Monday, January 28, 2013
Blah,blah
Having a lot of time at my disposal lately inspired me to dust off my old painting supplies and give the old hobby another go. I attempted several "projects" but most of them were a fail lol. I finally produced one decent looking art. More like "art" hah.
Tada! Unfortunately, I have received comments that it looks like a vajayjay. Maybe it is a subconscious expression of my closeted lesbian tendencies?
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
My 2012
Here we go..the customary rehashing of the previous year! My 2012 was actually pretty good! There were some up and downs, the usual, but overall I had more positive than negatives. If this were a matter of balancing the books, I more than broke even. I made profit! Go me! Heh.
And best of all, we all survived the supposed apocalypse 12/21/2012! Woooo! (please note sarcasm). Damn I was kinda hoping for some sort of zombie invasion. Though I'd probably get eaten in a matter of minutes. Cardio is not my strength. (Zombieland, anyone?)
Anyhoo, on to the best and the worst of my 2012!
March 2012
In March 2012, I was in Germany for about two months for work. Though I was stuck mostly in a small town I delightfully describe as "the anus of the country", I took every opportunity I could to visit other cities/towns whenever I could during the weekends. Munich was one my highlights of my stay.
Munich is such a beautiful city! I loved the architecture, the culture and the food! Though I had only one day to really tour the city, I managed to visit the beautiful English Garden, I saw the the Glockenspiel chime, I explored and tasted food at the Viktualienmarkt(the outdoor farmer's market) and visited not one but two museums! I was especially interested in visiting the Asamkirche (church built by the Asam brothers) and managed to squeeze it in on my last day before I left.
More of Munich..
I also visited Stuttgart and Heidelberg(where I've been before, so won't really talk about it here). This trip to Germany I discovered something: I really love traveling on my own! I traveled to Stuttgart with a companion and I found that having to plan your trip around someone made it stressful! Though traveling alone was well, more lonely, overall it was more fun to do things on your own schedule, see whatever you want, eat whatever you want at your own pace. I even made new friends on my own while I was in Munich. I drank huge tankards of beer and some Germans taught me to sing beer songs at the Hofbrauhaus(oldest beer hall in Germany I believe). Heh, Germans are more fun when they drink.
Don't get me wrong, Stuttgart was fun with a companion too, but I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked.
May 2012
My company holds an annual company event at a different location in the world ever year. This year it was held in....Lisbon, Portugal. All employees' hotel and plane fare are paid for, and I was super stoked to go. I have never been in Portugal before! I was only there for five days, but I absolutely loved the warmth, the beauty and the culture and history of the country. I would totally go back and visit again. Shopping was cheaper and better than in Germany too. :p
I'll let the pictures do the talking.
There was one spot of particular interest to me.. We visited the Monument of Discoveries, which was built in tribute to the exploration of the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th century. There was an entire map of places that was colonized by the Portuguese on the grounds of the monument.As you can see on the left picture, I am pointing to Malacca(which was colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century). I thought it was pretty cool.. a piece of history that was related to the place I was born.
I also learned a new fact on this trip. Egg tarts, which I have always thought as a Chinese created delicacy, is in fact Portuguese in origin. It was created by the nuns at the Jeronimos Monastery(see picture above) over 200 years ago and was brought over to the East during the Portuguese colonization of Macau. Wow, you do learn something new every day.
June 2012
June 2012 marked my 1-year anniversary of working with my company. It was also the month when we closed on our new house! OMG we own a house!
No pics, because for some odd reason..I can't find any on my hard drive!
Aug/Sep 2012
At the end of August, I received some not so good news. I had been laid off. Between the stress of figuring out my immigration status and the hit to the self esteem, I was a huge mess. I still went ahead with going back to Malaysia, which I had already planned months in advance.
J and I had the best time in Malaysia. I haven't been home in 4 years so it was great to spend time with my parents and friends. Food was AMAZING.
J and I spent a week at the Perhentian islands...which was pure paradise. How I've missed tropical beaches!
Nov 2012
On Nov 10th, we got hitched! Yeehaw! It was short and sweet, and I would not have had it any other way. We had a couple of friends witness the ceremony and we came back to the house and popped champagne and had hor d'oeuvres. Then we had a steak dinner lol. In my mind, there couldn't have been a more perfect day.
That month, my siblings in Texas met J for the first time when we flew over for Thanksgiving.
Dec 2012
We went back to Phoenix to celebrate Christmas with J's family. My wonderful parents-in-law also organized a wedding reception for us..something that we would never have done on our own lol. It was a lovely event with all of J's family and our friends from Phoenix.
