Purple pee.....

Talking about food addictions, this fruit has got to top the list or at least be in the top 3. Been taking this all-purple-inside Dragon fruit for about a year now & I still love it. It doesn`t come cheap though. A medium sized one can sometimes cost rm5 each but at a few pasar malams i.e. tmn tun on Sunday nites, they sell smaller ones at 4 for rm10 which is when I gasak quite a few. The weird thing about consuming this fruit is the next morning when you go to the toilet, your urine turns a deep purple hue. Cool yeh ? I`ve done research on the fruit. Dragonfruit flesh naturally comes in colours of plain white, yellow or dark purple. So don`t worry, it ain`t some paint being syringed in like I originally thot. Enjoy.....

A great Fall......

I spend about 60 minutes watering my plants twice a day. This particular fern called the Staghorn was hung against a pillar & had wood on its back to help position it. It`s been there for 4 years & of late, it`s been slipping down a little more each day as it gets bigger & heavier. It`s also one of the reasons I can`t park my car inside the house. Well, last Saturday it kinda decided it wanted to know what the ground felt like. I heard a loud swooosh and then a crash. Uh oh. It rested on its hind quarters on the ground & looked a bit like a clumsy girl with her skirt all around her. I had to get my Dad to help me pick it up coz it`s a combination of 5 healthy heavy plants. It`s resting on my Ikea bathroom boxes now while I figure out what to do with it. In the nurseries, a staghorn this size would easily fetch rm200. I got it for free when I saved it from the tractors when they cleared a forest for development.

Phew.....

For the past month, I have been driving around with a funny noise emananting from the car engine. Every time I get caught in a traffic jam, the engine would give this funny worrisome 2-secs-per-click sound. It sounded as if I was changing gear or something when I wasn`t. Uh oh I thot but I was too busy to get it looked at. Then last week the left signal indicator was going 3 times the speed. Uh oh, but it`s okay lah coz it just looks like it`s on ecstasy, not that I`ve tried taking any. Anyways, on Saturday my Dad sent the car for some look-see. Both items got fixed for the tidy sum of........RM5 !!! Like I said, Phew. My plans to change the car & get my brand new 2nd hand Toyota RAV4 ( oxymoron i know ) would have to be put on hold for now I guess.

Good things comes in pairs......

Think about it. Think human body. Haha. This is a nice Monday morning coz I reached office at 8:15 a.m. Wah. I`m usually late. I forced myself to wake up an hour earlier so that I wouldn`t have so much of a traffic jam issue. At this rate though I gotta go to bed by 11 p.m. Hmmmm...sacrifices sacrifices....A friend just joined Fitness First at IOI Mall to reduce weight & tone up. He wants to lose 10kg. I told him if he does that, he`ll look like me & that kinda scared him so he decided to just knock off 6 kg. Eh, what are you trying to say? me too skinny ah ? I`m lean lah.

What I did today.....

With the low grade fever still invading my system, I spent the day at home. I watched a dvd movie entitled Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind starring jim Carrey ( Eeee), Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood. It is a tale about how this company goes about erasing our bad memories upon our own request. Jim`s character wanted to erase the memory of his past love but in the midst of the erasure process, he changed his mind. A surprisingly good movie. I `ve finished my box of pineapple tarts today. Burp, all 50 pieces gorn`. And the peanut butter I bought from Tesco wasn`t so great after all. I gave my dog some after he begged me for some food. 10 seconds later he was on the carpet rolling OVER the peanut butter bread I had given him. He usually rolls over things like bugs so it`s my guess that he ain`t loving the peanut butter snack. I`ve also almost finished reading Reader`s digest, edisi December 2003. Haha, it was a complimentary copy sent over w-a-y back then. Time for my afternoon nap folks. Catcha` later....Zzzzzzzz.

Mr R......

