Garrett Popcorn

the miserable me went to have some comfort food...

No, not in the case of the Chinese lady who prefers KFC chicken wing

but my comfort food varies...from Baskin Robbins ice cream to cheesy wedges...

this time i bought myself a packet of popcorn!

 the packaging itself is indeed very miserable too...

it says

.

.

.

.

.

.

how lonesome!

bon appetite ;-)

Fried Pasta on Deepavali day

It has been some time since i last 'celebrated' D.E.E.P.A.V.A.L.I

No, not that my family is celebrating it, but indeed i shared the joyous and festivity atmosphere of this celebration. Few years back, i was an avid fan of any Open House at PWTC, yea...for the sake of some yummie free food. Nowadays i dun usually go to such event, coz am lazy to queue...But in turn prefers shopping malls. Here are some of the beautiful Kolam decorations at The Gardens...

the colors are sharp and well-toned 

 came with dangling lightings hung from above...The staffs must have put alot of effort in doing this. Well done!

 a few more were spotted in Mid Valley...

my fav is this pinkish and turquoise Kolam....so artistic and nice!

 feels like wanting to have one back home...

In the previous years, briyani rice and curry mutton is the usual meal for my Deepavali...but this year, i had fried pasta...lol....so out of the theme!

I received the ECOVER Laundry Liquid!

Earlier this month i've registered for a free sampling via a link directed from Princess Ribbon's blog. Well, it is "exclusive for her loyal blog readers" and is limited to only first 30 registrants...

so i tot i might be out...

but then, a Poslaju man came over to my house on last Friday and handed me a package

yea, the freebie has arrived....woohoo!!!

well, she earlier wrote a lengthy testimonial of this product, so i'm not gonna elaborate more on that!

***actually i haven't try using yet...

anyhow, thanks Princess for the freebie!

Shanghai, Day 5 - Part 1 (Breakfast)

Day-4 would be my final stay in Radisson Hotel. Hence before leaving, I spend some time venturing that place, especially the roof-top bar...

it is a small scale bar with a stage in the middle. If u r a drinker...u might be keen on their selection of booze...otherwise enjoy the atmosphere and the stage performance.

found that place pretty boring coz I'm not a drinker nor a socialite...rather go back to the hotel room and watch TV....

The following day is our departure...meaning I will be back home soon!

I allowed myself to eat heartily on my final stay...

there it goes...my heavy breakfast from the hotel breakfast buffet.

the first plate consists of hash brown, bread pudding, baked beans, sausage, spring roll and ham. All my fav food stuffed into one plate.

next is pastry & cake...I was already full from the first plate but being greedy of wanting to taste them gets me with a second plate...ate a few bites coz it was very filling...The taste was good, wish I could fit in more. The hotel has about 10 to 15 types of cakes & pastry at the breakfast buffet, but I only chosen 2...coz I dun want to waste them when all I did was to take a few bites and thrown the remaining bigger piece.

took some fruits to digest off the fatty food I've taken.

and gulped down with both grapefruit and mango juice...haha...greedy am I?

BON APPETIT!

Time Capsule

I have been reading some of my past blog post in which now serves as some sort of a personal time capsule. Here's one that links back to year 2010 where i expressed my wishlist & desire to own & achieve certains 'material' and goals.

Well, looking back things, i might have already achieved a majority of it during the period of then till now....

Here's my 2010 wishlist and the outcome today:

If given the chance to shop alone, i will be buying:

Clothes, yes, a trendy one! ---> eventually i bought some over the time, many are now rotting in the wardrobe as i couldn't find myself to be able to fit in anymore. Time to shop for new clothes!

A pair of durable quality court shoe for work ---> yes, got a few pairs over the years and still wearing it to work daily.

A pair of Vincci sandals ---> scrapped off, coz i find Vincci sandals no longer durable and practical anymore.

A handbag ---> bought a few over the time, some are still in use.

New handphone, model undecided yet ---> i got a Samsung S5 few months back.

New digicam, i hav Canon powershot in mind ---> scrapped off, i dun need a digicam as Samsung S5 camera has fulfils my requirement.

Foodies:
Believe me or not but i hav been longing for cotton candy and herbal boiled egg! ---> scrapped off, on diet now.

Ruffles chips! ---> bought and eaten alot during the past years, and is not fond of this anymore.

Dine in a cosy Chinese restaurant ---> LOL, been there done that many times between 2010 until now. I think this would fall under continuous wishlist category.

Travel:
Travel package to Japan ---> no, haven't step my foot into Japan yet...been to some countries in east Asia but not into Japan...Perhaps next year?

And lastly....*drum roll please*

I want to buy a property! ---> achieved, signed SPA sometime early this year. No, not those luxurious house, jst a humble hut sufficient for family stay.

I have totally forgotten about this 2010 wishlist post, but over the time, without realizing it, most of it has been fulfilled but it took me a few years to accomplish that.

