Boredom

What a job. There are times when work gets so hectic that I often wish that I have additional 2 sets of hands and ears just to almost cope. But there are times like these few 'slow' months , when all I do is to answer to some queries and suft the net. 'Great, you can do whatever you like!' some said, but after the 10th visit to every website that I know for the day, even the WWW does not cure my boredom. Sometimes, I even resort to do some stretching exercise!Can't believe they pay me for this. What a job.

Mini Pizzas

We made pizzas using pita bread as a base for Saturday's lunch. We cut-up onions, mushrooms, ham, pineapples, crab-sticks, anchovies and some pepperoni as toppings. Spreaded tomato ketchup onto the pita bread slices, and piled-on the toppings. Added grated cheese and put it in a pre-heated overn 220 C for 20 mins. Hmmm....yummy...plus we had fun. Would we do it again? Yes, but not in the near future, too much work!

Spring is in the air...

Daffodil
Originally uploaded by seriouslygood1.

It's still below 8 Celcius, and it still snows... I don't care, it's March! It's officially SPRING.....yippeeeeee!

Daffodils, Snow Drops and Crocus are all springing up from the ground, welcoming the longer days filled with Sunshine.

After such a never ending winter with nothing much to do, Spring brings reason to venture back into the garden, garden centres, pondering upon which vege to plant, BBQs into the nights, Bank Holidays,weekend trips, hanging clothes on outdoor lines without risking it being frozen, bright and airy house,waking up on saturday mornings to the sounds of the neighbours lawnmowers and simply butterflies and bees...

Spring, my favourite season of the year. It's all of the above and many more, but most importantly it signifies new beginnings.

Picture Speaks Louder Than Words...

Life as usual...on a floating market...

UK-M'sia-Thailand-M'sia-UK

We have been back for a week now, finally life is back to normal, in terms of waking up time and the fact that we no longer feel like zombies going about our daily life. Stupid Jet lag.

Needless to say, we had a fantastic time. Our daily m'sian days are filled with a trip to Penang for a few days with my family, CNY visits, friends visits (didn't manage to meet everyone that we want to meet because of time shortage, sorry!), spending time with both sets of family, dental, hairdresser, doctor and optician visits. Yes, total MOT! And the gaps between each visits are filled with FOOD, FOOD, FOOD! (which contributed to more Doctor's visits, and it's well worth it!)

Dentist: Please refrain from eating as your tooth filling needs time to set.
Me: How long?!!!
Dentist: Why?
Me: I need to eat (DUH!). ..umm.. I am back from overseas for just a few weeks, every minute counts!
Dentist: hahaaha...30 minutes
Me: phew!

(29 minutes later, I was happily chewing on deep fried pohpiah in SS2, drinking 'teh-o-AIS-limau' between chats, ignoring the tinge of pain on my freshly filled tooth with every sip)

As you can gather from the title, we went to Bangkok for a few days.

Day 1: Walk around Siam Paragon, MBK and at shopped in Pat Pong (bargain bargain bargain...sigh...tiring)

Day2: Floating market (2 hours north of Bangkok, we went on the boat for an hour), seafood lunch in a fishing village, Grand Palace, Dinner by the Chao Praya (muddy) river and foot massage (which was literally heaven on earth)

Day3: Chatucak market, Dinner at Silom tourist trap.


We stayed in Sofitel Silom. SUPERB hotel! Tastefully decorated club room with floor to ceiling view of Bangkok from the 29th Floor. Bathroom with both tub and walk-in shower. Personal check-in and out and free drinks all day long, accompanied by pastries. Choice of breakfast venue at the Club lounge on the 27th, Chinese restaurant on the 38th or on the 2nd floor with the rest (hehehe).


Personally, I would only go back to Bangkok for the Chatucak market, more Foot massage and hotel. I am not too keen on their food. Thais uses Basil, Coriander and Lemongrass in almost every freaking dish! for a while they tasted all the same. My hubby said that it felt like eating grass.
We still preffer the good ol' Malaysian food.

I will be going back in May for my cousin's wedding for a week, so more food for me!!! ( dread the 7 hours difference though)

Chinese New Year 2006

Fire Crackers
Originally uploaded by the little superhero girl.

