Ooops! I did it again!

I know!! I just did it again. Shame on me =(
But there really isn't any intention to abandon this blog...
Though it did appear so.
A lot had happened over the course of 4 months.

The moving (yes, again but only moving house - from my parents in law's to our very own apartment!), the visit to Singapore for Chinese New Year and finally, the new job (hooray, I just got confirmed)!

And....this month marks exactly one year after hubby and I returned to Asia. I realise I hadn't posted much about Indonesia nor Jakarta. Most of my blogs to date are on my previous trips in Europe.

I promise I will write (or at least post some pictures :p) about my short Bandung trip in January.

For now, let me share with you a delicacy from Bali but fortunately, available in Jakarta!

Tadaaaa...Nasi Ulam Bali (Ulam Bali Rice).
Ingredients: sambal (chili paste), flavoured hard boiled egg, stir fried french beans, shredded chicken, fish flakes, fish and chicken pepes (steamed minced fish and chicken wrapped in banana leaves).

The pepes is probably the best I had eaten so far. Succulent, tender and very flavourful. Yum....
For those in Jakarta, you may place your orders directly with :
Nasi Ulam Bali
Sg. Oka Miladewi,
Cinere
Contact:+62 21 7540458

Giggly Halloween

How did your Halloween go?

Going round the neighbourhood doing "trick or treat"?

Scared anyone out of their wits?

Mine was nothing spectacular. But I discovered a very cool (and cute) application which is gaining popularity among mobile users. Yeah, it is the Mo Man Xiang Ji (魔漫相机) application, available in IPhone and Android based mobiles. However, you may not be able to open the saved image as the file extension was .bshn.

That was a spoiler, wasn't it?

Fret not. Here is the workaround. For Android users, download the ES File Explorer application, which basically manages and allows you to share files (of any kind) between Android and Windows. It serves as a cloud storage client that is compatible with Dropbox, Skydrive, Google Drive, etc. In short, it is cool.

You can use this application to view the saved .bshn file as Image or you may copy it to another folder and rename it with .jpg extension. Voila! You get your picture file that is readable by your phone or computer.

Ooops, another spoiler is that the application is in Chinese! Anyway, it isn't too difficult to play around with it.

I was giggling the whole night while placing my hubby's facial photo into the comical characters :p

And here is a rendition of my own facial photo, that screams "Happy Halloween!".......not in a horrifying way but well, in a cute way(?)

Getting Nostalgic, Getting Close To You

Up till yesterday, I didn't realise October had arrived silently.

Have I lost myself to time and space?
Never mind about that. 

It is fall already. And it is one of my favourite season of the year.

I love the harmonious combination of hues sprawled across the backyard, gardens and parks. It effortlessly drowns me in my own little world of happiness, delighted by the colourful landscape around me.

Taken in Frederiksberg Garden, Copenhagen, last autumn.

On a different occasion, this was taken in Botanical Garden in Copenhagen last autumn.

The air can get rather chilly but it is quickly forgotten and forgiven. Many will take the opportunity to have a family picnic, should the weather shows mercy on the hopeful ones. 

Dogs and children running freely in the parks, while the parents watching from afar - contented with the gift that Mother Nature has generously offered.

I could sit in the park for hours, listening to the gusts of wind passing me by, watching the leaves dancing rhythmically with the wind or like the contented parents, enjoying the heartful laughter of the playful children.

A loud honk from the street wakes me up from my beautiful autumn dream.

Yikes.

Well, perhaps another daydream for another day.
Right now, I am just glad that it is Thursday!

Time to unwind myself....
As I am getting close to weekend...

September Wedding Bells

I just got back from Singapore and Malaysia, after attending two wedding dinners in Malaysia. It was a good catch up with family and friends and boy, September is really an auspicious month to tie the knot! In just two weekends, there were so many wedding functions in the hotels and ballrooms.

Fresh flowers for the brides maid and wedding decoration.