Shanghai, Day 4 - Part 5 (Gala Dinner)

Everyone else was busy with their own "activities" in the hall...there were plenty of things that captures our attention...be it the stage performances, the games, handicraft...and lastly, the FOOD. This so-called "Gala Dinner" marked the final evening of our trip and farewell event to the group of new frens that we befriended during the trip. The organizer has arranged plenty of entertainments which involved everyone's participation and we were 'forced' to mix around even at the dining table. So, my group of dining-mates this time consists of also some Muslim frens...but well, they were all "too shy" to touch the food. Beer & liquor were served free-flow throughout the entire evening...so u know why they dun dare to touch even a single food!

my table consists of 8 person including myself...but practically only 4 were the "real diners"....

out of these 4 real diners, 3 of them were so amused with various activities around...so just down to one who is a full-time diner at the table...which is Yours Truly here ;-)

and imagined I was being served like a "King" at the table...

there was a dedicated waitress serving our table, but this waitress practically only serving me coz all others were "mobilizing" (either taking pictures around or shifted place to be with their gang)...

and hence I owned tht table to myself...woohooo!!!

FOOD! GLORIOUS FOOD!

I took my time to sip the beer and wine...and no one is bothering me taking pictures of each dish...

Let me show u some of the dishes here...

Cold Dish 1: Preserved bamboo shoots...it tastes sourish and abit of spiciness...You can't take much on this as it is mainly an appetizer only.

Cold Dish 2: Cold kelp. It was served cold, fresh but sourish and spicy as the first one.

Cold Dish 3: White Radish. It was some plain boiled white radish...nothing more.

Cold Dish 4: Fish in dark soy sauce. This is meant to be eaten as appetizer too. Only a small serving per table.

Cold Dish 5: Crispy rice cake...Well, to me this is more of a snack than cold dish...but it was served together with the rest before the actual meal.

Cold Dish 6: Stir fried cabbage with cherry tomatoes...

(but it was served at room-temperature)...dunno how to classified this, still consider a cold dish??

Cold Dish 7: Preserved greens...no idea what plant is this! similar to any other preserved cold dishes, this was sourish and spicy too. Very acidic!

Cold Dish 8: Cold peanuts....It tasted just like normal peanuts available in packet form, but this was served cold and moist (like it has been steamed earlier!)

while waiting for the main agenda (some speeches by the organizer) everyone was indeed focusing on their various activities...there were just too much things that was capturing our attention...I just gotta find my focus!

and i choose to focus on food...LOL!

here comes the main dish...

Dish 1: Sweet & Sour fish. This fish looks pathetic though, but it tasted good and it has been de-boned!

Dish 2:  This is not lala, but some sort of seafood with shells. The texture is as chewy as Lala.

Dish 3: Scallops.

Dish 4: Fried minced meat with mayonnaise sauce...

This one not bad, taste like burger patty (yea, i mean those cheap roadside Ramly burger patty).

Dish 5: Crabs...Yea, real crab this time!

Dish 6: Now, here comes the real Lala.

Dish 7: veggie stick?

Dish 8: Beancurd cubes stirfry with green peas

Dish 9: Sambal paste with anchorvies. I tink the organizer purposely ordered something like sambal to suite the Malay tastebud, but unfortunately none of them is eating it either.

Dish 10: Asparagus.

Dish 11: Stir fry green leafy 'choi sum'.

Dessert 1: Shanghainese pastry. The crust similar to "siu bao" but it was plain without any filling.

Dessert 2: Sweet egg soup? No comment. Another plain soup with some egg bits and tasted sweet. Simple that you can even make one at home.

Well, that's for the Gala meal...

Overall, there were plenty of cold and warm dishes but those were all simple food (like any home-cooked meal).

Plenty of leftovers coz food were just so-so...

The Gala Night was a fun & explorable event. First time of watching sand-art painting, papercut handicraft and creative name calligraphy. The games were fun and hilarious & i enjoyed the live Chinese instrument musical to the max. Definitely a memorable evening!

Shanghai, Day 4 - Part 4 (Evening Entertainment)

Prelude of the evening activity - the Gala Night.

By dawn, we donned our traditional Chinese attire and headed to the restaurant.

It was rainy and cold...was shivering as I walked along the streets to the entrance...luckily i did not wear cheongsam...that would be crazy.

The organizer has booked the entire venue...hence they decorated the dining hall as to bring back the Ol' Shanghai atmosphere, and that includes some ads posters.

yea, these were pasted all over the place on every pillars!

the famous ones are ciggie & liquor ads,

vintage advertisement which now serves as decorative posters.

even a poster of the famous Chinese classical songstress is being put up! Yea, this lady sung the Nights of Shanghai (夜上海)

There were some performances too, such as balancing acts.

and Chinese instrumental music.

with the a troupe of pretty girls clad in body-fitting cheongsam...

nice eh?

There were paintings...at a discounted price!

let the master paint  your name...if u dun have a Chinese name, just spell it out in Alphabetical and he will paint them in alphabet.

and this other master draws cartoon-ed portrait.

he can amazingly turn ur face into some comical expression face!

another master did the paper cutting of  the face shape...sideview shape only.

these are among the talented artist which were invited into the event to provide us with discounted price on their artwork.

UpNext: the food