OMG! I am going back to Malaysia in less than 9 days time. It would be 21 months since I have been home.Also, I have missed two CNYs in a row. Although I would only be around after the first few days of CNY...so that at least some of the food stalls and restaurants are open-lar, of course...(smart ler...hehehe), but I know it's going to be fantastic! Celebrating and meeting up with family members, in-laws, from near and afar, The glorious food, the gambling,the 'seasonal' drinking, the cheeky grins on kids enjoying one of their most profitable days in a year (enjoy it while it last kiddos!), funny antics of the elders , all trying to be the queen of the kitchen, ang-pows...wait, darn! NO ANG POWS for me this year, instead have to GIVE ang pows out *sob*...Oh well, lets just hope they don't expect £s.

I am trying to capture my excitement in words. Sigh, it's pretty impossible. Having said all that, I know my CNY will never be the same again without my beloved granma. Normally around this time, she would be up all night making the traditional 'lin kow' using only woodfire. She used to cook the most elaborate and delicious Hakka reunion dinners. It's been 3 years, but I still miss her immensely....she will always have a special place in my heart.

To all, have a great new year and cherish your love ones and your elders every chance you get, life is too short to hold back.

Happy New Year 2006!

follow your bliss
Originally uploaded by Elan Photography.

My wishes for 2006?

I wish for Health, Love, Happiness and Prosperity for my love ones. Also, I wish for total contentment for myself....

I believe that is the key to my Happiness.

Unexpected...

...dusting of snow. Everything was whiter than white. What a pleasant and lovely suprise from the one above.

The Day After Christmas

Yes, it's Boxing Day and it's when the mad winter sales starts... Of course, we were up bright and early to hunt for good buys. Being the thrifty couple we are (*cough* x 2), we usually try to stock up on clothing essentials during this period. We had a good day. Browsed lazily around the shops and had tim sum for lunch. My better half managed to get himself some jackets and shirts from River Island. I was still too tired from yesterday's dinner prep, hence lack the concentration and energy to bag anything nice. Not to worry, there's always the DAYS after
Boxing Day..... I am off till 2nd Jan...Yipee!!!!!!

Christmas 2005

We had friends over for a small Christmas dinner. Did another roast, the traditional turkey...turned out fine...We had the above with a bottle of Australian white (Hardy) and tiramisu as dessert. Also lots and lots of ...


Hope everyone had a good Christmas. God Bless! xxxxx

Saturday Night Roast

Lamb Roast..hehe, it turned out quite well this time. I used dried tyme, and chillies infused olive oil, salt (be generous with this, preferbably sea salt) and pepper as marinate. Popped it into my pre-heated oven at 180 celcius for 75mins. (55 mins for every kg). We had it with steamed vege, garlic bread and gravy. Not the healthiest meal you can have but oh so yummy.......

Oriental City, 399 Edgware Road, London, NW9 0JJ

Last Saturday, we travelled 12 junctions down the M1 to go to our favourite destination, Oriental City. It houses a food court that has Malaysian, Thai, Japanese, Korean and many other Far Eastern cuisine. A standard meal including drinks would cost £7. So it's not bad for when you crave for some near authentic hawker food from home.

You can also find a decent size supermarket for Far Easter groceries and seafood. The prices are not cheaper than your usual chinese shops around UK, but it definitely offers a better variety of brands.

To fellow Malaysians here, do visit it if it's not too far from you, it's worth a trip.

Tomatoes

Ummm...just a feel good reminder to myself that I once DID planted these from seeds....

That Time In The Officer's Car.....

Today, a new collegue, L, started at my work place, she is lovely and we chatted the whole work day. The usuals , the common obstacles we both face being a foreigner, our family, culture...the works. Since we live around the same area, she suggested that we travel in the same car and share the fuel cost. I was totally for it! as it saves my husband having to drop me off at work each morning (which I am ever so thankful with a tinge of guilt). We'll just have to work out the new hours with the manager. She offered to give me a leave home after work (as we both finish about 5pm today) just to see where I live. Better for me, as the great British weather totally gave up on Northampton today.

On the way home, we happily chatted and laughed...all of a sudden we noticed a police car tailing us at the back. I told L to move onto the other lane as the police need to chase after someone ahead of us . L didn't, instead , she slowed down, so that it can overtake us, but despite leaving plenty of gap enough to fit a truck, it was still behind us! Then it dawned upon us that he wanted US! not any others but US! Two perfectly innocent law abiding road user...not.

