Tanjung Tualang

This morning, the mouse trap was snapped shut and there was an occupant within.


Remy's friend


They look alike, don't they?


Please, I beg you. Let me go!


Black eyes staring out for sympathy. This was probably one of its last stares before it was drowned and thrown into the big drain.

***

Ju Dee came over because of her plight at home and Crystle greeted her 'warmly' as usual. Oh, and not to forget that she is a proud owner of a row of white teeth.

I use a mixture of 50/50 of Darlie and Colgate. Don't pray pray ah... See how they shine! *ting ting ting*

Let's move on to the highlight of the day. After looking at the gross and smelly mouse, you would want to cleanse your eyes with some happy pictures.

Tanjung Tualang Road Trip

I love seafood but I rarely get the chance to eat because of where I am staying. There is hardly any good seafood here in Ipoh. So, Ju Dee, Rooney, miss and I headed off to Tanjung Tualang hunting for good seafood, especially the prawns and the crabs!

There were a few seafood restaurants scattered around Tualang and Rooney led us to one of it. Too bad I did not notice the name of the restaurant.

Time to salivate!

As usual, Ju Dee is our photographer. She is becoming better at it.


Paku-pakis fried with belacan


Fried squid


Butter prawns. Yummy!


Kam Fung Fish


Crabs


While waiting for food


Testing 1, 2, 3, SNAP!


We became bloated people filled with seafood swimming in our stomachs.


My after-plate filled with craps from the crabs.


Chicken tail lover and I must snap a picture together wherever we go!


The 'before' of the butter prawns. They are so beautiful. I wonder if they glow in the dark. Haha...

P/S: Tomorrow lectures resume and I don't want to go back to college. Sigh.

Crazy Little Thing Called ♥

The Footstool Players were as good as ever. I had tremendous joy watching them perform for God and the message in each skit impacted me. The title of the play was 'Crazy Little Thing Called L.O.V.E.'. So many different kinds of representations of love and the ways love conquers all arguments and conflicts were shown. It was really touching. I did not cry but that does not mean I am hard-hearted. I rarely show any signs of emotion unless if it's too overwhelming. A confession to make though: I did cry when I watched Titanic for the first and second time.

I wrote a story of a blown-away nest today with the inspiration credited to my mom. Here is how the story goes with some values that are worthy for imperfect humans such as us to learn. This story is based on a true story but I must clarify that although I am writing in the first person's point of view, the one who really saw the nest was not me. It was definitely someone else I am so closely acquainted too whose identity you could have guessed by now if you had paid attention.

An Ending Of Tragic Story Is The Beginning Of A Beautiful Story

I don't know since when, but as I opened the window one day, I saw a bird nest which is not in the least beautiful hanging in the coiled wire of the tv aerial. It first appeared to be a tiny little thing but as the days went by, the sparrows worked hard on it and it materialised into something that was capable of holding little nestlings. The story should have a happy ending with the Papa Sparrow and Mama Sparrow living with their young but it was not so. A few days later, nature took its course and sent a strong wind towards the direction of the tv aerial and poof, blew the nest away, which probably housed some eggs of the nestlings-to-be by then. The nest was gone in a blink of an eye.

Humans like us might overlook the tiny details around us as we are so caught up with other things claimed to be more major. Who cares for blown-away nests and pathetic birds anyway, some of you might say. If only we would stop and observe into the lives of others, not only the lives of other people but also the lives of species different from our own, we might be able to learn a thing or two from them.

Just like the sparrows, we work hard to gain or attain a higher level in life. The sparrows build nests for protection from rain or shine and also to be made into a home for their family. Day after day, they collected dust, hay, hair and other materials they could pick up from the ground to form their future home. The strong wind was something unexpected that destroyed the fruit of labour of the sparrows, just like the obstacles we face daily and everything we strive for seems pointless when they hinder us from moving forward or starting over when things turn sour. So, where do we go from there?

The story of the sparrows does not end after the nest was blown away. Life needs to move on and it is no use to lament over the destroyed nest. I am no sparrow but it is sensible that they build a new nest later on, this time, choosing carefully the location of the nest so that history does not repeat twice. If they are lucky, they are able to build a versatile nest free from the threat of destruction and then get their happy ending with the ever enlarging nest as a result from the increasing number of nestlings as time goes by.

