Last bit of Christmas shopping + treat for self!

I don't know why I'm so lazy at blogging considering that I used to be the blogging monster! Anyway, today being my day off, I went out to finish the last of the Christmas gift shopping. It was blistering cold though, and snowing. Ugh!

Saw in a fair trade shop a really gorgeous necklace that I thought MJ would love, so I bought it. :s

<3

Only problem is, I absolutely adore it too! *sigh* The box is mine as the necklace did not come with a box but I need something presentable to put it in. So tempted to keep it for myself, but I won't. I'll be good. What the necklace did come with is a set of matching earrings. Now these I've decided to keep for myself because MJ has staunchly refused to have her ears pierced all this time so she can't wear these anyway. She only wear clip-ons.

Hooray, new earrings! :)

So I am appeased by the fact that even though I don't get the coveted necklace, I still get it's smaller earring counterpart. It's really just to restrict me from running out to the shop again to get another set for myself!

Close-up shot of one of the earrings.

So cute. Love it. :)

Malaysia Trip Summer 2009 Pt. 3

Because I'm really a very lazy person and because there are way too many photos that made up the 2 days I stayed in KL during the summer, this is all you're going to get for Malaysia Trip Summer 2009 Pt 3. Also because I don't remember much that went on now, other than more eating and drinking and walking around and meeting friends and general nice life.

LL and her boyfriend hosted us whilst we were in KL and were very gracious and patient with us, even went as far as to drive us all the way to Malacca to try out the famous satay celup. The following is a collection of photos taken whilst we were in KL.

Photos in no particular order.

Needless to say, it was a very enjoyable trip and we sampled plenty of Malaysian food or food with a Malaysian spin to it. :P

And I just notice something whilst going through all those pictures from the last tripe. My hair went through a crazy growth spurt in the past 4-5 months! Compare:

Left: Taken July 2009 . Right: Taken November 2009

Mad. o_O I need a haircut soon anyway, it's way overdue.

Human photos at Dragon-i

I haven't really written about the rest of my Malaysian trip yet, so I shall do so as soon as possible. In the meantime, to follow up on the last entry I did on it, here are some human photos to accompany the previously published food photos for that night at Dragon-i@Sunway Pyramid.

The girls.

With my best friend from secondary school and college.

Guess who?

Oh, and I'm really fat, so I totally need to lose weight at some point in time. I've not decided when yet.

Work's Christmas do!

I went for my work's Christmas do yesterday night. Since I had nothing better to do during the day and the previous coat of paint that I applied for my brother's wedding has since chipped off, I painted my nails. But I have a most horrific collection of nail polish available - all which I was given free during promotions and whatnots. I have shimmery pearly pink, glittery nudey brown, glossy hot pink, deep raspberry framboise, and a strange purpley colour. Didn't like any of them, and I seem to have misplaced my sheer creamy strawberry nail polish I used in Malaysia.

So I ended up painting my nails with the pearly pink, found it too boring and bland, and started to add bits of hot pink to it. Voila!

Attempt at self-painted nails.

It's not fantastic, but at least it's not boring! I'm not very good or steady with my hands when it comes to painting my own nails, unfortunately. And the only reason why I've started to paint my nails in the past two weeks is that I actually can grow my nails during my holidays. They're getting clipped short once I start back at work next Monday! :( I was told in uni that if we were people who wanted to keep our nails long, we were in the wrong course.

Ate soft boiled eggs for breakfast and then a pot of Muller Light raspberry yogurt for lunch to prepare myself for a 3-course meal for dinner. Was picked up at 7.20pm by NC, EY and DO in a taxi and we were off to ASK where we had a table of 15 booked for us.

Merlot plus free champagne for ordering from their Christmas menu. Yum!

Bruschetta - For something that is so full of raw vegetables, I loved it! It's so flavourful and light at the same time! I can live off these stuff...

Christmas Calzone - folded pizza filled with pepperoni, ham, pancetta, beef meatballs, tomato sauce, green chillies with mozzarella and caramelised onions. Nice and spicy, but the bruschetta was better in taste.

Chocolate Nemesis - the melted chocolate in the middle pudding with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. I just wish the ice cream isn't already so melted by the time it got served!

The food took forever. We got there at 7.30pm, and we finished at around 10.30pm! Two people didn't get their starters until half an hour after everyone else did, and one person's starter was a whole hour later than everyone else's! And KN didn't even get to have her dessert since she was to be picked up at 10pm by her partner, and we weren't served dessert by then. 3 hours for a 3-course meal is mad, considering that we had 10 courses at my brother's wedding and that took 3 hours at the most.