It was fun to be part of the ji mui session(it is a Chinese tradition which is also adapted by the Chinese community in Malaysia, where the bridesmaids will arrange strings of games for the bridegroom and his best-men (a.k.a heng dai) when they pick up the bride at her house - some called it bridenap, which is a combination of the word bride and kidnap), though the preparation may require an amount of effort.

You could say, it is one of the main highlights in the Chinese wedding ceremony and the best part is, the bridesmaids can be mean (such as injecting wasabi paste into banana for the best-men to eat, requesting the best-men to pick up coins that are submerged into flour with mouth, etc) to the best-men without any guilt!:p

Nah, just kidding.

Anyway.....

May all the newly weds live happily ever after, as in fairy tales.

Cheers to Indonesia's 68th Independence, with a blue sky

It seems a number of South East Asia countries achieved independence in the month of August - my home country Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, with Singapore celebrating it 2 weeks ago. Indonesia, just the Saturday that had passed (17th August) and Malaysia, 31st August.

"What do you usually do during Independence Day? Do you go out and see the parade?", I asked hubby.

His answered with a flat, and a slightly embarrassed "No".

That pretty explains what I did on Saturday - chilling indoor.

However, I did catch glimpses of the parade and the event on TV. The day started with raising the red-white Indonesian flag (there was a group of people even flagging the national flag proudly underwater!), followed by many colourful and energetic activities.

During the late afternoon, the flag was then drawn down.

Cheers to a blue sky and a sniff of independence in the air, that still lasts after 68 years.

Laughter The Best Medicine

Laughter is good for the heart. So, here is a boost for the day ;)

Caller: Hello, can I speak to Annie Wan?

Operator: Yes, you can speak to me.

Caller: No, I want to speak to Annie Wan!

Operator: Yes I understand you want to speak to anyone. You can speak
to me. Who is this?

Caller: I'm Sam Wan. And I need to talk to Annie Wan! It's urgent.

Operator: I know you are someone and you want to talk to anyone! But
what's this urgent matter about?

Caller: Well... just tell my sister Annie Wan that our brother Noe Wan
was involved in an accident. Noe Wan got injured and now Noe Wan is
being sent to the hospital. Right now, Avery Wan is on his way to the
hospital.

Operator: Look, if no one was injured and no one was sent to the
hospital, then the accident isn't an urgent matter! You may find this
hilarious but I don't have time for this!

Caller: You are so rude! Who are you?

Operator: I'm Saw Ree.

Caller: Yes! You should be sorry. Now give me your name!!

Operator: That's what I said. I'm Saw Ree….

Sourced from: http://inspireurfriend.blogspot.com/2013/05/funniest-conversation-ever-lolzzz.html#sthash.JI0gcf9I.dpuf

The Unwelcome Visitor

It has been a good 3 months in Jakarta until you come to my doorstep! Arrgghh....

I hate the sight of you.

I hate the sight of you marching into my space freely.

I hate the fact you can come as you wish and totally unwelcome.

I hate that I could not do anything to refrain you from interrupting my peace and my space.

Brrr.......

I know you are upset that I had killed some of your comrades and washed away your previous trails......but it didn't stop you from annoying me yet again.


Sadly, I discovered there were ants roaming around in my room a few days ago. It bugged me so much that I have been thinking ways to get rid of them. I never kept any food in the room nor do I ate in the room. So, it puzzled me what warrant them to my room, uninvited and unwelcome!

Unless.....

There is a dead body some where behind the cracks of wall? *Shudders*

I tried following the trail of ants to find out where do they come from but at some point, I just couldn't track them anymore. I suppose they go into some cracks.

Perhaps will try mopping the floor tomorrow with some vinegar mixture. I read ants hate vinegar *sly smile*. I shall let you live for a day more since I am tired of cleaning this entire morning, thanks to you!

Bring it on, The Minions!

Are you one of the fanatic fans of the yellowish little statue, who drives out to the nearest (or which ever) Mc Donald's outlet just to claim the toy from the kids meal set?

