Mindless Musings

Bed shopping

2011-12-03T13:26:00.001+08:00

Ghee. Broke like shit. Just bought mattress + divan + headboard

Rm3899. But I guess it has to be done *bleeding*

One-eyed Jack for a Day

2011-10-25T18:15:00.000+08:00

Ok let's take a break from all the house reports...

I've been having this stye/chalazion (in Hokkien we call it "bak jiam") for so many months. Close to half a year actually. Hehehe. It's not that I never took any medication to cure it but the minute it cures (pops) another one grows back in its place within the period of few days. I got fed up with it that I finally bit the bullet and went to see an eye specialist last Saturday to have it surgically removed.

I went to the the Oh eye specialist clinic at burmah road and it was my first time there! I was surprised to find a very classical looking clinic with classical looking instruments and hey! Even the doc is "classical looking" :x

The doctor first came in to look at my condition and he tried to clean my lids with a lid cleaner solution and he was so rough :( reminded me so much of how my dad used to clean our faces in the morning. Lol! It's a wonder I still went ahead with the procedure eh? Maybe because I felt kinda "comfortable" with him cos he reminded me of my dad in that aspect. Lol!

But just before the procedure, he told the nurses to treat me with "tender loving care". Lol. That's what he really said! And just before he injected me with the anaesthetics, he told me "bei thia eh" (it's not going to hurt) and one of the nurse quickly came and held my hands. Heehee. I felt so loved. *sobs*

And this was me on saturday...

Yep! I had to live with one eye for one full day on Saturday...this I did not bargain for cos I though it was going to be a fairly simple procedure and I would be running around in shopping malls after that. Apparently not! Anyway the bandage is off now, and my eye is recovering although it is watery and building up lots of eye wax. Heehee. Why, this morning my eyes were "taped" shut when I woke up! Lol! Ok everybody say "EEEEEwwwwwww"

House Progress Report Epi 8 (S02)

2011-10-18T21:56:00.002+08:00

Ok...looks like the "season 2" of my house progress report is gonna be a pretty short one. At "episode 8" my story is about to finish. Yes! The renovation is finally nearing it's end! In fact, our contractor told us he's going to finish by tomorrow! Yippee!!!

Forgot to post this photo up yesterday, but could you believe buying a toilet bowl, a wash basin and bath accessories such as towel railing, hand shower, etc could amount up to rm900. Never take toilet bowls for granted again!

This was how the common bathroom looks like in the afternoon when we went over...

This is the rm900 toilet bowls and sinks...

The floor of the common bathroom before tiles were put up...

Called up the cabinet guy to come and do the final measurements before finalizing on the actual cabinet doors. As you can see, our cabinets would be from d format cabinet shop. Not too sure how is the quality like, but so far the service provided by our sales rep is pretty good!

Went to look at some lighting last night for the sitting room lighting. Not too sure which one we bought but we bought one of the 2 bulbs light. I think each costed us rm88 excluding the bulbs. The total came up to around rm220

Someone Trying out the LED lights in our shower head...yes! Our showerr head has led lights! Let's hope we don't get electrocuted while bathing...

This is how the common bathroom looked like when we went back at night. All in a day's work...

Have not been to the house yet today, but I guess the toilet bowls and fixtures should be installed by today.

And this here is the Armstrong ceiling boards all installed with the aluminum railings/fixtures

House Progress Report Epi 7 (S02) - All in a day's work

2011-10-17T18:30:00.077+08:00

Ok i must apologize for my lack of words in my previous progress report..but i just can't find time to turn on my macbook and type a few words here...most of my previous posts were typed on my ipad/iphone. I don't know about you, but somehow i've been brought up by my mom to think that hiding in one's room when staying over at someone's house is kinda rude *shrug* So somehow, i just have to go out and sit with my "friend" (who is actually my boss...yeah! i m staying with my boss! :x) and watch TV together with my iPad of course.

So here i am typing it this quick (i hope) post in my office PC where there's a 10 min block quota! Gosh...i hope i can finish it in 10 mins...here goes...

On Saturday, we went over to the house early in the morning and saw that the kitchen is already nicely done...and the workers have already taken the liberty to use my kitchen counter top for the first time *yeay* (not!)

Some of you might have noticed by now, that being on a shoestring budget meant that the first thing to go was granite kitchen tops...its all but a dream...but i'm sure one day in my ONE house, i will have granite kitchen counter tops!!! anyway, we are using 2x2 tiles for the top to "emulate" the look of granite top :P

its still dusty and dirty but can you see my reflection there!!! it's sooo shineyyyy!!!! ♥♥♥ somehow, i'm just so proud of my kitchen counter top but on Saturday i saw one of the worker sitting ON the top while talking on the phone...oh welllllll....

just for fun, here's a photo of our washing machine that was kept in the washing area all these while...

now i could actually use it as a blackboard (or rather dustboard). can you imagine the condition if we were to actually live there while all the renovation is going on? that is why i am once again ever so grateful for having people kind enough to offer us a place to stay during our time of need *sobs* so touched :'( and it has been 3 weeks and counting! and still they have not finished...

and this is the common bathroom...wall tiles are halfway up...

i am quite ashamed to say, i didnt care much about the common bathroom..all i cared about was the master bedroom bathroom cos i foresee myself spending a lot of time there...yes i do love the bathroom a lot :x so the choice of tiles for the common bathroom, i did not play a big part in the selection...so if it turns out ugly, you can't blame me...but if it turns out pretty...you know my "influence" was in the tile selection :P

beige walls and sandstone-like floor (not up yet) but lookie...purple waterproofing!!!

never knew the waterproofing agent is purple! whee...so pretty! for the house renovation noob (i was a noob too until recently), waterproofing is a very very important step when renovating your bathroom (esp high rise) as it makes sure that your neighbour downstairs might not have a waterfall in their bathroom. so it is essential the contractor applies at least 2 or 3 coats of waterproofing. important!

ok now let's bring you to my fav part of the house 'x'

water heater is up, stock cock is up...now i realize the important of concealing wires and pipes...if you buy a new house, there is no way you will spend money to redo all the bathroom tiles just so that your water heater piping is concealed...but with a second hand house, no problemo!

ahhh..my lovely toilet 'x'

i know this is really weird, i don't know why i can't stop gushing about my toilet! and i love that divider wall too! (have i mentioned it before? 'x')

this here is the bidet tap...my choice! (mine!mine!)

the stock cock...shiney! you can see my reflection :P

sorry, i don't know why there are so many photos of the toilet bowl..LOL!

the tap at the sink which is also my selection! :D

and the little hexagonal corner next to the sink...hmm still thinkng what we should put there, perhaps a cabinet...i foresee another trip to Ikea

but we found a defect that day...

i never knew that part is made of plastic! i thought it's supposed to be ceramic too....hmmm a little turned off, but too late to do anything :(

someone getting all worried about his never-ending-flushing toilet...

well i guess if i would love the toilet so much, HE would love it even more since he is going to spend a lot of time there :x

the window in the master bedroom...

After that, we went off in search of ceiling boards for the 2 bathrooms. initially, we thought of doing plaster ceilings for the bathrooms but the quotation came up to be around rm400 for a 42 sq feet ceiling area which I think is unnecessary money spent in a space where no one will ever think of looking at the ceiling. So in the end our contractor recommended us to use ceiling boards. The current ceiling boards are the asbestos type which apparently causes cancer and has been banned. So our only choice is to use these newer types of ceiling boards called the "Armstrong". Again, another jargon in the world of house renovation. I was like what???? When our contractor told us to look for ceiling boards called the Armstrong. He even flexed his muscles while telling us the name of the ceiling.

Not to fret, nothing a little googling couldn't help. It's actually a brand of ceiling board made of those fiber materials which is both affordable and safe to use.

So Armstrong searching we went...we were brought to a deserted warehouse stacked up full with these boards.when our contractor brought us there, the bf whispered to me "this looks like a place where people normally get murdered in movies" -_-"

A box of these contains 10 pieces of the boards and it costs around rm160. Initially our contractor told us he needed 12 pieces and the seller refused to sell loose pieces to us so it meant that we have to buy 2 boxes (20 pieces) just for the extra 2 pieces!

The frugal auntie within leapt and said "no!" when I heard that. I'm not going to buy one whole cos just to get milk! So the bf told the contractor to just reuse the asbestos board for the remaining 2 pieces and guess what? The 2 pieces were just needed to cover up the tiny small areas in the bathroom -_-" lucky for him we decided to buy only one box or else I would have skinned him alive if I found out he made us spend another rm16o for 8 pieces of ceiling board which we are not going to use again! Moral of the story?? Do not trust every word your contractor tells you!

House progress report ep6 (S02)

2011-10-13T22:28:00.001+08:00

Oh gosh. Im getting a little lazy in documenting the house progress. But in a nutshell, the master bedroom bathroom is coming along nicely...I'm loving my soft close toilet bowl and the divider between the shower area and toilet :) I can already imagine putting a cabinet somewhere there.

The kitchen counter top is done too with our 2x2 tiles. Now it's time to call up the cabinet guy to come and do the final measurement and also the kitchen hob n hood people.

As you can see, they've just hacked off the tiles for the outside bathroom. At this rate, I guess it will all be done by next week! Yippeee

Why I love daiso [girly reviews]

2011-10-09T23:07:00.001+08:00

As some of you may know, I'm currently staying at a friend's house while our contractor is smashing out out place. I don't know about you but for me, one of the biggest "problems" a girl could face when staying at someone's house is...when you are having THAT time of the month. I don't know, I just feel that it's inconvenient to throw away the err..."waste". Lol! Especially when your friend is not of the female kind.

So I was quite desperately looking for small little plastic bags for me to "pack" the "waste" preferably black color. When I thought of looking around in daiso. Actually I was just hoping to find small little plastic bags but look what I found!!!

They actually sell these compact little boxes called "etiquette packs"! I don't read Japanese but I think these work very very well for my purpose! It's black and it's small and it fits easily into my bag! God! You don't know how thankful I am to daiso when I saw it :)

Here's to daiso and the crazy but wonderful stuff the Japanese comes up with!

Losing blood

2011-10-05T11:21:00.001+08:00

Ok maybe it's time to take a break from all the house renovation posts (and also bcos we didn't have time to go over n look at the progress :x)

This is only my second time having my blood test in my whole life :( the thought of having my blood unnaturally sucked right out of my veins just gives me the heebies

So woke up super duper early in the morning at 6am to beat the queue

In case you are wondering, it's a company sponsored blood test which starts from 6 to 10am. Since I have a meeting at 8am, I have to make sure I get my turn before that.

Scared out of my wits but I didn't cry or anything!

Muahahah. Ok that's it! So long farewell!

House Progress Report Epi 5 (S02)

2011-10-01T23:29:00.000+08:00

Today is the last day of our tenancy at the rented house. As much as we dislike staying there...we have been looking at this view for more than a year, it holds some memories

packing and moving house is a REAL pain in the ass!
i am never moving again (at least for the next 2 years :P) this is my 2nd house moving in 2 years +/

this is how the bathroom looks like now...everything is coming along pretty well

and here's the kitchen....

so finally we returned our house keys to the landlord...
even though our stay there wasnt entirely pleasant, but i have developed emotional ties to the house :\

here's the bf carrying the last batch of stuff down the stairs...kinda symbolic :)

House Progress Report Epi 4 (S02)

2011-09-30T23:37:00.000+08:00

Day 4 of renovation...our contractor told us to buy "stock cock" for the bathroom, or at least that was what i heard (not trying to be a racist here, but he's an indonesian...and try to imagine someone who is not english educated saying that in heavy indonesian accent). And we were both left puzzled as to what the hell is a stock cock...it sounded kinda vulgar to say the least.LOL

Being an IT person through and through, i actually googled for things that sounded almost similar to that. I searched "stock cock" nothing...searched "bathroom stock cock" and finally i get the actual thing. It's actually a stop cock and its the tap thingy that sticks out the walls of your bathroom! NOW i know...so stop cock shopping we went

with prices ranging from rm65 up to rm350. and since we are on a shoestring budget, we chose the cheapest one :B this shiny little fella costs RM68 (discounted up to RM55)

pretty and shiny enough! i insisted on these push lever tap thingy instead of the conventional turn tap. I requested to have all these push lever tap for all the bathrooms and kitchen sink :D so that i can still turn on the tap with dirty or soapy hands ^_^

today being the last day of september...its also actually our last day of tenancy at our rented house. and of course that means, lots n lots of last minute packing! arghhh...the things we accumulated over the period of only 1 year and 4 months...

extended our stay till tomoro...so we will pass the keys to our landlord by tomorrow nite at the latest. with the new house still in a not-so-liveable condition, we had to move in to a friend's house :P thank God for good samaritans

brought some stuff over to the new place just now and saw great progress!

this is how the master bedroom bathroom looks like now!

white wall tiles (with subtle horizontal lines) and a strip of black checkered tiles around the whole bathroom. if you are wondering what inspired this design, this post might help. lol! well at least i can have a piece of the kuching home here with me in Penang :) i initially stubbornly insisted on having the exact same glass mosaic patterns as the strip but it was too expensive (much to the horror of the bf). one strip of the glass mosaic costs between RM30-RM48! just the strip alone would cost us RM300++

and also if you noticed the wall thingy, that was also a compromise :( i asked the contractor whether he could do these recessed wall thingy to put shampoos and stuff....he said "BOLEHHHHH"

"tapi! tambah duit la"
"berapa duit??"
he said "rm200, sebab banyak kerja"

still, i wanted to proceed with it cos i believe it would be a good investment...no need for those hanging bathroom caddies that will grow black yucky mould in no time! EWWW...

but alas, it wasn't to be...cos finally he said since our bathroom walls are not very thick, the recessed thingy can only be around 2 inches deep which would practically render the whole purpose of having it moot! so i reluctantly let go of the idea and that was when he suggested a wall to separate the toilet and the bath area!

the toilet bowl would not get wet so often and i get a wall thingy to put my stuffs! a compromise is reached! :)

this is how our sitting room looks like now...whopee doo, things are piling up!

and here's the kitchen, not much progress except that all the cabinet doors have been completely ripped out.

hello you pretty wall tiles! :)

kitchen sink has also been installed...lookin good!

so tomorrow onwards, we are going to be homeless :( sobs...it sucks!

