Food for you?

I can never understand some people. They can eat anything. There is nothing in the world that they cannot take. They simply grab and swallow anything that placed in front of them.

I do not envy neither do I condemn anyone with such eating behavior, but sometimes I do not think that I am that adventurous enough to try anything extraordinary (to some, it is very ordinary!).

I watched a food documentary and it shown some of the bizarre food that you can ever think of that people do really eat around the world. Imagine eating a poisonous scorpion, live baby rat or monkey’s brain. Would you dare to try them?? I think I will chicken out or faint if those foods are placed right at my face!!

I heard of a story of someone turned into vegan when she saw a tortoise been slaughtered for its meat and shell. She vowed not to take any animal meats and products since then.

The most bizarre (to me) food I ever tasted is crocodile’s meat. It may consider exotic food in some part of the world, but for Chinese, they believe crocodile’s meat has some medicinal value. Don’t ask me what is the value, I don't bother to know. Anyway, I tried it once. The feeling of eating it was not comfortable, I just felt like the crocodile is looking back at me. Know what I trying to say?? Why I don’t feel guilty when I am having chicken, duck or fish? Because we are supposed to eat them, as it is a natural food cycle?

An extra hand

Hubby is complaining about the weekly cleaning lady even though he is miles away from home. He received call from the cleaning lady saying she couldn’t make it today, so asked whether can come over tomorrow instead. I have no choice but to call the cleaning lady back saying I wouldn’t be at home tomorrow as I am working so she has to skip this week and come next Saturday.

As for hubby, he was saying how unreliable she is, we have to fit to her time instead of her fitting to our time. Not only that, he has been complaining about the way she cleans our house. Not that sparkly clean anymore, unlike the first few rounds. Sigh! Anyway, I am not complaining much as I am comfortable with such arrangement for the time being. I don’t have times to clean up the whole house although it is only a terrace corner house. But again, there are some many stuff around the house, so it does require quite a bit of clearing and cleaning to do if you really get down to doing them!

As I was saying, I need the extra hands as much as I can for time being. Initially plan to have a stay-in maid, but we do not have enough room for her. There is left one room vacant, but it is reserved for my parents-in-law as they drop by Kuching very often nowadays. So if we do get a maid, then where my parents-in-law is going to sleep?? We have been weighing the cost of having own maid than having a weekly cleaning lady to come over. RM30 per session, so one month it costs RM120. If we have maid, then she will be looking after little gal, saving the RM500 fee. RM500 is pretty expensive in Kuching for a baby sitter, but usually I pick little gal late in the evening if I go to aerobic. Furthermore, I am expecting to work pretty late soon. So an extra RM100 for her time is nothing since she has been looking after our little gal well.

Quiet this side

Darling hubby SMSed me around 530pm telling me that he was on Happy Hours once arrived KL this afternoon. Geez! Should I be jealous or just laughing thinking he is having all the fun on the other side of the ocean?

It was pretty quiet at home, only me and little gal. Luckily I have little gal as companion otherwise I would be bored to death at home. Last night's thunder and rain were very extreme that our electricity tripped more than 4 times!! Last night there were hubby and sis-in-law. If the electricity tripping tonight with only me and little gal, I know I have to save both of us! What to do? Luckily I have a spare touchlight in the room for emergency. Lighters are available too. You know, smokers. They tend to like to leave lighters around, in the bedroom, balcony and even bathroom. But lighters can be dangerous too. I can hear the thunder now, but so far no rain yet!! Pray to god that it would not be any heavy rain and cold night again.

What me and little gal would be doing for the couple of days with the dad's absence? We can think of something for ourselves. I am going to bring little gal for her vaccination tomorrow morning after breakfast then follow me to my office in the morning for a short while. Hanging around at my parents' place sound good too. As for Sunday, I would be working in the afternoon, so need to trouble baby sitter to look after little gal for a while......

Home Alone

I was chatting with my sister via Messenger and she asked whether I am afraid to be alone at home. I told her I am not afraid, I have little gal as my companion. *wink*

She was actually commenting that my hubby and sister-in-law would be flying away this weekend, and me and little gal would be alone at night. My sister offer her room for our shelter should we decided to stay over for a night and so. Hmm, I have yet to decide whether I want to put up a shelter over her place as I would be working on Sunday afternoon and do not want to trouble her with little gal. Some more, little gal is very naughty and will cry for me. It would be wiser choice to place her at her baby sitter's house.