This is a good friend from Kota Kinabalu. Penampang to be exact. Today in my semi-feverish state I shall pen a few words about him. Relax Mr R...my blog has only got about a readership of 2 people ( including you ) so you won`t be famous Amos lah. Mr R works as a professional snake wrangler in the lovely town of KK...refer to Pic 1. He also smiles a lot when doing his job, a sign that he enjoys his work. Can I say the same about you guys ? Tsk tsk tsk. Kudos to you Mr R. He`s an enterprising young chap & owns a plot of land in Lawas, Sarawak where he cultivates landscaping plants for business purposes. Wah. His fav local fruit is jackfruit & he spent 3 years studying in Australia. In total he wuz there for 5 years, the other 2 wuz spent `mengurat`-ing the Aussie lasses. It wasn`t easy coz not many Aussie lasses were his height. Errmmm....As a hobby ( mebbe plural hobbies ) ...he has 3 dogs, 5 cats & 1 turtle. For exercise, he plays badminton with some blokes during the weekdays and does some jogging. Must keep fit maaah. His mum worked as a nurse & his Dad used to be with the local waterworks company. Both have retired and now they look after Mr R fulltime. Haw haw haw. He is the eldest in the family of 3 kids, having a younger brother & sis. Are you nice to them Mr R ? Grrrrrr... Btw, this post is half true & half filled with made-up stories from a wretched feverish mind . Jgn marah Mr R.....

I`m allergic to raindrops......

I recall laughing at some friends & labelling them delicate coz they umbrella themselves even if it`s just drizzling. According to them, just one single drop of rain on the heads would send them to bed with flu the same nite. What laaa...I used to say. Now it seems I`m also in the same category. This is the 2nd time I`ve gotten flu in 2 months which isn`t good at all. I blame it on the rain as I have always eating healthy, exercised 3 times a week & slept enough hours in a day. Stress levels have also been managable. I remember getting pelted by raindrops on Friday nite & again on Sat afternoon. Then I started having flu on Sunday. I`ll arm meself with brollies from now on. Or mebbe try reverse medication ? I.e. play in the rain & get used to it ? Let`s see....

Yummeee....

As far as I can remember, the last time I had peanut butter was probably 3 years ago. My Dad read somewhere that peanut butter was super high in cholestrol & banned it from the house. Well, too bad coz I feel like having some now. Tesco has both the smooth & crunchy variety. I took a small bottle of the crunchy variety. Pretty good stuff, I can literally just scoop it up from the jar straight into......my mouth ! haha. No bread required. I wonder if I can mix in peanut butter with my banana or orange muffins ? mmmm....it`s well known that men make better chefs coz we are more experimental ( or mebbe just mental ? ) when it comes to tried & tested recipes. I always ask `what if` when i see a boring old recipe & sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn`t. But at least I gave it a shot.

I`m so vain.....

Life is getting more expensive. I wasn`t feeling too good today. Fever. So took the mc the good ol` puchong Doc offerred & slept at home. In the evening, I had to go out to buy some food. I think I shop more for expensive things when I am sick. At the local Tesco outlet, I sneaked into a pharmacy there & bought this skincare item for rm139. It`s supposed to remove both blackheads & whiteheads in 10 days. In 3 mere days , you will already notice a significant improvement in your complexion. Wah. The best part is if you don`t like it, you can get a refund within a 14 day trial period. Mmmm....I`ve wanted to get this for the longest time ( the longest time here means about 6 months ) and today my grubby hands has finally grasped it. I`ll update y`all to see if this Made in USA thingy works.

A flower emerges...finally

As the last part of this trilogy posting, the funny object protuding from the ground finally resembles a flower it`s supposed to be. My lady neighbour said it looked rude. I think she meant the top part of the flower which looks like a rude finger gesture. Way C-o-o-l. A unique straight-from-the-ground flower & it even manages a rude gesture. Haha. I`m tickled pink. All for rm10 which I paid like 2 years ago....

An emerging beauty.....