House Progress Report Epi 3 - We moved in!(S02)

2011-09-29T23:35:00.017+08:00

I iz back with part 3! Lookie tiles are all up (in the correct orientation)

whee...proud of our tile choice. at least the kitchen wall tile choice is alright...can't wait to see the whole thing assembled. A little nervous and anticipative at the same time, one wrong move and its forever man! (well maybe not really forever per se) I ♥ the kitchen wall tile so much that i wanted to use it for the bathroom wall too. yes thats how uncreative i am!

thought of taking a artsy fartsy photo of this little tool that helps to see whether a line is straight or not (dono whatsis called) on our kitchen countertop tile...

i love the kitchen counter top tile too (60x60) cos its black with specs of gold...can't wait to see it on the counter! ^_^

and here's the toilet (as of today)

and also, the bf's mom told us today is the last "auspicious day" to move in, after that, it wouldnt be too auspicious anymore.so we were supposed to go to the house and boil some water to symbolize that we've moved in!

so here we are, boilng a kettle of water on top of his PC table which is on top of my bedside table :)

so i guess we've...MOVED IN!!! (symbolically)

cement packs...(yeah i was too free)

the kitchen coutner top with the old cabinet doors all ripped out

that's all folks! stay tuned for epi 4 for more interesting and dusty escapades with ME!

House Progress Report Epi 2 (Season 2)

2011-09-28T19:04:00.017+08:00

Ola!

Day 2 of our renovation...nothing much to share cos when we were there during lunch, there didnt seem to be much progress except that the bathtub is now totally out! goodbye pink bath tub, unfortunately we can never be together in this tiny bathroom...perhaps another house sometime in the future...

while having lunch, someone had to draw out a plan of the master bedroom for his mom cos we were seeking advice on where to place the toilet bowl :x

i am not particularly superstitious, but since we are already ripping out all the toilet bowls,etc and reassembling them might as well la

and lookie...tiles are here! whee...

we really had a hard time deciding on the tiles...but thank God we only had to go to one shop to fulfil all our tiling needs. lol. helpful staff, great discounts...could never ask for better. Since we are not from Penang and have only moved here 2 years ago, it was really hard for us to look for shops that sells all these stuffs that we would never think of buying (tiles,toilet bowls,sinks,etc).

here's the address if any of you in Penang are also doing renovation work to your home :)

Enyxion Enterprise
818Q Jalan Rumbia, Sungai Nibong Kechil, Bukit Jambul
11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang

04-642-6818

View Larger Map

Updates : i was wrong about the "nothing much to share" part...cos when we went back there last nite at around 9pm, we were in for a "surprise"

ta daaa...

nooo...its not that the tiles for the kitchen walls are already up...

its...

it was supposed to be arranged horizontally, not vertically. lol!
when someone saw it he was like "OH SHIT" and i couldnt even tell what was wrong... :x

so we called our guy and he went back in 15 mins time :)

while waiting for him, took another photo of the master bedroom bathroom...toilet bowl fully dismantled...if you look closer at the pipe its........

tiles being washed in the other bathroom...i love this tile!

our guy back at work at 10pm...poor things...but oh well

luckily the tiles can still be salvaged cos the cement has not dried completely yet!

while waiting for them, i rummaged around n took photos of our bathroom accesories which arrived that afternoon. here's the bidet spray...

the bathroom basin faucet...

and the bathroom sink itself!

before this, i never knew that buying a bathroom sink means buying the sink, faucet , bottom pipe and the push button thingy where the water flows out of the sink separately! i thought it all came together :\ needless to say it all amounted to quite a small fortune for just one bathroom sink (RM77 for bathroom sink,RM50++ for faucet,RM28 for the push button thingy whre water flows out,RM4 for the bottom pipe)

while messing around, i saw this box with the lady lying seductively...

its actually a tile cutter...why do we need the picture of the sexy lady? beats me

House Progress Report Epi 1 (season 2)

2011-09-27T22:59:00.003+08:00

Those of you who have been following my blog since around 4 years back would know about my weekly (almost) house progress report on our house. Well, I thought it's only fair I blog about the progress of the renovation for our humble little place we are going to call home soon in Penang!

Since today is the first day the workers started their renovation work. Im going to post my first house progress report today!

Ok here are some before n after photos. Here's the kitchen before work started:

It came with an existing concrete counter top which kinda made life difficult for us when we wanted to look for people to do the cabinets

Cos people who do carpentry work (wooden doors n hanging cabinets) do not do concrete work and vice versa. So we had to get 2 different groups of people to settle the whole thing.

And here's the before photo of the master bedroom toilet cum bathroom. I only realized I didn't take any "before" photo of the bathroom as a whole cos used bathrooms with signs of the black mould thingy really freaks me out :( so here's a photo of parts of the bathtub. Lol

Ok...so r u ready for some "after" pics??? The contractor told us he will start work today but as luck would have it, a tree apparently fell on his house last night :/ not that I'm doubting him cos there really was a freak storm late last night. Oh well...but he did started work on our house in the afternoon and we were quite surprised to see quite a lot done already...

For instance...this is how the kitchen looks like now!

All tiles taken out. Woohooe..what a mess

And this is how the master bedroom bathroom looks like now

Toilet bowl half-dismantled...so is the bathtub and all tiles hacked off from the wall

Wash basin has been removed too...

My bathroom is now mould free! 'x'

We played a big part in the whole renovation cos we chose our own tiles and designed the color scheme,layout, etc ^_^ it was fun and stressful at the same time and not forgetting all the disagreements and arguments :x but I can say we are now quite the "expert" in choosing tiles and toilet bowls and sink! Rotfl! Oh well we'll have to wait and look at the results first. If we had made one wrong choice, we would have to bear with it for a looong time. Lol

This is the color scheme we planned for the kitchen

Grey floors, black counter top, white walls and grey cabinet doors. Hehehe. At least it looks good on the software :p

Updates

2011-09-07T14:00:00.001+08:00

It's been so so long since I last posted something of a more "personal" nature on this blog. Well although there may be a lt of readers left on this blog (mostly spammers -_-") I do realize over the years that this blog has proven itself useful for me when I wanted to refer back to something :P

Ok now what's new with life...for one, we just bought a home here in Penang. Not sure any of you remembers my almost-weekly house progress report for the house in Kuching. It is now well and complete and empty! Oh well...we'll see how it goes.

But this is the first time ever we had to plan the furnishings and fittings and what-nots in a house! It is stressful and fun at the same time and needless to say hard on our pockets! Ouch!

Been poring through tones of kitchen cabinet design photos like this...

And this...

And this...

And this...

But alas, due to budget constraints, we had to cut some ends. Wahahha. The ones above coated more than we bargained for :p

Oh well, will update again when perhaps most of it is done. Now back to DIY interior designing!

Things men do

2011-07-14T10:09:00.000+08:00

As I was taking in the clothes yesterday, I saw this black tube top and I wondered to myself... Eh??? When did I own a black tube top??

When I took it down from the hanger, only then I realized it's actually my workout top with the inner mesh like thing

And the bf converted it to a tube top by hanging it on the hanger by the inner mesh. Brilliant! -_-"

Happy shopping day

2011-01-09T15:10:00.000+08:00

While browsing around queensbay mall yesterday, I came across the za cosmetics and in2it clearance sale inside jusco! Oh boy...! So I went ahead n spent on some things which i wouldn't normally buy. Lol

From za : the za metavoltage cream rm20,za groovy smoovy rm20,za 2 in 1 foundation refill rm8

From in2it : twister lip gloss rm6 and the powder sponge eyeshadow rm6!

Cheap or what! :) oh well Now that I've gotten over the excitement of finding these bargains, I hope I will end up using them 'x' eeps

That time of the year

2010-12-20T23:28:00.000+08:00

Well well well...i sorta feel that this blog is getting less and less 'personal' so to speak over the past few months with all my cosmetics reviews, food reviews, etc etc. So since there's only a week or so left till we bid goodbye to the year 2010 and only few days till Christmas, i thought i ought to write something more about my life :)

2010 certainly zipped past me without me realizing that it is almost gone! Within a blink of an eye, i've been here in Penang for almost 2 years. Isn't that fast? Working in Penang has been all good and dandy...i have a good working relationship with my boss unlike any other bosses i've previously worked with. Which is good, because i realized a good relation with your boss certainly can make your working life much more bearable :P And of course, I do enjoy my new-found independence of living in my own home space.

But alas, Penang is not home. Kuching is! I sometimes mourn the fact that why can't i be born outside of Kuching, perhaps somewhere where job opportunities are aplenty unlike my dear old hometown. We sometimes wish that our friends and family could be in Penang but life isn't always that simple. We've thought of moving back to Kuching, that could be our plan for year 2011. Since we already have our own house back there. Why go thru all the hassle of renting when we already have our own place to stay rite?

But that plan alone could prove harder than we thought to attain. Then again, nothing is impossible with God. If it is His will, it will be done. And if it is not, i'm sure He has a better plan for us :)

Winter Warmers at QBM

2010-12-19T21:58:00.001+08:00

I've walked past Winter Warmers at Gurney Plaza many times throughout my 2 years in Penang but I've never tried it. Once, we almost went in but the menu looks very "snack-like" with light meals like sandwiches and salads so being the greedy pigs that we are, we did not try it.lol

But 1 or 2 months back, Winter Warmers opened its door at Queensbay Mall! Now that's a different story...

Queensbay Mall is my regular haunt, on average I go there at least 3 times a week. hahaha! So finally I had the opportunity to try out Winter Warmers at QBM. I ordered the pasta set which comes with an appetizer (salad) + one pasta dish + a pot of black/green tea for RM16.90

This is my salad...nothing much to shout about though adding raisins to the salad do add a nice,sweet twist to the greens.

And this is the pasta I ordered. You have a choice of chicken spaghetti or fettucini carbonara. To be very honest, I make better tasting carbonara...hahahaah!

I know it sounds like i'm bragging but the carbonara here is really not the best thing they can cook. I really don't like carbonara sauce that has a heavy taste of milk and pepper. And from the texture of the sauce, I know for a fact they used a lot of flour to make it creamy instead of using cream like they should.

Oh well...

This is my drink...the ice blended green tea. If you are having the set, adding on another RM1 will enable you to upgrade to ANY drink from the menu! Isn't that great???

I think the original price for this is RM7.90

They really have a wide variety of tea and coffee based drinks in their menu. I am pretty impressed and very interested. And adding on their british-style interior and pretty cups and mugs...i would definitely go there for a drink or two. Like this rose ice blended latte for instance...

With a tiny rose bud on top and 3 colored concoction inside the tall glass...it looks so pweettyy =)

This is the honey oat chicken which came highly recommended from my colleague but I did not get a chance to try it come to think of it...hmmm

And this is the fruity chicken...

Oh yeah...i have forgotten about my dessert. The set meal came with dessert in the form of this honeydew pudding

The very next day, I went back there again with my bf...hahaha! I told you i fell in love with their beverages and wanted to try some more........

This time, i went for their irish cream coffee

I was hoping to find the drink laced with a dose of irish cream liqueur but alas I guess Winter Warmers is a kid-friendly cafe...*snigger* Instead I find it to taste more caramel than irish cream. But still a warm,hearty drink btw at RM7.90

The "old man" I went with ordered a pot of rose tea. It just spells G-A-Y in big bold capital letters :D

And we also had this plate of hawaiian chicken ham and cheese sandwiches

There were ham and cheese (obviously) and pineapple inside each slice
One thing i liked, the cheese they used is not your average cheese slice...instead they used melted mozzarella cheese...yums!

Winter Warmers, definitely a place i'd visit again and again :)

Lunch at OXO

2010-12-16T21:20:00.000+08:00

Approximately a month ago, my department and I went out for our monthly birthday celebration lunch again :P I can't believe it took me this long to finally sit down and blog about it! oh well....better late than never!

Read on for more food pics!

We went there not knowing that for lunch, they only serve the express lunch sets and not the regular items from the regular menu. This might be outdated because I don't see some of the dishes we ordered in here....

And the price is definitely not RM5.90/set. If i'm not mistaken, it could be from RM7.90 to RM8.90. Gosh...i can't even remember the price but i wasn't paying so........ ;p

Then again, it is still super cheap for one main dish, free flow of cordial drinks and fruits.

This is the grilled chicken with fried rice. Looks very good and taste pretty ok too according to the guy in blue...haha

This is the free cordial drink...yes yes its cheapo cordial but at least it's not your sunshine valley orange cordial. i think it's some sort of grape cordial

tthis....................

i have forgotten..... :P but it looks good doesn't it? hahaha

and this too...omg... (mental note to self: must blog right after i eat 'em)

ahh....this i remember....

this is my baked spaghetti with seafood :P pretty tasty and it comes with 2 big prawns which i had to give away =_= why did i order SEAFOOD spaghetti when i can't take prawns

this is err.....umm.........next photo!

hehe we also had this cake...nothing to shout about

and since it was a birthday of one of my colleague they even gave us complimentary birthday cake

pretty small and not very tasty but still..its FREE!

overall quite a nice place to have lunch with good food and super affordable prices and great customer service. When we were there, there was only one guy who was responsible for greeting customers, setting up tables, taking orders, pouring drinks, cook, serve AND collect payments! And yeah you guessed right...he is the boss too! lol. needless to say, service was a little slow so do not go there during lunch hour without your boss =)

Biore Cleansing Oil [Girly Review]

2010-12-13T22:30:00.000+08:00

Phew...just like that another year has almost gone! I know people always say this at the end of the year but really! where has the year gone??? I still remember like it was yesterday, me bidding in the year 2010 and now 2011 is nearly upon us. Tsk tsk...

