Dream Outfit

Image from The Star Online

Imagine wearing an exclusive one-of-a-kind Karl Lagerfield wedding gown on your big day. No one else in the world has it, it's specifically designed to fit you, for you, and only you. Not a fan of Karl Lagerfield? How about a wedding gown by Valentino, or Christian Lacroix?

Sounds pricey? You bet it is, and now you have the chance to wear such fabulous creations, right here in Malaysia.

I just read this article online, and this service is now available in our country. Wedding gown boutique Designer Bridal Room (DBR) sells exclusively made-to-order wedding gowns by international designers (some of which I mentioned earlier). It's still a niche market, but a growing one, especially if you're in the ranks of 'very rich people' and demand perfection, exclusivity and one-of-a-kind.

When I read about this idea, I was actually quite intrigue by it. Yes, it's target market is really for people who can afford such international designers (and who also appreciates the finer details) . But putting that aside, it's also about having a made-to-order outfit, one which is designed specifically to your requirements. The fabrics, the embroideries, the details, the works. All of it, to your specification. You don't have to worry about seeing the same wedding gown on another girl in another piece of photograph!!! LOL!!!

Currently in the Klang Valley, these services are also available. Our local wedding gown designers such as That Special Occasion (Desa Sri Hartamas), Melinda Looi (Bangsar Village), Carven Ong (Lot 10) and Khoon Hooi also offer such services. You can approach their boutiques, have all your wedding gown details worked out, and you also get a customised wedding gown. Only difference between them and DBR is probably... The name and price :P

Many people would say it's a complete waste of money to spend so much on a fucking wedding gown. I have to agree, and I say this because I can't fucking afford to pay RM 5000 for a wedding gown HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! XD (If I can afford I won't say this line laaaaaa). I also didn't go for those typical rent-a-gown bridal shops for my wedding gown because I didn't like what I saw from any of those shops. I knew what I wanted, and those shops couldn't offer it.

Honestly, when I was sourcing for my wedding gown 2 years ago, I did come across one bridal gown which was pretty close to what I was looking for at that time. It had a simple touch of elegance in its design and details. The gown was the only piece on display, and it was for sale. Alas the price was above my budget :P But never the less, I went to make 2 qipaos in the end and wa-lah! I still got my customised gowns, fit to a T!

Ahem... Vera Wang, anyone? :P

Democracy Lives
The rakyat has spoken once again.

This is true democracy.

It's the rakyat who determines the government.

The government should fear the rakyat. Not the other way around.

A change is inevitable

Let's hope something positive will come out of this change.

Sudah tiba masanya untuk satu perubahan yang ketara.

Che-wah! My Bee Em still can pass! :PpPpP~~~

To Feel What Other Robots Don't Normally Feel


I won't tell you more about what you already know. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. You'll most likely love it. You'll love him. You'll love her.

It proves one thing...

Sometimes you don't need words to communicate :)

Oh, and you'll most probably also find the cranky M-O (cleaning robot) very very adorable :P

Wendy's In Town

Yes, another one of Berjaya's franchise plans (aside from making Malaysians even fatter, LOL!). Wendy's burger chain from the USA. Hubby took me to their Jaya One outlet to have lunch there over the weekend, just to give it a go la. Currently, Wendy's is in 3 locations so far: Jaya One @ PJ (Jln University), Sunway Pyramid and IOI Mall, Puchong. They will be opening soon in a few more locations within the Klang Valley.

Wendy's (Malaysia) counter.

Wendy's (Malaysia) menu.

Hubby tried their 1/2 lb.* Double with Cheese combo (small), while I tried their shrimp burger combo (small). If you wish to change your soft drink to ice lemon tea, prepare to top up an extra 60 cents ya.

Wendy's 1/2 lb.* Double with Cheese

Wendy's shrimp burger.

Ok, so what's our verdict? To be honest, we're not fast food fanatics. Sure we have our occasional burger fetish, but we're not so 'gian' about fast food la, haha! Wendy's was ok, like your neighbourhood burger joint lo. I have to give credit to their beef patty though, it's not as dry as those served in Big Macs (sorry McD, but it's the truth!).

Wendy's meat patties are all square, not the usual circular patties you find in McDs or Burger King. Also their fries are so-so only la. My shrimp burger was quite alright, very 'shrimpy', haha! The buns are also quite soft.