This is an update on a post I made last week.....I`m glad to report that it is indeed a flower which is emerging & not a shrub like the last cycle. I do not smell any rotting meat odour yet so I guess it`s not officially `opened`. The novelty of it having cycles is still weird. So is the fact that it is just a single flower rising up from the soil without any leaves. Cool..

Aaron Chong is born.....

A good friend delivered last Saturday....I`ve known her for about 15 years & am happy for her. This is her first child. After years ( or was it months ? ) of babysitting experience, she finally gets her own child to fuss & mollycoddle. Way to go !

7.5 inches long.......

This particular pitcher plant is becoming more & more attractive. When I bought it for rm20 at Sg Buloh several months ago, it was in decent shape but did not have the huge pitchers it is showing off today. I measured the latest one : an amazing 7.5 inches ! If the plant gets the right amount of sunlight & water, I`m quite certain that it will produce even bigger & more showy pitchers. I know they are capable of stretching to a foot long. It can rival foot long sausages then. Heh heh.

My favorite pineapple tarts......

I usually get these only during Chinese New Year time but my aunt`s malay friend decided that she now wants to do it all year round. Good for me! I ordered 3 boxes. I daren`t watch any dvds coz it might lead to snacking on these & once I start, I can`t stop. I have finished one whole box of 50 tarts in one movie session. Burp.

Get here.........by Oletta Adams

Every day I struggle through the traffic jams to get to work. Admittedly, I`m late for work almost every other day. Hmmmm.....not a good example I know. I wished KL had another access methods ie by a canal ( speedboats ) or high above the rooftops ( cable car, way c-o-o-l ). Living in Puchong and working in Jln Tun Razak doesn`t actually permit easy access to the existing LRT lines. Our office might move to Bangi but at the moment, it`s more like a work in progress kinda decision. I hope & pray that it`ll happen coz Bangi`s only 20 minutes away. KL needs more than an hour of travel time. That`s like 40 extra minutes in the morning for me. Wheee...I can actually have a healthy breakfast at home, read the papers, water the plants well....hmmmmm. But you know what, with the extra time, I`d probably just wake up later.

Cherries anyone ?

A friend from Kuching specialises in miniature fruits trees i.e. mini banana trees, mini guava, mini apples etc. You get the picture. He gave me a cutting of this cherry shrub a year ago & it`s been growing very well with lots of leaves but no cherries ! What laa I thot. If I wanted just leaves or some greenery, I can just plant grass. Haha. After some coaxing i.e. fertiliser, more sunlite, more water, it finally is producing fruits. The cherries will be a rosy apple red colour when it ripens & are edible. I`m hoping that one day in the future I`ll have enough cherries on this shrub to make a cherry pie. But before that happens, I gotta learn how to make a cherry pie first. I can only manage chicken pies & banana muffins at the moment. I`m also noticing that chomped up leaf in the background. Whoa, gotta check if there are any more caterpillars or grasshoppers in the garden.

Phallic symbol or what ?

Have a good look at the picture coz it ain`t gonna remain that way for long. In about a week, it`s gonna transform itself into a 3 feet high flower. What`s amazing about this plant is that the flower reeks of rotting flesh odour which even rivals the famed Rafflesiana. It is a tuber plant & has dormant periods & food gathering periods. Right now, it is going through it`s `I want to look beautiful` stage. Haw haw. Will post an update on the flower next week.

How to spend less....

I dread having to go to the hypermarkets during the weekends coz of the crowd. On Sat, at about 4 p.m., it got very gloomy & I figured most folks would be rushing / staying home to avoid the rains. I`m ok with the rain. Like it in fact. So I drove out to the local Giant outlet to get a large size cup of yoghurt & some washing machine liquid. Guess what ? I ended up spending a ridiculous amount there. Aiya. I love eating & when I saw some penne pasta, I decided to buy it to make some penne tuna. That led to some other purchases etc etc. E. Anyways, I came back poorer but with lotsa goodies. What is it about hypermarkets that make you wanna buy buy buy ? Next time I`m gonna stick to my grocery list. Yeah rite.....