And we didn't even get the £10 ASK voucher (to use in January) we were promised! :(

Of course, you probably want to see the people photos now and not just the food photos, however much you like food. :P Thankfully my eyebags are not as obvious as usual - proof that a good holiday is all I need to get rid of them.

NR, me and CR.

NR, me and CR again because CR wants a smiley photo.

HF and I.

Me and LM.

Me and KN, the ex-boss.

I had fake lashes on, which everyone found extremely interesting. EY was like, "Can I touch it?" CT (the other optom) asked me to look down so that she can have a look from the top to detect the line, and she couldn't (I covered it with lots of eyeliner and eyeshadow!). And then there was the discussion where everyone admits to trying to use false eyelashes at some point in their lives and found that they always gets stuck at the wrong place. Personally I still struggle with them, so I never bother with them unless I have a lot of time to get ready.

Everyone liked the dress too - they thought it made me look like a Grecian goddess. Haha!

Apparently I have been missed at work! Awwww. <3 So sweet.

During the dinner, DD kept flirting with the table next to us, which was conveniently a table full of men with one woman (who is a lesbian) who were also on their work's Christmas do. They ended up coming along with us after dinner to Lloyds Bar next door for some drinks and dancing! Poor NC had this guy who thought she was stunning and was all over her the rest of the night, hanging on to her every word! Hehe.

HB and HF, the youngins that they are, kept dragging me onto the dance floor. Was fun, but decided to call it a night before midnight since I have to cab it home and cab fares gets hiked up after at midnight! ^^

BK mini-pancakes and syrup

Woke up craving for something sugary sweet and fattening, thanks to someone. And since I am supposed to be on a diet because my mother thinks I'm fat, I have banned myself from getting anything junk-foody from our grocery shop. That includes any Belgian buns, cinnamon swirls, ice fingers, cookies, cakes etc. Raided my kitchen and there wasn't anything there that would satisfy my sweet tooth, so I waited around for Boy to wake up.

Went out to BK and my wish came true with their new range - mini pancakes and syrup, available all day! :D

Pack of mini-pancakes. They're so tiny and cute and fluffy!

Buttery pancakes + syrup = <3!

They were goooooood. And because they're so fluffy they're almost ball-like, biting into one gives you the satisfying explosion of warm, moist, buttery goodness.

But just to make sure I don't break my "diet" (probably only until I get back to work) any more than necessary, I've bought myself some bananas and Muller Light yoghurt to stave off future sweet cravings. :P Delicious food or not, I need to behave.

Jalan-jalan makan Malaysia!

Wednesday, we went to KL on the express bus that was late by 40 minutes. Was picked up by LL and her boyfriend AC after they finished work, and then we went off to Sunway Pyramid. Plans were Midvalley Megamall, but EL said it was too expensive and so plans were changed to banana leaf rice in SS15, but AW said she'd prefer something else since we're technically celebrating her birthday (which I can understand), so that's where we ended up and then EL said that she's not joining us for food after all.

Choosing a place and organising a meet in Malaysia is possibly the most difficult endeavour ever when everyone is so busy saying they don't know where to go and generally not wanting to make any suggestions but at the same time, they keep rejecting suggestions made. If you have a specific requirement, make a frickin' suggestion. Don't beat around the bush and hope someone will read your mind on what you want, because we just end up wasting precious time.

We arrived an hour earlier than everyone else, so we went to BreadStory first and got a "White Forest" (which we figured is like black forest, but with white chocolate) birthday cake for AW. Then we headed to Dragon-i to drop the cake off and make a reservation for 8pm. In the meantime, we spent some time wandering around the shopping complex looking for gifts for Boy's parents.

Bought some smellies as requested, and then headed off back to the restaurant to sit down and wait for the others to arrive. AW and her boyfriend MG arrived at just after 8, and we started ordering our food.

Inside Dragon-i restaurant.

Xiaolongbao is love! <3 This is even better because it's free!

Fried eel. Very crunchy.

Stir-fried long beans with minced meat.

Kung po chicken! Boy's favourite, haha. It was listed as chicken with cashew nuts in Szechuan sauce.

Prawn in... I don't know what.

Minced meat with... some biscuity thing that we fill up. Such a big pouch, so little meat. :(

All in all, a very delicious meal that ended up costing us RM199! Haha. Split the bill between us two couples as it is AW's birthday. We ended up sitting around discussing where to go next since Pyramid supposedly is shut at 10pm, and one of the waiters starting setting out empty small dessert plates on the table. AW said excitedly, "We're getting fruits!" (Apparently, the restaurant offers free fresh fruit platter for dessert for large groups of people dining?)

