Moving Day

Ok people...I've officially moved HERE!

Haven't had time to transfer my old posts yet, so for the time being, I'll just leave them here...

Come visit!

September 09, 2006 @ 06:20 PM | View individual post | 0 said something

Hiatus

May be taking a short break from blogging. Starting my new job tomorrow (am not a happy bunny coz there goes my days of freeeeeedom! And don't ask where coz I'm not telling. And those who know...zip it!) and am in the process of moving my blog to a new domain...err...actually, I haven't even reached the stage of moving my blog...I'm still designing the website and playing around with the templates. Will update once it's done.

But now...

...me have to go sleep. Phooey.

July 31, 2006 @ 11:17 PM | View individual post | 5 said something

Dragon Tiger Gate

Watch it for the fight scenes, people! Donnie Yen is just amazing...*looks at his body and drools*. Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue so-so only, and while there's one hot girl in the show, the other is so irritating...makes me wanna smack her to shut her up. Final fight scene was a tad bit short IMHO, but still pretty jaw-dropping! Other than that, don't expect the storyline to be great, don't over-analyze the show (like how their characters as kids and adults wear the same thing) and you should be fine...=)

July 28, 2006 @ 11:18 PM | View individual post | 0 said something

New Zealand Day 5

Our fifth day in New Zealand was spent entirely in Wellington. I woke up in the morning feeling extremely tired, and although we planned to start the day at 8am, I ended up sleeping till 10am!! Finally, we dragged ourselves out of bed, showered and changed before heading out for breakfast. Hubby suggested trying out Astoria which was quite near to our hotel...so off we went! The restaurant was packed with the late-breakfast crowd (don't these people have to work?!?) but we managed to get a small table outside with the pigeons...*grin*

After breakfast, we walked to Cable Car Lane to take the cable car up to the Botanic Gardens (it's very strange that what we commonly know as cable cars are called gondolas and trams are called cable cars in NZ!). We were lucky that the weather was really good on that day, even though the weather forecast the night before predicted rain! Hubby snapped some photos of the surroundings at the observation deck, after which, we proceeded to take a long long walk around the park.

First stop was Carter Observatory. Nothing much to see since it was daytime, but we did find a sundial on the floor. I immediately hopped over to test it out...all you have to do is to stand at the correct spot on the concrete slab in the floor which is imprinted with the months and dates with your back facing the sun, clasp your palms together and lift up your hands. The shadow of your fingertips will point to the correct time. So there I was, halfway doing a sun-salution pose while asking hubby "correct or not? correct or not?"...*grin* But yeah...it worked. Pretty accurate, actually! And while I was testing it, a couple of other tourists walked past and when we left, I turned back to see them trying it out too...LOL!

The rest of the walk took almost one to two hours, probably coz we kept stopping to take photos. By the time we reached the Lady Norwood Rose Gardens (which had no blooming roses coz it was winter!), we were almost back to street level, which means we could've actually bought a one way ticket up the cable car. But since we bought a return ticket, and *someone* didn't want to waste it...we trudged all the way up again, just to take the cable car down. *slaps forehead*

Back at the street level AGAIN, we walked along Lambton Quay, all the way down Willis Street and Taranaki Street towards Te Papa Museum. Along the way, we stopped by this Taiwanese Restaurant called Cha for lunch. As usual, it was sweet and sour pork for me, and hubby had duck and roast pork rice. Very yummy, indeed!

The LOTR Exhibition was being held at Te Papa for the second time since the shows were released, so we decided to buy tix for that. Unfortunately, no photography allowed...so no pics of the costumes, etc. I think a true LOTR fan would appreciate this exhibition, as there were so many things to see...costumes, the swords being used, video commentaries on the filming techniques, scaled down models of the battle scenes....it was a long long walk from the beginning to end!

After seeing the exhibition, we decided to go for the Time Warp ride. Actually, we didn't realize that it would be such a kiddie ride...though the sarcastic comment from the person we bought the tickets from should've alerted us...: "You know, there IS a museum here...". *blush* And what's worse, we bought tickets for BOTH rides...one was the Time Warp where you go forward in time while the other ride goes backwards. What's funny was that the only other person who went for the Time Warp was an adult as well...haha...and at one point, we all gave each other looks that silently said: "What the **** am I doing here and why did I waste money on this?!?". The ride ended up in a motion master thingy...and by the time I walked out, I declared that there was NO FREAKING WAY I'm going on the second ride! Luckily, hubby agreed, and we ended up spending a couple of minutes walking through some volcano/earthquake educational exhibition and then it was back out onto the streets of Wellington! It was dark and drizzling slightly outside, so we set off in a brisk walk back to the hotel for a short rest before dinner.

We had dinner at...guess where? Yes! We went back to Strawberry Fare and it was open...=))) For mains, hubby ordered their Porterhouse Steak while I had the pasta of the day: Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Penne Pasta. Hubby said the steak was good, but my pasta totally sucked. If I had to give an award for the worst pasta I've ever had...this would be a close second (the worst pasta award would be to all M'sian restaurants who put chilli padi into their pasta and not indicated it on the menu). Too creamy, the penne wasn't exactly al-dente...and.......wait for this........