Chico

While waiting for the AAM chap to come, I sat out in the garden in case he missed the house. Chico my faithful dog sat beside me & caught some shut eye. I think he doesn`t really get much sleep as every single sound inside / outside the house would alert & wake him up. If it`s a sound he`s not comfortable with i.e. someone breaking into my car, someone in the garden at 4 a.m. etc, he would bark until we get up. It only makes sense coz part of his daily duties is to guard the house. The other duties is to be a good friend to one & all. Which he does so well. Heheh. You have my permission to sleep Chico, I`m on guard duty now.

First time.....

After joining AAM for almost 2 years, this was the 1st time I`ve actually had a reason to use their services. I always thot that it was part of the irony of life that if I wuz to sign up for a service like AAM, my car would usually behave. It`s when I don`t have access to such a service that it usually breaks down. Anyway, this morning I wuz proven wrong. I made a call to them at 5:50 a.m. In about 40 minutes, their van arrived & a nice chap by the name of Mohd Shukri attended to the problem. He confirmed it was the battery & in 15 minutes, changed it & wuz on his way. I`m thankful that I joined AAM. Initially it was because I had to make a trip to Cameron Highlands & wasn`t sure if the 2nd hand car I bought was going to give me problems or not....so I forked out rm90 for some assurance. Yay.

Watched the sunrise........

I thot I was going to have a nice relaxing sleep. At about 5:50 a.m., my Dad knocked on my door & screamed that the car wouldn`t start. Aiyo. They need to use it to go to the market. My brother is too cheap to own a car so mine gets to be used to run errands, fetch people here & there, go for their church etc. Such is life if your parents live with you. Anyway, I`m no car expert so I just called AAM. In an hour, I had a new battery & had signed off another rm139 I don`t really have. Was gonna buy a Casio watch & a Bodyshop perfume this weekend but I guess that has gotta wait. Mmmmmm.....

The weekend is here...at last !

After a trying week of work & meetings, I finally get to kick back & have some time off & shut eye. Good quality sleep only happens I believe if your mind is clear of clutter & worries. I will want to clear my mind before the weekend is over. And zzzzzz a lot. Now that I`ve mastered making banana muffins, I want to try some other types of muffins like pumpkin cream cheese or orange or apple muffins. Let`s see if anything muffin-related materialises from the weekend`s activities. Bake or sleep ? Mmmm.....only time will tell.

DVd time.....

These are some dvds I`ve watched recently or am trying to watch. I`ve tried to watch Capote several times only to fall zzzzzzz. The movie isn`t bad but the lead character has this funny nasal voice that makes you want to slap his face. I do anyways. Savings Grace is SO funny. Typical british comedy. Maria full of grace ada problem pulak that dvd. The worst thing ? I can`t find the dvd shop I bought it from kat Sg Wang. I made a few pusing-s that day only to find meself in the same spot in Sg Wang. What laaa...somebody said mebbe the shop tutup already. I bought Underworld 2 as well. Awesome awesome werewolf vs vampire vs Super werewolf vs Super vampire vs hybrids genre....

What a week.....

This has been a very tiring week. I`ve had to go for some vendor presentations outside the office so I`ve been forced to travel to & fro PJ / KL. With the afternoon weather being close to scorching, it`s no wonder I`m tired out more from the travelling rather than the activity itself. Vendor presentations DOES come with its perks like free delicious lunches. A workmate joked that she`ll pick the vendor base on what kinda of food she gets. Eh ? We`ve had japanese, taiwanese & malaysian fare so far. Yum yum. Today`s weather was terribly wet. I had half a mind to turn back & go home while going back to the office after a demo. Federal Highway was jam. The other roads I used were also jam, mainly bcoz of the flashfloods which happen everytime it rains in good ol` KL. I stayed back until 7:10 p.m. to wait for the traffic jam to subside & also to finish up some work. The 6 homemade banana / raisin muffins I brought to work today, finished. They were supposed to last me until tmrw but some workmates looked hungry so I offered them some. Besok sakit perut jgn blame gua. Haha. Time for my aerobics session. Thank God it`s Friday tomorrow. I want to watch IceAge 2 during the weekend. And do lotsa lazing around.

