Fellie's Baby Shower - 16 Sept 2011

This is my first time attending a baby-shower, and what an interesting experience. Didn't know such event existed in the first place! :P

My colleague, Fellie who is conceiving her first child will give birth coming early November (or see if baby cannot tahan di, maybe late October 2011). Mommy-to-be, together with her best friend Gracey and sister Ken, threw a baby shower party...to celebrate the coming of a baby boy to the family!!

Also partly because mommy will be leaving soon to hometown Kota Kinabalu Sabah, so that the whole confinement period can be held there with the help of her own mother.

Baby wants Diapers! Everyone writes a msg to baby...

The highlight of the party are the party-going hosts and guests, plus some guessing games (e.g. how huge is mommy's ass, diameter of mommy's tummy, cannot say the word B-A-B-Y during the whole party, and seach for a missing 'baby'). Food was homemade but I kept picking on some nachos dipped in some unfinished spaghetti sauce! A combo one must try.

Congrats once again to both Fellie and Tharmain! Good luck in welcoming your new born baby son in November (or October) (Eh, u choose to go natural birth, kan?)

Mid Life Crisis pulak!

Guests arriving.

Fellie and I

Fellie and hubby, Tharmain.

The girls and Fellie with big-breasted-and-tummy cake!

Doesn't the cake look familiar??!?!?! (read: Ian's 30th bday)

It's a boy!

One of the many decorations for the party.

I spotted Fellie sipping on a Banrock white wine earlier! Bad mommy :P 

Belon = Aeroplane in S'wakian language

One person wrote to baby: Listen to your mommy and daddy!

The Great Expectations by Mum Dickens

My mother always say that she didn't give birth to me. I agree 70%. Cause there's little in common in our characters and being. She's street-smart, I am book-smart; She was prettiest girl in Taiping (my dad vouched), I took the crown of prettiest in Jalan Persiaran Perajurit 2 Ipoh ever since my mum got old(er) and wrinkly; She loves raring chickens and do gardening, I was afraid of chicken droppings and has 'hot' hands (even cactus die under my care).

I despise her fashion sense. She hates mine completely.

But then mathematically, the 30% has some truth: We are both females..duh!; we love to eat anything and everything that is edible + sambal belacan-kinda-spicy; she and I are caring..yup yup...to a certain extent; she and I can never say "no" (kinda bad trait, actually) to any requests; both me and my mum loves flowers; she likes to entertain people, and so do I (e.g. jemput orang makan-makan, masak byk-byk di rumah, suka ber-party, etc.). And this trait, no one can deny: She and I are both super-talkative and opinionated/vocal.

Some China-based flowering plant which only thrive in cool climates, but my mum managed to make  it grow and bloom in hot, humid Ipoh.

Why did I even start this blogpost?


I suddenly miss my mum. No wonder I hate holidays (yesterday). Thinking of nothing makes you think of something. Tak han mou yeh chou. Makes me over-think about things...and worst, I get emotional over it.

So yes...I miss my mum. If I hadn't talk to her in a couple of days, I may suffer, die or stab myself to death. Not that I am dependent on my mum, but she gives the best opinion ever and some how, and I dunno how, her opinion turns out right. She used to pressure me a lot when I was younger to study, music, swimming, and other sports but I understand why....cause I could do it. Since my 20s, I've been buggering (it came to a point that I was WARNING her) her to stop putting any pressure on me anymore in my studies, career...and surprisingly she relented. I know why. When I was young, she thought I was perfect and could do wonders until.... I didn't fare quite well in STPM onwards. Today, my mum probably has come to grounds that I am a failure in many things, and finally it made sense to her: I am only human.

My Ipoh's house is full of plants, crops and flowers maintain by my mum. No wonder I was named after a plant by my mum.