Well, that pretty much caps my 2012. Phew, that was a long one. On to 2013..may this year be a wonderful one!
And best of all, we all survived the supposed apocalypse 12/21/2012! Woooo! (please note sarcasm). Damn I was kinda hoping for some sort of zombie invasion. Though I'd probably get eaten in a matter of minutes. Cardio is not my strength. (Zombieland, anyone?)
Anyhoo, on to the best and the worst of my 2012!
March 2012
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| The Munich Train Station |
Munich is such a beautiful city! I loved the architecture, the culture and the food! Though I had only one day to really tour the city, I managed to visit the beautiful English Garden, I saw the the Glockenspiel chime, I explored and tasted food at the Viktualienmarkt(the outdoor farmer's market) and visited not one but two museums! I was especially interested in visiting the Asamkirche (church built by the Asam brothers) and managed to squeeze it in on my last day before I left.
More of Munich..
 |
| The Glockenspiel |
 | |||
| Meat and Cheese at the Viktualienmarkt |
 | |||
| Interior of the Asamkirche |
Don't get me wrong, Stuttgart was fun with a companion too, but I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked.
 |
| Schlossplatz at Stuttgart |
May 2012
My company holds an annual company event at a different location in the world ever year. This year it was held in....Lisbon, Portugal. All employees' hotel and plane fare are paid for, and I was super stoked to go. I have never been in Portugal before! I was only there for five days, but I absolutely loved the warmth, the beauty and the culture and history of the country. I would totally go back and visit again. Shopping was cheaper and better than in Germany too. :p
I'll let the pictures do the talking.
 |
| At the Baixa district |
 |
| Love the tiled architecture! |
 |
| The Jeronimos Monastery |
 |
| View from Castelo St. Jorge (George's Castle). In the distance you can see a bridge that is a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The reason : it was designed and built by the same company who did the Golden Gate Bridge. |
There was one spot of particular interest to me.. We visited the Monument of Discoveries, which was built in tribute to the exploration of the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th century. There was an entire map of places that was colonized by the Portuguese on the grounds of the monument.As you can see on the left picture, I am pointing to Malacca(which was colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century). I thought it was pretty cool.. a piece of history that was related to the place I was born.I also learned a new fact on this trip. Egg tarts, which I have always thought as a Chinese created delicacy, is in fact Portuguese in origin. It was created by the nuns at the Jeronimos Monastery(see picture above) over 200 years ago and was brought over to the East during the Portuguese colonization of Macau. Wow, you do learn something new every day.
June 2012
June 2012 marked my 1-year anniversary of working with my company. It was also the month when we closed on our new house! OMG we own a house!
No pics, because for some odd reason..I can't find any on my hard drive!
Aug/Sep 2012
At the end of August, I received some not so good news. I had been laid off. Between the stress of figuring out my immigration status and the hit to the self esteem, I was a huge mess. I still went ahead with going back to Malaysia, which I had already planned months in advance.
J and I had the best time in Malaysia. I haven't been home in 4 years so it was great to spend time with my parents and friends. Food was AMAZING.
 |
| Trishaw puller in Melaka |
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| St. Paul's Church in Melaka |
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| Old tombstones in St. Paul's Church |
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| The Petronas Twin Towers |
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| Mural along the Selangor River (I think) near Pasar Seni |
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| Kanching Falls |
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| Batu Caves |
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| Beach at Perhentian Besar |
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| Baby turtle!!!!!!! |
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| Sunset |
There, J proposed to me... :)
Nov 2012
That month, my siblings in Texas met J for the first time when we flew over for Thanksgiving.
Dec 2012
We went back to Phoenix to celebrate Christmas with J's family. My wonderful parents-in-law also organized a wedding reception for us..something that we would never have done on our own lol. It was a lovely event with all of J's family and our friends from Phoenix.
Well, that pretty much caps my 2012. Phew, that was a long one. On to 2013..may this year be a wonderful one!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Filler post
Well, I suppose I spent enough time away from this blog. Part of it is because my interest in writing anything waxes and wanes, and part of it is just pure laziness. Actually, I would say it's 90% pure laziness. Also, a big part of why I am not so keen on updating so frequently is the fact that I don't care if anyone reads this anymore... a far cry from my old blogging days where I needed constant validation/comments from other readers, subscriptions, etc. And reading back on my old blog...I shudder to think that I was once that stupid to air all my dirty laundry and self-inflicted drama on the Internet. With age comes wisdom I guess.