......the mushrooms were missing!!!!

But it's not like we were there for the mains.

Dessert! Woohoo! Going through their dessert menu was a pain...I wanted everything! We finally settled on Banaffi (yes, they spelt it like this) Pie for hubby and Warm Raspberry Drenched Chocolate Cake for me. The desserts arrived looking like a sculpture...literally too good to eat! But we didn't come all the way here to just stare at it...heheh...so we quickly dug in. I didn't try hubby's dessert, but mine was superb. Soft, warm, sweet...and it went so well with the tart raspberry sauce and cut tamarillo. I think I would've ordered another one if I wasn't so stuffed.

After dinner, we took one last drive around the city center before going back to the hotel for more E! Entertainment and much needed sleep.

July 26, 2006 @ 10:33 AM | View individual post | 1 said something

Jewelry Class - Lesson 3

Today, I learnt how to make bracelets!! Derek started the lesson by teaching me how to make little loops out of head-pins using the round-nosed pliers. It's not as easy as you think...trying to get it looking all uniformed and curling it while there's a bead threaded through is super-tough! My fingers were aching by the end of the class! Anyways, for the bracelet, we chose lilac, purple and black beads...and here's the result after one-and-a-half hour twisting head-pins (and thanks to Derek for keeping my mind off my sore fingers by telling me stories about his dog!):

As usual, after class, I bought more beads to practice on. This time, I finally got to use these odd shaped beads that I've been eyeing at for the past two lessons and we paired it with light pink beads (I think it's rose quartz) and Swarovski crystals in a deeper pink.

I also bought similar beads as the floating necklace I made in lesson 2 to make earrings (the technique is the same as bracelets, just different findings at the ends):

July 26, 2006 @ 12:03 AM | View individual post | 5 said something

Jewelry Class - Lesson 2

Didn't blog about this earlier coz no time...hehe...=))

Derek taught me how to make a floating necklace during lesson 2 last Friday. It's a variation of the three-strand necklace I learnt in lesson 1, and this time, we chose a light green square glass bead and matched it with freshwater pearls (hmm...I hope I'm getting the names of the beads right!!). The result is a really delicate and sweet necklace...I like!!

After the class, I bought more beads to practice the same necklace, and here's the result using a purplish color scheme (which I wore for my birthday dinner at Alexis coz it matched my dress!)...:

July 26, 2006 @ 12:02 AM | View individual post | 0 said something

Another Year Older

Hubby has been excitedly reminding me the whole of last week that my birthday is coming, my birthday is coming...=) Yeah, like I'd forget that I'm getting older...*peers at mirror to see wrinkles and white hair* Well, it has come and gone...and despite getting older (like SO MANY people have been reminding me), it's been a good one!

Friday
Night: Dinner at Senses @ KL Hilton...wore my new BCBG dress and the necklace I made...=))

Saturday
Evening: Got my birthday pressie from hubby...a four hour spa treatment at Energy Day Spa, Mont Kiara. And a surprise birthday cake (he actually remembered my remarks aeons ago about wanting to try the cakes from Coffee Bean!)...

[Edit: Got the pic of my birthday cake from Jac!]

Night: Dinner with friends @ Alexis.

Later: Got our Pixart photobooks earlier in the afternoon, so friends came over after dinner to see the pics and have some yummy birthday cake (chocolate mousse with lots and lots of fruits).

Even later: M & ES dropped with hilarious tales of the wedding dinner they attended earlier!

Much later: Another surprise! My 'actual' birthday pressies from hubby...a Canon Ixus 800 IS compact camera, complete with case, screen protector and 1GB memory card!! *jumps with glee*

Yes, I'm sure most of you are wondering why am I so excited about a compact camera when I already have a DSLR. Have you ever tried sneaking a DSLR into a restaurant? Or asking a stranger to help you and your partner to take a photo with it, failing which, you have to resort to holding it backwards with one hand? No fun at all. But...a compact camera...now that's sneakable and urmm...holdable! =)) And yes, for those of you who might remember, I already do have one Sony and another Canon compact. But my Sony sucks (seriously!), and the Canon Powershot cannot seriously be called a compact camera. It's like saying Sophie Dahl is as thin as Kate Moss. So NOW you can understand why I'm so happy...=))

Sunday
Morning: Breakfast at Delicious! Mmmm...French Toast with Grilled Bananas! And of course, a perfect opportunity to test out the new camera as well...!

Afternoon: Spa spa spa! Started off with the steam room where I stumbled out gasping for cool air after 3 minutes...followed by Balneotheraphy, where you float in a jacuzzi, covered with bubbles in a dimly lit room...followed by the most vigorous scrub I've ever had...followed by a two hour massage + hot stone therapy. My legs felt like rubber by the time it was over...the scrub and massage was the best I ever had.