Yup, in spite of all the madhouse, old-school punishments, caning and scoldings I endured....I was given a lot of freedom and most important of all: she trusts me. She allowed me to do and pursue anything I want. I was allowed to dye my hair red (which I didn't), go clubbing every single weekend (in my mid-20s), drink and drunk, buy as much clothes as I want with my teaching-swimming side income, date any guys I want. She doesn't care who I brought back home. But she only warn me of these 3 things:
1. No drugs,
2. No smoking, and
3. Don't get raped.

And her favourite sentence of all time: "Never be kan-cheong in anything you do". But I always feel that she meant otherwise. Cause it's soooo unlike her to say this to me after all the pushing and pressure she imposed to me to do just about everything.

My mum is my best friend. You can see me and her talking in the afternoon and one will never know that's my mum on the other side of the line. We talk like friends... taruh each other, talk loud-loud, scold each other (both of us opinionated marr)...but there's definitely a sense of respect somewhere.

Or maybe I don't have a sister. I do secretly pray each day that I had a sister one day. Father and brothers...ahem...I won't say you guys aren't any good in this earth, but you don't have enough oestrogens to understand me. You guys are really from Mars!


I love you, Mum.


Bla bLa bla bla...Okay, now Mum, cook me some prawn sambal petai!

At Lumut jetty. Mum showing of her 'luxury' salted fish. She had gotten it at a bargain price and soooo proud a...salty fish?!

You can do it, guys,

Whassup August?! 

Before you know it, it's already mid-August and  for me, August is the month of flowers. Roses to be exact. I am not shy to say (to all the guys out there): every girl in this world loves flowers. And guys, it's always worth giving flower(s) to your love ones though I totally know many out there will curse me for campaigning so. Don't cha believe it if a girl tells you she's not into flowers - that's BS. 

Cause any girl will go head-over-heels over flowers!

And give real flowers. If you're like my dad who thinks real flowers represents real love, then you're right. Though it wilts and last barely a week, at least it's FOR REAL. I don't buy into the idea of giving fake plastic flowers that obviously doesn't die, but thinking that it represents everlasting love? Nah....so not appropriate. Leave fake flowers for decorating houses. :P 

Bouquet I got when I was at Secret of Louisiana, KJ. The flowers were a surprise, an so was the venue.                         Hidden gem of Selangor.

I got these roses for no apparent reason.

...and these too.

This are fee yen's bouquet after complaining of not getting one (when I got 2 in a month!).  Kidding lah... Hubby surprised her with these white-peach bouquet for anniversary. Sweet!

YP's bouquet of lilies (pretty!) sent by hubby to her office. *sorry for copywriting this fr your FB

OOoooo...seems like a trend here. Keep it up, guys!

But just want to set the record straight: besides flowers and roses, I am also into Coach bags, Gucci, Sports Cars, Tiffany's Diamonds, Blue Mountain beans, Caviar, Fois Gras, Truffles, Kobe beef, etc, etc.... (fill in the blanks with luxury items here). Muahahahaha.

And btw, my Ph.D. graduation/convocation (sigh, finally!) will be this October 15th. *Hint**hint*

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I just love the Spongebob Squarepants sticker used during today's Pacemaker's Relay Run. See, see, rambut serabut and blur....just like I every morning! I chose this sticker cause it reminds me that I need to get a hair cut quite quickly.

I've never done a relay, but it's pretty stressful. My pace was brought to a sprint(!), and I was panting the sh*t out of myself upon passing the baton to the next runner. But believe me, I had really great fun with the SpongeBob Square Pants/ BKT runners :)

More pics of the event in my FB page.


Ivy Out!

Always happens!

Man does not live by bread alone.

I kinda know why I hate leaving my country for an extended period of time. It's the food (and my parents) that I miss, of course. I am not that independent as one would teethingly claim because I can assure you that I am highly dependent on Malaysian food.