So a more adult, conservative version of the old Ee writes this blog now. I originally started this blog again as a way to maintain my writing skills, which I noticed deteriorated over the span of my college years what with word and grammar check. As you can tell, I have done a very "good" job of keeping up this blog haha. It is still fun to write in here once in every while, especially on a hot Tuesday afternoon where I am bored out of my skull.
So here are some pics I took when I visited Munich in March:
I think I just hit my threshold of tolerance of writing for today. Hope you enjoyed this post! (whoever you may be)
So a more adult, conservative version of the old Ee writes this blog now. I originally started this blog again as a way to maintain my writing skills, which I noticed deteriorated over the span of my college years what with word and grammar check. As you can tell, I have done a very "good" job of keeping up this blog haha. It is still fun to write in here once in every while, especially on a hot Tuesday afternoon where I am bored out of my skull.
So here are some pics I took when I visited Munich in March:
Arriving at the Munich train station
The Monopteros, a hillside Roman temple at the English Garden
Having a beer at the Chinese Tower beergarden
A shot of the Chinese Tower
Roman architecture around the city
The Rathaus at Marienplatz
More shots of the Rathaus with the Glockenspiel:
I was lucky enough to see the glockenspiel chime..it was amazing for how old it is and how it is still working today.
Beautiful, beautiful produce,food at the Viktualienmarkt, the farmers market:
I also visited the Assamkirche, a tiny church nestled among modern buildings. It was...interesting. I have never seen the Roccoco style in life before and it was beautiful but yet an assault to the eyes.
And what is travel without food? Bavarian blood and liver sausage.
I think I just hit my threshold of tolerance of writing for today. Hope you enjoyed this post! (whoever you may be)
Drunken chicken my version
REALLY BACKDATED POST:
The weather in Atlanta has been so cold lately (or at least cold by my standards haha). Some nights the weather has dropped to freezing point and the bf has woken up to ice on his car windshield. I've been stubbornly trying to abstain from wearing socks (I don't like having my feet covered, I know, I'm weird) but it got to the point where I finally caved in and started putting them on around the house.
This cold weather got me all nostalgic about the soups my mom and grandma used to make when I was younger. You know, all the the Chinese soupy stuff; pigs ear soup, silke chicken soup, etc. I never appreciated any of the flavors or the amount of time they took into preparing them for us kids. I took all of that for granted and even went "Ewww, not THIS again?" Looking back now, I wish I could have showed a little more appreciation then.
Now that I am older and living away from home, I realize how precious those memories are. And I never realized how deliciously soothing those soup recipes are! Especially in cold weather. Among my favorite was drunken chicken. I'll be honest, I don't know if this is the traditional way of cooking it but I made up the recipe based on my memory of the flavors.
Ingredients:
Heat up the chicken broth, chicken drumsticks and simmer till the chicken is fully cooked. Add a few drops of sesame oil. Add the whiskey in as you go till you achieve the flavor to your liking. Halfway through cooking, drop in the shitake mushrooms.
The soup will reduce as you boil it..and here is the other 'secret' flavor enhancer: Don't add water to it, add the liquid that you have saved from soaking your shitake earlier! It really gives the soup a deep earthy flavor.
The weather in Atlanta has been so cold lately (or at least cold by my standards haha). Some nights the weather has dropped to freezing point and the bf has woken up to ice on his car windshield. I've been stubbornly trying to abstain from wearing socks (I don't like having my feet covered, I know, I'm weird) but it got to the point where I finally caved in and started putting them on around the house.
This cold weather got me all nostalgic about the soups my mom and grandma used to make when I was younger. You know, all the the Chinese soupy stuff; pigs ear soup, silke chicken soup, etc. I never appreciated any of the flavors or the amount of time they took into preparing them for us kids. I took all of that for granted and even went "Ewww, not THIS again?" Looking back now, I wish I could have showed a little more appreciation then.
Now that I am older and living away from home, I realize how precious those memories are. And I never realized how deliciously soothing those soup recipes are! Especially in cold weather. Among my favorite was drunken chicken. I'll be honest, I don't know if this is the traditional way of cooking it but I made up the recipe based on my memory of the flavors.
Ingredients:
- Chicken drumsticks (I used 2 for my recipe)
- Sesame oil
- A can of chicken broth
- Whiskey (however much you want to put in, I was very liberal with the amount :p)
- Goji berries
- Dried shitake mushrooms (soak it in water till they soften, save the liquid)
- Enoki mushrooms
Heat up the chicken broth, chicken drumsticks and simmer till the chicken is fully cooked. Add a few drops of sesame oil. Add the whiskey in as you go till you achieve the flavor to your liking. Halfway through cooking, drop in the shitake mushrooms.