Are we willing to start over and have brand new chances of success in the next try?

THE END

If only I can write that amount of words easily for assignments. Now I feel like turning into a sparrow and build nests all day long.

The first few days of the break

WARNING: No pictures ahead. So, be prepared to read all the way through. It's a short entry anyway, so it will not strain your eyes that badly.

First of all, I want to thank the Lord for giving me such great Raya visits and I get to eat good food on top of meeting people, sort of a reunion after not meeting for quite some time. From Sunday afternoon to last night, I had rendang and lemang/ketupat for every meal. I took the opportunity to eat all I could as I only get to eat this festive food once a year. Next year seems to be a long way to go so I better eat more this time round. =D

Wai Leng is back from uni and I will be meeting her at Secret Recipe at 1-ish later. I am finally going out again! I feel a little laid back this semester for a reason I am not even sure of. Might be due to the pandemic or I should just blame on my pure laziness. I realize that I need some time off so I am taking this one week break a chance to meet friends with the price of putting the assignment on hold to be paid. So much to do yet so little time. Yeah, that's always the excuse for the likes like me. Bad time management should be the real reason.

Miss lent me this novel by Frank McCourt (I always think it's McCaught, don't know why) entitled Teacher Man. It's a page turner. He's the first author I know who does not insert inverted commas for all the dialogues in his writings. Sometimes I have to guess who said this or that but it's still interesting.

Stalling period begins... AGAIN.

My Raya break officially starts today and I am stalling. Now it's confirmed I have another assignment coming up for F&B and if I have to do it individually, I will definitely protest because it's simply unfair. It has been one assignment per subject ever since forever and why change it when HND is going to phase out in two years' time (to be more accurate, it's only for another 4 semesters)? This is just ridiculous.

I should talk about happier things and forget about the dreadful assignments.

First thing on the list: I am going to celebrate this coming Raya with lemangs and ayam masak merah! I am now stuffed from dinner but the thought of more food makes me crave for more. I guess that's what festivals do to you. It has the food charm that you can never resist until they are over.

Second thing: Joanna's coming back! Will be planning to have a back-to-back movie session with her. Let's watch TheUgly Truth and G-Force/whatever else that is convenient. I can't wait.

Third thing: Haven't thought about it yet.

***

Dad suddenly suggested Kopitiam for lunch today. I ordered a set lunch of chicken curry rice and Pepsi float.


The curry had a little too much coconut milk in it. I don't really like it.


I ♥ vanilla ice-cream in soft drinks. They have a chemistry that cannot be explained.

P/S: I enjoyed today as I met some friends tonight unexpectedly. Catching up feels so good. I miss my high school friends even more now.

Stamped!

College has implemented a health scan for everyone. I was scanned (using a pistol-like thermometer) like the barcodes that you can find on items in the supermarket. Then, the guard stamped an 'OK' on the back of my right hand. Oh good, I am now college's property. It's just so weird. But I guess it's a necessary step to take against H1N1. Now I have excuse not to go to college whenever I have a temperature. =P

There'll be another 'OK' stamp on my hand tomorrow. Hey, I can start collecting them like collectibles. Haha.

I had a lovely lunch yesterday so I am going to brag about it.


A plate of roast ducks that is so appealing that I finished all of them on my own!

(Just kidding, sis shared them with me.)


No more ducks!

♥Lovely dinner♥

These days, I have the tendency to put up pictures of food. This entry will be of no exception. Had a lovely dinner at Ola Ola just now.

The first course was soup and bread. The bread was toasted to perfection. Sorry, no pic of the bread. It looked like, well, BREAD! So, there's nothing special in its appearance. Hehe!!


Spaghetti bolognaise

I ♥ the plate the most! It looked so Black Canyon-ish.


Tomato juice. Too much water. Too bland for my liking.

Plus, a scoop of chocolate ice-cream to finish off the courses. Love the icre-cream lots!

P/S: I am a potential graduate. First time I heard of such a thing. I guess everyone IS a potential graduate. =)

Green and round mooncake + dinner at 090909

As promised, here's a round and delicious mooncake that I wish to share with all of you. Just sharing the picture as the real thing is fully digested by now.

Please forgive me for insulting other photographers out there. I didn't mean to. Poor camera and poor lightings will give you this.


Before it is cut. The top is covered with flakes so you cannot see the words on the mooncake. It says '莲蓉' which means lotus paste.