Again, I have abandoned this blog...kekeke. I was editing the photos for the past week or so in my PC to transfer over to my mac so that I can blog on my mac. I still do not have any photo editing tools installed on my Mac, that's why! =_="

Ok, this is supposed to be a "girly review" so you guys can stop reading up until here! lol

I've heard good reviews about the Biore cleansing sheets so when my MAC (MAC the makeup brand not the Apple Mac.lol!) makeup remover ran out, i immediately went and bought this Biore Cleansing Oil. (RM18.40 from Watson's)

Well, if the cleansing sheet is good the cleansing oil is supposed to be using the same formula too right?

The description on the bottle certainly sounds promising. No greasy/sticky residue (urgh! i hate the oily feeling after using makeup remover), does not clog pores, gentle and mild on skin and refreshing fragrance

But to be honest, the first 2/3 times I used it, i wasn't very impressed. In fact, I was even convinced that it's a sucky makeup remover. I pumped 1 or 2 pumps of the oil onto a cotton pad and try to soak up my eye makeup (I dare not use it on my whole face since I don't like the idea of using oil on my face o_o) but very little makeup came off. Even after a certain amount of rubbing not all of my makeup came off!

I almost got ready to send this bottle of cleansing oil into the abyss of unwanted products on my dresser when I read the usage instructions on the bottle *palms head* It says to pour the cleansing oil on your palm and gently massage off the makeup. All these while, I thought makeup should be removed with cotton pad, no? lol.

Massaged it off with my fingers/palms, I did! And voila! Full eye makeup and waterproof mascara removed just like that! I love this method of removing eye makeup more than the cotton pad method because with the cotton pad method you have to hold the cotton pad on your eye for at least a few seconds for it to properly dissolve your makeup but with this method you just massage.

But of course, some of the product still gets in my eye and it stings a little and clouds my vision :(
But I still love it nevertheless, anything that makes my life easy, i like :)

Here's a demo of how it works...

Yes, I applied eye makeup on my hands to practise my eye makeup for a dinner.LOL!

Pump some cleansing oil onto it and massage for 1 to 3 seconds...

And you get this messy oil slick...wash it off with water and tadah!....

Normally, after I have used an eye makeup remover and washed my face with my cleanser, I would still feel some oil under my eye but not with this one. As for the smell, I think it smells like cherries :) Delicious!

At RM18.40 this is certainly a great and affordable buy! Definitely a repurchase. Who says you need expensive products huh? Let's hope I remember that...

Product Price List

2010-11-28T22:36:00.003+08:00

Wokey...since I always search online to look for prices of products before I decide to buy them and also because I always forget how must I spent on the products that I always buy, I've decided to write a "pin-up" post to document the price of the products for my benefit and for the benefit of everyone out there :P Hope you gals (or guys) find this useful! Going to update this with new products or when there's a price change :)

Skin Food

1) Black Sugar Jelly Facial Foam (170ml) - RM54.50

2) Agave Cactus Toner (145ml) - RM102.60

3) Agave Cactus Serum (45ml) - RM119.00

4) Egg White Pack - RM24.90

5) Agave Cactus Emulsion (145ml) - RM105 (TBC)

Clinique

1) Vitamin C lip smoothie -RM 66

2) Derma White Loose Powder in translucent - RM132

Neutrogena

1) Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Complete UV Waterlight Lotion -RM49.90 - from Guardian

Maybelline

1) Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner in 01 Black -RM 35++ with discount from Watson's. U.P. of RM39

Etude House

1) Hand Bouquet Rich Collagen Hand Mask -u.p. RM9.90 - discount RM6.95

2) Goodbye Dark Circle Eye Cream - RM 45.90

Nature Republic

1) Fresh Herb Essence Mask (e.g. thyme & chamomile ) - RM 5.90

Dior

1) Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Fresh Powder Makeup Loose Powder - RM 152

The Body Shop

1) White Musk White Hot Summer Body Mist (100ml) - RM 49

2) White Musk White Hot Summer Eau De Toilette (30ml) - RM65

Hada Labo

1) Super Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizing Lotion (RM34.88 with discounts from Guardian)

Biore

1) Biore Cleansing Oil (RM18.40 from Watson's)

Padang Brown Lok Lok

2010-11-20T08:00:00.000+08:00

I've heard so much about Padang Brown since I moved to Penang but never know where it is :P So now I can check off yet another place from my "places-to-visit list" :)

Padang Brown was named after a certain Mr Brown for whom this monument was erected for :P I read the history but I have forgotten. From what little facts I can remember, he's a pretty young chap before he perished on a ship to err...somewhere. I don't know what significance he had in Penang to have a field named after him

This is the field i was talking about...

Just next to the rows of hawker stalls, there is this huge field.

The stalls are arranged in a circular shape around the monument serving food like pastries, char kueh tiaw,poh piah and the most famous one...lok lok

Which is what we came here for. The special tables for lok lok all have a hole in the middle of the metal table with a bowling pot of hot water in the middle for you to dip your lok lok into. And all the tables already have a selection of lok lok on it waiting for you to dip into the hot water.

At first, i was a little shocked cos I thought we were supposed to finish all of that lok lok on our table :D But actually you only pay for what you eat. In a way, it's like eating sushi because the different lok lok are priced differently based on the color of the bamboo skewer. They had quite a big selection ranging from cockles (see-hum), pork innards, fishballs, meatballs, fish cakes, prawns, mantis prawns and even some veggies

My personal fav was the pig intestines on the far right of the picture :P I know you have to cook pork intestines for a very long time to make it tender and easy on the teeth. Somehow, when i dipped these pork intestines into the boiling water for only a few minutes, it turned up to be very tender and soft too. It could either be something to do with their pork intestines or the boiling water is REALLY REALLY boiling hot :P

I had this ice kacang to accompany me in my lok lok adventure

Apart from loklok, there's also a famous seafood poh piah stall just nearby which i've read about in blogs. So tried it we did.

Coming from Kuching, the thing about Penang poh piah is...it is soupy and wet O_O

Definitely not something we Kuching lang would be used to.

Despite this poh piah being hailed as "famous", I really didn't fancy it. Give me dry poh piah with crunchy turnips and peanut brittle anytime :)

Before we went back, we bought back some egg tarts from the pastry stall...and boy was it good!

Crunchy flaky crust, soft jelly like egg filling. Superb!

Skin Food Egg White Pack [Girly Reviews]

2010-11-19T08:00:00.000+08:00

Finally, a "beauty post" from me. It seems that I only have food and more food to blog about these days. In fact, I have another food post coming right up after this =_= That could only mean one thing............I'VE BEEN EATING TOO MUCH~~~ Oh wells, I got another purchase from StrawberryNET arriving soon so maybe I can blog about that :D

Anyway, we are here to talk about pore packs today. I have developed a liking for Skin Food's Chlorella Nose Pack (which for some reason I do not have a picture of). So when I suddenly became anal about the blackheads on my nose while holidaying in KL, I went looking for the chlorella nose pack at the nearest SkinFood outlet. They were out of that but the SA introduced me to this

I've read about it in a blog, so I didn't hesitate in buying this instead. It not only contains packs for your nose but also 2 triangular shape pack for your forehead and chin. It costs RM24.90 for 5 pieces of nose packs and 5 pieces of forehead and chin packs

Just like any other normal pore packs, you wet your nose/chin/forehead and you paste on the mask and leave it on till it becomes dry

For some barbaric reasons, i really "enjoy" using pore packs and the pain of pulling off the dried packs from my nose and seeing all those blackheads and whiteheads stuck to the pack :D

This is as good as the chlorella pore packs i think and just as effective

I took pictures of the peeled off packs with blackheads stuck onto it but I decided against posting it up here so that you can keep your dinner/lunch when reading my post :P

C-Jade Express Suckling Pig Rice

2010-11-18T08:00:00.000+08:00

This was actually our second time eating at one of the sister branches of Crystal Jade during our trip to KL :p This time it's at the C-Jade Express which serves more of those bbq assortment of pork,duck,chicken kinda stuff.

We went there with a mission......

that is, to order their suckling pig rice combo! :)

I don't know about you but the only time i get to eat suckling pig is either at wedding dinners or any other types of chinese celebratory kind of dinner at chinese restaurants. How often do you get to eat suckling pig with rice on a normal day eh? ;)

We had their suckling pig with rice combo (RM17.80) which is a serving of suckling pig with rice and a choice of bbq pork/pork ribs/roast duck/roast chicken/steamed chicken. The suckling pig with rice priced at RM16.80 only came with the single serving of suckling pig. For an extra RM1, you get the combo which i think is quite a "bargain" :P

My combo with a choice of roast duck. The roast duck was pretty good, crunchy skin and soft meat.

The second combo with bbq pork which IMHO tasted pretty mediocre to me

The suckling pig on the other hand, is a different story altogether :D Oh...the crunchy skin with the piglet meat of the right combination of meat and pork fat....oh my....

My only gripe? Thinking of how all the poor piglets that were still suckling it's mother's milk were robbed off the warmth of their mother and slaughtered :(((

But they taste so good oh boy. Being put on top of the white rice, some meat juices and fat went down to the rice making it so fragrant...hahaha. Spoken like a true pork lover 'x'

One downside about the place, their waiters all looked as if someone owed them money. Most of their waiters i guess are either burmese or nepalese? I am not being racist, just making a statement. But the way they put my rice on my table it's like banging it down on the table. I think they have developed some level of experience in serving their customers that way because nothing spilt or fell off the plate. Oh well...

Again all price exclusive of 10% svc charge and 5% govt tax.

C-Jade Express

Unit LG-048 LG Flr

Midvalley Megamall

Tel 03-22848113

Fax 03-22846113

Of Kings and Saints

2010-11-17T08:15:00.001+08:00

Ok i m still not finished with my KL food posts. lol. Well, you know shopping uses up lots of energy so of course there's a lot of eating involved too :D

I didn't have much for lunch one day ~~because I wanted to maximize my shopping time~~ so i suggested to go for some teatime snacks at one of the stalls at the lower ground floor of Gardens shopping mall.

I don't know what came into my head because we could easily order very nice oyster omelette aka orh jien at one of our frequently visited stalls in Penang at soo much less. I guess i missed hawker food too much *shrugs*

We had their Value Set A which includes this yam cake

Which tasted like the yam cake my mom used to make. Well, upon saying that, I am refusing to comment on whether it is nice or not. Go figure :P

And of course the orh jien itself...

Which was served pretty quickly. I guess it has already been pre-fried :( There were only around 6 or 7 oysters. One which was super big, it's the one shown prominently above.

The not-so-value value set is inclusive of a drink and it costs RM9.80. Pretty pricey for hawker food like that but well it's in a shopping mall what do you expect :)

There was a St Cinnamon outlet inside midvalley which we walked past many times for the first 2 days and we just couldn't stand the aroma of cinnamon rolls on the last day that we bought 2 back to the hotel for supper :) i always thought the cinnamon rolls i had from Adventist bakery of Penang was the best so i didn't really bother trying to be honest

We bought one original cinnamon roll and a cheese cinnamon roll which was chosen by me because i just couldn't resist cheese which was a mistake on my part :(

The cheese cinnamon roll was priced at around RM3.70 per piece if i remember correctly. Don't get me wrong, it was nice it's just that it didn't taste much like cinnamon rolls

And here's the real thing

Look at that gooey cinnamon goodness! Absolute yums i tell you! Now I know what i'm going to eat the next time i make another trip to KL :)

Crystal Jade La Mian at Garden

2010-11-15T08:00:00.003+08:00

During my last trip to KL, it was more of an eating trip than anything else. I know i know...coming from Penang the so-called Malaysia Food Haven and I flew all the way to kl to eat??? Anyway, we were mainly enjoying all the franchise store food that is not available in Penang :P

Like Crystal Jade for instance

The first time i saw Crystal Jade, it was in Singapore but i've never tried it before until now. There were a few branches of Crystal Jade in the Garden shopping mall and another one in Midvalley. I don't understand why they have to open so many branches with different names serving different things.

The one we went to is Crystal Jade La Mian Restaurant on the 3rd floor of the Garden shopping mall. The menu here is pretty much simplified, serving a range of dim sums, a small range of fried rice and of course noodles aka la mian.

We ordered their set meals which is more worthwhile actually because for an extra few ringgit, you get appetizers and drinks.

I had La mian with dried shrimps and scallion set (RM16.80) which came with this pickled veggie thing with black fungus as appetizer

and also 2 of these pan fried dumplings

This was pretty good as it was practically squishing out meat juices on your first bite...and i mean LITERALLY squishing out and splashing on the table :D porkilicious!

And of course the main dish itself...

I like their noodles...springy and tasty. I think it it's better than Dragon-I's la mian in terms of springiness.

The bf had their vegetarian fried rice with pork ribs set (rm18.80) which came with double boil soup...

Very tasty wholesome soup i must say

And xiao long bao...

Xiao long bao was supposed to squish out meat juices at every bite but these xiao long baos surprisingly lacked in those meat juices :D

And of course the pork ribs and fried rice (in the background)

I didn't think he fancied his fried rice very much. Well, what do you expect ordering fried rice at a restaurant with "La Mian" in it's name :D

Each set came with a choice of chinese tea/soya bean.

All prices shown exclusive of 10% service charge and 5% govt tax as usual. Although pretty pricey, i would go back there for their noodles tho :)

Crystal Jade Restaurant

Lot T 210, 3rd Flr The Garden,

Mid Valley City 59200 KL

Tel 03-22833129

Fax 03-22848129

My Budget Makeup "Travel Kit" and Daiso mini Haul

2010-11-13T12:47:00.000+08:00

Hello there! i went through a period of blogging procrastinating but I am back again! I DID try to blog, i really did. Several times, in fact :P I ran the photo editing software to edit my photos, instead i went and organize my photos, then i closed it and told myself "maybe not tonight...tonight, i'll watch big bang theory...woohoo~" and this went on for several weeks :D

Anyhoo, just got back from a short trip to KL during the Diwali long weekends last week. Would you believe our tickets for 2 from Penang-KL via Airasia is only RM38???

That's really dirt cheap for a 50 minutes flight thousands feet up in the air :D Love or hate airasia, i really don't know.

