Today I Turn 23.

Yes, it's my birthday today! ... and I'm doing a birthday meme on my blog to celebrate it! Haha. Well, I thought this will be a great way to share with you a little of my emotional side - or the me, when I'm not a glutton. :P This is also possibly the longest non-food related post I've ever written! :D

1. Was being 22 good for you?
I would say it's a balance of good and bad. I completed a number of things. I graduated, I fulfilled one of my wish of being in a flight simulator, I effortlessly(no diet shit) lose 10 kg, discovered the goodness of shisha (God sent! lol) and I met a guy that left a huge impact in my life.

The bad part? Screwing up an interview, met a bitchy boss, put on 2kg after losing 10 kg (haha!) and I bid goodbye to the same guy that impacted me.

2. What was your favorite moment when you were 22?
It was my four months in Penang. I can still recall how happy I was. Not that I don't love Kuching (I do, very much!) but Penang gave me a feeling i couldn't explain in words. I did not live lavishly - just a medium sized apartment without air condition, no car and was constantly short of cash. But for once, I felt my mind and soul were entirely at ease. It was as though as I have lived in Penang my whole life.

3. What was your least favorite moment of the year?
Bidding goodbye to a friend I really, really care. It was bitter but somewhat a relieve because it was at a point where the only thing more unthinkable than leaving was staying; the only thing more impossible than staying was leaving (Elizabeth Gilbert, 2006). However, that doesn't mean I stopped to care. I still care, I always have and I always will.

4. What are your plans now that you are 23?
Drawing a clearer career path for myself, play less safe and living my life to the fullest!

5. What date will remain etched in your memory?
19 October. It was when I realized sometimes solutions aren't so simple. Sometimes goodbye's the only way.

6. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Completing my degree.

7. What was your biggest failure?
Embarrassingly screwing up an interview with Malaysia's top 10 company. (based on year 2010's list) I was sleepless for three nights prior to the interview (had other commitments) and by the time I reached the office I was breathless, tired and brain dead.

8. Did you suffer any illness or injury?
I did! I got stung by a huge ant while working for a trade fair. My feet was swollen to two size for about a week and it was crazy itchy. I don't think I actually fell ill though. The funny thing was during the first month of my internship, I was really depressed. I hated the job and I wanted to be sick so I could escape. I walloped all sorts of "heaty food" including this really yucky thick peanut cream but still never got sick!

9. What was the best thing you bought?
There were a few : Lois Jeans, Hush Puppies Slack and Roxy Leather Belt.

10. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
My ex director! haha! She totally redefine the meaning of wicked.

11. Where did most of your money go?
My gastronomic food adventures and clothes. P/s : I'm 10 kg fatter when pictured side ways. Lol.

12. What did you get really really really excited about?
Meeting TL* , having him picked me up from the airport and spending time with him. Of course this does not mean when it happened, it was as good as the excitement was. :p

13. What songs will always remind you were 22 years old once?
Just A Dream (Nelly), Teriffied (Katherine McPhee), Teenage Dream (Katy Perry), This Kiss (Faithhill) and this old Malay song, Isabella (Amy Search).

14. Compared to when you were 22, were you :
a) Fatter or thinner? Thinner! :D

b) Happier or sadder? I would say, still the same.

c) Richer or poorer? Poorer. Haha

15. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Socializing.

16. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Thinking too much and taking unnecessary precautions. Playing safe is not exactly the answer to everything. This bad habit of mine made me lose a lot of things that should have been mine easily.

17. How will you be spending Christmas?
I've always believed that Christmas is reserved for family. So yes, like always I will be spending my Christmas in Kuching with my family.

18. Did you fall in love when you were 22?

*** This is quite lengthy but this is a part I owe me. I promised myself once I am fully recovered, this will be on my blog. I initially planned to dedicate a whole single post for it but decided not to as a lot of details will be too personal but here's a brief one.

Back to the question: Yes, I almost fell in love. He's extremely handsome, a pilot to be, romantic at heart and has a killer smile. However! He had nothing I would look for in a guy and was not someone I would actually date. You see, I'm a realist. Whenever I am with someone who I don't foresee a future, I waste my time no more. But with him, it was very different. It was almost similar to how I first fell in love eight years ago and I didn't wanna stop.

It could be that I was too engrossed in the fairytale he gave but everything felt so damn right! No, we didn't do anything out of the ordinary or too exciting. It was as simple as giving him a morning call or just watching him falling asleep on my lap. As cliche as this may sound, he made me feel like the whole world stopped spinning. It was like a dream - one that I don't wanna wake up.