What makes me this meaty and chubby despite my highly active lifestyle is because I am strictly unfussy in food. Except for tortoise, turtle, reptiles, insects and larvae, I pretty much gobble anything that is mildly nice. I can't tell if a dish is better than another shop serving the same although ppl claim that one place serves it better. Say for example, some friends say that Ipoh's Kuey Teow noodles is many times better than the one I am slurping on in PJ. I really don't know, man. I can't tell. For me, both Ipoh and PJ Kuay Teow is insignificantly different from each other (95% confidence level) despite my friend kept brainwashing me that it is. Another example: the Tau-Fu-Fah in Funny Snow Mountain Ipoh (whatever!) is soooooooooooooo good? Nah, don't bullshit me. HOW MUCH TASTIER CAN A TAU FU FA in Ipoh compared to say...Klang Valley's, eh?!?! It's psychology...you come this far, you definitely think it's worth it although it's not, because you don't want to think you wasted your time, journey and money to come here and say it's the same as anywhere else. (warning: tongue twister).

Let me tell you a secret: I went to HK and I can't tell if it beats every meat ball noodles I've eaten in KL. I've tasted noodles in KL that is as good as that in HK. Same goes for the lai-cha (Teh C). Oppss...

So after reading the above, you can tell that I ain't a foody person. Cause I ain't. I admit. When I go to many other countries and enjoy whatever food (not fussy mah) I find, but I won't go search for a particular food. I won't go the extra mild to search for a so-said famous food.

Anyway, here's the list of my favourite food (from any country) from 10th placing to 1st (only if I can't cook/prepare them). But I dunno where's the best place/restaurant to makan these, so no need to recommend me. I don't care. Period:

10. Slimy Lady's Finger Indian Curry (+ fish is a bonus)

9. Chapati + Tandoori Chicken + Mint sauce and pickled onions




8. Banana Leaf Rice (only when makan with clean bare hands) + must have deep-fried batter bitter gourd




7. Bakkutteh + offals + deep-fried ghost




6. Any egg dish i.e. steam eggs, sunny side up, scrambled, half-boiled, full boiled, infused with herbs, fu-yeong, etc... including Century eggs, salty eggs and duck eggs in curry





5. Ramly/Otai burger daging special + cheese = "Sloppy Burger" in kwai low's terms




4. Maggi Mee Goreng + Sunny side up




3. Semi-cooked (bloody) Kerang in 6-6 style





2. Penang style Char Kuay Teow with kerang (and must have chives!)




....and the number one food that I, without it for a week, would sit the first flight back to Malaysia:



1. Nasi lemak ikan bilis, only those in banana leaf packs. I can't find it good in any other country. No nasi lemak in any part of this earth beats Malaysia's nasi lemak.

A few food I found worth mentioning: Nasi Ulam/Kerabu, Ho Boh's Lui Cha, Agedashi Tofu, Bibimbap + Kimchi, Fried Wanton, Dim sum-style Deep Fried Tapioca, Pheasant's hand (Chicken feet lah!) + Wan Ton mee, Tau Fu Fah.

My favourite month.

June.

It's my utmost favourite month.

It's the month where my birthday resides. What more, in 2011, I had four b'day celebrations in a week. Blessed with good friends and good company.

It's the month of the Geminis. Btw, Geminis consist mostly of hyper, noisy and gila-gila ppl (jenis yang buat lawak bodoh). I do find myself annoying. Esp. during this month.

It's the month where I got my new assignment in my company. But I fought to get out. And guess what, being gutsy paid off. I am going to continue being an Environment consultant and will be at Daya Bumi - which is what I have always wanted.

It's the month where I get to go Singapore and shopped til I drop. Read post here (blogspot) or here (wordpress).

It's the month where I decide to sign up for a Full Marathon. It will be in Singapore this Dec 4th 2011.


It's the month where I decide to have two races in a month - NB15km and SCKL21.1km, and fared pretty well. Satisfied.

It's the month where I had to fight off a bunch of termites and colony. With money. But money can't heal all. Though all that matters is that it's working (for now).

It's the month where I think I own way too many running shoes. A new pair of Adi Response and a pair of Nike.