Anyway, as i was unpacking at our hotel in KL, i thought why not blog about the stuffs i brought on my trip. I feel that those products that I pack in for trips are products that deep down I know I need and prioritized. At home, i get all sorts of stash that i don't even use sometimes :( When packing for trips, you are forced to think hard about what you are going to use and what you won't use to save luggage space

Here's the lousy little "my melody" cloth bag I always use to put in my makeup :P

I have been using this as my makeup bag on my trips for so many years now ~~and it was a gift from my brother's ex-girlfriend...hahaha~~

here's what I brought after much deliberation...

Frederick Fekkai Luscious Curls Cream, my very dirty looking and very used Fiberwig mascara ♥♥♥, believe it or not Johnson's White Mattifying Powder, e.l.f. Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder, Nyx's powder blush in natural, Stila Perfecting Foundation Stick and Nyx's Mosaic Powder in highlighter.

Lo and behold, most (if not all) of the products i chose to bring on my trips are non-expensive products that i picked up from e.l.f, nyx and even Johnson & Johnson's. The sad thing is, all my more expensive products are all left at home =_= does that mean i could have live without them? *bummer*

I also brought along some makeup brushes...

These are my most frequently used makeup brushes and again these are all the non-expensive ones =_="

From left to right : Coastal Scents Italian Badger Blush Brush, Everyday minerals eye kabuki- i use this to apply the johnson's mattifying powder under my eye after eye cream, e.l.f. studio complexion brush (absolute fav ♥.again, another cheap product, $3 ONLY!!!) and another e.l.f. brush, the angled brush (only $1!!!)

I love the FREE Stila Perfecting Foundation from StrawberryNET and it is my "need-to-put-on-makeup-in-a-hurry" foundation :D Because it is so easy to apply and blend and it gives reasonable coverage without appearing made-up. And as you can also see i'm currently quite a big fan of highlighting since i brought 2 highlighters. lol.

I use the e.l.f. bronzing powder on my cheekbones and the nyx mosaic highlighter all over my face for the extra glow..kekeke...and they both DO NOT make me look like a disco ball k? :P

Ok time to show off my mini Daiso haul. I really love Daiso! If I ever go to Singapore/KL, I always try to make it a point to visit a branch. The RM5 goodies are really awesome ranging from household items,food,socks,toys,bags,hair accessories,makeup,beauty tools and so much more! But of course it is very easy to overspend in there :P I think i spent almost 1 hour in there trying to throw out things from my basket...*sighs* tooooooooo addictive!

garlis masher, nail polish dryer spray, makeup sponge detergent, 2 cute looking colorful scrunchies and a pack of pink paper coasters (of all things)

But what I really wanted to show you is this...

It 's all in Japanese but it's a spray that helps make your nail polish dry faster. Something like my OPI Drip Dry that I costs around RM36 for a teeny tiny bottle! This one is only RM5! wOOts! I'll see whether or not it's as good as OPI Drip Dry if not better :D

Nescafe Dolce Gusto

2010-11-10T12:00:00.001+08:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Nestle Dolce Gusto. All opinions are 100% mine.

Just few weeks ago i looked at my cup of store-bought cappucino and wondered how I can create a mug of frothy cuppa myself without spending my hard-earned money buying these coffee at cafes. I searched online and found a few methods that are not fail-proof and mostly involves spending a small fortune buying some machines or tools.

With the Nescafe Dolce Gusto machine, all these is made simple! The machine provides authentic coffeehouse quality right from home your home. It has a 15 bar pressure pump that creates a delicious creme layer and a frothy milk. Your average coffee maker operates at no more than 2 bar pressure. With only one machine, you are able to produce both hot and cold varieties of coffeehouse quality beverages. It includes espresso, cappucino, latte macchiato and even a rich hot chocolate.

The machine is so easy to use and you could even customize the froth, heat and strength with hassle with the patented Custom Control Level. Apart from being functional, the machine also brings a stylish look to your countertop. The Dolce Gusto machine by KRUPS comes in 3 colors with chrome detailing - candy-apple red, creamy white and sophisticated black. This is something i really like as i now do not have to settle for the boring standard one color cofee maker :)

Do visit divine.ca to check out the reviews of the NESCAFE Dulce Gusto. Seeing is believing!

Premium Lanes (Sunshine Square)

2010-10-28T23:11:00.000+08:00

Hahahaha...so guess what, i was enrolled in my company's bowling tournament when i've never ever played bowling before =_=" I told my colleague noooo i m not going to join a bowling tournament when i've never played bowling before and make a fool of myself in front of everyone in my company, but he assured me i can learn how to play within 3 weeks.

But that is not entirely the case unfortunately :( For me as a left handed ~~and a sports-retard~~ I am having a hard time trying to grasp the whole concept of rolling a stupid heavy ball down the lane :(

So for the past 3 weeks i have been going to the newly refurbished bowling alley at Sunshine Square at least twice a week =_="

Is it just me or are the bowling shoes really FUGLY???

See what i told you about me being a sports-retard?!?!

Ok this photo was taken during my 2nd bowling game in my entire life...i guess there's a bit of improvement already by now...hohoho...No prizes for guessing which score is mine

I was using this 9 pound ball and its pink! whee....

ok enough crap...here's the bowling rates for reference

it's actually quite expensive. Bowling is an expensive game and i am horrible in it! :( The tournament is this saturday so let's hope i don't make ~~too much of~~ a fool of myself.

My First Pink Keyboard

2010-10-26T21:16:00.001+08:00

Well since i am a self-declared "pink lover", i'm always on the quest to surround myself with pink stuffs :D pink phones, pink bags, pink shoes, pink anything and i want it. A pink keyboard has always been on my "want" list but i don't know why i've not come across many pink keyboards before. I saw one once, but it's those made in china "hello kitty" types. Although i'm quite a bimbo but i still want quality keyboard k :P

Which is when i came across this PINK Logitech Keyboard!

Actually i walked into the computer shop looking for a joystick but i walked out with a keyboard instead.lol. And it's the last unit! I couldn't let this chance slip! It costed me RM49 but i have not regretted it since :)

Just looking at this beauty on my computer desk makes me so happy =))))

Next on my list, pink mouse...pink lcd monitor.....pink laptop..........................pink.......

Playstation Move for my Family

2010-10-26T21:09:00.000+08:00

I have heard so much about Playstation Move even before it's launch. I watched the promotional video and i was really amazed at how realistic the game play is. One day if a genie would grant me the wish of owning my very own Playstation Move, i think my family and I will be overjoyed! Imagine sitting at home after a busy day at work with nothing to do and only re-runs showing on the television...having a Playstation Move will fill up our free time at home!

I think the realistic game play and game motion with the Playstation Move controller will create lots more fun than your average conventional video game console. All that moving and jumping will sure get you and your family to at least burn some calories too! Imagine playing bowling with real-live bowling motions, tennis or flying an airplane at the comfort of your own home without hassle. When i watched the promotional video for Playstation Move, i was particularly intrigued by the Eyepet, the virtual pet that you can pet and interact! It is really impressive!

If all these sounds good to you, here's one more piece of good news for you if you already own a Playstation 3. You could actually bring motion gaming to your PS3 for only $99 with the MOVE bundle package!

H2O+ Sea Results Eye Mender Plus [Girly Review]

2010-10-24T20:57:00.000+08:00

I've been meaning to blog about this for a long long time now...but procrastination just got the better of me every time. I have opened up my photo editing software to edit the photos only to close it again and watch my Big Bang Theory series :D But well, today i finally conquered my laziness!

Still remember my 2nd purchase from StrawberryNET? Well, this is what's inside the purple package...

This is my first ever purchase of ~H2o+ product. I was searching around for a reasonably priced eye cream on the internet and i read some very good reviews on the H2O+ Sea Results Eye Mender Plus. I checked the H20Plus Malaysia website and saw that it is retailing for RM149. What I paid for on StrawberryNET is RM124 (since this is my 2nd purchase i was entitled to 1% discount bringing the price to RM122.76) :D

Pretty cool...

The box is really shiny making it difficult for my camera to capture it with flash..hmm...

The main ingredient is Aqua(water) which is good i guess..

Inside the box, there's another plastic casing for the eye cream...

So here it is...

This little tub contains 15ml of the eye cream which is a lot IMO for eye cream. There's pros and cons...the pro is you get a lot more for what you pay...the con...it's going to take me CENTURIES to finish this tub of eye cream! lol. Since we don't use a lot of eye cream on our eye contour anyway...oh well...

And of course i dont like the idea of eye cream being exposed to air everytime you open the tub and you will have to dip your fingers into it to get the product. err...not so hygienic i guess *shrugs*

This is how the cream looks like...

This is the description i got from the H20Plus Malaysia website :

A rejuvenating contour cream that helps reduce under eye puffiness and wrinkles while helping prevent the formation of future fine lines.
benefits
Those participating in a consumer panel test reported that after a period of 28 days of continued daily use, a 47% decrease in wrinkle depth, a 24% reduction in puffiness and 19% increase in firmness was observed. This marine-infused eye cream delivers intensive ongoing hydration to help replenish dry, dehydrated skin while providing antioxidant protection to help reduce the effects of free-radical induced damage.

At first i was a little wary as i have oil seeds under my eyes and the cream feels a little too thick and oily. But it absorbs relatively fast with some patting on the eye contour. There's a "minty" feeling when you apply...i guess that means its doing something :D After a month plus of rather consistent (i have skipped several nights :P) usage, i do notice that i don't have to use concealer under my eye anymore although i still have my eyebags and i can still see dark circles under my eyes but i guess it's improving.

Not a miracle product but it is doing something...for the price and the content, maybe it's quite a worthwhile purchase :)

Caffe Strada Krystal Point

2010-10-12T08:11:00.000+08:00

Strada Caffe just recently opened up i think around 3-4 months ago if i'm not mistaken. We drive past it almost everyday cos we stay very near and yet we never went to try until i read some food reviews from a blogger on the place. Since we go for a cuppa at Starbucks Coffee quite often...we thought why not try out the place..since it's so near. So try it out we did...

This is the caramel cake which was a disappointment to say the least. For RM6.90, i had perhaps expected a richer cake instead of this very dry chocolate sponge cake with caramel frosting (i suppose?). There was barely enough taste of caramel to entitle it the name of CARAMEL cake. The sponge cake was just too bad really...it tastes like B grade birthday cakes from cakeshops that have been put inside the fridge for at least a few days...

And of course since our main point of paying a visit is to try out their ice blended drinks, we ordered the Choco Banana Frappe (RM8.90) since we are quite big fans of the Coffee Bean's Chocolate Banana Ice Blended.

The drinks was quite ok...i tasted real pieces of banana inside it and a slight taste of chocolate that is not too sweet and yet not tasteless. Considering Coffee Bean's choco banana costs RM12.50 a pop, i guess this is a good enough cheaper alternative.

And we also ordered calamari rings (of which i only had one before i realized someone had already walloped the entire thing 'x') RM7.90. As you can see, there were 6 pieces of calamari rings so making each calamari ring around RM1.30 LOL

It was pretty ok tho i think the batter could have been better.

They also have set lunches and dinner too. If i remember correctly, their set lunches go for RM8 which includes a main dish and a drink i suppose. Well, i would go back there again to try out their lunches since it's so near but i don't think i would ever order their cakes again. I mean if they are going to offer cakes, it might as well be good for that RM6.90. Oh yeah and did i mention they have service charge? That's another 10% to the bill

My DIY "dry cabinet"

2010-10-10T10:10:00.000+08:00

After the bad experience with fungus in my camera and lens, i am taking it very seriously to keep my dslr and lenses in a proper condition. Previously i couldn't care less about it 'x' The sad thing about the fungus is, even after sending both my D40 body kit and my lens for cleaning, i still see the "cobweb" on my photos. I only found out in the end, the cobweb thingy on my photos will only appear if i use an aperture of more than f4.0. Weird isn't it :(

Nevertheless, insufficient budget and other commitments which prohibits me from upgrading to another DSLR made me learn to adapt with my current situation.Thanks to my newly bought 35mm F1.4 prime lens, i can choose not to use aperture of more than f4.0 by playing around with the shutter speed and aperture. But recently, i tried to build my own little "environment" where i keep my dslr and lenses...read on to find out how i did it :D

It's nothing much but i think this is much better than how i used to keep my dslr...

wahahaha...it's all pink! It's actually a compartment in my cabinet. Of course it isn't air-tight but then so far so good. I have around 4 or 5 packs of silica gel inside. The silica gels i got for free courtesy of the warehouse manager in my company :D They have managed to collect a whole big tin of silica gel packets which they meant to throw away anyway so we gave them a second chance in life, so to speak :P

That's about the limited camera accessories i currently own. My D40 kit lens, my D40 attached with my 35mm lens and my tiny little SB-400 external flash. Nothing to boast about, just want to show you guys how i store my camera :P

If you see the little strip at the bottom of the picture with 6 yellow circles on it...here let me show you what is it....

It's a humidity indicator :D Again, i got it from the warehouse guys..hahaha...

So why do i think my DIY "Dry cabinet" is working? Because this strip indicator has been showing "healthy" colors after all these while (if it turns green it means i should change the desiccant which shouldn't be a problem since i have unlimited supply of the silica gel packets). I have tried exposing the strip to the air outside of the cabinet and it turned green very fast. So i guess all is good? Or so i hope :P Well, like i said, my little setup may not be perfect but at least it's better than nothing :) And it being pink certainly makes me happy looking at it. I bet even if you have a thousand dollars, you woudn't be able to buy a pink dry cabinet like this...lol

p/s this is a scheduled post but because it's schedule to be posted on 10/10/10, i changed the publishing time to 10:10 am too...haha! happy perfect 10 day! :)

Clinique Vit C Lip Smoothie

2010-10-08T08:00:00.001+08:00

I got the Clinique's Vit C Lip Smoothie as a birthday gift during my birthday not long ago :P It says on the box "antioxidant lip colour". Pretty interesting huh? Really does sound like a real edible smoothie

I got mine in the Absolute Acai shade which is a reddish brown shade. It doesn't say that this is a lip gloss and neither is it a lipstick or a lipbalm but i guess it is a little bit of all 3 put together.