Unfortunately, the clock ruled us. He was three years my junior and while age was never a question for me, I felt like the gap was too huge and I was already a stage ahead in life. For him, he was at a position where he had two roads diverged in the yellow woods and could not travel both. We finally decided that it's a better choice for him to walk the other path and parted ways. It was mutual. No knifes, No fights, No blood. Just a lot of tears when we finally hugged and kissed goodbye.

While I did not feel very strongly for him, it stung more than I thought it would be. Maybe because it was unlike any other goodbyes, this particular one has nothing wrong at all. We were two friends happen to have feelings for each other at the wrong time. It has been more than a month. I have since fallen out of the love that I almost fell and him walking far along the road chosen. A huge part of me felt like I was the blame of to why we never progressed more than friends. I was too slow, I was too scared. I let it slip, and I saw it slipped.

Of course, I would be in denial if I said I didn't miss him. I do. I miss his company, I miss his voice, I miss our morning breakfast with his mother and how his mother would tell me stories about him, I miss his 8 a.m morning messages, I miss his smile and I miss the butterflies he gave. But it doesn't mean anything anymore. I have moved on and this is a story of yesterday! :)

19. How many one night stands?
If zero is a number than zero it is. One Night Stand is not my kind of thing. (I do many nights! :P )This kinda reminds me of something : 22 is the age where I have many people telling me I will be a good wife! Lol

20. What was your favourite TV show?

I'm a TV Buff! The Big Bang Theory, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Gossip Girls, The Amazing Race Asia, The Biggest Loser and for a while, Glee.

21. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate when you were 22?
Nah.. I might not like a person but it never get to a point where I hate them.

22. What was/were the best books you read when you were 22?

I really like Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love and I find Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson to be extremely inspiring. My real favorite is this book by a local writer. It was a great hindsight of what we do not see as a passenger on board.

23. What did you want and get?
A chronograph watch with black leather strap.

Sorry lah, I blurred the car logo. I drive lousy car ma :P

24. What did you want and not get?
Sony NEX-5!

25. What was the best gift you received when you were 22?
It was this wing pilots get when they completed their first solo flight. Priceless.

26. What did you do on your 22nd Birthday?
I celebrated it with some close friends in Hilton. My all time favorite coffee place.

27. What one thing would have made your year more satisfying?
Getting my dream job!

28. How would you describe your personal fashion concept when you were 22?
Slightly better. Haha. I think towards the middle of the year, I bought a lot of new clothes cause I no longer fit into my old clothes.

29. Who did you miss the most when you were 22?
I think it was when I was still (friends) with TL*. It was insane! I would wake up, heart pumping as fast as a Ferrari car on the track missing him like crazy. I loved waking up to his bed voice. Having said this, please note the past tense. :)

30. Did you treat somebody badly while you were 22?
I would say I didn't but who am I to judge myself? So whoever I did mistreat, I'm sorry.

31. Did somebody treat you badly when you were 22?
Yes, my ex boss. But thanks to her, I had an eye opening view of how working life is.

32. A valuable life lesson you learned when you were 22.
That when you truly care for someone, just seeing them happy means more than anything in the world - even when you're not physically there with them. :)

Yesterday was the last day of me being 22. I'm 23 today and I look forward to exploring and discovering many more great things ahead for the next 365 days. :D

AirAsia Mobile Check-In

Since the previous post I wrote on AirAsia's Web Check in turns out to be one of the post that generates the most traffic to my site, I decided to do the same pictorial guide for the mobile check in for Android phones.

Either I do it wrongly but it works like Symbian phones - you still have to go to mobile.airasia.com via your browser first.



Step 1 - Once in the web, click mobile check-in.

Step 2 - Key in your booking number and your departure airport.

Step 3 - Then, select the guests you would like to check in.



Step 4 - This is the last step! Enter your e-mail and mobile phone number to receive the bar code.

Unfortunately, I did not receive the barcode sent to my phone. It was e-mailed to me though.

However when I reached the airport, there were no bar code scanners. According to the website, airports that does not have the scanner, passengers who had check in through their mobile can go directly to the counter to have it scanned and boarding pass printed. (Before anyone starts to think that Kuching's airport is on the trees and does not have the electricity to have a bar code scanner, here's a picture of our on-the-tree airport *sarcasm*)

I queued at the normal check-in counter and was told to go to another counter - which was quite a long queue. Ironically, it was also the queue for the web check-in passengers to have their printed boarding pass verified. The counter check-in queue actually has almost nil passengers.

All in all, it took me almost 20 minutes before I finally got my boarding pass. Taken into consideration that there were actually no one at the queue for counter check in, that's quite long! (and a tad frustrating when you're expecting it to be quick?)