It's the month where I decide to give July a rest. No races, less swimming, more balik kampungs.

It's the month where summer movies (the bests ones of the year!) are out. - POTC IV, Super 8, X-Men First Class, Green Lantern, Transformers.

It's the month where a good friend migrates to Australia.

It's the month where I found new friends having the same passion. Many good new friends.

It's the month where I made soo many atrocious decisions, I amazed myself. Funny, every thing turned out fine.

It's the month where I hope every month will be like this month!


Thank you, June. Welcome, July.

Singapore - 18-19 June 2011

Some didn't know that I studied in NUS for a 6-month-stint in Singapore under the SIF-ASEAN Student Fellowship in 2002. Since then, I go back to Singapore every year; also because it's the nearest  'overseas' (or just Over-Selat) location to go to. Singapore is our cleaner, more efficient and more politically-timid neighbour, but there's still a good amount of vibrancy, happenings, and twice the number of hunks than say....Malaysia. Somehow, Singapore never fails to impress me, though I would think twice, nope thrice, about living there. I have my reasons why I am unlikely to ever move to Singapore. Maybe another post.



On my way, walking to Marina Bay Sands, to dine and shop (nope, no gambling).



My trip this time coincided with the Great Singapore Sales. I identified several (actually, a lot lah!) stuffs that were way cheaper than in Malaysia, but the Singapore Dollar (against the Malaysian ringgit) was the highest I've ever experience! So it was kinda back to square one when you purchase something to eat or wear. Food is not cheap unless you don't keep converting the prices in your brains. As I walk along Orchard Rd, I kept reminding myself of my impulsive buying habits and not to overspend. But when you have only 2 days and  the cheque's in the bank, the just-grab-whatever-first-and-regret-later mode set in. Also, I will never forget what a good friend said to me while I did a 'freestyle' in a pool of clothings at Somerset 313, "Whatever makes you happy, Ivy!". Thank you, I know. But damn you too - you're supposed to stop me from over-buying!

Certain shops such as MNG, Forever 21, Cotton On were like ...how do I put it....moving walls of flesh! Those shops were soo packed with people, I couldn't believe I was cut at my queue at the cashiers...in Singapore! :P So, Jakun ppl still exists in Singapore! When it comes to shopping, manners are valued at zero, even here. In addition, queues and wait to the changing room could put any Bangkok jam to shame.

As much as I wanna write down every minute of my shopping and eating experiences in Singapore (I could if I want to), it's past my bed time here. Let's keep it short. Here are some memorable moment of my 2 day experiences in photos:



Tau Suan, (Lek-tau dessert in Hokkien). One of the best desserts I've ever tasted. It's only found in Singapore, I supposed.
Most memorable lunch ever @ Le Chasseur, Clark Quay





BK bought me a Marron cake from Flor by Chef Yamaguchi.
Memorable frozen cheese cakes too 



 

Worth my walk. My long black @ Forty Hands Cafe.
 Cozy, different and hard-to-get-to (we walked 1.0km from Flor) to get here, I think!





Egg Beneddict for breakfast. That's a half-cooked yolk that explodes in your mouth. Volcanic experience!
(forgot the name of this cafe di)

Boon King's experiment...his hypothesis null that cameras are water-proof. :P
Conclusion: Only Boon King's camera.



Most 'memorable' dining experience because it's a super expensive meal, but gave me beef paties instead of real steak! Urghh...

Can't even bother about the name of this restaurant @ Marina Bay Sands

Being in Singapore is a annual affair. I'll be back in Singapore once more this year between 1-4 December, in conjunction with the SIF-ASEAN Alumni gathering. Can't believe it's been 10 years since I was part of the fellowship. *proud*. And...tada...many already knew that on the 4 Dec 2011 itself, I'll be doing my virgin FULL MARATHON. 42.195 km to be exact. *breath, Ivy, breath*

 

 







The Singapore's Standard Chartered Building near Marina Bay Sands.
Scaring the sh*t out of me already.