Many of my friends did that and I just fail to understand why the sudden craze. Could it be that I haven't seen the movie yet or am I missing anything important here?

There were long queues in all Mc Donald's outlets you could possibly find and mind you, there were even fights which resulted in a broken door at the outlet for the sake of a toy -.-

.....Seriously? @_@

Wee!!!! We are so loveable  and popular these days. Let's pose for a photo shoot *peace sign* :p

Eh??? Human race fought over us?? Ga...that sounds scary. What now?

Rrrr...run!!!!!

Whoa!!!! I hate exercises.....Wwwwwait for me!

Should I quit?

This is a popular question when you find yourself in a cross road, whether to get away from your current job or not, for various reasons (eg: a terrible boss, a demotivating working environment, a low pay job, etc).

Here is a guide from BBC Capital

A new look for a new adventure

It took me a while to notice that the previous blog title and its image were a little distorted. So, I decided to fix it. But, I forgotten where I saved the image -.- It must have been with the old junky laptop. Oh well, probably it is time to give the blog a slightly new layout and a new look. Nothing luxurious, though ;)

I must admit I am a little outdated with the tools that blogger have to offer after not blogging for about 2 years. The first thing I noticed while uploading photos for my blog entries was that blogger no longer have the function to default the image alignment! I thought that was a useful feature >.<

Let's hope blogger will reinstate that.

Not deterred by the new discovery, I went on to check out what other features I had not come across previously. In general, blogger still tries to maintain its "easy-to-use" idea. As I do not plan to be super tech-y, I settled for a simple layout.

Tadaa.......here it is.

I am quite happy with it ^_^

Cooking Experiments

It is indeed true that people will learn to cook or "leech" on people who can cook if you find yourself living in place where eating out is utterly costly or what is worse, you could not even get the food you crave for despite you are willing to pay the ridiculous price.

While London has many eateries that served Malaysian or Singaporean food, there is close to none in Copenhagen. There is one restaurant by the name Nam Nam which is said to serve Malaysian/Singaporean/Indonesian food. We had tried the dishes there. Unfortunately, it lacked of authenticity (though some of my friends said otherwise) and the dishes were at cut-throat price.

Prior moving to Copenhagen, I could cook but I seldom did since mom was the Lady of the Kitchen :p
I never was a good cook but somehow I turned to be a "good" (thank you for the generous compliments to those who had bravely eaten my experimental dishes) cook after staying abroad alone for three and a half years. A special thank you is also extended to my dearest Tina, who I befriended in Copenhagen. She taught me how to cook and frequently invited me to join her for home-made, hearty meals. I miss those days!

My last cooking experiment in a foreign land was none other than "Nasi Lemak", the proud specialty of Malaysia. Well, I took some shortcuts as I didn't get some ingredients from the Asian store - I couldn't find "belacan" for the sambal and I was too lazy to fry the anchovies. Nonetheless, I was satisfied with the result. So were my guests ;)

Now, here I proudly present the evidence of my experiments!

Tauhu isi (stuffed beancurd) - The appetizer. Beancurd that is stuffed with your preferred choice of meat and/or vegetables. Trying to be on the healthy side, I stuffed the beancurd with cabbage and carrots. Yeah, I know. It didn't look that appetizing but oh my, it tasted good. One of the favourites for that day! :)

Nasi lemak à la petitelass - lemongrass chicken, spicy seafood, stir fried cabbage with carrots and finally served with hard-boiled egg and cucumber.

The bowl of red paste located in the middle of the table was the home-made sambal :)

Food Art?

I was going through my collection of photos taken but safely resting in my hard disk and see what I have got! Haha. The good old times. My colleague cheekily turned my little fruit into a comical character while I was away for a meeting!

Nah, the poor little thing still ended up in my tummy in the end ;p

My new toy...

Cute, isn't it?
What should I name it...?