Instead of a normal foam applicator you see in lipglosses, it has a brush on applicator

You have to turn the pen-like clickety thingy at the bottom and the color will slowly seep out into the brush. Sorry if mine looks disgusting because i have been using this for a few times now before i took this photo..kekeke...

I think the brush on applicator works pretty well because brushing on lipgloss/lipstick makes the application much more even. Here's the swatch of the color on my hand

It is glossy but not sticky glossy like some lip glosses can be and it doesn't dry out my lips.

Retails for RM66 at all Clinique counters

Pappa Rich E-Gate

2010-10-06T08:00:00.002+08:00

When we were in KL few months ago, our dear friend brought us to supper cum early breakfast (it was at 1am...lol) at a place called Pappa Rich. The place gave us very good impression and our friend told us that the owner actually used to work for Old Town, hence the interior and food is a leeeeetle similar to Old Town but much better :D According to him, where there's an Old Town outlet, there will be a Pappa Rich outlet.

We were oohing and aahing over the place and never knew that there's Pappa Rich here in Penang =_="

The outlet in Penang is at E-Gate, just next to Elmondo E-Gate, pretty hard to miss :P

Their menu is so extensive we had quite a hard time deciding what to order. Rice, noodles, kueh tiaw, hor fun, bread, dim sum...and the list goes on...

Finally i decided upon this dried curry mee with sliced chicken and fried egg (RM8.90)

It wasn't too bad...my only problem is, i can't stand the taste in the yellow noodles which isn't a problem to most of the people i know, i think the problem is me, not the noodles =_=

So i exchanged my curry noodles with someone's char kueh tiaw (RM8.90) after a few bites..kekeke

The CKT is nice...not like your average sticky and spicy Penang ckt but it's fragrant :) As someone said, it tastes like Kuching's Penang CKT...go figure...

Overall, quite a nice place to eat with interesting drinks to order (we had Iced Cham with Coffee Jelly - RM5.50) . Will certainly go over again in the future :)

PAPPA RICH

1-01-01 & 1-01-02 Lebuh Tunku Kudin 2

11700 Gelugor, Penang

Tel : 04-6554977

Fax : 04-6554863

www.papparich.com.my

(prices are not inclusive of 10% service charge)

My Re-Purchased Products [Girly Reviews]

2010-10-04T08:00:00.001+08:00

Over the span of the last 6 months to a year...there were a few products that i have re-purchased which is quite rare for me since i more often than not can't remain with the same product when i have finished it :P So i thought why not dedicate a post for these 3 repurchased products? Read on to find out what are they :)

Skin Food Black Sugar Jelly Foam

I have been using this facial foam for more than half a year now. My criteria for a good facial cleanser is very simple, it must not be drying and it should cleanse reasonably well. I say "reasonably well" because if you are wearing very heavy makeup and waterproof mascara and what-nots, cleansing alone will definitely not be able to help you take all of that off.

So as long as it can help me get rid of obvious oil,grime and some very light makeup, i m happy enough :) And of course this cleanser doesn't give me the tight feeling some cheapo cleanser gives me. It doesnt generate much foam but it cleanses well! :) And of course the affordable price does give it some bonus points too (can't remember the exact price but i believe it's below RM40)

Skin Food Agave Cactus Emulsion

As you may be able to tell by now, i am quite a big fan of SkinFood in the past few months :P This is my second repurchase from SkinFood. It was earlier recommended to me by their SA as a day cream but i used it for night anyway :P It's a very light-weight cream that is easily absorbed and moisturizing enough for my skin...

My only gripe with is, the small opening of the bottle. When it's still new, it's pretty hard to get it out...i even had to keep my bottle upside down for a few weeks =_=

Look, isn't that cute? There's a cupid on the cover of the bottle..heh :P

Apparently, it has anti-wrinkle properties too! goodie! On my good-skin-days, this used together with my Hada Labo Super Hyaluronic Acid and my moisture serum gives me smooth and bright skin =) I would love to try the SkinFood serum from this range when mine runs out...

I believe this bottle costs around RM105 and it will last you for a loooong time (6 months for me)

Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Complete UV Waterlight Lotion

Ok...my most recent repurchase :D Neutrogena is fast becoming my favourite drugstore skincare brand starting with this sunblock lotion. Again, what i look for in a sunblock lotion is very simple...1)it musn't make my face look like an oil-slick 2) doesn't block pores 3) high SPF

And this one meets all 3 requirements perfectly! :) I don't really spend a lot on my sunblock because i don't see the point spending few hundreds on a sunblock lotion that has the same SPF value. I think there are 2 types of sunblock lotion from Neutrogena, the other one is slightly oilier (according to the SA who sold me my first bottle more than 6 months ago :P)

It has a very watery texture that is quite quickly absorbed when you pat it into your face. The best thing? It only costs me RM49.90! :)

Haagen Dazs Fondue

2010-10-02T15:04:00.002+08:00

Would you believe we had ice cream for dinner last night? :P Yes we did! This Haagen Dazs fondue was our dinner!

Actually, i planned on having this for dinner since Monday night. I have heard so many bloggers blog about this before but I never had the chance. So why not? :)

The set comes with a pot of bubbling chocolate kept warm by a tealight candle underneath....16 scoops of mini haagen dazs ice cream

There were 4 scoops of 4 flavors : macadamian nut, strawberry, cookies n creme and belgian choco

And it also came with fruits...

3 types of seasonal fruits which are sliced strawberries,banana and apple slices...and...

cake cubes, love letters and...

3 pieces of choco chip cookies :))) Sugar overload!!!

Alrighty then...lets dip in! woohoo...

Isnt that heavenly? Dip into the melted chocolate goodness...then dip it into topping (we chose almond nibs)

And wait for a few seconds for the choco to harden...

Absolutely lovely! So that's how they make chocotop ice creams :D

After a while the ice cream started to melt, so we finished up all the ice cream first. The weird thing though, is that if you drip ice cream into the chocolate pot like someone did *ahem* your whole pot of chocolate is going to harden pretty fast

The section on top is his and the one in the bottom is mine...mine is still gooey and melty =_= in the end he cant dip his and have to use my section of the pot...grrrr

I particularly liked dipping the banana slices into the chocolate :)

But i wonder who on earth is going to dip choco chip cookies into melted chocolate??? O_O

My choco chip cookie looks like it has been bitten by cookie monster :D

It was an enjoyable and fun experience eating the fondue though.A variety of tastes,textures and feeling :) Would be fun if it was shared by a maximum of 4 person because it is just like eating steamboat...it is "community" food :P but then you would have less share of the ice cream tho..hehe!

After eating all that sweetness i think i was high on sugar and i went all giggly =_=

The whole set costs RM64 not inclusive of 10% government tax and 5% service charge.Expensive? yes...the experience? worth it...The 1000 calories i consumed in one sitting? Gotta work my ass off! :)

Sg Tiram Roti Bakar

2010-10-01T08:36:00.000+08:00

When we first moved to Penang, we were always on the lookout for nice food to try and eat especially around the Bayan Lepas area.Among the very first few breakfast venues that was suggested to us was the Sg Tiram "famous" roti bakar

Initially, we didn't even know where the place was and omg...i don't even know the name of the coffeeshop today. LOL. All I can tell you is, it's in a wooden shop with a big bird cage hanging outside on the left hand side of the entrance and there's a stall selling Ipoh Salted Chicken at night in the very same coffee shop :P

Normally we would order one set of roti and one set of soft boiled eggs. Both of that would cost around RM2.80. What's special about the toast? To tell you the truth, i don't really know.

But just the thought of dipping the golden brown toast that is slightly crispy into the eggs...it makes my tummy purr at the thought of having that for breakfast :) I would say what makes it unique is the nicely toasted bread i suppose.

Sprinkle some sugar on the toast, some pepper and soya sauce in the eggs and dippppp...

Slurps :)

The shop is somewhere opposite the post office/ the sg tiram hawker center..i am not too sure which one comes first.. but i'm sure you will see the shop on your left hand side as you travel along Jln Sultan Ahmad Shah (heading towards the airport)

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StrawberryNET Gift Package

2010-09-30T08:27:00.000+08:00

Ok recently i did something very "mr bean-ish". Why Mr Bean? Read on and you will find out..lols

(please excuse the foggy photo. apparently my digi cam after spending 8 hours in my air conditioned office became foggy after that =_=)

I recently made my 2nd order from StrawberryNET and just when i was checking out my order, i saw the "is this a gift?" checkbox and i just checked on it! even though i am buying it for myself...hahaha. I was thinking to myself "oh my God, what kind of a loser am i becoming???buying gifts for myself??"

But then again, how else would i know how will the gift looks like if i never tried it right?? Now i know and i can send gifts to other people via StrawberryNET? :p

The outermost packaging seems like any ordinary order from StrawberryNET, with the signature purple ribbon around it though it would help if the price of the item is not written on the custom declaration if it were a gift =_=

Oooh lookie here, i have a card!

And what does it say....?

LOL! yeah! i wrote that to myself....oh man! i am really a loser!

And underneath that card.........ta dahhh

wow i got a present! wrapped in shiny purple wrapper :D

yes, unwrapping presents is just as fun when the gift is from myself. *cough* loser *cough* :)

Sakae Sushi's Member Day!

2010-09-28T20:45:00.000+08:00

Last week (20th-22nd September 2010) was Sakae's member day. Actually we just signed up to become a Sakae Sushi member around 2 weeks before that mainly because of the Sakae member day :D The promo tagline for the member day is really attractive...it says 100% rebate on red plate sushi!

Sakae blossom

How can that be possible right? 100% rebate would mean eating for FREE! Which of course sounds too good to be true. We later found out that it actually means for every red plate sushi that we order on that day, we will be getting the amount we spent directly credited to our member card. For example if we ordered 10 red plates which costs (RM5.90/plate) a total of RM59, we will have 59 points in our card which effectively means we can opt to use RM59 to offset our bill in our next visit, since 1 point = RM1.

So all in all, it actually means we ate for free! :D

This is sooo much better than the Sushi King RM2 bonanza that i queued my ass off for a few years back.lol.And of course the quality of the sushi in Sakae Sushi is much much better!

Salmon Sashimi (4 pieces)...super! Fresh and tasty omega3 enriched salmon :P

This my dear friends...is the Unagi Mango Maki

I have officially declared this to be my favouritest sushi of all time! :P When i first saw this in the menu, mango + unagi??? what? how can this be a good mix? But we went ahead to order it anyway and i fell in ♥ head over heels with it! The tangy mango with the sweet tasting unagi and the mayo.....a match made in heaven :)))

This is cheese soft shell crab maki

Not too bad though i feel that the deep fried soft shell crab is a little cold and i m so used to eating soft shell crab hot out of the wok

This is the oyster something cheese something..oh man i m such a lousy blogger...

nevertheless, it tasted goooood :)

DiGi iPhone 4 Me

2010-09-27T18:47:00.000+08:00

Yeah! After my frantic attempts to get my friends in US and Singapore to help me get my very own iPhone 4 (which has obviously failed), iPhone 4 can be bought directly from Malaysia now! Imagine my excitement when i found out that the Digi's iPhone pre-registration has ended. Would you believe i refreshed the Digi's iPhone webpage almost every minute after 6pm on the 23rd of September to see whether the price plan has been updated?? For those of you who are in my Facebook, you would know my anticipation for the Digi's iPhone plans :D When it was finally updated, i wasn't disappointed.

Some of you might have known, i bought my iPhone 3GS from the other operator (that-shall-not-be-named) last year and few months later when i found out that Digi is starting to sell iPhones too and at a soooo much more attractive price...i almost banged my head on the wall! What's more, when i'm complaining about my limited data plan from the other operator, the boyfriend (who is using Digi) never missed any opportunity to mock me in my choice of telco operators whenever he has the chance. And he always quotes the Digi slogan..."Digi-always the smarter choice!" Duh...

Since my "bond of suffering" (my 1 year contract for my 3GS) is almost over, i just couldn't wait to get out of this abusive relationship :D My contract ends on 10/10/10 (nice date huh?;)) and i've been telling everyone...i am gonna port over to Digi on 11th of October itself! I can't wait!

Clinic Cafe @ Gurney Plaza

2010-09-22T23:14:00.000+08:00

One weekend while strolling around inside Gurney Plaza, i saw a red shop that says Clinic...eh? I thought to myself how come there's such a big clinic inside gurney and some more with so many people sitting inside. When i walked nearer i saw the word "cafe" after clinic. It's a Clinic Cafe! LOL

Immediately it piqued our interest to try it out. Even though we've already had lunch.lol. So great was our curiosity.

Ok medical-themed menu

All the seats were designed to remind us of hospital bed frames

But of course hospitals don't have red bedsheet. That would be pretty scary O_O

You check your order on the order chit and you pass it to the waitresses dressed like nurses (woots!) and doctors. LOL

All the tables were illuminated by an operation theater look-alike lights like this

When a customer is brought to the table, they will turn on the lights and when you leave they will turn it off :D

The place is actually quite big with tom and jerry showing on the lcd tvs while we were there.

Since we've already had lunch we both shared the Clinic Fried Chicken Salad (RM11.90)

With butterhead lettuce, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, sliced boiled egg and of course fried chicken pieces. Not too bad but that's just so much you can say about salad. Some snacks even came with tomato/chilli sauce filled syringes! :D

I ordered iced chocolate that came in this bottle-like glass. I shudder to think how they clean the insides of the glass with the opening being so small or do they EVEN clean it???

Oh well...

When we finished the salad, i noticed it came in a kidney dish. The kind people would use in surgery and it immediately reminded me of a good doctor who showed me a picture of an amputated human foot in a dish that looks like this! NOOOOOOOOO

Ahem this is supposed to be a food review, i should not be talking about that :D

Overall, a nice place to have lunch if you are shopping at Gurney Plaza since most of the eateries in gurney are expensive! But all prices are not inclusive of service tax.