AC humoured her and said, "Yes, fruits."

It wasn't until the birthday song started over the speakers and the cake was brought out to our table that the realisation dawned upon her. She started crying.

Oops. None of us were expecting that.

Anyway. That was quite a surprise for her. Then JL and EL arrived with EL's boyfriend which was never introduced by name, I don't think, and they had cake along with the rest of us. We took some photos of the group and the cake, which are currently still residing in LL's memory card. Then we packed up and left for LOL Cafe, which JL recommended to us.

Where we ended up yum-cha'ing.

EL said she was going to join us for the yum cha session after dinner, but she never did turn up, so in total she spent maybe 10 minutes with us. Huh. Nevermind. Anyway, JS's boyfriend KP turned up after sorting out some work stuff, and AC's friend turned up too, so there was quite a large group still. We had a great time at the cafe just talking and sharing stories and jokes until past midnight, and headed home when it got too late for a weekday night, what with people working the next day and all. :P I noticed that MG was a lot more talkative this time around, which is a nice change.

Went back to LL's place, slept, woke up the next day at 7am! Could not sleep anymore. So we waited around until JL woke up and texted me so we could hang out or something before I headed home, since she wasn't working that day. Ordered in McDonald's breakfast and realised that they have changed the sausagemeat patty to sausage slices. Ew. Was not as good as sausage patty! Change it back! :(

JL texted me at around 11.30am, and then came around to pick us up at 12pm-ish after sorting out some stuff. We went to Damansara in SS15, old hangout from college days, and I got to have my murtabak! <3 It was so yummy... sigh. First murtabak in 3 years. I lead a sad life. :( There is no photo of it because I was too excited of actually eating it, so I only remembered about taking a photo after I was halfway through eating.

After that, JL dropped us off at Kelana Jaya LRT station so we could make our way to Bukit Bintang area. Wanting to walk around in Low Yat Plaza to see if there were any good deals on gadgets and electronics. Ended up to be pretty crap experience. Things are so bloody expensive there now! In fact, I found possibly the one thing that is more expensive in Malaysia than in the UK!

The iPhone 3GS 16GB is £440 (~RM2500) in the UK (without the contract). In Malaysia? It's RM2790(~£481). What the hell! So much for Malaysia being cheaper to shop in. And the seller was BS'ing about how Malaysia electronics get taxed (and did he think UK doesn't get tax at an extortionate rate?), how you have to sign up a contract in the UK to get an iPhone (which I told him is a blatant lie!), how it's all made in California and it takes longer to ship to Malaysia than UK... BS lah!

Anyway. Got picked up by Brother #2 and started heading home after that.

Next morning, Mum asked us if we wanted lunch. Since it was Hari Raya Haji (Eid al-Adha), not a lot of places are open, so we ended up at this cafe nearby that was styled similarly to the Old Town White Coffee group.

Chendol! Would've been lovely if not for the sweetcorn... I just want chendol only! :(

Nasi Lemak Ayam Rendang... which was okay, nothing special. I wanted the sotong version. :(

Didn't spend the day doing much the whole of yesterday. Going to Kuantan later on today maybe to see if we can't get tickets to watch 2012. Online booking system is down for GSC, which is very disappointing! Phone booking line is screwed too!

Looking back at the xiaolongbao makes me want to go out and eat dimsum!

Foreigner in a foreign land

Every time I come home to Malaysia for a visit, my mother asks me variants of the same question: "When are you coming back for good?"

And I always answer with the same, "I don't know."

I really don't. I always tell people that the reason why I've not come back to stay is due to the insane heat in Malaysia which I have complained and barely tolerated in my 20 years growing up in Malaysia before I went to England for further education. But what really drives a girl away from all her friends and her family and all that is familiar to her to a place of unknown?

Most of you know what drove me there. What you don't know is what kept me there. Other than Boy, that is.

It is the political climate and the underlying racial tension all around us. It is things like this: www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/44775-btn-taught-me-the-chinese-are-the-jews-of-asia

I, for one, do not believe racism is inherent in us. Racism is learnt. We acquire this from others, our peers and family and sometimes, the people we respect or are told to respect. I went to a Presbyterian kindergarten even though I wasn't Christian and then I went to a Malay primary school and were one of the five (and later, six) Chinese girls in our class. All through that, I did not think there were any difference between me and my Christian friends, or me and my Malay friends. Perhaps I was naive, but as far as I could remember, we were kids, we played and laughed and learnt together. Some of us were very close despite belonging to different religions, different cultural backgrounds, etc.