My say on the mobile check-in? I personally think that while it's easier than any other check-in methods - and is supposedly to be faster, I didn't feel like it did serve its purpose. But then again, it might be because the bar code scanner so happen to be missing in action. Haha. I'll do another write up when I fly again. Might be next week! :D

Bacon, Ham and Avocado Sandwich : The Subway

It's funny how i've been home for almost two months now but I have yet to cook for myself complicated meals or even attempt to. Somehow it always felt like the lack of time is the cause of it. Where did my time go? I don't know. I think the clock's moving way too fast! Sandwich seems to be a part of my daily meals of late though. It's quick, easy and I *cough* kinda love the idea of eating healthy now.



Yes I know, I just said eating healthy! But, but, how can you decline juicy and tasti-licious streaky bacon? Just eat in moderation and you'll be fine. :D I've also added sandwich ham and black pepper loin. Put all three in the oven and let them cook for about five minutes or so. (just to seal the juices)


Make sure you don't over cook your meat as you'll be putting them back on the oven for the mozzarella cheese pieces to melt all over it - together with the halved french loaf. Breads usually taste much better after toasted.


Then once, the cheese is fully melted, arrange the lettuce, avocado slices and amoroso truss (a type of tomato) on top of it. Squirt(sorry, this is the only adjective I can think of. Lol!) some mayonnaise on the avocado slices to "glue" them together so it wont get messy when you sandwich the two halves. That's pretty much all the steps needed to an awesome sandwich!



Here you go, Subway from the back of your own kitchen! :D

How to cook Beef Soup

Ahh, it's been close to two weeks since I last blog! Time really flies, and I don't even know what occupied my time! and.. and I know I haven't post my cooking for a while but the chef in me is back! :D


All you need to prepare this beef soup is thin sliced beef, beef balls (as in the ones made from the meat hor.. not the testicles. :P) , salted vegetables, bean sprouts and chopped parsley + spring onion. If you want it to taste like the Vietnamese pho, add in local basil leaves.

First, boil the water together with tang choy, salted vegetables and half a teaspoon of garlic oil.


Then add in the chopped parsley and spring onion and let it boil for a while. Spring onion is to add sweetness to the soup while the parsley is to neutralize the taste of beef.

Later, add in the beef balls. Just when you're about put off the stove fire, put in the sliced beef and bean sprout. The sliced beef is supposed to be cooked just nice to maintain the tender texture. Bean sprout on the other hand must not be over cooked.


Eaten with chili vinaigrette. Super awesome.


Closer shot! Om nom nom nom.


and if you like, do it the Cina style! Have it with a can of beer!

Life couldn't be better eh?

Paddington House of Pancakes (PHOP) Queensbay, Penang

You know how some eating establishment tend to give you this intimidating entrance? PHOP always gives me that kind of impression. Hey, I have a thin wallet mmkay? So when I saw their tea set promotion for only RM 7.90++ , I jump at the chance to dine there! The promotion came at the right time too - I had promised my friend for a meal here and I wanted to clear my "debts" before I leave Penang for good. hehe



I love the interior. Simple yet very classy with a slight Victorian touch. To top that up, it was a weekday afternoon so we pretty much had the place for ourselves. The only problem was that I am not (and won't be!) romantically involved with my dining partner! Lol


Their menu is extensive. Endless list of very tempting and alluring pancakes (sweet or savoury, you name it they've got it!) on this large and heavily colored laden book.

Since I was there for their tea set, my options were narrowed. If my memory served me right, there should be about five choices of pancakes and drinks to choose from.



For myself, I had the Pot of Gold and it was absolutely good! Dollar sized pancakes, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, then top with marshmallows and crushed peanut on drizzled chocolate sauce. Nothing could really go wrong when everything sinful comes together eh?



My weakness is maple syrup and PHOP is definitely generous with it. Mad love!



My friend went for the Strawberry Swirl. It's basically just pancakes with added caramelized strawberries plus a scoop of ice cream as sides. Does not require much science to whip this up. Heh. Taste wise, it was just alright.



I've always love my pancakes coupled with a good cup of coffee so for drinks, I ordered the flat white for myself. It was nicely brewed with perfect ratio of micro foam milk. True enough, the coffee beans used was not of high quality, but who am I to complaint if taken into consideration the price I pay?



The friend went for ice lemon tea. Boring. haha!

I'm not sure when the promotion ends, but do drop by PHOP yea? On top of the good pancakes, they have excellent service as well! Chef Mel highly recommends!

p/s : Pancake never fails to remind me of ahbing!! Remember the heart shaped pancake I made for him last year? Haha. and so I am dedicating this post to him! :D