Wendy's also serve baked potatoes. Served with either sour cream or butter. I think one of their popular baked potato choices is the baked potato with cheese and broccoli. Something which we can do at home also~ Hehehehehehe!

Too bad the Wendy's in this country won't be carrying all the bacon burgers (watudoo...~). So yes, once again the Malaysian market will miss out on REAL burgers with BACON.

It's not as pricey as Carl's Jr, but priced a little bit higher than McDs. Kinda like Burger King pricing for some of the combos, but a bit more. I like Burger King's Swiss mushroom burger, love the mushroom sauce that comes with it ;)

It's a typical burger chain from the land of fast food. You have your burger, your fries and your drink. A combo meal :) Pay a little bit more and get a bigger combo meal.

Outdoor seating of Wendy's @ Jaya One.

Fries from our combo meal. So-so la~ Not as salty as McD's fries LOL!

Hokano Japanese Restaurant (value for money!)
I duly apologise for the quality of the photos below. My colleagues and I made an impromptu visit the the restaurant and my trusty Lumix FX9 wasn't with me that day :( Maklumlah my camera phone can only do so much, hence the food pictures you see below don't do justice to the quality of the food served at Hokano. But trust me, I'll be making a visit to Hokano really soon to savour more of their delicious food!

Hokano is a small Japanese restaurant located in Uptown, Damansara Utama. Occupying just half a shoplot (along the Maybank row), expect a good lunch crowd on weekdays. You may have to wait a little while for your food, but it's worth it!

Set lunches are available and their pricing is very reasonable! All set lunches comes with a bowl of salad, rice, appetiser, chawanmushi (yumyumyum!) and miso soup. Guaranteed to fill your hungry bellies... slurp!

Chirashi Sushi (oo-la-la~). There's rice underneath all that sushi & sashimi.

Chicken teriyaki set (one whole drumstick!). Very nicely done :P

Sashimi set (yummilicious!)

Udon and tempura (this one isn't a set).

Hokano roll - photo taken from Dr Fizzwizzle's Flickr.

We also tried their Hokano roll, which consist of unagi, crabsticks, prawns and other ingredients you usually find in a roll. Very nicely done, and taste good too ;) Overall, the food was enjoyable and portions are pretty generous. Value for money! Will definitely be back for more Hokano food! :D

To read more about Hokano, click here.

Silly Minds
To say you want to take action against the state MB, all because he suggested that you be more open towards new horizons and improve on your current level of education and competitiveness, and also cultivate a more 'muhibbah' culture... tsk~

Well, I guess some people just don't want to improve or be exposed to more challenges. Can't really blame them, since they've always depended on handouts from a certain 'malay' championing party (who claims to champion the rights of 'malays', but actually championing for their own pockets).

Ah well, as the saying goes... You can't teach an old dog new tricks. The world will continue to move forward, with or without you guys.

Tangy Chicken Delight (Recipe from Maggi)
We tried this recipe recently, pretty simply recipe to follow and tweak :) We got the recipe from one of Maggi's postcard thingy, and it even listed down the dish's nutritional information, haha!

Here are the ingredients, tweaked a little bit by yours truly :P
2 tbps butter
1 tbps cooking oil
500g chicken pieces (we used half a chicken, LOL!)
5 pips garlic, chopped (we used 5 garlic cloves, didn't chop it)
1 large onion, chopped into quarters
1 carrot, cut into large cubes (we added the carrot for some colour)
1 bay leaf (replaced with rosemary, no bay leaf available)
Thyme (dried thyme will do nicely)
10 baby potatoes (replaced with one russet potato, cut into large cubes)
1 1/2 tbps lemon juice
1 tbps concentrated chicken stock (we only had the cube, so we diluted the cube with a bit of water)
1 cup water
2 tbps tomato ketchup
1/2 tps black pepper
Salt to taste
Parsley/coriander leaves to garnish

This is what you do first. Melt the butter and brown the chicken until the chicken is about 1/4 cook (I chose to marinate the chicken a day before with some lemon juice, thyme and rosemary for extra flavour). Then preheat the oven to 180°C. In a deep pan, heat up the oil, then add the garlic, onion, rosemary, thyme and potatoes and fry until they're half cooked. Return the chicken to the pan. Add the lemon juice and boil until the juice is reduced to half. Add the water, tomato ketchup, chicken stock and black pepper and simmer for a few minutes. Transfer everything to a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes (or until chicken is fully cooked).

Half a chicken delight!

