Say Yuck to Superficial

Recently, I've been catching snippets of Moonlight Resonance - a Hong Kong drama series. Not that I understand it fully, mind you, my Cantonese after all is barely conversational. I do understand enough though, to know that guys are superficial!

Ze tried to explain it to me, "You see, guys are visual creatures..." and nearly had his head bitten off by me. Visual creatures!!! You might as well say, "Oh, I'm sorry. I was made that way. Can you fault us for being our natural selves?" Come to think of it, I'm VERY sure someone told me that once. You snivelling rat, don't you come near me or I shall skin you alive because I'm really in a very angry mood now, having just seen a manifestation of infidelity accompanied with unbelievable self-righteousness.

There is simply NO justification for being shallow. I can think of a million things to say about men and their lame excuses but I don't want to turn this into a cliched post. (whips head around) And Did You Just Say It's Just A Drama Series and Not To Get So Emotional About It?

Sheesh.

The Cutest Food I've Ever Seen

I pride myself that you CANNOT stereotype me as "girls maaaa", because I do weird things like buy the exact same shoe in the same colour, eat a lot without regard for tummy and weight and uhhh...I'll think of more things to add to the Weird List when I feel like it.

Yet just last week, I could not help but act like a moronic stereotypical girl when I saw this:



THE CUTEST EVER PIECE OF FOOD I HAVE SEEN IN MY LIFE!!!
Look at the crinkles - AAAGGGHHH so cute it makes me angry!!!


This reminds me of another item to add to the Weird List of mine. I do NOT do NOT do NOT think that bears or soft toys are cute. In fact, I find them annoying because they have this remarkable ability to collect dust, which I'm highly sensitive to. I cannot understand why the masses go "Awww....cuteeee..." whenever they see posters of bears or mice or pictures of bears on cakes, or other irritating things like that.


Back to this really CUTE piece of food:

Oh come on, you have to agree with me! It's so cute. It looks like a GIANT CURRY PUFF! I have to clutch it with both my hands to lift it up!! Simply because it's too BIG!!! And that's what makes it soo-o-o-o-o-o cute!



Oh now, look at the remains of that giant curry puff - it looks like a baby dragon's foot! SO CUTE I'm almost crying now. Boo hoo hoo... I can totally imagine the baby dragon walking - PAD PAD PAD with its baby dragon feet. ARGHHHH....who can withstand the cuteness!!!???


In reality, you call that a Calzone pizza and in reality again, it doesn't taste very fantastic. I quite liked their arabiatta though- the overwhelming spiciness which attacked your insides rather than your mouth or tongue, was quite an exciting feeling.

That was dinner, actually, at a very lovely place called Cipolla - an Italian restaurant along Jalan Telawi 2 in Bangsar. A simple dinner - soup and main courses with drinks (no dessert) for 2, cost us around RM100! Food-wise, nothing fantastic, thus rendering the dinner rather pricey but overall definitely worth it for the quality of the service and the calm and quiet of the restaurant (probably because it was a weekday).

Zilch Chocolate

I've discovered Zilch Chocolate!

Picture taken from http://www.zilch.co.nz/


I've always been a loyal rum and raisin New Zealand Natural-ist. I go to the parlour and mouth "rum and raisin" at the server without looking at the ice-cream selection. Naturally, I'm a boring person, you see.

So how did I discover Zilch? I happened to fall into the buy-1-free-1 trap again the other day (yes, buy 1 big tub and get a small one FREE! Hurry, hurry, while the promotion lasts!) and was told that I could be eligible for a member card if I bought another scoop! So, err....I proceeded to fall into the member-card trap (bloody marketing gimmicks) but, the almighty dilemma was...What Oh What Should the Single Scoop Be?

The chocolate-radar beeped loudly and Zilch Chocolate it was - one bite and I was sorry that I did not discover this flavour earlier. As always, I need to be fair and objective so I shall tell you what my dad said.

"Alar...tastes like normal chocolate ice-cream lahhhh."