I first learnt about racism and the effects of it when I was eleven. I cried in my mother's lap and asked why did it have to be so. She said that is life. For a long time, I refused to believe that life has to be that way, but she was right. Life continued on, and racism became more apparent in secondary school when we were joined by students from the Chinese primary school and the chasm widened. The Chinese and the Malays hung out with "their own kind". The Chinese students who studied in the Malay primary school had to make a choice.

I distanced myself from people, not willing to participate in this game.

Do you think it is sad that I feel more accepted in a foreign country like England than I do in Malaysia, the country where I was born and bred? I am treated as a second-class citizen in my home country. I am penalised for my origins, my skin tone, my race, all which I cannot help or change.

I am treated as an equal in a foreign land regardless of what colour I am and which god I worship.

Why, then, would I - or anyone else - want to come back? Even if I were treated like a second-class citizen in a foreign land, I'd rather that than to be treated that way by my motherland. You know why? I can rationalise easier on why a foreign country may alienate me, but I can never rationalise why my own country would do so to me. It's like being abused by your own parents, who are supposed to love you most. You can understand why a stranger may hit you for something that is not your fault, but you can never understand why your own mother would do so.

But I have never ever thought of myself as anything other than Malaysian. Even now, when I am in England, people curiously ask me if I am Chinese. They wonder if I had been born or brought up in England.

I smile and I tell them that I am Malaysian.

But I don't know if I ever will come back for good.

Ocean Cantonese Restaurant, Costa and Harry Brown, all in one day!

We went to a Chinese restaurant today. Yes, not a takeaway! Shocking. :P It's called Ocean Cantonese Restaurant, located in North Hykeham which is around 10 minutes drive from where we live. It's run by a Chinese family - not surprisingly - and had always looked quite expensive and upper-class every time we drove by it on our way to somewhere. But I stumbled upon their online menu today after work (after Boy said he was starving because his lunch tasted like detergent and he didn't finish it) and the prices were quite reasonable for a Chinese restaurant in England, so we decided to give it a go.

Stepping into the restaurant was quite a pleasant surprise. It was decorated and furnished in the style of a posh Chinese restaurant, kinda like a place where you would hold an expensive wedding reception in, for example. The waiting area was some sofas next to the bar. We were immediately greeted and led to a table for two. The restaurant itself had muted lighting, large round tables (and smaller square tables) covered in thick white tablecloths, proper napkins, wood-framed and cushioned chairs, good quality silverware and table setting. There are some tiny photos on their website, but those photos really don't do it any justice. It was beautiful.

We sat down and Boy got a Coke and I got myself a little pot of jasmine tea whilst we look through the menu. We (or rather, I, because I'm a bossy cow) decided that we should order some dishes and share them over rice, like we typically do in a Chinese restaurant. We ordered Sweet and Sour Pork to appease Boy's taste, Beef and Green Pepper in Black Bean Sauce because I know that is usually good, and Kung Po Chicken because I've always liked Kung Po Chicken but I have yet to find somewhere in Britain that makes it properly. With that is Egg Fried Rice, which I was a bit begrudging about since who the hell pay £2.70 for Egg Fried Rice? I can make it for less than 50p!

Anyway, the dishes came lightning quick! They set up the three dishes on top of a metal shelf thing with tea lights at the bottom to keep the food hot whilst we eat it, a bit like what they usually do with whole fish dishes, and they were all really yummy. It was surprising for me to taste something so authentically Chinese in Britain, because so far all the Chinese buffets and takeaways I've had, they had been good but did not have the authentic look and taste. These dishes today looked and tasted like they could've come from a restaurant from home.

I forgot to take photos because I was too busy digging into the food! Sorry. Haha. The service was fantastic too, drinks were poured for us and rice were dished out for us and I was offered chopsticks (which I declined, and the Chinese man was very surprised at this!). And the moment our glass or pot was empty, someone immediately appeared and asked if we would like more drinks or the pot topping up with more hot water. <3 I did manage to take photos of the dessert because it was too cute not to.

Boy's Mint Bombe - Mint ice cream with an outer chocolate shell and a melted chocolate centre.

My Coconut Half - Half a coconut shell filled with coconut ice cream with a chocolate slice in the centre!

There were so many other desserts that were so interesting, I wanted to try all of them. :( Most of them are admittedly filled fruits with similar ice cream or sorbets, like a whole lemon rind filled with lemon sorbet, etc.