As young I have never like to go out at night, prefer to stay at home watching television. I were used to be home alone, with the rest of the family going out for window shopping or supper. You can call me a watchdog for the house! *laugh* So, now that I am older, I tend to like to stay at home more. Gosh, I must admit that I am older! I seldom watch television now, but catching up on books and magazine. And of course teaching and playing with little gal are some of my night activities now. I am no longer that keen to go out at night. Do you feel the same once you have family too? Or just me?? *wink*

Not feeling well

I had a stomach upset since Monday evening, must be the curry that I ate for dinner. Took 1 day sick leave yesterday and rest at home. My stomach is getting better today but still grumbling occasionally. Doctor advised me not to take milk, spicy and oily food as not to upset my stomach further. So no chilli, curry and laksa for me for few days. Sigh!

I wish I could

Sometimes I wish I could online 24 hours a day and posting and blog-hopping as much as I could. Nah, unless I am a saint and no need sleep, I would love to jump into my blog and do the things I like. And of course do not care what the world outside my bedroom be and with hubby and little gal screaming next to me when I do this posting! Hahahahah!

But I believe come rain or shine, a blogger is always a person that cheerfully express his or her ideas and feelings to everyone that care to share with him or her!! A blogger will never stop or give up on himself/herself and his/her blog(s)! That is what a true blogger should be.

It has been more than 6 months since I start blogging and I love the experiences and funs I have shared with other bloggers. It has been wonderful knowing all those nice people around the world. I am grateful to all my blogger friends who have been there, supporting and encouraging me all this while. Thank you to all of you. So grateful as I am, I would love to pass this beautiful award to everyone in my link. Jen, thank you for handing me this award, you are a true daily blogger yourself! Thanks everyone and have a nice weekend!

Are you too nice?

When there is a boring task to be completed, do you find yourself told to do it?? What is your reaction to it? Do you complain if you feel you are being put upon or you just swallow it and get down to the task immediately?

Another scenario. A friend borrowed your favourite dress. When she returned the dress to you, it is complete with food stains and the worst thing is the friend did not tell you about it. What would you do? Say nothing and wash it yourself or tell her to get it cleaned at her expenses?

Are you being too nice to people? Sometimes it depends on what situation should you be nice to others. Do not let people take advantage of your good nature and kindness. Once a while, you will need to stand up for yourself and when you are right, stand your ground. Do not become a doormat.

It is good to help people but do not let them exploit your kind nature. Extend your hand when people genuinely need your help. Sometime running the occasional errand or drive a friend home does not mean that you are being taken advantage of. Just remember there are people out there that really need your help. Be smart in recognizing who worth your helping hand and who is just duping you to be their servant!

Free credit score

Hubby told me that he has finally settled one of this credit card recently. How glad I am, as he has been struggling with his debts. He is holding 3 credit cards under his name. He has started to file his credit statements and keeping good records of his accounts.

I was amazed with his progress and recent good credit score so he told me his secret. He has started to analyze his credit report well by keeping scores of all his credits every month. According to hubby, maintaining a good credit report is vital in improving his credit score. He knows where his credit goes, what the score is and how to settle debts. He has induced me to get free credit score. Although I am currently holding one credit card, I have get myself a free credit score in case in the future I am planning to apply for another one. I am benefiting from the online credit bureaus services by knowing how to manage by credit and create good credit rating as well as protecting myself from any card frauds.

I have no worries about credit debts and card frauds since I get the free credit score and using the services fromonline credit bureaus. Now I have good sleep every night.

Do not give up

I was very sad when I read Haney’s post in her blog. She has been thinking of quitting from her blog due to some disturbance from inconsiderate readers and unable to concentrate on other priorities of her life. I understand her predicament as I have been through the same problems before.

I started my blog end of last year. I met many good people on the blogging world and they have become my pals since then. I have to admit I admire their blogs very much too. They are unique in the own rights. Few months back, I was suddenly swamped by nasty comments from anonymous readers. I never have such problems during my first 5 months. I do not understand why some people did it but I do not mean any harm to anyone and that is not the attention I have intended for my blog.

I have apologized to my readers in case I offended any of them, but the nasty comments did not stop. They continued to pour in till it went out of control. My comment boxes have been used like those free chat room services. It was frustrating and I almost think of quitting that time. However I knew that if I quit just like that, I would be unhappy. The only people that are happy would be those people. In the end I decided to block the anonymous comments to prevent more unwanted comments coming in. Sorry to other genuine commenter, I apologize if you can no longer post your comments in my blog, but should you have anything that you would like to voice up, you are welcome to email me anytime.