NO! I beg to differ! You can actually taste the milkiness (milk is a VERY IMPORTANT FACTOR for me) and strong, yet not overpowering chocolate flavour. The last vestiges of cold chocolate ice-cream slipping down your throat actually whets the taste buds and makes you salivate - I wonder whether it has something to do with the bitter region of the tongue - and before you know it, you are frantically digging into the smooth surface for another great scoop. At least I certainly was.

There. My testimony of Zilch Chocolate.

I want. Ooh I feel the pregnant-cravings now.

P.S.: The Zilch range actually has 0 sugar and 35% less calories than standard ice-cream. Muahaha. Guilt-free ice-cream. Yay! Another favourite to add to my chocolate list!

Abba: The Food-sical

Life is such a tolling routine: work, sleep, work, sleep work sleep worksleepwork sleepworksleepworksleepworksleep

No wonder Rachel is giving me this look:

Rachel tired, but still valiantly trying to smile...

Sometimes you just have to throw caution to the winds and do something you like best:

We decided to try out Pasta Zanmai at 1 Utama!!!!



First impression:

Prices were bit steep...sigh...if only we had more $$$$...

BUT...

As always, the tummy prevails!

Not satisfied with just the main courses, we ordered dessert!

FINALE: If I had to do the same again, I would, my friend, Fernando. (eating, I mean, not really the restaurant)



Ze's Review: I won't go back there again. The food wasn't that fantastic and price a bit too steep for the kind of food that we were getting.

Rachel's Review: I like the soft shell crab spaghetti!!! The other courses were average only.

Grace's Review: It's all good. Chomp chomp chomp. Food is always good.

Desert Royal

Title: Desert Royal
Author: Jean Sasson
ISBN: 978-0-55-381694-5

After being treated to a full dose of poetic prose and beautiful phrases (with Louis de Bernieres' Captain Corelli's Mandolin), I felt as if someone had thrown a bucket of icy cold water at 5.00am in the morning when I started reading Jean Sasson's Desert Royal and her pragmatic, almost-brusque style of writing.

It felt EXACTLY like being high on alcohol and those drunken buggers around you keep refilling your glass and going, "Have some more!" and you stupidly comply and then, suddenly you stop being high: reality hits you and you start puking.

Of course, I'm actually talking crap because I've never been drunk. So you really can't take my word for it. Heh heh heh. At this point, you should feel like slapping me.

To be honest, Desert Royal wasn't that bad. In fact, it's a perfectly readable book; and for those who are totally oblivious to the sad affairs of women in Saudi Arabia, this would certainly be a very good eye-opener. I shudder to think of a 14-year-old Grace getting married to a slobbering drooling 43-year-old uncle who only has one thing on his mind.

The saddest part is when you read about women aiding and abetting these sex-crazed men in perpetrating 'crimes' against other girls.

Don't get overly biased, not all is dark and gloomy there - there are also normal (I wouldn't say open-minded) guys who love and respect women, just as they are supposed to. And in accordance with the times, things are looking up bit by bit for the womenfolk there, with small victories and long-overdue allowances.

I've pretty much gotten used to Jean Sasson and am reading another of her books now. To be fair, the book wasn't brusque. Not at all. It's just that when you've been reading too much fancy-pansy, suddenly normality seems abrupt.

Lindt Latte Macchiato

Presenting....

Lindt Latte Macchiato

I have not seen this chocolate here - and only got to sink my teeth into its luscious richness when Jie Jie brought it back from Germany.

And guess what? It only costs a shocking...

99 EURO CENTS

Say you're working in Germany earning 3000 euro a month. Lindt chocolate cost like 5 euro.

Say you're working in Malaysia earning RM3000 a month. Lindt chocolate cost like RM25.

No wonder I feel extremely motivated living here.


Back to Lindt Latte Macchiato. Tastes real good. Coffee and chocolate do go well today. However, it didn't leave a distinct enough impression on me for me to remember. I wouldn't call it a 'smashing' chocolate, but it definitely is good enough for me to want to buy it if I saw it in the chocolate aisle.

Nothing beats Lindt Lindor still.

Mei & Mun's Birthday!

The Twins' Birthday!!! Guess where we went? Pizza Uno again!!! (I really really really like the food there. It's RICH and WHOLESOME.)

Sze Mun shiok sendiri. Even Grace doesn't want to layan her. Nyek nyek.