Chicken wing says hi!

Pretty simple dish, eh? Taste good too! Don't put too much tomato ketchup, otherwise the dish will be really ketchup-ish XD (unless you damn like tomato ketchup la). And if you prefer your potatoes to be softer, you can choose to boil the potatoes until they're soft, then only roast them. We didn't boil the potato, so after roasting, it came out a bit crunchy :D (not too soft or hard).

Random Conversation

Image from DKImages

While having lunch at the pantry...

Girl 1: *munch munch on salad*... "Yucks! Dunno what vege I ate just now. Not nice geh!"

Oli: "Hmmm? Izzit the rocket leaves? They have a distinctive taste..."

Girl 2: "Yaya, some people might not like it..."

Girl 1: "Dunno la, which leaf..."

Oli: "Try this one...?" *scoops rocket leaf up*

Girl 1: *takes leaf and puts into mouth*... *facial expression changes*... "Blergh!!! Yucks!!!" *runs to basin to spit*... *curse curse*... "Dunno what you guys lemme eat!"

Everyone else: *laff laff laff*

Girl 1: "What vege is that?! Horrible! Yucks!"

Girl 2: "Rocket leaves, teehee!"

Everyone continues to eat, talk cock, sing song...

Oli: "What if... there was a competition... to eat this mixed salad with rocket leaves...."

Girl 2: "Yaya! And the prize is 1 Billion Euros!!!!!"

Oli: "Would you eat the salad for 1 billion Euros?!"

Girl 1: "... No."

Everyone exclaimes: "WTF WTF WTF!!!! It's 1 BILLION EUROS WEEEEIIII!!!!!!

Girl 1: *giggles* *geleng kepala*

Everyone exclaimes: "WTF WTF WTF!!!! It's 1 BILLION EUROS WEEEEIIII!!!!!! That's 5 BILLION RINGGIT!!!!!It's just vege!!!!! With 1 billion Euros, you never have to work again!!!!!"

Girl 1: ... *geleng kepala*

Everybody pengsan~


Actually there was more to the conversation, but I can't recall what else was said oredi, hahahahahaha!!!!


**************************************************************

At home....

Oli: *relates to hubby about rocket leaves conversation*

Hubby: "For 1 billion Euros... lausai medicine oso I would eat ah..."


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! XD XD XD

29 Colossal Footprints
Bet many of you caught the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony last Friday, August 8, 2008. It was magnificent, wasn't it? This footage was probably my favourite part of the opening ceremony: 29 colossal foot prints marching towards the Bird's Nest stadium which we all saw via the television.

Photo taken from telegraph.co.uk

Did you know... the fireworks foot prints which was released.... were actually computer-generated? Hehe! I found out today that only the last bit of the fireworks foot prints were authentic, as in genuinely shot in the air (see photo above). The rest of the foot prints were inserted into coverage electronically at the exact moment. Read more about it here.

So for those of us who watched the opening ceremony from our tv, the coverage which shot the collosal foot prints, marching towards the stadium, those were CGI. And I must say, it was done pretty convincingly :P The hazy effects of the Beijing skies, the shaky camera effects as though it was shot from the helicopter.

Of course when I read about the CGI effects, it only made sense for the Beijing Olmypics committee to take such actions. It would be too risky to have a helicopter hovering in the skies, with fireworks shooting up!

Photo taken from Beijing Olympics Official website

Another really great footage was the 'movable type' which displayed the Chinese character 'harmony', in the ancient Chinese character up until the modern character today. I thought it was fabulous the way the choreography was done!

Well done China & Zhang Yimou! I loved the way you put together China's historical elements, and fused it with modern-day technology! Now I can't wait to see what you have for the closing ceremony :D :D

Beijing Olympics 2008

Let the games begin!!!!

For more information on the Beijing Olympics, visit their official website here.

Rakyat Kena Liwat
Roadblocks all over the place today.

All because of Anwar's court case today.

Fucking government damn kiasu.

Rather station roadblocks and policemen here and there.

Instead of investigating and preventing crime.

Wasting tax payers money as usual.

That's probably all they're good at anyway.

Liwat the rakyat again and again.

Bah.

Agathians Shelter
Agathians... Latin for "spark" or "beginning". This is what the shelter is for these kids... A chance for a beginning.