As for time spent on blogging, I have learnt to allocate my times properly. Like Haney, my family is still my number one priority. I only do posting when I am free or when there is something worth mentioning and shared with others. I believe you may have noticed that I am cutting down on my postings since last month. It does not mean that I am going to neglect my blog. Not neglecting, but prioritizing my time and effort. On one part, I am spending more times with my family too. Hubby has started new job and he has a lot of pressures at work. So I am trying to spend as much time as I can with him, sharing his problems and helping him out in whatever I can. As for little gal, she is getting less attached to me, thank god. She is spending more times in front of television nowadays. *wink*

So to all my blogger friends, if you have ever thought of quitting at one time, please re-consider. Do not give up easily. Think of the main reason why you started your blog in the first place. Is it worth giving up? Your blog is like your baby. You create them, shape, nurture and bring them up to be something unique. Just because someone made you want to quit, you should not think that way. I believe everyone would not give up easily on their children just because of an obstacle, right?? So, Haney, be strong. Me, including your other blogger friends will always stand by you.

It's your day, daddy

To all daddy around the world, Happy Daddy's Day! You deserve a big pat on the shoulder for the job well done. You are the best. :) It is your day tomorrow, so let's celebrate it with loves and joys with your loved ones.

Little flowers

I got this nice flower pot from Green Heights Mall yesterday. Aren't the flowers lovely? The pot is their gifts to those attended their opening ceremony and also a part of their "Go Green" campaign. This pot is now stand overlooking my balcony. The flowers close at night and they bloom again in the morning. There is one petal with slight pink colour on it, as you can notice in the above picture.

That's my line

We, Malaysian has always pride ourselves to be courteous and polite. We have been reminded to be courteous to others, regardless of age, race and gender. Remember the television advertisement on giving our seat to other in need in the commuter? However I cannot deny that sometimes certain people are just too arrogant and inconsiderate to others.

Like what our government trying to educate us on giving our seat to those in need such as elderly, pregnant women and disabled people may it be in bus or commuter, I am proud to say that the situation is getting better now compared to 10 years ago. I remember when I was studying in West Malaysia, using commuters and buses to go from one place to another. It is common sight to see people cramping in the commuters and buses, and no one giving their seats easily to other.

When it comes to queuing up, I believe not everyone has that patience to wait in the queue. Long line at the payment counter. You will notice someone cutting another person’s queue. What’s more annoying is that the inconsiderate b*****d pretend that it is alright and ignore other people’s criticizing look. Why can’t he wait like other people too. We are waiting and taking our times waiting to pay, and suddenly another person cutting the line.

I read in The Star dated 10 June, in one article a ikan bakar seller in Kuantan was assaulted by an agitated customer. The proprietor told the customer to stay in line as the customer himself was cutting the long queue by walking up to the head of the queue. It did not reported as on how the seller tell the customer to wait in line, but what cause the customer to lose his temper and assault the seller in front of many customers??

From this incident, it is clearly that it is becoming scary and challenging for a person (may it be rightful owner, cashier or other customer) to tell the person to queue in line. We don’t know the consequences, right? We may be assaulted when the other is wrong. Maybe with a right approach we can get the other person to understand and willingly to wait in queue. My question is why can’t a person wait patiently in first place when other is also taking their times to wait too??

New Neighbourhood mall

A new mall has opened near my place today. Green Heights Mall! Not only that. Finally Cold Storage has opened its first store in East Malaysia in Green Heights Mall. Isn’t it exciting? It brings a new shopping experience to Kuchingnites.

With opening of the new mall, customers are also able to join their lucky draw with the brand new Proton Persona as grand prize. Just spend RM20 from any of the participating outlets and you can try your lucky in winning a brand new car. *wink* I am not looking forward to winning any car, but with Cold Storage there, you definitely sure that I would be patronizing and buying my groceries there very often! Check out their website.

Potato or Rice

Once a while I am bored of rice, so I do not mind trying noodles and Western meal. I try to cut down on carbohydrate. For this week I have been taking potatoes, salad, baked beans and Campbell soup for dinner. It may not sound healthy but at least I have try to cut down on some carbohydrate and build up my protein intake.

When I was young, I never like to eat potatoes. My least favourite dish. I seldom dinish my French fries or potato wedges when I ate at KFC or McD.