Stay Updated with BoostMobile

2010-09-22T22:27:00.000+08:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.

As we become more and more interconnected via social sites such as facebook and twitter, I find myself getting more and more addicted to updating my status on these sites. Going to a movie? post a status update in facebook. Saw an annoying couple in the cinema? Update my twitter. Which is why being able to update my facebook or twitter with my mobile is important. With Boost Mobile you can easily do so.

You can easily Re-Boost your BoostMobile account in one of 3 easy ways : you can pay online, in-person or even pay by phone. You can use your debit/credit card to make a payment or sign up for worry-free automatic payments! That way you can be sure to update your facebook or twitter instantly even when you are not at home.

BoostMobile provides a few popular mobiles such as Blackberry, Samsung , i1 and many more with affordable and competitive plans. Since i do not live in the same state as my family, i find increasing need to keep them updated on what's happening in my life via social sites such as facebook. That way, i can quickly share a joke or a funny picture on my facebook wall and they can show it to my technologically illiterate parents

My Happy Shopping Day [Girly Posts]

2010-09-20T13:31:00.000+08:00

I spent most of the Malaysia day holiday on 16th september at home because the bf was at work since they have already had their holiday before hari raya. Sighs..my social life really sucks in Penang :( But we went out to Queensbay mall in the evening for dinner. I went with a very hungry purse because its the middle of the month :P but i was itching for some retail therapy and it ended up as a happy shopping day for me even though when i m "dry" in the money department.

(

I went in to Yokoso Shiyuki the Japanese beauty and novelty mart just to have a look around since they are having a sale of 20% and 50%. They carry a wide range of beauty accessories like what you would see from the Taiwan Lady First show and some facial products with chinese wordings.

I bought the magic eyelid tape, makeup sponges and the compressed cotton mask to do my own DIY mask (more on that in a later post ). All these for only RM14. I don't really know what the price for each item is, they didn't give me a receipt.

So i was pretty pleased with myself for spending so little on so many items as i walk out from the shop when i saw Beauty Republic having a sale right opposite :D I walked in and walked out with these...

I have never bought anything from Beauty Republic (another Korean brand) since its opening so i took this opportunity to grab some masks. The SA told me they are having a buy 2 free 1 promotion for the masks so i grabbed the thyme and chamomile to sooth my sensitive,red skin and also for hydration. RM5.90 each.

Then i saw the little cute nail stickers and i wanted to buy the pink leopard print one and the SA told me the nail stickers were having buy 2 free 1 promo too! So i ended up with 3 nail stickers =_= I should learn to be more assertive next time. All these costed me RM22. Still not too bad...wahahaha since it was the last day of the promotion.

Well my little bargain hunting didn't end there, the next day during lunch hour I went to queensbay mall again and found that FOS is having a warehouse sales! And those cute little colorful pajama shorts were on 50% discount!! So i ended up with 3 pajama shorts in one lunch hour 'x'

It's still a bargain at RM10 each tho...don't u think so??? :D

Home-made Dumplings

2010-09-19T15:26:00.000+08:00

Yawns...been ignoring my blog for a while now because of all the sitcoms i have to watch. Been watching The Office like crazy every night and every weekend. Would you believe i only started to watch The Office less than a month ago and i have already finished Season 1 up till Season 5 and now watching Season 6 now? lol. Anyhoo, i made dumplings aka pot-stickers aka woh-tieh aka gua tieh last Sunday :D

I read somewhere it's just very simple to make the dumpling skin. I just mixed plain flour with cold water until the texture is just right (not too sticky and not too dry) and i made it into 2 long shapes (as shown above) and leave it for around 30 minutes for it to expand.

The filling i used is just normal minced pork with some seasoning of soy sauce and salt. By right, i should add in some vege like cabbage or onion but mehhh i wasn't feeling so "healthy" that day :D (in actual fact, i should have added some veggies to give it some extra crunch but oh well...)

This is how my dumplings look like before cooking

Not very bad for first try eh?? wahaha...i "researched" online for hours on how to make the little pleats on the dumplings. And this is how it looks like after fry-steaming

Brown and crispy bottom and with soft top (the pleated side).

The reason i didn't really want to elaborate more on how i cook it is because the top which was supposed to be soft was pretty hard :( I don't know what i did wrong. Every recipe i read from the internet uses the same ingredients as me and i did try to cook it as how they mentioned too. My only explanation now is because i did not cover the pan when the water is boiling when cooking the dumplings because i do not have a cover at home..yeah! go figure.

Toast Bar @ Brighton Square

2010-09-14T08:38:00.000+08:00

When we were back in Kuching 2 weeks ago, after spending almost 2 hours in our electricity-less and water-less and fan-less house...we were thirsty and hot and went around looking for someplace new and nice to have tea and since we've heard several people posting pictures of the Toast Bar, we decided to drop by...

For those of you are not familliar with the Jalan Song area, Brighton Square is actually a new place with lots of shophouses and places to eat and there's even a college and an office building complex within Brighton Square itself. Right opposite is the soon-to-be largest shopping mall in Kuching (still under development)

They have a few set meals inclusive of drinks and various choices of food at cheaper prices than if you were to order ala-carte. We both had Set 5 which is the sandwich (choice of ham & cheese/chix floss/and another one which i've forgotten.hehe) + 2 soft boiled eggs + 1 drink (choice of horlicks,milo,ice lemon tea,etc) at only RM6.90 which was pretty good isnt it? It isnt that easy to order horlicks drink nowadays, i dont know why.

The eggs..slightly overcooked but it's alright. So far only Old Town manages to cook their soft boiled eggs to perfection although i don't really like old town because of their staff and their price!

Here comes our sandwiches...

This is the chix floss sandwich with some chopped lettuce,cucumber and whatnots with a yellowish sauce which tasted really great! It's not mayonnaise and it's not butter and it's not mustard. I wonder what it is? Chef's secret sauce maybe? :D

This is the ham and cheese which tasted awesome too!

Here's a close up look of the chix floss sandwich. Do u see the yellowish sauce?

And if you noticed, the bread looks very brown on the outside and it's sorta oily. Maybe they buttered the outside of the toast too which added to the awesomeness of the toast :D

As you can tell, i really love the place..wahaha. The interior is very nicely decorated with wallpapered white walls and white chairs. Lovely! I would have gone there very often if i were still in Kuching :)

Here, i've attached the approximate location on google map. Apparently, Brighton Square is not even in google map yet :)

View Larger Map

Diorskin Nude Natural Glow Fresh Powder Makeup Loose Powder [Girly Review]

2010-09-12T08:02:00.002+08:00

Phew...isn't the title a mouthful :D I just run out of loose powder last week so i was thinking whether or not to buy my favourite loose powder on the market (the clinique derma white brightening loose powder) or to look for another loose powder to try out...

After searching for reviews on the net, i came across the Dior Diorskin loose powder from their Nude range. It seems to have received good reviews and i was actually "misleaded" by a blogger on the net :( Not misleaded as in the product has disappointed me though but misleaded as to the content of the product. The reviewer mentioned that it was 50ml for the price of RM140! I was thinking to myself wow! that must be a bargain since my current clinique loose powder is "only" 20g (equiv to 20ml)!

So i went to the Dior counter and i confidently told the consultants (who is a guy! *gasp*) that i wanted to be matched for a shade for this loose powder. It was then i found out that it's actually RM152 but i still proceeded with my purchase (btw, i bought it on Jusco's member day and i got a RM20 voucher! that's as good as buying the loose powder at RM132! woots! :D)

When i brought it back, i realized that it's only 8g!! Thats more than half less of what i get in my clinique loose powder at RM20 more! (the clinique loose powder is RM135) :((( Nevertheless, i kept my finger crossed and hoped that it would be a wise purchase.

I was matched with shade 020 which was the 2nd lightest shade of what they have since i wanted it to look natural on my skin instead of looking like i'm wearing a mask

That's how the shade looks like from the casing

And it even came with a little mini flat top brush!

This tiny brush was surprisingly good. It is around the same size as my everydayminerals baby kabuki brush and the bristles are comparatively soft but it sheds a little and is a little rougher than the everydayminerals one :)

Ok seeing is believing so i'm posting up my face on my blog for the very first time! Well, at least its "part" of my face :D

My naked skin without anything applied on the left and with the loose powder applied on the right. You can see my pores are not that obvious and it manages to conceal my spots a little bit too and redness is reduced :)

The after-effects is a slightly airbrushed look which made my face looks made up but not really made up..i hope you know what i mean..hahaha. The main ingredient that Dior is boasting about on the box is something called "energizing mineralized water". I don't know what it is but i do feel a burst of coolness on my face when i apply it. Here's the description on the box :

DIORSKIN NUDE, the new face makeup that dazzles with freshness. The formulas contain a unique blend of 100% mineral pigments and energizing mineralized water to instantly recreate the perfection of flawless bare skin. Day after day, your skin looks more beautiful and radiant. Natural Glow Fresh Powder Makeup, the first Dior loose powder makeup that provides a "water" sensation. Apply with a makeup brush.

So based on my description i guess it did deliver what it was supposed to do.

And since i've been loving my clinique loose powder for so many years now, i think i ought to give it some "airtime" on my blog..lol

It's so used even the printing on the case is faded..lol! This lasted me for almost 6 months!

If you were to ask me to compare between the 2, i'd say the clinique one does not have any concealing powder whatsoever but it is very lightweight. Whereas the dior loose powder does provide some amount of concealing and some amount of liquid foundation effects but because of that, i always feel i have to double cleanse after i use it. On some lazy days when it's just a quick trip out to have dinner, i feel it's a hassle to double cleanse after that. But of course, it's great to give you a made up more polished look when you are lazy to get out your liquid foundation :) I recently discovered that if i were to use a fluffy powder brush instead of the flat top brush, i get a more sheer coverage.

- provides reasonable coverage for a loose powder

- provides exactly what it claims to give

- good to create a "nude makeup" look

- convenient and fast to apply on days when you don't have time for foundation

- can be considered expensive for the amount

- need to double cleanse/use makeup remover on lazy days (only applicable for lazy people like me 'x')

Yu Choo @ D'piazza

2010-09-11T08:11:00.002+08:00

Went to D'Piazza for dinner recently and saw this newly opened shop : Yu Choo Box Meal Delivery Expert. Phew! That's a mouthful :P

They practise a self-service concept meaning you have to walk to the counter to order and make your payment and you carry your own food back to your own table just like KFC/McD. As part of their opening special, they are having a promotion of buying 2 set dinners and getting one free roti.

According to the lady, their roti is their specialty. For the free roti, we were able to choose one from a choice of 3 :

We chose the roti babi (sounds awful doesn't it? why wont they just call it pork roti?)

The set dinner comes with one main dish + one bowl of rice + drinks + one bowl of soup + half egg + fruits. This is the nestum dory fish (they spelled it as DOLLY FISH. what a joke)

Actually it tastes more like butter fish topped with nestum to me with curry leaves and chilli

verdict? wasn't too bad but it wasn't too good either. the portion was quite small for the price (the ala carte price for just this main dish is RM5.99!). The rice in the bowl was only less than 10 spoonfuls! When I am complaining the rice is too little, there is really a big problem here. Since i normally eat 5 tablespoons of rice at home. And the drink was just plain orange juice syrup that you normally can buy for RM4 for a big bottle of 2 litre!

The other set we ordered was the kong pow chicken

It is chicken fried beyond recognition coated with this sticky sweetish and spicy sauce. Verdict? Oklaaa...

And our free roti BABI is here..keke

Looks like french toast...but does it taste like french toast??? Ahh see...its actually 2 pieces of bread, with teeny big of pork, carrots and onions and then coated with eggs and deep fried ~~beyond recognition~~

RM3.99++ for this??? I would only order this if it were free (which is what it was that night)

The total bill amounting to........

RM10.99 for the measly set with ... GOVERNMENT TAX?! What government tax? I thought we have a new law that only establishments with an income of more than RM3 million per year are to charge government tax?? They can earn more than RM3 mil per year? That is really questionable! RM21.98 for a dinner for 2, the food wasn't bad but it wasn't extraordinary enough to make me come back and pay RM10.99++++ (per person!) for a dinner.

Oh about the box meal delivery

I suppose their expertise is in box meal delivery? However delivery of below 5 box meals are to be charged RM1. Err...i think my office cafe cooks better food so no thanks! And i m still not happy about the government tax!

Stila Perfecting Foundation Stick [Girly Review]

2010-09-10T10:39:00.000+08:00

If you remember my post about my first purchase from StrawberryNET, I was given a FREE Stila Perfecting Foundation Stick for first time customer with minimum purchase of USD25!

I have never tried any Stila products before, in fact, this is my first ever Stila product! :) And it's given to me FREE by StrawberryNET! How great is that? :) The original price for this foundation is USD29 (approx RM91) so it's actually a very generous free gift indeed! I chose Shade A for my foundation. Actually, i was a little worried when choosing the shade on the website because i've never purchased foundation online before due to the unpredictability of the shade. Foundation is still best purchased offline where you can try out the shade on your own skin, but there's always a first time :D And my first time did not leave me disapointed!

This is how the the foundation look like from the stick. You have to twist the stick and the foundation comes out just like a lipstick.

Lo and behold! my chosen shade suits me to a tee! This is how it looks like on my arm unblended. When it's blended, it matches my skintone! how fortunate! :)

I have been using the foundation for a week to work (until i bought my Diorskin Nude Loose Powder which i will talk about on another day.lol) and i love it! I normally draw some stripes on my cheeks, chin, nose and a little on my forehead and i just blend with my fingers. It took me a very short time and certainly helps when i'm pushing for time in the mornings. The best thing? It conceals quite well and does not appear cakey or mask like on my face :)

tq StrawberryNET for the very nice gift!