Super yummy lotus paste inside.

Dinner at this auspicious date: 09/09/09


Clockwise from the chili sauce: fried chickens, steamed egg, watercress soup and fries

Simply delicious.

A plate of ham and egg rice to make you salivate. Yummy!

Lunch of the day. Ham and egg rice.


It's delicious and only costs RM3.50

I feel like posting up my lunch here as I am doing my F&B Operations assignment. How appropriate.

The temperature is rising and I am feeling very warm. Rain, please come back. I need you so that I can have a better mood to type and to do everything else. You make me sleep better at night too.

P/S: I am sorry I did not keep my promise about posting the mooncake picture in the previous entry. I will post the picture up as soon as possible. =)

A new field found

I have never stretched my muscles for quite a long time until a few days ago, my sis suggested, "Hey, let's go jogging." I thought for a while and I realized that I should start exercising again so I agreed to it. She found a nice field nearby. The pictures below will do the description of how nice it is.

I remember the first time we went to that field was Wednesday and there were very few people then. Probably due to the virus that people are staying home, or so I thought. It was only later that I realized that it's Hungry Ghost Festival. So that's what keeping the residences from taking a stroll or working out in the field.

Today, we went to the little gym in disguise again and this time, I did not forget to snap some pictures unlike the last time.

Pebbles/Stone path


Paved neatly. I walked on the stones for a while. It was painful at first but I soon got used to it.


Rough or smooth? You can choose whether to walk on the bigger stones or the smaller ones. I recommend the smaller ones.

Playground


Kids paradise. Only humans who are 12 years old and below are allowed.

(But I tried the swing. It looks durable.) =P

Field and track


Cycling/jogging/ strolling track and the vast space for kite-flying

Open space gym


Mini gym! You can see there is a stationary bike, air walker and some other interesting equipments for muscle-building at this part of the field. With this place in existence, I think I will be more hardworking to exercise from now on.


So colourful

Since I am speaking of keeping the body fit, here's a picture of some green apples that contribute a lot of benefits to great health.


GREEN APPLES! Eunice drilled the holes using her finger. Wow! We can save the money to buy drills on something else.

On another note, choir practice started today. Time to crack some mirrors! Eeeeekkk!!!

Smooth-sailing Saturday. The triple S.

Today everything went smoothly. The Holy Spirit works wonders, I tell you. I know I can never stand in front of people, speaking for a good few minutes without the help from God. All glory to God! I hope I did catch some lightnings today. =)

I have procrastinated again. I have always felt lazy on weekends hence, all my assignments have been put on hold today. Being able to finish the first assignment has got me complacent. I have 5 more weeks till the deadline. I shall finish one big chunk of it on Monday. I promise!

I bought another two mooncakes with my favourite type of dough. This time they are not the tiny ones but the regular-sized mooncakes. They are prised at RM2.50 each. Will reveal them in the next post.

Nothing much to say further for the time being so I shall end here with a picture of my twisted hair the day before yesterday.


I love the way my hair shone!

(Okay, narcissim strikes! I should just shut up and go to bed.)

Nitez, people!

Happy Mooncake Festival in advance! 中秋节快乐!!

Independence Day is over and I have no reasons left to take a break from assignments. I used up my entire day without making the attempt to at least type a few words for Management Accounting. I am contented with the self-declared break I took and tomorrow, I shall resume to typing like there's no tomorrow. I will be continually 'tortured' this way for another one month plus or so. It's really sad.

The Mooncake Festival is round the corner but I have never been a fan of the regular mooncakes (you know, the ones with brown skins) for a few years now. I used to love mooncakes very much but now that I am older, my taste buds have become more sensitive and find the sweetness in them overpowering. But ironically, I love mooncakes that are coated with this type of dough (shown as below).


The character '月' in the middle of the little mooncakes means 'moon'. These contain lotus paste within them. There is another one with the character '中' which means 'mid' but they contain red beans which I don't really like so we only bought the ones with lotus paste.

There are pigs for sale too! Albeit all the fuss about swine flu, I bought one. It's 100% harmless. Free from any flu whatsoever. Let me introduce to you my new pet.









TADAA!!!!





Isn't she cute? I always love to think that all cute animals are female because girls always look better than boys.

How can I eat you when you are so cute, piggy?