Located in Petaling Jaya (near SK Bukit Bintang 1 & 2 & Vivekananda (T) School, Jln Templer), The Agathians Shelter is home to 30 boys, ranging from the age of 3 to 17. Some are orphans, some are neglected and some have a history of abuse. Although the shelter welcomes anyone from any race, 29 of them are young indian boys (the other boy is chinese). Most other shelters out there either have the government backing them, or some large corporations and churches as sponsors. The Agathians Shelter are on their on. In fact, the committee members are taking from their own pockets too, to fund the shelter, but even they have limitations.

A few of my neighbours had previously paid a visit to the shelter a couple of weeks ago, and related their intentions to help them out in anyway we can. Sponsoring some of their groceries was a good start. We started with simple plan: Every household could chip in RM 50, and with that amount of cash, we'll contact the shelter and see what sort of groceries they would require.

2.5 trolleys of groceries worth about RM 700 :)

So last weekend, a group of us drove to Tesco to get the groceries the shelter had requested. Then, we delivered them to the shelter, and spent some time with the children and chatted to one of the volunteers there. She related to us the difficulties the shelter is facing, such as lack of funds. The shelter is currently operated from 2 single storey house, and expenses each month goes to food, rental, utilities, education for the children as well as salary for the care takers of the shelter.

Arriving at the shelter. Some of the kids helped to unload the groceries from the cars.

One of the single storey houses of the shelter. The 2nd house is a few doors away.

Main entrance of the shelter. There was Japanese volunteer that day, Ms Chihiro, from Osaka! She'll be here for 2 months, helping out at the shelter.

Chihiro distributing some Japanese products to the children.

In fact, the volunteer told us the shelter would be moving to a bigger house by the end of this year, a double storey house just one road from where their current location is. Their initial plan was to buy a new house, but the committee ran into difficulties when acquiring for a bank loan. Hence they decided to rent the new house first, and see how things go from there.

Little Poobhalan is 4 years old, and he's very very friendly and has the biggest smile :D

Group photo with the kids. They're pretty used to taking pictures, and even know who should stand where!

To these kids, the shelter is their home. They all have their individual tales, as to how they came to this shelter. Some of them were rescued from an abusive environment. Some are from single parent homes, whose guardian couldn't afford to raise nor feed them. Hence, this is their safe haven. In the shelter, they are well looked after. And even though they may not have much, they're still happy :)

Pasta!
I actually got this recipe from a recipe book @ Borders. I was flipping through the recipe book and chanced upon it, teehee! I can't remember the exact name for this pasta, but it's kinda like alfredo, only the recipe didn't require heavy cream. Instead, fresh milk was used.

Simple pasta dish, garnished with chopped parsley.

These are the ingredients:

Pasta (you can use either spirali or macaroni, enough for 2 pax)
Chicken fillet strips (you can marinate the chicken with some salt & pepper first)
Carrots (sliced)
Streaky bacon (this is a MUST!!!! :D)
White button mushrooms (this is a MUST!!!! :D)
A cup of fresh milk at room temperature (you can buy a small carton from the supermarket)
2 tbps butter
Cheddar cheese
Some cornflour solution (for thickening)

Cook the pasta accordingly, then set it aside. Pan fry the streaky bacon and cut it into strips. In another pan (medium heat), melt the butter and toss the sliced carrots, chicken strips and mushrooms in. Cook them for a few minutes, then add the fresh milk. Continue to stir the mixture and add the cornflour solution. The sauce will eventually thicken. Add the pasta in and stir for a few more minutes. Then pour the pasta and sauce onto a baking dish, and sprinkle the bacon strips on top. Finally, coat the pasta with a generous amount of cheddar cheese. Bake at 175°C for 20minutes and you're done!

Drools~~~~ :P

This is the result! Simple and delicious :D Actually, the recipe didn't ask for bacon, I added it in for more flavour (oink! oink!). In fact, most pasta recipes can be easily modified. You can choose to replace the cheddar cheese with mozarella, for example. So the outcome would be a cheesy pasta dish. Or you could use a tomato-based sauce. If you prefer more gravy, just add more fresh milk or cream. The bacon and mushrooms were the beeeesssstttt!!!!

Dumbo
Yesterday, I attended a meeting downtown with some of my colleagues. We met up with the clients and had our discussion.

One of the questions the "Art Director" asked was...

"Why is it... the colour of the design... is different on the screen than the one printed here?!"

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If she was an "Art Director", I would be a "Creative Director" many times over.

I know a dumbo when I see one.

Bozo.