Rachel is the last to arrive (as usual)

The pizza that caused us lots of shock. When the waitress came with the pizza, the conversation suddenly stood still for 5 seconds.

Waitress: (bewildered) Is everything OK?
All (except Mei): *Speechless*
Waitress: You ordered pizza right?
All (except Mei): Er..err..yeah.
*Waitress leaves*
Mei: Classic mannnnn your expressions!!! Muahahahaha.

Turned out us kampung people didn't know that the pizza we ordered was meant to look like that.

The lovely birthday cake, courtesy of Grace! (not me; the other Grace)

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

My one hack of a cough (pun intended) has regressed into a sore throat of rather mortifying proportions – it leaves me hot, scratchy (the throat I mean) and very much sounding like an grating piece of steel.

Never mind – I took the day off from work yesterday and did nothing the whole day except sleep and read. In between naps, I finished Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

Title: Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Author: Louis de Bernieres
ISBN: 9780749397548

How was the book? The most suitable word I can think of to describe my whole reading experience is “beautiful”. I have to thank Lisa for giving me this really superb book – and yes, you’re right. I do think it’s one of the best ever books that I have read.

First impressions:
Not too good. I thought the book somewhat pretentious because of its frequent use of big words, which made me very irritable – simply because I wanted to know what exactly the word meant, and so I found myself reading Captain Corelli’s Mandolin with the aid of my Oxford dictionary. (At this point, I started dreaming of an electronic Oxford whereby I’d yell the word into the device and the e-dictionary would announce the meaning to me.)

Grumpy Grace: Bloody book needs to be read side-by-side with a dictionary.
Laidback Lisa: Chill laaaaa…why must you be so OCD? After all, you can roughly guess what the meaning is.

Being OCD

So I tried again. I reread the whole book from the first page and forced myself NOT to look up the dictionary. To my surprise, I found myself liking the book, and I started to get really hooked onto it. No matter how late it was, I would read at least a chapter before bed because I really had to know what was going to happen next.

The one word to describe Louis de Bernierres’ style of writing is “deliberate”. He ensures that the reader engages with each character in depth until you are able to feel what the character feels irrespective of whether he is the protagonist or antagonist. The book is so good that you just feel yourself wanting more of it.

I can’t describe to you the feeling: but perhaps you could imagine that it is like eating a piece of Lindt truffle. First you place the truffle in your mouth, where it s-l-o-w-l-y melts, and you have to restrain yourself from biting into it. If you really discipline yourself by allowing it to MELT, you’ll find that your tongue is teased by the richness of the milk chocolate and that your senses are infinitely aware of each goodness of that truffle – the smoothness of the chocolate, then the slightly stronger taste of the milk (and here you will note that the milk is different from the usual milk taste) and at the end, the very very very slightly sour taste of the last vestiges of chocolate as it slips down your throat. And before you know it, you've popped yet another Lindt truffle into your mouth. And another one. And another one. And another one.

(No, I can’t draw a comparison with sex because sex ends with a climax whereas reading Captain Corelli’s Mandolin ends with a feel-good feeling, the type you get when you eat Lindt truffles, not earth-shattering, but very comfortable and soothing. Plus I'm not too sure if you can immediately do it over and over and over again. Hehehe.)

What I really really really liked about Captain Corelli’s Mandolin:

Colourful Characters
Real-life drama is what you get in this book. There are gays, fascists, dictators, intellectuals, communists, atheists, simple-minded villagers, forward-thinking parents, typical guy-egos, Pharisee priests, maternal figures and even mischievous animals! Like I mentioned, you’re drawn into each character so well, that you truly realise at the end of the book, that there is no clear ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, ‘bad’ or ‘good’.

Old-Fashioned
There’s a guy and there’s a girl, but they make love the Mills & Boon style. Not sex. So sweet, isn’t it? And did I mention the good old values: valour, honour, integrity?

Stereotypes
The guy is handsome and the girl is pretty. But at the end of the day when they’ve lost their looks to the ravages of war and later on, old age, they’re still in love! <3 style="font-weight: bold;">

Insidious Marketing
Louis de Bernieres draws you into Cephallonia and the Grecian way of life so well that I now feel so compelled to visit Cephallonia and be acquainted with the land of the legendary heroes of old!

