper price too!] but there's a big difference on how the beef, the salmon and the accompaniments are laid on the plates.

in "normal" eateries:
accompaniments/side dishes=slices of tomatoes, mashed potatoes, french fries, 1 or 2 pieces of lettuce, coselaw(neh, the type i always eat in kfc wan), jacket potatoes
main actor(s): overcooked(sometimes) lamb, beef, chicken, overfried(sometimes) fillet
gravy: mushroom, black pepper, mint, barbeque?
lay out: main actor in the middle, accompaniments beside. artistic arrangement :3/8

in "fine" places:
side=purple lettuce, small sized potatoes(dunno it's baby potatoes, ruby red, gourmet potatoes or what but it's the sized of cherry tomatoes), capsicums(i think might be one of the species), avocado balls, carrots strips, brocolli, corn, jacket potatoes..etc
main actor(s)=nicely cooked and grilled. i mean it's more standard and qc-ed and consistent...
gravy: avocado gravy, those cremes and english sauce...olive oil with herbs...etc..etc..
layout=nicely decorated, nice colours, beautiful and artistically arranged...

too bad i didn't bring along the camera to snap pictures. my cellphone's camera is not good enough to take pictures in dimly lit environment even though i've switch to night mode and turn on the flash light. the output is either to bright or to dark. sad...sad...

5 of us ate rm334.40 including service charge and tax. once back in the car, sis read out the bill. mom was saying the other day that i always order the most expensive food. yeah...it's true. my salmon trout is rm62.00. mom was laughing, "see, i am correct leh?! haha". then, sis announced the most expensive drink's rm18...passion manggoooo...*claps* i won again! haha.

so, my "new" perception of fine dining? pretty much the same although we didn't order the oysters, the lobsters, the chardonnay, the foie gras, and the truffles...

well, some said that this indulgence has been over-rated, but some said it's great. hm..i think it's ok lar...it satisfies my taste buds. dad, who hates western food and sushi, is not a fan. mum doesn't really like outside food but she wanna try. i, on the other hand, enjoy the experience.

this dinner really spark my interest to go savouring other luxury food. i think i am growing to like expensive food. geezzzz...too bad, my economy is limiting me, my budget is constraint because i want so many stuff-books, camera, shoes and watch. that makes me *the poor girl who likes expensive food*

sighhhhhing off~

Do i noe u?

today, i finally learn the consequences of :
1) saving contact number in my cellphone with only one random alphabet. e.g, abc's no. is saved as A's. bcd's no as B's.
2) "deserting" my cellphone too often.

my cellphone is always left alone on my bed. i always go out for lunch, dinner and outings with family without my cellphone, unless i want to play games and do some random shoots with the camera.

so, when i checked my cell, i've got 11 missed calls, from the same person whom i've saved as A.
11? wow, who's looking for me so desperately? (makes me feel so important...haha)

the problem is, who's A???

i called back but nobody answered. so, i just sent a message to this A, pretending i still remember who's A.

me : yes? was not around just now. sori.
*new message came in. it's an unsaved number*
dunno-who: may i noe who r u?
*i thought :this might be the same A. if not, why sent such message?*
me: yee hieng. n u r? did u miss called me this afternoon?

then...

dunno-who: do i noe u?

i was like, "BOMB!" can't describe how i felt then...like wei leng always say, " zha dou!"
it's not funny but i can't help laughing at the silly mis-erm--dunno what-you-call-that.

haiya...so much for being a narcissist

My calculus days

Found this picture of my calculus lecturer in my hp. Can't really remember his first name (oops! I always have trouble remembering names)but we usually call him Ibragimov. A kind and polite lecturer he is. Always make us laugh whenever he speaks his "fluent" bahasa malaysia. Oh, really mìss his funny expressi0n when he says, "kalau ada soalan, sila bertanya" and "jumpa lagi khamis ini". Aww. .he looks so cute and innocent! And, whenever i look at him, i am reminded of my grandpa, the pleasant smile and all that i so so so wanna hug him. One more interesting fact to share..he's d 0nly lecturer who's generous enough to give clues on the white board during quizzes and exams. There's one time where i've totally forgotten 'bout sandwich theorem and he gave us a hint! Really lucky. Haha. Well, proffesor, thanks ya! 


