East Meets West

One fine Sat morning @ Pavilion, east sat beside west...

... nibbling scones and sipping tea...

...while soothing flute tunes filled the air...

...and danced around the trees.

My TV Dinner

Spicy Olio Pasta [though it ain't spicy]

Inhale

2009 was the year

• storms came and went. When it felt like darkness was descending, the skies cleared and light was seen at the end of the tunnel.
  
  
• I watched movies that touched me, tickled me, teared me, thrilled me. Not to mention the countless series that literally got me eating out of the palm of their hands
• that kicked off the smoothie craze and the breakfast-brunch project.
• I saw 2 football matches - live! Though the intended person I was so looking forward to watch ended up just warming the bench.
  
  
• I fell in love with Paris and Rome (and all place Europe). And spent a lot in the process too.
  
• I felt more thankful than ever for being blessed with sights in order to be able to see the world & all her perfections and imperfections.
• that I could cross out Ipoh from my places-to-visit list. Plus Penang truly has it all *winks
• I paused and took a walk down memory lane via the emails in my Yahoo! inbox. And I realized life is a bunch of crossroads and we are different after each of them.
• I had a taste of life on the business class
  
• I had the opportunity to experience autumn in the States :)
  
  


• I drove on the left side for the first time, messed up the wipers and the signal light switches along the way, but still survived going places without GPS
  
• I met some great people that helped made life's journey a more pleasurable one
• I spent Xmas night enjoying a cuppa @ Pavilion KL
  
  
• I sorta made my 1st resolution ever ie to read all the books in queue. I managed only 10.
  
• I played Guesstures with a bunch of friends right into 2010!

2010 is the year where there will be new discoveries, new experiences and perhaps even a few surprises in store. So let's put on our seat-belts and hold on tight as the show continues.

HaPpY NeW YeAR 2010!!

It's a CAKE christmas!

I've had log cake, fruit cake, Chicago cheesecake, Tiramisu, "almost" blueberry cheese cake (which got overruled) ...

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Feva

The countdown to the world's most beautiful game June 2010 has officially begun. And that means we're gonna be surrounded by news, articles, advertisements, promotions..you name it, they've got it.

Mine comes in the form of an email from Emirates airline. Have you booked your package for the 2010 FIFA World Cup? Apparently they are offering an all-inclusive package ie flights, match tickets, accommodations and transfers to and from the stadium. All you need to do is sign up, select your package and let them worry about the rest. No hassle, no fuss, just need your Visa or MasterCard.


Curious how much a trip will cost, I tried booking...

Page 1: Package search
You get to select your base camp ie the city where you will stay and it doesn't have to be some "ulu" place just because your selected match is gonna be conducted there. Uh-uh, you can stay wherever you want in S. Africa and you will be transferred (by road or by AIR) to and from your matches. Very convenient I must say..


Which team? England (if it wasn't already obvious)
Which match? England vs USA
Base camp? Cape Town (where all 2012 survivors will head and it's not called cape of good hope for nothing)
Class of travel? Okla just economy will do.
Hotel? 2 star or more (cheapest choice avail.)

A Please wait, we're searching to find you the best deals later...

Page 2: Hotel selection
5 choices of hotels ranging from 2stars to 5stars:

I din go further. There isn't a need, not after a look at the starting prices!

Suddenly it hit me. How much am I actually paying for the match tix alone? And what feng-shui seat will I be getting? What if they just assign me some crappy-nobody-wants-to-buy seat (though I believe it's gonna be packed), 3 stories high from the field and players look like dots scurrying around but charge me with a crazy amount? I want my money's worth!

Turns out there was nothing to be concerned about. The FAQ states

Q. What type of match tickets are on offer? Are they premium seats
within the stadium?
A. The Emirates 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa packages provide CAT01 tickets for all matches, at any of the participating stadiums. Please see diagram below depicting CAT01 seating in blue.


Premium seats they are indeed.

And right below that, a question catches my eye:

Q. I want to watch the game but my wife doesn't. Can I buy part of the ticket?

*chuckles

The Time Traveler's Wife

Went to watch this a few weeks back and I found it pretty touching. A genetic disorder caused Henry to time travel randomly. He cannot control the place or the time period. It could be the future or it could be the past. He met his future wife one day who already loved him all her life as Clare first met Henry as a child. And the film is about how they both tried their best to lead normal lives and the challenges they faced.