Cephallonia calls..sigh... (image taken from Wikipedia)

History
The elements of history are interwoven so well into the storyline that they do not seem at all tedious or didactic. In fact, Louis de Bernieres uses it to enhance the storyline so well that makes the whole reading experience so very worthwhile.

*****

If you love reading, get this book! If you know someone who loves reading, get this book for them!

Bad Things Happen To Good People - Episode of the Insidious Ants

A colony of ants have colonised my car. They've set up home in the secret places, hidden from the eye. How do I know this?

I know this because they appear whenever you don't want them to. The ants pilfered my egg tarts that Stephen magnanimously gave to my family. The Ants invaded Captain Corelli's Mandolin which I left there for 2 hours. Ants distressed my nervous system by appearing in circular colonies in between the doors of my car.

I now accelerate abruptly because I can feel Ant crawling across my thigh. I brake in reflex because Ant is wiggling between my toes.

They have been reduced to a frightful singular noun - capitalised.

Ant.

From now onwards, when you say "Ant", please ensure that it is synonymous with goose pimples and a distraught wail.

Dear God, I know I killed a number of ants in my lifetime, probably in the hundreds. I confess I annihilated them not because they were a threat, but out of sheer repulsion at their (harmless) plural existence. That was how my FRIM video came into being.

Can anyone tell me how to exterminate them from my car? *Groan* Bad things always happen to good people.

P.S.: I'm the "good people", not Ant.

What I Did In The Span of 2 Hours and More

Life is really funny.

I was busy writing this horridly angsty post about relationships and the strangeness of it all; turning a really nice shade of puce as I ranted on and on about how people who put up a great show of showing that their relationships are in the pink of health, blooming and flourishing, are really putting up a great show of, well, putting up a great show.

Then he called and out of the kindness of my heart, I decided to talk to him for 2 hours, just like how students do when they’re too free. It felt good.

How do you talk to someone for 2 hours? Simple. You just accuse them of cheating on you by saying that a little bird has been mouthing rumours, and stuff the blanket in your mouth to laugh silently as they become increasingly bewildered and indignant.

I also found that after lying on one side of my face for 2 hours, I couldn’t see out of my right eye, because really, that’s what happened when you lie on your side with the side of your face squashed up. If you don’t believe me, you can try it for yourself.

I could have turned to lie on the other side, but it was quite an effort to turn, especially when you’re all comfortably nice and cosy lying atop a nest of sheets, covers and quilt.

So because I couldn’t see out of my right eye, I bumped into the wall when I went to get some water for my parched throat. The pain was so great, I actually gestured so wildly that I knocked an IKEA plastic stool which fell on my biggest toe. It’s a wonder the poor nail didn’t turn blue black, but then again, I’m not very sure, because I’m blind in one eye.

I could have gotten the water 2 hours ago, but my bedroom to the kitchen is kinda far – at least 20 steps; and I finally decided to traverse the long distance because my throat was hurting and I couldn’t take it anymore.

Then I decided to delete the horridly angsty post and type this one instead. To boot up my laptop is far too time consuming, 5 minutes at least, so I decided to use the home PC instead, but I’m sure I’ll be blind in my other eye too now, because the screen keeps quivering so – I’m sure that there’s something wrong with the monitor. It’s quivering like a frightened tofu (like how tofus quiver when you’re about to fry them). This can’t be good for my eyesight.

I’m feeling the sweat oozing out very very v-e-r-y s---l---o---w---l---y out of my pores, just so, because the fan isn’t on and it’s too much of an effort to turn it on. Inertia is very real. When you sit down, it’s horribly difficult to stand up, unless you are have no choice – either you pee in your pants or you go to the toilet (and the pee can no longer be contained because you have been containing for the past hour), for example.

Wth. I’m grossly hot and uncomfortably itchy now, also blind in one eye to boot. But I still feel good. Bugger Streamyx is down as usual, so I’ll have to publish this great masterpiece of a post tomorrow instead. Oh yippee, it’s up! As usual, the problem was because of my router but why blame yourself when you can conveniently hang the poor old dog?