*actually i am trying to blög using my cellphone. For fun. Apparently, ìt's not that convenìent because sek550i's keypads are small.

Of ants and laptops

ants do me no harm. when i am in good mood, i spare their lives, letting them go even though they have been lurking around my favourite muffins, egg tarts and milo. when i am in semi good mood, i squash them softly but not deadly enough so that i can still see them scurry away zig-zag-ly. but i will squeeeeeeezzzeeeee them kow kow when they crawl out from my laptop.

red ants have been crawling out of my keyboard and speakers for quite some time. at first i thought, there must be crumbles of biscuits somewhere on the table near my laptop which attracted ants. so, everytime when i see ants crawling out, i'll clear and wipe my table but the problem still persists. and this stupid-ant-crawling-out-of-my-lappie problem annoys me alot especially when i am watching movie. imagine you watching a movie, a few ants crawl out of your speaker, two or three crawl out from your keyboard every 5 minutes and a few more ants crawling on your screen which makes you wonder why the heroine grows a mole all of a sudden and dissapear the next second.

then today, having nothing better to do, i google for "ants in laptops" and voila~i'm not the only one having this problem. ants have been found crawling out of the keyboards of compaqs, acers and macbooks! apparently, ants LOVE warm surroundings..geeze..anyway, some forums suggested having the laptop dismantled, clean the components and essemble the parts. some solutions are rather funny.

one guy suggested shaking the laptop for about 1 minute to stimulate earthquake for ants before placing the laptop on the floor and placing a cube of sugar near the ventilation hole to attract the ants. another suggested placing a cup of honey to bait those ants. sounds weird but it might work. who knows? another funny answer: bring your laptop to the zoo and throw it to the tenuk(ant eater) because tenuk eats ants..lol! in that case, i'd rather trade in my "infected" laptop and buy a new one, ngam boh? then, i read somewhere a solution that involves placing the laptop in an air-tight enclosure to deprive those ants of oxygen. yeah, everyone knows living things respirate with oxygen. that's logic.

another interesting post:
title :damn ants creep into my laptop
post: my laptop has encountered a dangerous situation....etc etc...
reply: I would have thought it was more dangerous for the ants

lol! hahaha! true! initially, i thougth the same thing too. those ants are not afraid of the heat wan meh? don't they worry if they got fried up, all shrivelled up in the heat?

these ants are surely high-end ants. they choose to live in my toshiba instead of their usual habitat. luxury taste.

hopefully my laptop won't explode while i am engrossed in movies and surfing. shoo! shoo! ants..quit gnawing at my speakers and wires..this is no hansel and gretel story, y'know? ah...and please dun breed in my laptop,ok?!





*3.21am already? wow! my sis's already asleep on her bed with the portable dvd player on. so much for the advise and complains that i waste lotsa electricity. boo~*

Come on...

have you ever been asked "what's your favourite school subject(s)?" during your primary school years? what was your answer then?

***

i noticed an interesting misconception today while helping to guide the first years' class today. the students are asked to form simple sentences for words such as "matapelajaran" and "cita-cita". for the word "matapelajaran", the teacher wanted the students to write about their favourite subjects. so, the students busied themselves by forming sentences except for a few naughty students who simply will not want to stick their buttocks on the stools.

then, one of the student wrote, "matapelajaran yang paling saya sukai ialah pendidikan seni dan pendidikan jasmani". a very straight and normal sentence. but the teacher commented, "hah?! you like arts and physical education? everyday don't need to study lar!!!". 12 years back, when i was in my 4th year of schooling, i was asked about my favourite subject and i answered Arts. the teacher then said, "that's what lazy person like to do".