- conceals quite well

- shade A looks natural enough on my skin

- fast and convenient to use when you are on the go

- the twist stick my malfunction one day. i've experienced a few times when i can't get the foundation out. but i've discovered the trick of twisting it out upside down. i guess the gravity helps to "pull" out the foundation. however, in this hot malaysian climate, i'm afraid one day the foundation will melt inside and it will be goodbye forever

My Kagaya Dream

2010-09-09T21:50:00.002+08:00

If you have seen Kagaya art before you would know what I'm talking about. Kagaya is actually the name of a Japanese artist who draws these spectacular "dream-like" images such as this. And would you believe i actually have been having a "series" of dreams in Kagaya-ic colors!

I was just telling the boyfriend that I sometimes have "Kagaya dreams" the other day and i started by telling him about the "first episode" of the series. LOL. After telling him, I thought i ought to blog this down lest i forget it when i get older next time or when these kagaya dreams stop coming to me :P

First Dream

In the first dream, i dreamt that i was actually wandering around my neighbourhood back in Kuching and i stumbled upon a big white arch. I was with a friend and the weird thing was, i didnt even know who that "friend" was, up until now. But i remembered he was fat (lol!). So we were curious and walked though the arch and as we walked deeper and deeper, the landscape turned into something from a Kagaya image. The blades of grass were a luminous green and the whole landscape suddenly became very surreal.

Second Dream

I dreamt that i was on a beach holiday with my family and we were staying in a chalet. The chalet was supposed to be by the beach but somehow, when i wanted to walk to the beach i had to walk and walk through tall blades of grass (again kagaya-grass) and finally i saw the beach which looked very surreal and very beautiful! There were a lot of people by the beach, picnicking and swimming.

Third Dream

Hola! I iz back in kagaya world. This time i was again on a trip with my family and in this dream we had to drive to somewhere very far away and had to parked somewhere and we had to walk to our destination. And the path through which we have to walk was again very pretty with little blue streams where we stopped by to wash. When we finally reached our chalet, the chalet was actually ON a little stream. I remembered looking out the window of the chalet and i could even see little boats rowing across. It was indeed a very beautiful sight!

Fourth and most current Dream

My fourth and most recent dream came 2 weeks ago. Again it was a holiday by the beach with my family. I don't really know what the landscape was like but i remembered the skies getting very dark and someone said there's going to be a tsunami! We panicked and started climbing up a high mountain. But even when we have reached the peak, the waves still got us! The funny thing was the waves came in a time elapse in between. We were like "uh oh here comes the wave! hold on tight to everyone!" and we would all hold hands and the wave would subside and we'd get a breather. And then another wave would come and this repeats.

It was a stressful dream and needless to say i didnt enjoy it..lol

What do you think? I don't think i've ever dreamed in "series". I don't know for sure whether there were only 4 dreams. I'm only documenting them as i remember them. There could be other smaller dreams about this little kagaya world of mine which did not make an impact. And i did not immediately link all these dreams together. I only started to realize that this beautiful place that i dreamed of could be the same place because of the similarities : luminous green grass, very blue water and skies.

And the other weird thing is, my dreams seem to bring me deeper and deeper into this kagaya world. The first one started with me discovering this world through the archway which is actually just very near to my home in Kuching. Very weird. Let's see if i get any more of these kagaya dreams...

Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner [Girly Review]

2010-09-08T21:26:00.002+08:00

My "affair" with gel eyeliners started when I found out that I could participate in sprees in lowyat.net to purchase stuffs from US which was never possible before! Coastalscents gel eyeliner received a lot of good reviews from the fellow beauty junkies in the forum so began my quest to get a black eyeliner. But the coastalscents gel eyeliner in black was almost always OOS so i got one in navy blue instead. But it never satisfied my "lust" for a true black gel eyeliner until now....

Around 1-2 years back, drugstore brands do not have these gel eyeliners that comes in pots. I think the first drugstore brand to come out with these pot gel eyeliner is Maybelline. And the affordable price tag certainly helps :)

I bought mine at RM35++ few weeks back. I think it was on discount in Watson's. The normal price should be around RM39. It even comes with a brush

Though I can't tell you how well it performs its job since I've never used it to apply my gel eyeliner :P Nevertheless, it's still better than some other brands like the Mac Fluidline which does not come with any brush at all. The last i checked, their eyeliner brush is around RM70 for a teeny weeny brush like that.

I have been using this CoastalScents angled liner brush for all my gel eyeliner needs :)

I bought this around the same time i bought my coastalscents gel eyeliner. I don't think it was more than RM20 tho. A very good brush to apply gel eyeliner indeed! The angled brush allows you to see where you are lining unlike a regular eyeliner brush where your hand will likely block your eyelid when you are lining your eyes making it more difficult to see. Certainly a must have for gel eyeliner newbies like me :D

The texture is smooth and it is quite pigmented.

Based on my experience, this gel eyeliner dries up pretty fast after application and is quite long lasting too. It survived a whole day at work without much smudging or fading. And believe you me, my eyelids are pretty oily so that's quite a feat :D

- comes with a brush

- long lasting and pigmented colors

- affordable

- none i could think of!

Tek Sen Restaurant @ Lebuh Carnarvon

2010-09-06T23:03:00.001+08:00

Last week. I went with my colleagues to Tek Sen Restaurant @ Carnarvon Street for a birthday celebration of sorts for me and another colleague of mine.

When they suggested going to Tek Sen Restaurant, I of course have no idea where it is being the foodie noob in Penang. They gave me this link http://www.what2seeonline.com/2010/04/teik-seng-restaurant-shifted-to-new-outlet-at-carnarvon-street/ to read more about this place. Since Cklam recommended the Fried BBQ Pork, i was very excited when my colleague ordered this dish :) (we arrived later so my colleague proceeded to order the dishes first). What more can i say...I absolutely LOVE this dish!

The bbq pork is sweet and crunchy and chewy and absolutely delicious! I think i finished most of my rice with the BBQ pork..hehe.

We also had this spinach soup with 3 types of eggs (century eggs,duck eggs and chicken eggs)

The spinach was cooked to perfection but there is only so much can I say about spinach. It was alright.

The braised tofu topped was not too bad either

The tofu was soft and fragrant. An appetizing dish.

And also this stingray assam

We also ordered a few other dishes such as sweet and sour pork ribs and another dish of vege. All these including drinks for 11 and 9 bowls of rice amounted to RM150. Which I did not pay of course, cos it was a birthday treat..hehehe..

It was a pleasant lunch and i would go back there just for the BBQ Fried Pork. Delish!

This is the location of the shop that i managed to save on my iPhone. Hopefully it is accurate..lol.Be warned tho, parking can be quite a problem. We parked just next to the Kapitan Keling Mosque

View Larger Map

Urban Decay Naked Palette [Girly Review]

2010-09-05T21:11:00.001+08:00

It's time for another girly post...hahaha...i purposely tag all my girly posts with a "[Girly Review]" tag in the title so that you guys/girls who are not interested need not click on the "read more" lol. see how considerate i am! :) For those who are interested to find out what i think about this very much raved about eyeshadow palette, read on!

I have been deliberating for a long time whether or not I should get this palette. For one, i've never owned any Urban Decay eyeshadow and i've heard of good reviews from a lot of people who have used Urban Decay eyeshadows and since the Naked palette is being sold out every time it is restocked at websites such as Sephora,Beauty.com,Urban Decay,etc i think i should make this "investment" :D

Again, i bought it thru Ryan Tey of sgdrugstore. A responsible seller whom you could trust in to get your purchases from US in no time and in perfect condition! :) He actually pre-ordered a few palettes when beauty.com restocked its naked palette and all the pre-ordered palettes were all grabbed in no time at all. hahaha that proves that the Malaysian beauty-product-junkies are all very in sync with what's going on in the cosmetics world in US :P

I know there are just soooo many posts on the UD naked palette on the internet but then this is my take on the palette and of course i want to record this down in this little online journal of mine :P On first impression, the palette feels nice to touch because it is all velvetty. But then i could already foresee how it would look like few months down the road if i keep it on my dresser...it will be WHITE :P Because of all the powder..hehe. So mental note to self, keep it in my wardrobe.

It comes with a very baby looking mini UDPP and also a dual-ended Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On liner in Zero and Whiskey.

I have yet to try on the liner but i've heard good reviews on the UD Glide-on liner too so i have a good feeling! Let's open up the baby! woohoo!

I know i've seen so many photos of the palette on the internet but when i open my very own naked palette, i was in awe at all the pretty colors in this one palette. There are altogether 12 colors at 1.3g each. The single UD eyeshadows are 1.5g each retailing at $17 while this palette retails at $44. You do the math *grins*

The eyeshadows are all arranged from the lightest to the darkest so i think it would be easy for makeup noobs like me in deciding which color to use

Virgin, Sin, Naked and Sidecar

On my skin, naked is really err.........naked! lol! it almost matches my skintone and if the swatch picture was taken without flash, you could hardly see the color on my arm.

Buck,Half Baked,Smog and Darkhorse

Half baked and smog is easily my favourite colors from the palette. I've been looking for a nice bronzey/golden color for a looong time and these 2 colors almost fit the bill. Just one swipe of the color creates the swatch above! loves!

Toasted is another fav color of mine. A very nice copperish color :)

Now i finally understand all the raves about the UD eyeshadows, they are superb! Very smooth and very pigmented! Not one color is not smooth! I could already foresee many different "neutral" looks i could do with this palette for work and play since i'm seldom a bright color wearer. And the thought of bringing just this one palette away on travel makes my imagination run wild on the different types of looks i can create :)

- smooth and vibrant colors
- versatile palette for work and play! (esp for neutral girls :))
- bang for the buck!! (definitely! )

- may be quite pricey for us malaysian girls (i bought it at RM180 excluding local postage)
- the velvetty casing could trap lint

NMEDA in Providing a better future to the disabled

2010-09-05T20:28:00.000+08:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of NMEDA. All opinions are 100% mine.

I think people these days are more aware of the needs of the disabled. Back when I was little, ramps and toilets specially for the disabled may not be a norm but it is these days. But are those really enough? NMEDA (The National Mobility Equipment Dealers Association) is actually a non-profit trade association that educates consumers on buying equipments for the disabled from a NMEDA qualified dealer.

Not all disabled people have the same needs which is why a personalized "in-person" evaluation can ensure that you are getting the right driving solution customized to your specific needs. NMEDA dealers are there to help you if you need additional training or product refinements. NMEDA has BOTH dealers and Quality Assurance Program (QAP) dealers. The QAP is the only nationally recognized accreditation program for the adaptive mobility equipment industry.

If you were to ask me now where you could purchase a wheelchair or special equipments for the disabled i don't think i can give you a shop to get it off the top of my head. Which is why a NMEDA dealer would be very helpful if you have a disabled or an elderly loved one.Unfortunately, i can't find a qualified dealer near my location. But you could find out for yourself whether there is a dealer near you from the dealer locator link on the NMEDA website. Why don't you give it a try and let me know? :)

Trip Back to Kuching Part 2

2010-09-05T00:42:00.001+08:00

Okie, let's continue with my post dedicated specially for Kuching food :) This here is the "famous" green spinach noodle from Chong Chon coffeeshop at 3rd Mile.

We have been frequenting this stall since i first started work 6 years ago :) We went there so frequently that the owner recognizes us. So for old time's sake we went back there for lunch while we were in Kuching. The beauty about this "green" noodle is that the noodle is not colored with artificial coloring but real extract from spinach. And the bbq pork they use is not your average normal char siew meat. It is sweet and if you are lucky you get fatty pork :)

By my 3rd day in Kuching, i still have not eaten a single bite of kolo mee. How can that be?!? I think i have too many things to eat but too little time! So for TEA BREAK we had kampua mee. I can't even imagine myself eating kampua mee for teabreak...that's just insane. I have put on 1kg since my trip back home and i still have not managed to shed it off :(

Kam pua mee with soya sauce from Expert Food Court, Jalan Song. I really love the kampua mee there and this is also a stall i frequent when i was working "somewhere nearby" few years ago :D

On my final night in Kuching, we had a mini sister's slumber party at Hilton Kuching! But due to some unforeseen circumstances (which shall not be revealed here even if you threaten me) only me and another sister went...hahaha. I insisted on the river view room and lookie here the view we have from our room

The new DUN building of Kuching. Nice :)

Ok i know i'm being very sua-koo here but....LOOK! TOILETRIES FROM CRABTREE AND EVELYN!!!!

LOL! Now i can has moisturized hands while washing my hands with MOISTURIZING SOAP WITH SHEA BUTTER FROM CRABTREE AND EVELYN!!!!

I thought of stealing the toiletries back but hey! who took it?!?!?

We tapao-ed ogiginal open air Kuching sio bee back to the room

Sadly, it wasnt as good as before. I think it has more flour than meat now..sighs.

This is the view when we woke up the next morning...

I never realized the Sarawak river is THIS dirty! I don't know it is because i've gotten used looking at the blue/turquoise waters of the Penang sea almost everyday or the sarawak river is getting dirtier by the day. Because i don't recall the water being this dirty. In fact, when some of the upper management staff from my company went to Kuching for a team building event last year, went back to Penang and laughed at MY Sarawak river being so dirty, i got a little defensive...HAHAHA!

Oh well...Kuching is still a nice place though :) Look at the empty roads..and the courteous drivers! omg! So nice! Penang drivers should come to Kuching and look at how WE drive!!! You won't die giving way once a while to other drivers you know? And...the "dotted line" in the middle of the road is not a guideline for you to follow, it was never meant for you to drive ON the "dotted line" :)

Chain-of-Friends Sweepstake

2010-09-05T00:19:00.000+08:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hampton Hotels. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you have not already heard of the Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes,then now i'm asking you to join the sweepstake! The grand prize winner will receive a free stay for yourself and 100 of your friends at a Hampton for one weekend! Can you imagine how great that would be? To top it all off, the winner will even get $5000 to help pay the tax for the weekend. This is really amazing!

By having 100 of your friends together with you in the hotel would be like you buying the hotel all for yourself and people you know! Can you imagine what fun you could have with your friends or family members? I could already imagine who i would invite if i were to win the grand prize. I would of course invite all my family members, immediate and extended families both! And of course all my friends. I think it would be one crazy weekend. Everywhere i go in the hotel, i'm bound to meet someone i know.