We stopped and got out, felt so surreal, the blue strobe light blinded our sight, we were up close and personal with the famous yellow flourescent stripes of the police car. The police officer approached L and told her that her car's tax disc has expired. He asked us to get into his car, me at the back and L at the front and started questioning us politely. Admist all the questioning, L started to panic, as for me , I was savouring EVERY MOMENT of it! I mean how often will one get into a British Police car??? I gave all my info in detail as fast as I could, even offering my postcode when not asked, so that he don't have to bug me whilst I take in all that was around me. I saw the gun, the baton, the cuffs, the Hi-Tech screen in front of him, the panel of buttons which was labelled 'spotted light' and such, the 'code' words he exchanged through the walkie-talkie such as 'scribble' and 'non-white female' and the oh so cool 'ROGER' and 'OVER' to his collegue, on the quick response he got from the immigration officer at the other end of the phone on our status, stacks of paperwork labelled 'Vehicle most wanted' and ' Warrant' and 'Operation training'....woohooo....FANTASTIC! I even handed the police officer his file from the back seat containing his summon booklet! Police admin work!!!

Oh, L got fined £120, £60 for driving on a non-UK license and £60 for having an expired tax disc. We couldn't use the car to get home, as it would be a risk of being caught AGAIN. Thankfully, our manager came to our rescue and got us home in time for me to cook dinner and relate my mini adventure to my husband....of course my husband objected me car-pooling with her as he thinks that it's not safe. No way, I crave for more....

FlightPlan

Ok, movie and food blog, because thats what fills our boring existence here...

After watching its trailer for what felt like 2 years, finally it's on screen. I would rate FlightPlan as 3 1/2 stars out of 5. Don't get me wrong, Jodie Foster gave a superb performance (it's definitely worth going just to watch her), just that the storyline was a bit far-fetched for my liking. Having said that, good movies are hard to come by nowadays, FlightPlan is as good as it gets for these few weeks. It's about a lady who just lost her husband found her daughter lost on a plane. When she freaked out, everyone around her questioned her sanity until she herself started to have doubts about her state of mind.

It's Saturday, we can't decide between MK Lido Dim Sum or the famous Northampton Ramsbottom Fish and Chips (will try to post up pics later), then it's off to watch 'The Exorcism Of Emily Rose'....sigh....what to do, it's better than 'Nanny McPhee' right?

ummm....Fish and Chips won....greasy greasy affair, definitely would satisfy any 'deep-fried food' cravings.

Kwong Fu Yee Mee

I have spent more than a month contemplating the fate of this blog. I have discovered that I am not such an extrovert after all. Many treat their blog as an 'Online Diary', but for me, both words contradicts each other. So, I think for now it's gonna be a food blog. Good way to show my parents the latest dishes I whipped out from the kitchen.

Kwong Fu Yee Mee

(Known in Chinese restaurants in UK as 'Meaty/seafood egg sauce poured over crispy noodle')

Made this the other day....

Actually it was the 5th time. Finally got it just right. My husband was the 'taster'. By this time, he has to beg me to not make it anymore for a long long time to come. Recipe as follow, feel free to try...if like me, you love Kwong Fu Yee Mee as well.

Step 1 : Warm wok over stove. Dry fry cubes of pork fat to induce oil. When golden, remove for topping later (Sounds disgusting I know, but essential!!!)

Step2: Fry half a bulb of chopped garlic till fragrant and add slices of pork (loin preferred, amount? about the size of a block of butter).

Step 3: Add a mug of prawns (and squid if you prefer) and leafy greens ( fresh prawns and mustard green preferred, but if not easily accessible, just use frozen prawns and any leafy green), stir-fry for a minute.

Step 4: Pour in 2 mugs of chicken stock ( depending on how much gravy you want) and cover.

Step 5: After 3 mins, add in 2 beaten eggs. Stir a little and cover for another 3 mins. Add diluted cornflour (dilute with cold water) and stir.

Step 6: Season to taste and pour over crispy noodle. (deep fry rice noodle worked best)

Good luck!

welcome!

This blog is created for the benefit of our family and friends. Actually its created out of peer pressure. Yes even at our age. We will try our best to share via this site. If you don't see many updates, that doesn't mean we have no life, just mean we are out there living it!

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