Overall I am very satisfied with the restaurant and the food, and it's great to know that if I ever miss authentic Chinese food, there is a place nearby that serves it! I'm also really glad that Boy is very open to trying new dishes now, like Kung Po Chicken. Quite different from the Boy that I first dated who was a bit averse to non-English food and anything spicy. :) I think the first trip to Malaysia and our regular makan sessions had managed to expose him to far too many different tastes - some good, some bad - for him to feel surprised at any type of food he tries in the future. Hehe.

After the meal, we were supposed to watch Harry Brown at the cinema but we had around an hour to kill, so we went to Costa and had their Christmas special - Mint Hot Chocolate.

Love in a mug. <3

I've got Christmas in a mug! *happy* Boy thinks I'm the cheesiest person alive!

Was so stuffed after eating, dessert and then a large mug of hot chocolate that I felt a bit sick and decided against consuming any more sugary drinks. Settled for a bottle of spring water for the movie.

The movie itself was pretty good. I enjoyed it, even though some parts were pretty slow and dragged a bit, I felt overall it was necessary to establish a sense of Real Time, ie that some time has passed from one scene to another. I also like how Michael Caine as Harry Brown has somehow managed to make old men with emphysema look cool.

Do I sound ageist when I say that?

A positive note to follow the last one.

According to National Rail, a return railway ticket for two people from Lincoln to Heathrow Airport on 22nd November 2009 and 1st December 2009 will cost set you back anything between £294 to £354 if you want an anytime return ticket. But if you know what train you want to be on and book in advance, you get them cheaper. If you're fairly flexible with your time schedule, you can get the cheapest fare. And this, according to the website, is £115. And it also meant we had to wait 2.5 hours in Heathrow Airport because the discounted price means we cannot travel during "peak periods".

However, if you have railcards, that gets it down to £75.90. However, if you're Pei and slightly insane and ridiculously meticulous, you get it for £67.50 and you somehow find a way to reduce the waiting time down to 1.5 hours. I could've just reduce that down to half an hour waiting time and travel during peak time (before 9am) for the same price, but I wanted to make sure we a) manage to get our check-in luggage; and b) in case of any delays. I don't fancy worrying about missing my train, and I also don't fancy running all around Heathrow Airport in a panic looking for the Underground station with my sense of direction. 1.5 hours ensure we're covered for most delays and collection of check-in luggage, and if we are early, we could always go and get breakfast whilst we wait for the train without getting too bored.

Go me! Well chuffed. :)

Whilst we're talking about travel, I don't have to worry about overpriced MAS flights anymore. Brother #2 and parents found out about the insane prices (from my Facebook, where else?) and have decided that one of them are going to come and collect us from the airport after all. <3 This is completely smashing Boy's dream of hiring a car and doing a roadtrip in Malaysia, but I'm playing it safe just in case we can't hire one after all due to his age and my inexperience (not that they would know I haven't driven in 4 or 5 years!)

The other upside is that we might actually have our boiler sorted tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

So you had a bad day...

Overall today's been a fairly bad day. Came back from MPH to find that we have no hot water whatsoever, exactly like how it was in December last year. Rung letting agency during my lunchtime to let them know and get them to sort out the problem, she says she'll get the engineer to ring us back. Never happened. Rung again at 5.15pm when I got off work, someone else said she will ring around and ring me back immediately to let me know what's going on, and 30 minutes later, still nada. Rung again and again the same stuff. Never heard back and it's 12.42am now.

Let me stress that it's not very nice to be without any hot water whatsoever when it's wintertime and whatever water that's coming out from the tap is freezing cold. And that means no shower either unless Boy and I want to catch a head cold.

I'm not impressed.

What's even more unimpressive is that I checked my credit card statement online today and found out that on November 12th, a certain pub that I shall decline naming has charged my card twice for our dinner. I know what happened too - the first time the transaction went through, the PDQ ran out of paper so the woman working behind the bar decided to put the whole transaction through the second time around after she had replaced the paper roll.

Now, this would be a forgivable error of accidentally "overlooking" if I had not specifically asked her, "Has the first transaction been voided?" and she said, "Yes." before I was willing to put the second transaction through. I work on the tills before and I know that running out of paper does not automatically mean the transaction hasn't gone through, it means you just have to reprint the last receipt, which is the whole reason why I asked. And guess what? It hasn't voided, and I have been charged twice. Does she know how to operate her own machines? No. Is she incompetent? Yes.

I hate people who makes such simple errors and doesn't bother to double check even after being questioned about it. Seriously, do you have a brain or not?