my point here is, why do people often perceive children who like arts and physical education more than any other subjects as lazy bums? what's wrong with having interest in drawing and painting, and doing physical exercises? how exactly is laziness linked to interest in arts and p.e? this is called prejudice! most parents hope that their children will have more interest or better, talent in more popular subjects such as math and science. from the parents' perspective, their children will have better future if they do better in math and science. is that so? i still remember, when i was still a little girl, i love drawing. although mum and dad encouraged me a lot, that they even enrolled me in drawing class, they dislike the idea of me dreaming to become a fashion designer. all they said is, "there's little future in the fashion line".

parents and teachers really need to change their perception. they should. if arts and physical education is so unimportant, why are we taking arts and p.e from primary school up to secondary level, and why the fact that if we fail arts in form 1, we fail in the overall aspect? why not abolish this two subjects in school and insert more slots for the other "useful" subjects?
yeah...i think the answer would be, "to release stress, to nurture the creative skills in students...bla bla bla...".

i think that even though these children might be too young to determine their own interest and their own path, but i believe it is not in the adults' right either, to determine for the young ones, about what they are interested in. wrong ideas should not be created in order to avoid forming more clouds and mist.

i believe that it is to early for the adults to label or to judge them. people do change.
remember how we need to fill in the 3 choices of ambitions when we were in standard 1? most of us will fill in -teacher, doctor, policeman, nurse, lawyer, fire fighter, postman...all the common and basic occupations taught to us. then, we have no idea of other occupations such as coroner, broadcaster, radio dj, anesthetist, actuarist and other "canggih" occupations. how many year one students will write down anesthetist for their ambition? but, when these students grow up, they will open their eyes to a wider view. a lot will end up doing different stuff from what they wrote years ago. what i mean to say here is that, interests are similar to the "occupation scenarios".
interests might change over time too, right?

Instant post...as instant as instant noodles

my present lifestyle is very very normal. i still haven't discover any treasures, have not jump from an aeroplane or do hula loop skips on the roof top, still eating two plates of rice every meal, still yawn at the right time but sleeping at the wrong time (i started yawning at 10 pm but for internet's sake, i stay awake until 4 am), still blogging aimlessly etc etc etc ... the only abnormal thing is that i quarrel less with mom and dad. no bombs exploded so far. the landmines are safely marked.

because my everyday life is as normal as [butter and bread], i sometimes find myself imagining:
at this moment, when i am walking around leisurely, what are my friends doing?
when i am still sleeping, who discovers what, a new decision has been made, a new law has been constructed, an agreement has been signed ... and, i always get carried away. i dunno why.
a lot of things happen every minute.
when i am laughing here, someone in another part of the world might be crying.
when i am having supper, someone out there might be starving.
when something/someone wither away, a new life is delivered, a new bud grow, flowers bloom~
when i am watching tvb dramas, some wizards and witches in hogwarts might be concocting new potions, casting spells and hexes over some bogey trolls...frodo and his uncle bilbo are dancing somewhere in the meadows...uhh, if only fictions are real.

and right now, while i am typing these very words,....i wonder...how many cheese cakes had been eaten worldwide? (sorry...that's what coming out from my head now *sweat* ) eh, speaking of cheese cakes now, people do surveys on issues like, "how many guys will use condom during sex" and "what is the amount of waste produced by humans" but i never hear people surveying on "how much cheese cakes are consumed per year" or "the amount of profit generated by sales of the cheese cake industries per year in every countries". oh...but then, maybe these surveys exist but i am just too ignorant. anyway, i am not so keen in economics lar...



isshk...dunno what i can type in anymore. i wanted so much to end this post with an appriopriate ending but those stuff that i've typed above, it's hard for me to do a related end. at this point, i feel like deleting this post but then i've typed so many words. a bit waste lar. after all, i spent 15 minutes typing this post ! hnnggh, now, i don't feel like deleting "that" 15 minutes.

yeah...i am looking forward to swimming tomorrow. i miss swimming! and double happiness, dad promised to bring us out for steamboat tomorrow night. yipee! i am happy! no matter how many times i have steamboat, i'll never get tired of it. i am easily satisfied by steamboats....







what i am currently doing:
listening to rachmaninoff's piano concerto no.2

found a video at youtube.
a touching and beautiful piece, impressive opening
awesome conductor and pianist
i enjoy looking at conductor's expression while he waved his baton
love the virtouso pianist too...so allegro and vivace!