The soup will reduce as you boil it..and here is the other 'secret' flavor enhancer: Don't add water to it, add the liquid that you have saved from soaking your shitake earlier! It really gives the soup a deep earthy flavor.
Monday, November 21, 2011
More food!
In case you can't tell, I do love taking pictures of food...especially of the ones I've made. Haha, I know I sound so self absorbed. I recently started taking to food presentation aka taking more care with plating dishes. I am definitely still a work in progress! Plating is actually quite a delicate art and takes quite an amount of time. So everytime I get something that looks halfway decent I feel so proud of myself haha.
My bf thinks I am mad for being so anal with plating but there is really a sense of joy of eating off a well arranged dish. Food is such a big part of life, you should take every effort to enjoy all aspects of it...taste, texture and visual!
Breakfast one morning: Scrambled eggs ala Gordon Ramsey style with sliced tomatoes and onions! I'm usually not a fan of scrambled eggs but I loveee Gordon Ramsey's recipe! So very simple yet so surprisingly flavorful. Definitely a keeper! I did some slight modifications to the recipe and used creamy cheese instead of creme fraiche.
Here's the Youtube video if you are interested.
Simple lunch: Quick pasta salad with shrimp and onions and diced tomatoes. Toss with a little (I mean VERY little) mayo and salt,pepper, some applesauce for sweetness. Topped with fried shallots..yums!
Dinner: Fried pork belly with sweet soy sauce+garlic! This was SOOOO GOOD. OMG I LOVE FATTY FOODS! They taste so good but they are so bad for you. Served with rice and salad of tomatoes and onions(in a weak attempt to be healthy).
Another day of quick lunch: Fried rice with shrimp and shredded butternut squash. Can't really see the butternut squash in here. I was experimenting with leftover squash but I was surprised to find how the richness of butternut squash took the fried rice to a whole new level.
Crockpot turkey chili. Brother in law's secret recipe.
More leftover lunch: Scrambled eggs ala Gordon Ramsey style(ok, this one was not leftovers), leftover rice, and leftover grilled butternut squash.
And for a random bonus, here is a pic of my new pet Bentley:
Say hi to my new red-footed tortoise! He was a unexpected addition. The bf found him while walking home one day lol. It was so cold outside that the bf was afraid that he would freeze to death so he took him home. Well, Bentley has been a permanent fixture in our house since lol.
Here's a video of Bender meeting Bentley for the first time....
My bf thinks I am mad for being so anal with plating but there is really a sense of joy of eating off a well arranged dish. Food is such a big part of life, you should take every effort to enjoy all aspects of it...taste, texture and visual!
Breakfast one morning: Scrambled eggs ala Gordon Ramsey style with sliced tomatoes and onions! I'm usually not a fan of scrambled eggs but I loveee Gordon Ramsey's recipe! So very simple yet so surprisingly flavorful. Definitely a keeper! I did some slight modifications to the recipe and used creamy cheese instead of creme fraiche.Here's the Youtube video if you are interested.
Simple lunch: Quick pasta salad with shrimp and onions and diced tomatoes. Toss with a little (I mean VERY little) mayo and salt,pepper, some applesauce for sweetness. Topped with fried shallots..yums!
Dinner: Fried pork belly with sweet soy sauce+garlic! This was SOOOO GOOD. OMG I LOVE FATTY FOODS! They taste so good but they are so bad for you. Served with rice and salad of tomatoes and onions(in a weak attempt to be healthy).
Another day of quick lunch: Fried rice with shrimp and shredded butternut squash. Can't really see the butternut squash in here. I was experimenting with leftover squash but I was surprised to find how the richness of butternut squash took the fried rice to a whole new level.
Crockpot turkey chili. Brother in law's secret recipe.
More leftover lunch: Scrambled eggs ala Gordon Ramsey style(ok, this one was not leftovers), leftover rice, and leftover grilled butternut squash.And for a random bonus, here is a pic of my new pet Bentley:
Say hi to my new red-footed tortoise! He was a unexpected addition. The bf found him while walking home one day lol. It was so cold outside that the bf was afraid that he would freeze to death so he took him home. Well, Bentley has been a permanent fixture in our house since lol.Here's a video of Bender meeting Bentley for the first time....
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