Fruits Galore......pisang yang berkaki

Sunday is usually either a super busy day or super lazy. This turned out to be super lazy. I managed to finish my household chores by noon. I now bake banana muffins every weekend for my teatime. Gonna do it until I get sick of eating them, which should be soon I think. Haha. After being lazy & not going for 2 weeks, I decided to go pasar mlm-ing at Tmn Tun for fruits. I got persimmons, bananas, purple dragon fruits, mangoes & a honeydew. Nice. Almost rm50 gorn` but what price tag can you put on health & eating well. A friend asked me to buy buah salak to re-try but even tho I saw some there, I winced at the thot of trying it again. The last time I tried, it didn`t go down very well. Mmmm....I`ll stick to my own fruits.

Weekend activities.....

This was a pretty busy weekend for me. A friend swung by KL from Penang for a short seminar. So picked him up from ParkRoyal Hotel at 9:30 a.m. & we headed to Mid-Valley to do some shopping for the hiking stuff he wanted & catching up. The last time I saw him was in Penang almost 15 months ago I think. We communicate almost daily via email. Our favourite topic ? Plants. Haha. He`s one of my small circle of plant buddies but has become a good friend of sorts as well. Being a self-proclaimed fussy shopper, he snubbed the 2 hiking related shops I brought him to. The we stepped into a huge sports shop & while I looked at some leather strap-on sandals, he actually found 2 bags he liked ! Wah, this is the same guy who apparently shopped the whole of Penang but couldn`t find anything. He got his bag. I bought a lot of miscellaneous stuff.My best buy ? A nice Reebok quarter cap for rm9.90, marked down from rm35.90. It`s the kinda of cap which only has a front `ledge` to shield the eyes & face from sun but the top part`s topless. Nice.
Btw, NICE 3-seater buses from KL-Penang are now rm50. Wow, they used to be about 30 % less the last time I took one a year ago. Prices have indeed gone up!

I`ve Gubra-ed !!!!

As a user of Digi, I have to stop chatting on my handphone when I get into lifts or even multi-story carparks. Reception is also only so-so under normal conditions. To make up for the lousy service, it`s my educated guess that Digi has to give its customers perks...like free tickets to Gubra before the actual official opening !!! Wah. I hurried over to KLCC on a lovely not-so-wet Friday nite to catch the Part 2 of Sepet. The burning question on my mind was ` Is Jason dead ? `....
Review time : Gubra started with a bed scene which involved Orked & a malay chap. It was not established at that point of time if they were married or merely having an affair & thus created an uncomfortable feel to the start of the movie as she was demanding that they shower together. The chap was only drapped in a towel. Errrmmm... well, that`s how the movie started.
Was it good ? Yes. Was it better than Sepet ? Nope. It`s got a different feel from Sepet. The momentum is different ( Sepet`s slow pace was wonderful ) & it has a more evident comedic slant.
A memorable scene was seeing the Ustaz character patting a stray dog he sees every nite while walking to the surau. Way cool, I know Muslims are not supposed to touch dogs when they are wet but I`ve NEVER seen a Muslim pat a dry dog before either. My Malay friend who watched it with me said coz they are afraid the dog might bite. Ok , fair enough.
I miss the relationship between Jason & Orked. The unspoken intimacy that existed between them. The movie spoke of Jason`s death. But at the end of the movie after the credits, there is ANOTHER twist. Aiyo.....what laa. You watch & tell me whether it`s frustrating or not.
If Sepet was a 10, Gubra would be given a 7.5 by me. Good movie.