Happy Birthday to Me

October 11th, it was my birthday - a day which I look forward to every year; it fell on Saturday this year, my favoritest day of the week :) Spent the day with my family and Chin Lay. Had fun-filled laughter and joy.

Went for a scrumptious vegetarian lunch in Bonani's in Melaka Raya; it serves northern Indian cuisines and it's a beer garden as well. We ordered Saag Paneer (spinach with a type of cheese known as 'paneer') - it was just right to our taste - not too rich. Other dishes were Aloo Gobi (potato and cauliflower and other veggies cooked in North Indian style), Chapati (with carrot and other veggies grated in it), and Mango Lassi. It was a fulfilling lunch - thanks for the treat, Chin Lay :)

Mango Lassi

From left to right: Vegetable briyani rice, Saag Paneer, Aloo Gobi, and Capatti

After that we went for a movie at Dataran Pahlawan - watched Mamma Mia - totally enjoyed it from the beginning till the end - fantastic settings (amongst the islands in Greece) and the cast - I've watched it twice! and I will never get bored of it, especially the songs and the performances. Chin Lay and I had a good laugh and was totally entertained.

On the way back home, I bought myself half-dozen Big Apple donuts - just for a change to birthday cakes. The pleasure of indulgence - once in a while!

Those bites are left behind by me, just couldn't resist :) And Alfred calls me a rat

Later in the evening, we attended a 70-th Birthday party celebration in King's Hotel. Since I was vegetarian, didn't really enjoy the food. But I had great company :)

I missed Alfred, couldn't celebrate with him; I am looking forward for next year's celebrations with him :)

Quote

My favorite quote from Seal (how sweet!):

"The most important thing is that we put each other first. I always say that it goes in order of priority—it's my wife first, then the family, then my career," Seal says. "The most common hiccup is when couples get married … and then they have kids, and it [becomes] all about the kids, which is understandable because they're miraculous. But you've got to put each other first…she will always be number one for me. To have a happy life, Seal says there's only one thing a man needs…a happy wife!"

My Prince

One of the joys of having dogs – you can laugh your heart out when they do things like this - he was practically laying still with his mouth open and staring blankly - for a while I thought he was 'stoned'.

Moist Steamed Chocolate Cake

Last week during the Raya break, I developed the itch to bake again - this time I decided to be simple - no icing, no frosting - just a simple cake with simple steps and with just one bowl to wash up - it's the easiest cake I've ever baked - and turned out the effortless endeavor produced a moist-yummy-tasting-choc-cake. Everybody loved it so much - my aunt wanted the recipe for the Christmas cake. This gave me an incentive to be lazier when it comes to baking spree - but then I have a thing towards the fancy-looking cakes, anyway ;-)

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
- 550 gm instant steamed chocolate cake flour
You just need to add the following ingredients to the instant cake flour:
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup condensed milk
- 1 cup cooking oil
- 1 cup water

Steps:
1. Just mix the eggs, condensed milk, cooking oil and water together in a bowl.
2. Add the instant steamed chocolate cake flour little by little to the wet ingredients and mix evenly.
3. Grease and sprinkle some flour on a round cake pan. Pour the mixture in the cake pan.
4. Steam for about 1 and a half hour or so.
5. Indulge!

Gy's Wedding - 14th Sept 2008

Gythiri, my ex-roomate during uni days in Cyberjaya, got married on 14th Sept - it was a great reception with live band of sitar and carnatic singer - and the food was awesome. It was great to meet up with all the jing-bang-uni-gang - Kom, Vatsie, Mel, Siva, and Shuba - my good friends during uni days - people whom I shared my joys and sorrows with - they were always there during all the memorable moments during uni days - right from the first relationship to the break-ups - and also the 'cuci-mata' activities back then (now, we have other more serious things to think about!) - and how we'd do all the crazy things that are meant to be done when you are in uni coz it'z never gonna be the same once you start working. We certainly had lotsa fun - we lived our uni days to the max, I must say. Cheers to all the good years to come for us to celebrate!

A month later

The reason of my sudden dissapearance from the blogsphere for 1 month - lots of things happened and I was busy running around. Looks like our wedding will be postponed to sometime next year - he has to undergo a few treatments and surgery for a lump near his ribcage. Right now, prayers and faith help us get through this difficult period- and I must say it brings us even closer now than ever and we realised how much we mean to each other. I love you sayang with all my heart and I pray that you get well soon - remember we've got the Mount Kinabalu waiting for us - and lots of fun in store; and our life together :)

The Weekend Rendezvous with the Gals - Ai Lin's Place

After attending Sara's wedding, we went over to Ai Lin's place in Puchong - her apartment is located near a hill - and it's so breezy and cool. We bunked over at her place -that night we knocked off - had a long day.