I slowly to take potato dishes, as hubby adores potatoes so much. So you can say that I have been influenced by hubby in change of taste. Since both of us are on diet and aiming to be healthy this year, we are working together to stay away from rice as much as we can, especially dinner.

Hubby has been very hardworking for the past few days fixing our dinner. Since he just started working in new company, he came back earlier than I did. He fixed his signatory dish. Bacon, baked beans, mashed potatoes, soup, salad and garlic bread. I think I am starting to enjoy taking Western cuisine more than Asian cuisine now. *wink*

Hubby is cooking!

Hubby is cooking dinner tonight. As usual, his favourite dish! :) And I am still stuffed from the dinner.

If you are wondering what is the occasion? It is our anniversary, so hubby is taking the pleasure of cooking for two of us. He said save more and can enjoy dinner at home than eating outside. *wink*

Your best companion?

With an increasing rate of house break-in and robbery there is a need to take necessary precaution measures to protect your house, valuables and even yourself.

A friend of mine is going to move into a new home soon. As most of the time the house would be empty during the day time and her alone at night as hubby is operating a shop and would be home very late after closing, she told me that she plans to get a dog. A German shepherd to act as her companion and home watcher.

Having a dog sounds good as it can help to look after your house. But a dog is a big responsibility as you need to take care of it well. They need to be feed, bathe, bring out for a walk and trained to be obedient.

The best dog trainer I knew all my life is my mum. She is simply good with dogs. All dogs under her care are obedient and listen to her instructions only. We have reared Rottweilers, Shih Tzu, Dalmatian, Golden Retriever, and other local breed dogs. Rottweilers are very fierce and pretty hard to train. Our Rottweilers only listen to my mum, no one dare to touch or feed them. The easiest to train is Shih Tzu. They learn tricks and listen to instructions fast. Like other dogs, Shih Tzu is easily jealous of other dogs and crave for attention.

I never have the patience to train dogs. I enjoy petting them but if you ask me to keep one, a definitely No-No. It is such a big responsibility to handle one. I prefer to go back to my mum’s place and play and pet them for a while then pass back to my mum. *wink* Hubby reared dogs before. Twice. One was a Rottweiler, and another was mixed breed of Dalmatian and Doberman. He used to go to the cage and talked his dog in the evening, bathe and feed them. One went missing as it got loose from its cage and ran out from the house, and another died of disease. Since then, he told me he will not get any dogs as he grew tired and sad to lose them. As for the cage, it is now become a storage space to keep garden and house tools.

There goes my resolution

After few weeks of break from exercise, I can feel that I am gaining some weight. Why not? Eating like no-one-care and having dinner at such hours of the night during the holiday. So, thought coming back to Kuching I can start my aerobic regime immediately today.

However the aerobic class was cancelled as the instructor is sick! So much for my enthusiasm. I have not been going to my aerobic classes for almost 3 weeks (this week is 3rd week), as on the first week, the instructor was on a pre-Gawai leave. Then last week, I was in KL and the class was not even on since lesser participants due to public holiday and school holiday.

So no classes for almost 3 weeks and I am breaking my new year resolution of been constantly going to aerobic classes. A colleague recommended me another aerobic centre, very near to my work place. I shall give it a try tomorrow. Since it is nearer and started only at 545pm, it would be an ideal choice to give it a try. My current class start at 530pm and it is about 30 minutes drive from my work place. However it is in between of little gal’s babysitter’ house and our house, so I usually reach home around 7pm after the class. I guess with petrol increasing and fuel is very expensive, I may have to plan my trip well, and start to weigh the cost of going to this place and that place.

What is that noise??

What would you expect when it is a holiday or weekend? Relaxing day in my dictionary. But not anymore with a new neighbour moving in earlier this month.

God, not only is the new neighbour (young couple) unfriendly, they also create some noise in the used-to-be-quiet neighbourhood. It happened this morning when I woke up by a loud music. Yes, the neighbour was playing his drum instrument. Early in the morning. What an inconsiderate guy!! My sis-in-law commented that for the past one week, it has been on and off almost every day! Is this guy practise for some contest or what??

The music (or should I said a noise pollution?) continue for almost an hour. Then it happened again this afternoon when I tried to take my afternoon nap. Sigh! Instead of getting my sleep, I having a headache from the noise and lack of quality sleep. Oh boy, I do hope that this will not continue. I have asked hubby to be friend to the new neighbour and maybe can hint them on not making too much noise.

Good to be home

There is nowhere great but been in your own home. It is good to be back to Kuching. I do miss Kuching, especially the familiar atmosphere, my car, food, roads and of course little gal.