And then I found out that MAS return flights from KLIA to Kuantan will cost us RM936 in total, which is a total joke. It's only a 40-minute flight each way! I'm not rolling in cash, hiring a car is a lot cheaper but we risk getting lost since I don't have a sense of direction and Boy doesn't read Malay or know the general geography of Malaysia. Coach is also a hell lot cheaper but there is no way of booking it online. So here I am, completely stuck on choices and arriving in Malaysia next Monday and I will be completely pissed off, I bet.

Seriously not in the mood right now, and definitely not looking forward to work tomorrow because I've seen what the clinic looks like.

On a brighter note, Boy is popping out for a McD's drive-thru this late at night because he thinks it'll cheer me up if I get a Big Tasty. <3

This week in pics! Again.

I really should write more often. I'm often lagging behind by a few entries, and I haven't even completed Malaysian Trip Pt 3 yet and that was months ago (and I'm going to Malaysia again next week)! Actually, I have an excuse for that - I wrote it and everything and it was really long and full of pics and I saved it as draft for further editing and spell-checking, and then somehow LJ deleted it! *sob* I haven't found the strength to rewrite it again.

But I will. And that is for another day. Today though, I just got back from MPH/Top Gear Live not too long ago, so I'm tired even though I haven't done much other than walking around the exhibits taking photos, sitting through the live show and then trying not to fall asleep in the car. And because I'm tired, today's entry won't be about MPH or TGL because I'm too lazy tired to pick through the huge collection of photos and think up something intelligent to write about cars, it will be yet another random series of pics I have taken on my phone and not gotten around posting!

If you really can't wait to see and read about the MPH/TGL stuff though, Boy is writing about it lots and will post it up soon. Go and see. Whilst we're at it, he also has a car e-zine at DrivenMagazine.co.uk because he loves and adores cars so much that I've come to call them his mistresses. Which I personally think is quite apt since cars take quite a lot of maintenance to work well (from a bloke's point-of-view), like most women. For example, money for petrol (wining and dining), money for parts and accessories (buying jewelries, bags, clothes, shoes, etc for a woman), money for general servicing and MOT once a year (anniversary special dinner and presents), and a gorgeous one will always make other guys jealous like hell and they'll all want a ride (ahem). The more expensive/branded fuel (dinner) you buy, like Shell V-Power, can potentially give you a better drive. And sometimes a car won't start for no apparent reason too (headache lah, darling, tonight cannot)!

Anyway, I think I made my point and I shall move on to my pointless pics of the week.

We went to Boy's workplace for dinner the night after he got paid because he gets these 50% off vouchers when he gets paid every month, which is a pretty good deal since it's 50% off the whole meal, food, drinks, dessert, everything. Also because the food there is pretty good, and we sometimes get quite lazy in terms of actually cooking for ourselves.

We ordered our usual, 10oz rib-eye steaks to our desired doneness. For dessert, I have so far gone for something different every time I've come here, and on that particular day, my dessert was this:

Berry Heaven

It's delectable for something that is fat-free. Fat-free frozen yoghurt with summer berries and raspberry sauce drizzled over the top and two of those which I call "love letters". Simple and yummy. Though I only got it because they ran out of cheesecake and I didn't like their chocolate fudge cake - too dry!

The next day, it was my turn to cook, so I made spaghetti bolognese and tried to be healthier by adding random bits of vegetables into the tomato-and-ground-beef sauce, like peas, sweetcorn and green pepper. DO from work suggested adding grated courgettes, but I did not have any on hand to try it.

Tadah! My spaghetti bolognese. Maybe the sauce was a bit too watery.

Yum. But I always like food, so that's not surprising coming from me.

And as you probably already know, I was deliberating on Tuesday whether to go out with Boy's workmates for their work's night out because I was feeling like shit the night before and I was sniffling and snotty-nosed throughout a long day at work, and I also had work the next morning whereas the rest of them did not. But I did go out in the end because I know how Boy doesn't like me being all anti-social and stuff.

I did also made sure I wrap up warm for the night out though, black T-shirt with puffy sleeves and glittery print at the front with a pair of blue jeans and white diamante-studded belt and my black suede boots. Oh, also had a silver glittery scarf with me just to make sure. I don't know how the other girls do it with their short skirts and dresses and their breasts practically falling out. It's so cold out there nowadays!

Getting ready to go out despite feeling under the weather. My eyes look so tired and red! :( And yes, I know I have uneven eyebrows, I don't know how to rectify this though.

That is the only picture you're going to get from that night out with Boy's colleagues because the rest are taken in dark clubs and consists a lot of his workmates getting on top of each other. Yeah.

And then.. guess what? Sometime during the same week (last Thursday), we went to Boy's workplace again for another meal to spend his last 50% off voucher. His reasoning was because they came out with a new menu, so he was curious to try it out. But we ended up going for what we knew and trusted as usual, which is the steak... again.