What makes my day

...breakfast!

my hands twitching to play with pots and pans again.

continuing the spiral episode, today, i tried spiral salad. i am no cooking pro so the output is just like what i've expected, ok, a wee bit better.

this time, i played around with mum's organic apple cider vinegar and olive oil.

mum and dad's precious morning routine drink. it's good for health but i don't like it, even when mixed with honey.


the magical olive oil can be used as salad dressing, and marinating ingredient and hair oil...

i have the tomato slightly toasted with olive oil before mixing them into the bowl of cooked spirals. then i added a light dash of olive oil and apple cider. shaked in some oreganos and mixed the whole lot.

the output:

my "cincai" spiral salad

why cincai? because it's cincai-ly prepared lar!

it looks empty...and it taste like i've poured wine into the bowl..

but still edible!

my own rating : partial failure...*sigh*



side dish...chocolate moist cake

yummy!

of course, yummy food like this is not prepared by me.

how i enjoy this cakes...

pour some coffee into the bowl, allowing the spongy texture to soak up the coffee.

eat!

the cake now taste half chocolaty and coffee

rich in flavour!




*tomorrow i think i wanna try omellete!*

Sudden poppin'

wow, i admire them, the doctors.

truly what i felt when i accompanied mum to the hospital for her eye check-up this morning.
them walking in their white coats, the stethoscopes hanging around their neck, the pens in their pockets, the torch lights and gloves...them(the housemanship doctors) walking in groups, performing morning drills...

i do not know why, all of a sudden, i have this awe towards doctors and pharmacist, especially today. i wonder if the reason lies on the fact that i will never be a doctor in this life, while deep in, i have a certain degree of yearning to become one.

since young, dad had been telling me and my siblings over and over again, that grandpa would be very happy if one of his grandchildren manage to become a doctor. he (grandpa) would be smiling in heaven. as if still fresh in my ears, i can hear him imitating grandpa's expression, "Ahh...there's a doctor among the Tan family." sometimes, i felt that dad was really hoping that one of his children will be able to fulfill this ambition. his children on the other hand, will laugh his ideas away and, when i grow up, i was very certain that my ambition is not to be a doctor because i always thought that that's my father's ambition, not mine.

now that his children is older, and with each one deviating far from the path of doctorhood, he never speak about the grandpa's-dream-comes-true talk, only that he will still tease us occasionally, whenever they went for medical check-up. "see? if you are studying medicine, papa and mama can consult you when we are having health problems!" *haha*

sometimes, i felt sorry to dad because up till now,his children have nothing to be bragged about while he listens to his friends and colleagues talking about their children's success and achievements. "wow, mrs. zz's son is going to London to study medicine", "mr's xx's son got the jpa scholarship", "mr. aa's daughter's pay per month is rm6000!", "mrs. kk's daughter is sent to oversea for work..." *sigh* it's parents' nature to compare their children with the others. but then, this is not entirely a bad thing if you convert it into positive motivation.

***

my best interest is in forensics but i am not a brilliant chemist. by chance, i was offered to study computer science majoring in software engineering, not really the type of field i am interested in. but, i decided to give it a try. a try, driven by the obstinate mind rather than passion. sometimes, i do get agitated by knowing some of the things and jobs i can do in the computer science stream, giving me a momentary motivation. i really must preserve this encouragement, etch them firmly in my head and put in more interest. "tak kenal, maka tak cinta" isn't it?

whatever the outcome might be, i would, one day, make my parents proud. well, hopefully^^

time for actionnnnnnnnnnn!

The Chef in Me~

::warning::
you are about to read a post containing [explicit] material.