The ending was kinda sad which was what made the movie so moving. And they told me the ending's different in the book and that it was better than the movie's. I've not read the book yet although I'm not sure if a happy ending is what I would prefer. Cause well in life, not everything gets a happily ever after. And they serve to remind us to never take anything for granted.

Oh, and did I say that the film took place in Chicago? Ahh..the skyline brought on a sense of familiarity and it felt good :)

My Ratings:

This One's For You

I was told Chicago was famous for deep dish pizza. I was reminded a few times to go try it. "A MUST TRY!" she said. Even went as far as to prepare a map with the restaurant marked in a big red X for me.

So I took a train to Chicago one Saturday, asked around for the location of the famous Giordano's and waited 35 minutes (dat's rite thirty-five minutes) for 1 personal stuffed pizza.

35 mins later....

1 stuffed pizza arrived, cut into 6 humongous slices, each slice as thick as the width of 3 fingers put together.

I only managed 1 slice. When I asked for the bill and a box, the waiter was shocked by the leftovers. "ONLY 1 SLICE??!" I smiled an embarrassed smile and mumbled that I had a train to catch. In truth, I was so full and even that first slice was hard work! Plus it wasn't as good as I thought it would be after all the praises she sang about it.

Anyway this one's for you, Soo Huey :P







Updated: My SD card corrupted on me so I dun have a cloud gate picture of my own. Anyway here's one from the web (I purposely chose the best angle and view so it'll look fascinating..must give face shuey ma lol). Image courtesy of dabonbb. And as you can see, it is just a blob of bean-shape liquid-like mirror :P

Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France...

It's been ages since I reviewed a movie. So here's one I watched recently, my first in a cinema in weeks!

Inglourious Basterds is a war film set in WWII during the Nazi occupation in France but with an alternate historical universe. It covers two plots to assassinate the Nazi political leadership (Hitler and gang), one by a French Jewish woman (whose family was killed when she was young) and another by a group of American soldiers known as the Basterds (led by Brad Pitt). The film is shown in chapters, each chapter bringing the viewers closer to the planned D-Day.

At the start, the film was serious, tense and sad even. I mean how could war be a joyous occasion, right? However, the film got hilarious toward the end which I thought was a perfect way to end things. I had a good laugh watching the characters and listening to their dialogues (yes, it was a more dialog less action type of movie but sit through it and you will be well-rewarded). I also loved how they made use of different languages in 1 film - French, German, English. Reading English subtitles was never this fun before :)

But the most outstanding of all was Christopher Waltz's character - Standartenführer Hans Landa aka "The Jew Hunter" (yup, even Brad Pitt was overshadowed!) He was nicknamed so due to his keen ability to think like a Jew and therefore never failed to locate them.

"I love my unofficial title, precisely because I have earned it." - Landa

Landa was the bad guy and you honestly wanted to hate him but you just couldn't help yourself to like and laugh with him. Waltz played Landa to perfection and the film would not be the same without him. Even Quentin Tarantino, the director of the film acknowledged so;

"I think that Landa is one of the best characters I've ever written and ever will write, and Christoph played it to a tee… It's true that if I couldn't have found someone as good as Christoph I might not have made Inglourious Basterds." [taken from Inglourious Basterds feature]

And for that delightful character, Waltz won the best actor award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Recommended to watch :)

My Ratings:

My Sleeping Chronicles

My sleep pattern is programmed. Most of the time I don't need the alarm clock to wake me up unless on really tired days/nites..I usually find myself up ahead of the alarm clock on weekdays. On weekends, I used to wake up at 9.30am until I moved last year. Then my time readjusted and I can finally tell me ppl I sleep till almost noon now :P (Everyone was always asking y did I wake up so early during the weekends?)

At first I was worried about jetlag during my trip to the US. Luckily for me, I din have any..I was awake when it was light outside and slept when it was dark. Only one funny change happened to me.

I went to outlet stores on my first day and only got back to the hotel around 8/9in the evening. I guess after the long-haul flight, I was exhausted so I took a nap before waking up again at 10pm. Lo and behold that pattern stuck with me for the next 2wks! Every nite without fail, I needed to nap at around 8/9. When I thought it was ok to just rest my eyes for 10seconds, it was 10pm the nxt minute...Nap place? Always the sofa.

And I so wanted to watch all the primetime shows - BigBangTheory, HIMYM, SUPERNATURAL but guess what, primetime TV was between 8-9pm every night! Supernatural was on Thursday and that ep had Paris Hilton as guest star. I made sure I was back at the hotel in front of the TV by then and ooh Dean and Sam appeared on screen..what better way to spend one's evening, eh?