Night: Dinner at Fong Lye @ Sri Hartamas with my parents. Second time going there...and we finally had the chance to try the Three Cup Chicken. The food is good good good...and best of all, the portions are small so you can order different varieties of food (we had 6 dishes)!

Today - Monday
Hubby took the day off from work to spend it with me...=)))

More pics here!

July 24, 2006 @ 10:15 PM | View individual post | 5 said something

New Zealand Day 4

Taupo - Wellington via Turangi and Palmerston North

This was the day we'd been dreading since we planned the trip. Why? Coz we'll be driving from Taupo to Wellington, which takes...oh...5 to 6 hours? *gulp*

We awoke to see gloomy skies and rain washing away our chance of taking any photos of Lake Taupo. After checking out (and meeting the motel owner's beautiful cat!), we drove along Lake Taupo towards Turangi. The journey took about 45 minutes, but it was quite a scary drive because of the strong winds, rain, and the fact that some parts of the roads were along a cliff.

Turangi has a really really small town center, but we did manage to find a place for breakfast: Mustard Seed Cafe. Both hubby and myself ordered their French Toast with Bananas and Bacon. When breakfast arrived, it looked so good that I asked hubby to help get my camera from the car so that we could take a few pics. A few minutes later, he came running in...my camera wasn't there!! *groan* We quickly called the motel and yup...we left it behind (the owner was trying to call us but both our phones were switched off!). Oh well, since she'd already found it, we continued enjoying our delicious breakfast before backtracking all the way back to Taupo to collect it. On the bright side, the shops in the town center were all open by the time we reached Taupo, so hubby was able to buy his thimble!

With an additional one-and-a-half hours added to our already butt-numbing-long journey, we decided to just take it slow...no point of rushing, right? After all, it's a holiday...=)) The scenery along the way was pretty monotonous...coupled with the rain and gloomy weather, there wasn't much to see and I dozed off a couple of times. About one-third into our journey while we were travelling across a flat plain, the skies cleared up though and lo and behold...a beautiful rainbow appeared! *jumps happily up and down* Even though it was still drizzling slightly, we stopped the car along the highway and snapped some photos...it's not often that you see a full rainbow, y'know? *grin* The sunny skies remained for awhile and we were able to almost reach one end of the rainbow...no pot of gold though, sorry to disappoint y'all!

Foodwise, we stopped at another town and had KFC for lunch, and when we reached Palmerston North, we dropped by at Robert Harris Cafe for tea. Leaving Palmerston North was a problem though...there weren't any clear signs leading to the highway and we made a few wrong turns before reaching the correct road.

The weather got worse from Palmerston North onwards, and at certain parts on the road, traffic was backlogged for quite a long way. The worst was when we were nearing Wellington...the rain was so heavy, we were driving along the coast and saw huge waves crashing along the barrier...and the highway was reduced to one lane! *wails* By the time we reached Wellington, we were seriously exhausted...only to be confronted by one last traffic jam along the road leading to Bolton Hotel.

What a nightmare! =(

It was such a relief to reach the hotel, and once we'd brought all our luggages up to the room (small, but cosy!), I was so reluctant to go out again...*sulks* But dinner awaits! Armed with a Wellington city map and our trusty itinerary, we decided to search for 99 Boulcott Street Bistro. Many many wrong turns later, we finally found the restaurant. The warm inviting glow of the restaurant was indeed a welcome sight after 10 minutes or so of going around in circles!!

The restaurant was pretty packed, so we were really lucky to get a table. As I wasn't feeling very hungry, I opted for two starters, Seared Scampi Tails on Ratatouille Tart with Saffron and Garlic Mayonnaise and the Fried Haloumi on Roasted Vegetable Tart with Baby Herb Salad, while hubby had the Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Wild Mushroom Tortellini and the Braised Lamb Shank with Desiree Potato Mash and Roasted Winter Vegetables. The food was pretty good, I particularly liked the Fried Haloumi. We declined dessert though, as we had in mind another place to try later: Strawberry Fare.

After dinner, hubby decided to test his driving skills by driving up Mt. Victoria. Not the best thing to do at night! I was literally panicking as we went higher and higher coz the roads were winding and the passenger side of the road did not have any barriers (my palms were sweaty, ok? I'm that afraid of heights!). Luckily for me, he gave up after a while coz the roads became really narrow (methinks he got scared to...haha...). We drove back down and headed for Strawberry Fare which was situated along Kent Terrace. Unfortunately, we arrived too late and they'd already stopped serving...=( So no desserts for us...boo hoo.

With nothing else to do for the night, we took a short drive around the city centre to familiarize ourselves with the roads (this city needs some serious road planning...the roads are so confusing!!) before heading back to the hotel.

Luckily, Boulcott had satellite TV so we spent the rest of the night watching E! Entertainment. Oh ok...I spent the night watching E!, hubby was reading one of his many many magazines...=))

PS: Check out our photos here!

July 20, 2006 @ 11:50 PM | View individual post | 1 said something