The next morning Ai Lin took us for an Indian breakfast - the food was good - Ratha's restaurant in Bandar Puteri Puchong. Alfred joined us for breakfast - Ai Lin and Chin Lay had a great thosai breakfast with 'tairu' (Indian yogurt) - sounds like a weird combination - but they enjoyed it! - Finger-licking good :)

Ai Lin took us for a ride to look at the new housing projects near Bandar Puteri - we went to see a few show units - absolutely loved the interior and the high-ceiling concepts - all the units were being sold like hot cakes. We really had a fantastic time - Ai Lin can be a great real estate consultant - she always comes equipped with all the essential knowledge about anything and everything!

better be serious, ok!

Us being serious? Yeah, right!

Sara's Wedding (6/9/08)

After lunch at Mages's place, we attended Sara's wedding in Klang later in the evening - Sara is a friend whom I met through Shuba - and when I see him I remember his signature 'hok hok' sound effect :P

It was drizzling that night and with Mages's navigation, we managed to reach the hall without getting lost.

The Weekend Rendezvous with the Gals - Lunch at Mages's Place

Last weekend after our Kuantan roadtrip, we went over to Mages's and Ai Lin's house. We first went to Mages's place in Shah Alam - boy, the journey there was like a merry-go-round - hehe, we were so lost and basically going around the roundabout for-don't-know-how-many-rides while getting some directions on the phone.

Mages cooked us a scrumptious lunch - mushroom soup as the entree; main course was spicy bolognese linguini; lemonade; and the dessert was coconut milk jelly with palm sugar - it was good :) Thanks Mages for taking the trouble and cooking for us with love. We had a great time catching up.

Me waiting patiently for the food

Spicy Linguini

Chin Lay enjoying her meal (she was starving)

Creamy mushroom soup

Road Trip to Kuantan

On Friday, Chin Lay and I went for a roadtrip to Raub and Kuantan to visit my students who are going for practical training. We left Malacca at about 8 a.m. - drive to Raub took approximately 3-and-a-half-hours - scenic views along the way - beautiful.

After visiting a student, we had our lunch at Raub's famous fish head curry - it was darn good - so good that I am salivating with just the thought of it. The gravy was so thick and flavorsome - and the fish head was so tasty.

Big serving - definitely for more than 2 person

After that, we continued the drive to Kuantan - which took about 2-and-a-half hours from Raub town. Visited a student at OSK securities - friendly bunch of people there.

For dinner, we went to MFK (Midnite Food Court) - which was recommended by the student's supervisor at OSK - the food was not up to our expectations though.

The next morning, we started the journey at about 10 a.m. towards K.L. - to visit Mages for lunch; and attend a friend's wedding later that evening in Klang; and go for supper later and stay at Ai Lin's place. Tired but fun!

Penang Trip - Part 1 - Jeeva's Wedding Dinner

A day after our engagement, we were travelling to Penang to attend my university mate, Jeeva's wedding dinner. It was tiring since I had to leave home only after lunch to start the journey since we still had our guests at home and was held up with all the cleaning up and other stuffs. But the road trip was fun though I was fighting to keep myself awake when driving. Had a great time meeting up with Durai, Shuba and their son Nithish, and Mages and her hubby Selvam during Jeeva's wedding dinner; also met another of my university mate – totally excited - catching up and reminiscing the jolly-good schooling and university days.

Penang trip - Part 2 - The Food!

Besides to attend my friend's wedding dinner, we also went to Penang to feast in its culinary delights, of course! We made a list of must-try Penang food and made a vow to ourselves to work-out all the excess pounds that we gained in Penang. Since time was the biggest contraint (besides the limited capacity of our stomachs, of course), we shared all the dishes we ordered. We indeed ate alot within the span of 1-and-a-half day.

Cendol

Prawn Mee (called as Hokkien Mee only in Penang) - damn good!

Penang Asam Laksa (I totally enjoyed it!)

Lor Bak

Yam Cake (it was the best Yam cake I've tried)

Penang Char Kuey Teow (Comments: so so for me)

Banana and jackfruit fritters (the best!)

The setting in the traditional coffeeshop

I am Engaged!

I am so engaged! To a wonderful man, Alfred. The engagement function went great! Everything went on smoothly and it turned out beyond my expectation - thank God! All the efforts taken in planning the engagement was worth it; and the pictures will be the token of memory which we will cherish for the rest of our lives together. Thank you to all our family and friends for lighting up our special day.