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a girl who's zero at cooking (unless it's maggi) had just finished her nasty cooking in the kitchen...

dramatic, huh?

i can't cook, but i love to experiment with cooking ingredients and most importantly, i love to eat.
i've got the sudden itch to cook when i saw tricolor spiral pasta and cans of tomato paste in jusco yesterday. so, at last, dad bought the pasta and the tomato paste...and today, since i am "home alone" for the whole morning, i decided to create my own breakfast.

so, cycled back to grandma's house to pick some tomatoes, capsicum, garlics and brocolli.
(mom does her cooking over at grandma's. so, all the ingredients are at grandma's place whereas our place are stocked mostly with instant noodles, and some organic stuffs.)
then, i realised that i didn't bring the keys along. went back to my house and searched for the keys but to no avail. so, forget about the veggies.

then, i saw a can of campbell's chicken soup. *ding! dong!* i've got an idea!
i am going to cook my spirals with campbell's chicken soup!
the messiness starts here. again, my house doesn't have a "modern" can opener, the simply-twist-turn-can-opener, instead, we have here a very antique piece of tool. so, when life gives you lemons, make plenty of lemonade! alas~i spent 20 minutes operating the can. unbelievable.
the rest is normal...cook and stir, prepare the tomato paste and boiling the spirals.

and tadaaa...

my breakfast!

imitation of the twin sauce dish from Food&Tea restaurant.

i name this Chaotic Spirals..because it taste a bit like chaos.

lol, i actually have chicken creamed soup to go with pasta...

just to praise myself abit, the dish looks presentable and edible. not that bad yet, rite? rite?



if i cook this for my mum as her birthday treat, i think she will be touched..and she will tell me

"aiya, ah mei...i can't finish this lar..."

i think, i am going to try something new for breakfast tomorrow. i've got some [crazy] ideas coming up again. wee~

and i'll see which recipe can be used as mum's surprise breakfast.

hopefully, she won't say

"aiyoyo...ah mei...please dun ever ever cook pasta again..."

haha!

holiday schedule

my typical holiday schedule :

8.59 a.m[so precise...] : wake up to a sunny morning, stare at the time on my cell phone. What?! still early? uhh..sleep for '15' more minutes lar...

9.30 a.m : really awake now. brush teeth, breakfast cum surfing cum playing piano

11.30 a.m : surfing and piano

12.30 p.m : surfing and piano ...

1.30 p.m : shower

2.00 p.m : lunch

3.00 p.m : helping mum in the kitchen

4.00 p.m : movies and laptop

6.00 p.m : dinner

9.00 p.m : surfing again

3.00 a.m : put my brain and eyes to rest

sigh...my daily routine so "routined".

my "dream" schedule :

wake up, brush teeth, scrambled eggs sandwich-ing

activities: any of these *hehe*
take off to an island, go surfing, water skiing, yatching, parachuting, diving (and discover hidden treasure map or some treasures or some new aquatic species yet to be discovered by mankind, and get the species named after me...but then, the species must be cute. haha!)

taste new cuisines...challenge myself to eat things that i've never put into my mouth before. (fried insects...*shudders*)

then, if i have enough money and a decent camera, i would love to go on a solo travelling, exploring places new to me, exploring new landscapes, observe, experience and adapting to cultural shocks, etc.
of course, it won't be that easy. lotsa factors to be pondered. but, still feasible.


i would love my holidays to be a bit more adventurous..more surprises, like last minute vacation plans (the suddenly oh-let's-go-pack-bags-off-you-go vacation~lovely!) or a treat to 3 days 2 nights cruise...climb up the roof top, jump from one chimney to another the mary poppins style or...


...the mario style! ( i know it's seriously impossible unless, i am hancock?)

okok...that's not feasible of course. i'll fall off the clouds or the chimney. break my bones.

wait! wow! that's quite an "adventure" too, isn't it?

however, i dun wish that any of my bones break . "be careful of what you wish, for it may comes true"