I only lasted until the first commercial break....

Greetings from -15hrs Once More

Wondering why the same old picture? Yup, coz I'm stuck at the same old place - yet again. Different lounge but still as boring....no free wifi, stuck with using public PCs. Lucky thing, there's a row of them around so nobody has to wait for their turn. Also, no view in this supposedly international lounge hmmph :/ ..At least the AA lounge had a view.

Food wise..jst snacks. Finger food, soup, salad, cakes, cookies...and a whole lot of beverages. Chardonnay or champagne, anyone? :P

Oh and when I touched down @ LAX earlier, I think I saw Leann Rimes and beau. I was on the way to the restroom when I saw a couple coming out from a side entrance, an airline employee showing them the way plus a man that looked like a bodyguard escorting them. I wasn't sure if it was her until I went to google her pix later as well as the bf's pic, just to be sure LOL

Too bad it wasn't the Beckhams, I'm sure I would have been able to recognize them from a mile away XD

5hrs to go.....


Updated: And for anyone who might be interested, the Houston Dynamo vs LA Galaxy match ended 0-0. Becks PLAYED full 90mins and got a yellow card toward the end. So it might not have been a very exciting match but I could have had the chance to see becks live in action for 1.5hrs of my life :P Oh well....

back to reality, I am sweating in the heat that is Hong Kong. 6hrs to go....

Greetings from -15hrs

I am finally settled in the hotel and all ready to go to bed...once I'm done scribbling here :)

The entire trip here had all mainly been about 1 thing - WAITING; waiting to transit, waiting for a room to become available, waiting for this and waiting for that. Even finished the 1 book i brought along. Guess gotta buy another 1 for the trip back :P


Also got my car, Chevy. Never driven one before but so far so good. No probs driving on the left side either [though when i first got the car, my left hand automatically wanted to shift the gears and my right hand automatically went to the signaling switch which was actually the wiper switch XD]

And their speed limit is a bit weird.. I see signs saying Speed Limit 55 but those cars that overtook me on the left was definitely wayyy faster than that. Apparently you'll have to at least follow the flow of the traffic otherwise you are considered as obstructing traffic o_O

That's it for now.

Mooncake & Ipoh Pigi Recap

It’s almost that moon-admiring time of the year again :)

And BC’s Precious Black is a little over-rated I must say. Sold out almost everywhere. A bite and “OK-OK nia”. Yet to try the other flavors though namely blueberry cheese, tiramisu, chestnut japanese jingsa (don’t even know what’s that) and chocolate peanut.

LOL btw this phrase was also over-used during the Ipoh yat yat yau (one day tour).

Foh San Dim Sum? Not worth it if you had to be waiting for tables and pressuring ppl to leave their tables or a possible sitting war with the lady who insisted she was there first…Char Koay Kak thumbsdwn, Chee Cheong Fun thumbsdwn, Por Lor Pao thumbsdwn, Char Siew Pao thumbsdwn (rating from Pao King himself), Siew Mai, Loh Mai Kai etc etc, common and nothing special.

Funny Mountain Tau Fu Fah? Only served with sugar syrup. I usually have mine with gula melaka syrup. After the tau fu fah, the soya bean drink felt tasteless..

Nam Heong Kopi? The white kopi peng tasted like well kopi peng. Never been a fan of Old Town anyway.

Yong Tao Fu Under Tree? Dried Yong Tau Fu ie. all the items were deep-fried. Since all deep-fried items are delicious regardless :P this was the only one we felt were great. Cheap price helped too! However I find dipping it with laksa soup only without any other sauce a bit weird so I took mine dry. And the laksa, more hei-koh (black prawn paste) needed.

Overall?

“OK-OK nia” :P

Looks like somebody is in a bad mood

-View from home @ 090919 ~1022

Crossroads

I realized I had a bunch of emails in my inbox/sent items that I never deleted, some dating back to year 2004 (Subject: Welcome to Yahoo!) Looking through them sent a wave of nostalgia over me..I din even remember receiving/replying to some of those emails! A nice way to walk down memory lane though. And nop, not deleting most of them yet; not unless my mailbox is over-limit (very unlikely…)

P/S: Blogging from Windows Live Writer..seem kinda cool :)

I am dreaming of

(Oh & that barcode...serial number overload this week.)

Pink, Yellow, White

Ahh,the wonders of simple food...