But they do have a new dessert, so this is what we had!

The Mother of All Sundaes!

It was indeed quite filling, and very fattening, I bet! And because it was a new item on the menu (or rather, a modified version of their previous Ultimate Sundae), no one knew how to make it so someone had to take ten minutes to guess how to put it together. And they forgot the chocolate and toffee sauces that goes over the top!

It was nice though, nevertheless, and they did put in an effort despite not knowing how to do it. :P

My headache cure is a good, long, hot shower

For the longest time, I had been confused as to why showers cure my headaches. I could be downing paracetamols and aspirins and they won't do anything to dull the pain, but a long hot shower will do the trick almost immediately. So when I had the start of a migraine yesterday night (it tends to be occurring on right side of my head nowadays), I tried drinking a lot of water (because Boy thought it might be dehydration since my body temperature was up) and sleeping it off.

Woke up today feeling worse.

Lazed around for a bit. Ate food. Drank more water. Had caffeine (in the form of Coke Zero). Had paracetamol. All supposedly headache cures.

At around 2pm, I was in agony. Loud and sharp noises hurt so much, and the bedroom light was bad enough for me to hide under the duvet. I wanted to take a shower to cure it, but due to the problem with our water tank and the heating element, only one person can properly take a shower in 24 hours, and Boy has work at 5pm and I know he likes to have a shower a couple of hours before going to work. And he does not like the surprise cold showers that he has sometimes had the bad luck to experience. The only solution to the matter is that I wait until he has his shower and have mine after - so if there is any cold water surprise, at least that would be my problem.

But I didn't think I could stand another hour of suffering the migraine headache I had, I was feeling dizzy and nauseous at the same time and I wanted to claw my brains out to stop the pain, so I begged Boy to take his shower early so that I can jump into the shower ASAP after he already had his. He consented and made sure he took a quick shower so that I would have enough hot water to shower with as well.

Whilst waiting for him to finish showering, I was almost sick on the bed. Went to the toilet after he vacated the bathroom and made myself sick so I could get it over with. Then I had a hot shower. It wasn't as long as I would've liked it, but I didn't want to push my luck with the hot water running out and having to deal with cold freezing water when it's almost winter now.

Went to lie down for 10 minutes in bed, wet hair and all, and I felt better. No more nausea, no more headache, no more sensitivity to light. My head still pounds when I move too quickly or walk around the apartment, but overall a great improvement from trying to dig my brains out earlier.

I was curious, so I Googled it and found out that hot showers are actually a recommendation for headache and migraine sufferers, because the cause could be circulatory. Apparently the hot stream of water pounding on your head/neck area dilates the blood vessels and improves circulation. This and this came up on Google.

I should've known, really, but at least now I know it's not just me. I might try peppermint tea and see if it get rid of the remainder of my headache now.

My stomach hurts and I should never patronise another buffet...

We went to try out a newish Chinese buffet restaurant in Lincoln today. Newish because it's a year and half old but we've not went there yet despite numerous "We should go there one day."

That one day is today. The restaurant is called Yo Yo in Beijing and they market themselves as a different kind of Chinese buffet where food is healthier. They (supposedly) use less oil and salt and do not use any MSG at all in their food. They also have gimmicky presentations like Kung Fu Tea Pouring and Flying Noodles and... I don't know what else, but you get the idea. Very Chinese-y ideas, actually, because who in the world would say no if you asked them if they want to go and witness a Kung Fu Tea Pouring? :P

There weren't any of these presentations today though - just your regular buffet. Boy and I deliberated over the drinks menu for a good five to ten minutes before finally agreeing to have a 60oz fishbowl Lily Pad XL cocktail to share because it's cheaper than having separate drinks. We've never had that cocktail before, but it sounded quite fruity and refreshing with pineapple and coconut and stuff.

Now, I don't work with Imperial calculations so I don't actually know how much 60oz is until it got here. And when it got here...

Lily Pad XL - it was definitely XL!

Couldn't resist a photo op with it even though I look a mess. And yes, that's my piled up plate next to it because I'm a glutton!

The drink itself was quite nice, but the strong coconut flavour became quite sickly after a while. Not sure I'm go for it again, to be honest, since I struggled to finish it and Boy finished the rest whilst I went and raided the dessert table. More on that later though.

I loved the pork stew they had there, so yummy and tender! Unfortunately also very fatty... shouldn't have had so much of it, because I feel so sick now. The beef in black pepper sauce can't hold a candle to the takeaway from Hay-on-Wye (so far my favourite beef in black pepper sauce!), but there are some really nice selections there, around 1/3 of their menu which I've not seen in other Chinese buffets before. Like herbal eggs and the pork stew and steamed dumplings.