去年的焰火。。。

今年的焰火会不会像去年那么的灿烂呢？。。。

2010 年的回忆

一年又过了。不知不觉十二月份就要结束了。
这一年是目前我最有成就感的那一年。
自己一个人到外国工作。
自己一个人生活。
学会了独立。
认识了很好的朋友。
做到了我以为我不能够完成的任务。
能够到欧洲旅行 （这是我最大的梦想）。
当然也有一些让我不快乐的事情。那些都让我慢慢的成熟。。。
希望2011年也会带给大家很好的回忆。

Intimidated by a dog?

My colleague was just teasing me for being afraid of dogs a couple of days ago. This morning, I had a funny encounter with a dog.

I was taking the usual route to work. From afar, I spotted a small black dog with its owner. I thought to myself that by the time I walked there, the dog would have been gone.

To my utter disappointment, the dog was still there when I was approaching it. In fact, it stood still and turned to look back...not sure at me or behind as its eyes were covered by black fur and the dark was still a little dark. I couldn't make out where it was looking.

Braving myself, I took a step forward, it also took a step forward. Frightened, I retreated. Looking at the dog and then on the pile of snow on my right, I was wondering should I walked up on the pile of thick snow to get away from the little thing. I tried taking a step forward again. It did exactly the same! I then looked at the owner and then the dog. I dared not move. The owner then told me to walk, assuring me that it would be all right. So, I walked slowly. Phew......glad that the dog was not following me.

Nah, the dog was not as cute.....Wish it was this cute! :)

On My Highway...

Some said life is like a highway. Probably, it's true. It's long. Curvy, perhaps. Sometimes, straight. But it makes you feel good speeding on it....

On My Highway, Jason Aldean

Second Winter @ Copenhagen 2010

It started to snow earlier than last year. It snowed the whole of last night. Upon walking out of my apartment, the ground was covered with snow. Beautiful....
While waiting for Tina, I managed to snap some photos around the neighbourhood.

We also took some photos as we walked to the office. Felt like we were travelling. Unfortunately, we were not. How nice if we were :p

Cute....the little statues were covered with snow.

A sinful weekend

So, it's back to my turn to bring dessert to the office. Some time ago, my colleagues attempted to inject some fun in the stressful working environment - we will have a little "game". Every Monday, 2 person need to bring dessert and others shall vote who the winner is after tasting them. The winner will then nominate the next 2 person to bring dessert the following week.

It's my turn tomorrow. At the same time, my colleague, Tina would also like to bring dessert for her team. A Tiramisu-lover, she wants to give the Italian dessert a try. We shopped for the ingredients on Saturday and on the very day itself, we experimented. The zabaliogne cream was not as thick as it should have been but it tasted superb.

Tina approved it. Proud ^_^
Today, we made the "real" one to bring to the office tomorrow. Of course, we spared some for ourselves. Hehehe. We managed to make 2 small bowls. Tina insisted to decorate them with strawberries. She was beaming and grinning from ear to ear while capturing the photo below. Cute...

Later in the night, Tina shared with me some cute pictures and I can't help falling in love with this cute little thing! Wish I could hold it in my arms....Oooppps,..it just made me feel sleepy, with the cosy blankets and all. Why Monday comes so quickly. Anyway, looking forward to Tuesday's dinner - hotpot! Yahoo....great for rainy and chilly weather ;)
Hope you all had a great weekend like I did. I had a scrumptious Korean BBQ dinner on Friday night and then splurged with the luxury of Mascarpone cream cheese on Saturday and Sunday - thanks to our Tiramisu experiments. Sinful, indeed.....but worthy! ;)

Thoughtful Gift from Tina

Last month, Tina and myself went back to our home country to study a course. Upon returning, she gave me a little gift.
At first glance, I was wondering why did she give me a pencil case. When I opened the case, ..........

Aw,.....the case contained a pair of mini chopticks and a spoon. She knew I didn't bring any chopsticks with me while relocating to Denmark. I could actually bring this little case with me while travelling. It's very handy indeed. How sweet. Thanks Tina! I love them ;)