So what are you waiting for? Join the sweepstakes now! It is open to everyone and not only to Hilton Honours members or people who have previously stayed at a Hampton

Trip Back to Kuching Part 1

2010-09-05T00:08:00.001+08:00

Just made a 5 days trip back to Kuching during the national day holiday and the trip coincided with my birthday during the weekend ..muahaha...

Now what would a trip back to Kuching be like except for food and more food? As i was editing the photos for this post, i realized i only have food photos =_=

The moment i touched down, first stop was Premier 101 for supper. These fried chicken legs doesn't look very pretty or appetizing but i can assure you it was good

And we also had these mixed lok lok

I arrived on Friday night and the next day (which was my bday..lol) we had dinner at the new "restaurant" at the new "shopping mall" at Jalan Song. The eatery is actually a branch of the very famous ABC Seafood Stall No. 25 of TopSpot. They actually have a branch now at the new OneJaya shopping mall which doesn't really look like a shopping mall. Why do i say it doesn't really look like a shopping mall?? Because once again it is another sub-par complex in Kuching with sub-par shops. Kuchingites really deserve much better! Oh well..on with the food.

Buttered prawns...

Sadly, this was the best dish among all the dishes we ordered that night and i can't really eat shellfish so i only had one tiny prawn. I wonder who was the smarty-pants who ordered this dish on my birthday..oh well...

mani chai...oh boy it has been a while since i last had these...

curry bamboo clams which wasnt very good because some had a weird smell

we also had fried clams (see hum), sea cucumber soup (sucks), steamed tilapia (so-so),deer meat(some pieces tasted sourish). The bill amounted to RM200 (inclusive of drinks). As you can tell, i did not really enjoy my meal there. We ordered for orh jien but it was out of stock, so was crabs. It was really a disappointment and not something we'd expect from the very famous Stall No. 25 of Top Spot seafood.

The queueing system at the cashier was a nightmare with stupid uncles cutting queues. We overheard the owner saying actually they have not "officially" started business at the new place but then due to the the number of customers they have to dish out something. I don't think that is a good enough excuse. If you don't think you can handle the number of customers then for goodness sake, don't start business!

Get a teaching masters degree online

2010-09-04T23:39:00.000+08:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC. All opinions are 100% mine.

The thought of pursuing a masters degree has always been on mind since i graduated from college almost 10 years ago. I've put serious thought in pursuing my masters degree but then it seems that the only way for me to be able to do it is to quit my full time job and to become a student full time which i can't afford to do at this point of time.USC Rossier School of Education’s MAT@USC offers current educators and aspiring teachers the opportunity to earn a Masters of Arts in Teaching right from the comfort of your home just as long as you have a computer.

USC Rossier School of Education’s MAT@USC offers current educators the opportunity to earn a Masters of Arts from an elite university conveniently at your own pace and time.The program comes with a groundbreaking tuition reimbursement program and even scholarships for needy students. If you are tied for time, you could even opt for the accelerated program where you can complete the course in as little as 12 months.The USC's online program makes use of highly interactive online learning which includes video to get across the program information effectively.

Lunch at Snake Temple

2010-08-26T13:14:00.000+08:00

Two days ago, someone suggested going to the Snake Temple for lunch. I have been working here in Penang for over a year and i never even knew that there's a little eatery operating from a small coffee shop directly opposite the snake temple. And the snake temple is veryyy near to my office too..lol.

The dish pictured above is salted fish curry. It was ok...very appetizing to be eaten with rice but definitely not my choice of dish

And this too...

fried mangkuang strips. too "home cook" LOL. I mean why would i pay to get someone to cook something which I know how to cook? It doesnt make sense...

And also the belacan fried chicken which was ok, nothing to shout about

And lastly the hot plate tofu

This wasn't very very good

All 4 dishes for 4 persons amounted to RM35. The place is really hot and there's a big giant pot for joss sticks not very far from our table. If you like to eat ashes from joss sticks plus and enjoy the true Penang heat at 12pm during lunch, then you should go there :)

My First Purchase from StrawberryNET! [Girly Review]

2010-08-25T22:14:00.002+08:00

I have heard so much about StrawberryNET but i have never tried purchasing stuff from them until now...

What triggered me into ordering from them? I think it's all because of my hair. hahahaa...i recently permed my hair and I'm so paranoid about my hair losing its curl simply because i spent almost RM400 on it *eeps* So I started searching on the net on best hair products for permed hair and I found a few people recommending the Frederick Fekkai Luscious Curls cream which we of course have not heard of because i don't believe i've ever seen this brand anywhere in Malaysia.

Fate has it that StrawberryNET is carrying quite a huge range of products from Frederick Fekkai so i started browsing. In the end, i couldn't decide between the Frederick Fekkai Luscious Curls Cream and the Tigi Bed Head Foxy Curls Cream...sooooooooo...i bought BOTH of them..wahahaha

The luscious curls cream is actually travel size because i just wanna try it out. It is really one heck of an expensive hair cream

My total purchase amounted to USD29.50 and guess what??? First time customers with a minimum purchase of USD25 gets TWO free full-sized gifts! They are the ....

Stila perfecting foundation stick!

And the IsaDora lip gloss!

Boy am i happy! :D Best of all, StrawberryNET provides FREE POSTAGE to anywhere in the world for skincare,haircare and makeup! And they also have this ongoing loyalty program where you get more discounts when you buy more from them. I think i'm going to shop more at StrawberryNET in the future :D Their customer service is prompt and efficient and polite. The funny thing is both customer service reps that i dealt with were all guys..lol! And i had a funny little episode with them which I will blog about when i review the Stila foundation stick soon (i hope!)

Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler from eBay [Girly Review]

2010-08-24T09:50:00.005+08:00

If you have noticed from my recent post on eBay shopping, i bidded on a Shu Uemura eyelash curler

I won the curler at USD4.75 (approx rm15.20) with free postage worldwide from this seller even though i somehow doubted that this is THE real shu uemura eyelash curler which retails for USD19 (RM60). Then again, i bought it without much hope that it would be original since a good curler in the market would cost more than RM15 anyway, shu uemura or not. Even though i did read from some blogs that they could buy the shu uemura eyelash curler at a much much cheaper price in HK and China (my seller is from HK). Spending RM60 on an eyelash curler...nehhh...can't make myself do it yet :P

What do you think? Do you think it's authentic? The curler comes in a nice little box that has all the instructions in both english and japanese. I tried reading the instructions and there's no spelling/grammatical mistakes (LOL!) it sounds authentic enough but they might have copied the whole instructions over when they pirate it anyway :P

But if you look at the first picture, the picture of the curler on the box somehow looks "photocopied". That is the only thing that made me suspect that this might not be original though cos the curler itself looks pretty good

First touch, the curler felt kinda heavy and solid in my hands. A good sign.

And it even comes with the shu uemura logo on the curler

And the rubber padding looks thick and nice :D

It even comes with an extra free padding

What's the verdict? It does its job..it curls my lashes :D and it doesnt hurt my lashes like some el cheapo curler does. So i think it is money well-spent...authentic or not :P

Do i think it's authentic? I dont know, since i've never owned a shu uemura eyelash curler bought directly from the shu uemura counter to compare. The only giveaway is the "photocopied" looking photo of the curler on the box. Other than that, all is good and dandy. If you are really paranoid about buying fakes, then you'd better buy it off the counter :)

Strawberries and such

2010-08-23T10:35:00.000+08:00

This post is just about strawberries so i dont know i why named the post "stawberries and such". There is no "such" only strawberries...lol! but it does sound catchy...maybe someday i will open a cute little pink shop and call it "Stawberries and Such" kekeke

Anyhoo, in view of the our company's "employee wellness" program. We have been having fruit sellers over at our company every Tuesdays for the past few months. It is good though for lazy people like me cos i never wake up early during the weekends to buy fresh fruits from the wet market. Our only source of fruit is from the supermarket...hee...which can be quite expensive. So every Tuesday it's like having a wet market in our company. Last Tuesday, the uncle told me these strawberries are nice...

They are really HUUUUGEE....and they go for RM10 per box. I don't really like to eat strawberries though, i only like to look at them because most of them are sour >.< I thought they would look really nice in photos and i have been neglecting my DSLR so i shared a box with a colleague :D

Look at that giant strawberry! Oh well, RM5 spent in the name of photography. lol

Urban Decay Primer Potion [Girly Review]

2010-08-22T10:18:00.003+08:00

My Urban Decay Primer Potion (or UDPP as it is called by the makeup junkies out there) has finally arrived after sooo long!

I ordered mine via sgdrugstore from lowyat.net forums. You can always trust on him (yes he's a guy!) to update you on your order status from US and he will pack all your orders immaculately which i really like! (i just ordered my urban decay naked palette from him! can't wait!). The price he quoted for me for the UDPP is RM79 which is pretty reasonable considering that Urban Decay is not even available in Malaysia =_=

This is my first ever Urban Decay product and since this is the "holy grail" of eyeshadow primers, i caved and bought it after resisting for soooo long to see for myself how good it really is! About a year back when i started buying makeup, i thought i'd go save some money and i bought the ELF Eyeshadow Primer. It did make the eyeshadow colors a bit more vibrant but it didnt really help in terms of making eyeshadow stay longer. Put it this way, if you apply any type of cream eyeshadow before you apply your eyeshadow it WILL make your eyeshadow more vibrant anyway. So the ELF eyeshadow primer has been sitting in my drawer ever since :D

This is how the UDPP in original looks like

Once blended in, it didnt really have a distinct color but it does makes your eyelid smooth and nice for eyeshadow application :D At first touch, the UDPP felt kinda oily but it's not and i think that's what makes your eyelids smooth after application. Something like my Lancome face base.

Ok time for the verdict...i swatched my NYX Mermaid Green single eyeshadow with UDPP vs ELF Eyeshadow Primer and of course without any primer

Without primer, the color is barely visible! *gasp* to think i've been applying eyeshadows without primer all these while?? :P With the elf e/s primer it did make the color more vibrant and even more so with the UDPP. But it does seem that the elf e/s primer somehow makes the e/s more shiny...hmm

but like i've said earlier, elf e/s primer really didnt help in terms of durability. I tried on the UDPP for work on Friday and after work i went straight for dinner and shopped till around 8pm and guess what?? my e/s is still there! amazing :)

- makes e/s longer lasting
- makes e/s color more vibrant
- lives up to its name

- not readily available in Malaysia
- may be considered expensive to some standard

Cats!

2010-08-21T16:13:00.000+08:00

There is this skinny black and white cat wandering around our apartment block everyday that is just so afraid of me. I've been trying to get it to come to me to no avail for the past 3 months...

One fine day, i came home from work munching on a bag of pappadom (lol!) and for a change this cat showed interest in me for the very first time and came and sniffed at me curiously. I think it likes indian food then. Since i've already finished the pappadom i sprinkled some tiny bits left in the plastic bag for the cat..hahaha...then i caught sight of 2 orange kittens hiding behind.

So it seems the cat has kittens...identical twins..hahaha. And the 3 started surrounding me and rubbing against my leg :) After a while, i think the mother cat realized the greedy ol me have already finished all the pappadom and had nothing left for them so she left ...and the 2 kittens quickly followed

(Photos taken with Nikon S570)

Cliptec Earphone

2010-08-18T20:46:00.004+08:00

I know this is a weird topic for me to post. I mean come on, i never blog about earphones (of all things!). lol. but i m just so sentimental towards my old earphone that i just had to blog about this.lameee...

anyway, long story cut short, i bought a new spanky earphone to replace my 10 year old Sony earphones! can you believe it???? I've had my old earphone for TEN years!!! This is my new earphone...

New and shiny and...its green. weird color choice for me

And it even comes with crystals..see?

I still think the crystals are pretty weird because they attract too much attention to my........ears....

At 105 dB, i thought it was a pretty good earphone for the price of RM29.90 (i bought it from Harvey Norman) and of course it makes pretty good sound in my ears.

The reason i suddenly bought a new earphone is because someone bought it few weeks ago and it sounded so amazing i just had to get one for myself even though my dear old ear phones are still working. And of course, since the new earphones are quite outside-sound proof, i bought it to use in the office to block out any unwanted "sounds" when i'm trying to concentrate. hear no evil, think no evil 'x' ~~btw,its also very good to get you out of conversations with unwelcomed people~~

And this here is my retired 10 YEAR OLD Sony earphones!

I don't think there ever has been anything that has lasted me this long. Would you believe it first came with my Sony Walkman (YES! WALKMAN! i cant even remember the days when having a portable cassette player is not something to be ashamed about) when i was in college. It has accompanied me through long,hard nights of revision, then it went with me to my first company and on to my 2nd company (where we made "history" because i had my ears plugged most of the time to block out my EX LADY BOSS's annoying voice that she told me off that i always had my ear plugged with those darn earphones.btw,F HER!) and now came with me to Penang in my 3rd company.

Oh nooo...blogging about it this way makes me feel sentimental again. i cant believe i can get so attached to an earphone (for God's sake!)

Lucky

2010-08-17T14:22:00.001+08:00

Ok I'm feeling emo again today. Lol! I was listening to someone who should not be named about how he's currently compiling a list of Australian and nz top unis for his 17 y/o daughter who WILL (no matter what) go overseas beginning of next year. And when he asked me which uni I graduated from, I started feeling inferior. It's easy for him to laugh and make fun of me when his daughter already have everything planned out for her even the kind of course she should take.

Did I have this kind of opportunity? No! Was I able to choose the type of courses I want? Not really,i can only study a course that fits my parents budget. I'm not being ungrateful but I wasn't a shabby student either I was one of the top in my school. And when people started telling me ohh how difficult it is for his daughter to make a decision I felt like hitting someone. Well if I had the opportunity his daughter had I won't be working under him now (oops that kinda revealed who he is. Lol)

Sure I can take a tease or two but this time it hit a raw flesh. Lol! Because I've always been thinking of the "what would have been" in terms of my education choice. Oh well, I guess it's the time of the month too. So forgive me for being emo in my blog. Lol