The dessert section was relatively small in comparison and is pretty much like every other Chinese buffets I've been to - a chocolate fondue fountain with some candies and marshmallows and an ice cream machine. And some fruits and jelly and cream tarts on the side.

Simple pleasures.

I also had three cubes of jelly after that because I cannot resist a good, cold, refreshing jelly. *sigh* But on the bright side of things, the jelly is probably the least calorific thing I ate today, so that hasn't made my binging any worse than it had been thus far!

My N95's camera is behaving a bit odd today at the restaurant... I'm not sure if it's just the lighting in the restaurant or what, but everything just looked so hazed over and washed out. Ugh.

Baking for charity and beef stroganoff

My day off, and what did I spent it doing? Lazing around in bed. :D

I did do something for a good cause today though, so it's technically not all wasted! CR requested that I bake some of my Bailey's double chocolate chip muffins/cupcakes for the charity fundraising drive we're doing at work this week - Action for Blind, which helps blind kids.

Doing their thing in the oven.

So now my apartment once again smells like chocolate chip muffins. XD Not a bad smell, but it makes me hungry all the time! Ran out of milk yesterday and I totally forgot about it, so I had to make do without the milk! Batter was stiffer than normal pre-baking, but post-baking tastes pretty much the same. :)

Also did Beef Stragonoff again today because a) it's cheap to do and I'm skint, and b) it didn't end in disaster the first time I made it.

The problem with Beef Stroganoff is that it is too colourless to look appetising!

It was just as tasty as last time I did it, and I did not go overboard with the ground black pepper this time around. But I did use white wine instead of red wine this time in the ingredients, and I personally prefer the red wine version. It just tastes richer somehow, and just right. White wine imparts a sweetish taste that I don't really like when associated with beef.

If you're wondering which recipe I used, it's this one with some alterations (mostly nicked from the reviews and comments). After the alterations I made, this is the final recipe that I've used:

Ingredients

A pack of stewing steak, cut into strips
Salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, chopped
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cube beef bouillon
1/2 cup red wine
10 small closed-cup mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cup sour cream
Half a pack of cream cheese
1 tablespoon dried parsley (because I can't find fresh)

Directions

1. Place the beef in the bottom of a slow cooker, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place onion on top of beef, and then add mushroom soup, and wine. Season with garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and bouillon.

2. Cover, and cook for 4 hours. Stir in the mushrooms, sour cream, cream cheese and parsley, and continue cooking for 1 hour.

3. Do a taste test and see if it needs more seasoning. This is where I usually add more ground black pepper and salt because I like my food spicier.

4. Serve on a bed of cooked noodles or rice. Sprinkle chopped or dried parsley on top.

Brewers Fayre take 2, delicious chocolate pud, and yet another dress.

So, to update everyone on the food stuff we've consumed recently (as always!), here is the pictorial account! ;)

We went to Brewers Fayre the other night to treat ourselves (I don't know what we've done to deserve it other than I wanted the dessert - gorgeous, melty chocolate fudge dessert with ice cream and profiteroles on top). But here's what we actually had!

Combo sharer. Garlic bread, potato wedges, onion rings, scampi, chicken goujons and nachos with three dips (barbecue, salsa and sour cream).

Lamb shank with mash potato and vegetables.

Smothered chicken. Basically chicken breast and bacon smothered with barbecue sauce and melted cheese.

And yep, no dessert. We ended up being too full for dessert, sadly. :( Shouldn't have had the starter. If we're going to have two courses, I much prefer desserts!

But Boy owes me another trip there for the dessert now. :P Even though getting the starter was my decision. Um... yeah. Don't know how that works either.

For those who had read my Facebook status yesterday night about that chocolate pudding, here's a photo!

Mmmmm. The moment I put the spoon through, the melted chocolate just flowed out, seemingly endless. Heaven! It wasn't too sweet or too bitter either, and rich and moist enough to be just right.

Anyway, with the food talk out of the way, I got another dress. *shamefaced* This time a calf-length Almost Famous dress, nude colour, silk and rayon mix (I love how it feels to the touch!).

Boy thinks I should wear this one rather than the cerise one from Ghost to my brother's wedding. Both are equally as annoying to get on and I needed help to get the side zipper past my waist, just like I needed help with the buttons at the back. But once on, I admit that I like this nude-coloured one better, the flowy skirt doesn't emphasis on my bulges as much.

Silver accessories, do you think?