I woke up pretty early today (as usual), little gal hopping on the bed trying to wake up her daddy and mummy. After taking my shower, I sent her to babysitter’s house. She is happy to be there as both babysitter’s daughter and granddaughter are around for the school holiday. So she has companion there.

What I did beside updating my blog and did some blog hopping this morning?? Well, busy unpack my bags, doing some laundry and cleaning up the room. Then I went out around 11am.

I am actually just came back from outside, it was pretty warm out there. I did my grocery shopping, dropped by my mum’s place for lunch and sent my car for a quick car wash! Everything was done in 2 hours! Now that is life in Kuching! *wink* My mum was commenting that I am fatter after the holiday! What!? Just been away for 4 days and I have gained some weight? Well, what ever it is, it is time for diet and serious exercises. *wink*

Jen asked me do I start to miss KL? To be frank, yes I do! I miss the shopping centre, good food and friends! Kuching – KL is just a distance, not so far with the convenience of air flight. It is no longer 1 hour and 45 minutes trip. The “to” and “back” flights only took less than 1 hour and 30 minutes. Yes, tomorrow is a public holiday! I have 2 more days before going back to work on Monday! Sigh! I am pretty sure the office will be busy like bee hives and I will need times to catch up with all those buzzing next week.

Pink Ribbon Month

I am helping Constance Chan to pass along this meaningful tag to all bloggers around the world. Breast cancer is not a light matter, it affects women and also men as well. Breast cancer is becoming a number one killer in every women. Simply click onto The Breast Cancer Site and if the site receives 8 million clicks, their sponsor will donate $10,000 for more free mammograms. Please help to save lives, as one click is all you need to do.

I am back

Guys, I am back from my holiday. I went to KL last Sunday. Hubby attended his training in KL, while I took the opportunity to shop around and catching up with old friends. Sales were everywhere but not that extensive; I guess most outlets are waiting for the Mega Sales months which are starting next month. Anyway, I managed to grab some good bargains for myself, hubby and little gal.

We did not bring little gal along, we left her to her baby sitter on Sunday afternoon. It was a difficult part of leaving her behind while I were enjoying myself in KL. (Yeah, it makes me guilty too, but I guess it is a transition where every parents and children has to face, isn’t it? *wink*) We flew in around 4pm on Sunday afternoon but I took an earlier flight back to Kuching on Thursday morning where as hubby was in the afternoon.

Once we reached our hotel on Sunday evening, we called Jen and her babe up for a dinner. It was fun to meet up with Jen and her babe, and they were generous enough to drive us around for nice dinner somewhere at Sunway area. Nice meeting you again, Jen. Thank you for sparing your times meeting us. *wink*

For the next 3 days, after bidding hubby goodbye and had my breakfast, an old friend came to pick me up from the hotel. We went to 1 Utama on the first day, then Sunway Pyramid on second day, and back to 1 Utama on third day since I did not finish walking around on first day. Check out what I have bought.

My first day shopping

2nd day shopping. Lesser compared to 1st day

Every evening, we met up with Jen and babe for dinner. In Kuching, our dinner is usually around 6pm something, but here it was around 9pm something. It was like takeing a supper for me. *wink* The latest dinner we had was on Wednesday night, we had it around 11pm. Blame the petrol price hike. When the news of price of petrol increased to RM2.70 on Wednesday afternoon, everyone rushing like mad to the petrol station to fill up their cars. We stuck in the traffic jam from 1 Utama to our hotel in PJ for 3 hours!! What’s more! Jen’s car also almost out of oil! Luckily our patience paid off, we manage to fill up the car amid chaos at one of the petrol station. So much for the jam and petrol adventure! *wink* I heard from a friend that there were a demonstration somewhere in Satok Kuching yesterday in regards to the price hike?!

Oyster Mee Sua (RM6.00) from Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks. I tried its XXL Crispy Chicken (RM6.00) too!

Banana Walnut Belgian Waffle (RM7.50) at Waffle World. At the back is Caramel Banana Belgian Waffle (RM6.60)

Food we had at SS15 on Monday evening. 5 of us, eating like we never had our meal before! Hahaha. Mostly seafood dishes if you can see here.

Amid the chaos, I have much fun, shopping around, catching up with old friends and good food. I think I gain few kilos, having late dinner! *laugh* If you want to know my adventure, you can check out at Jen's place too! She has been my story teller cum diary for the past few days! *wink* Thanks Jen.