i am awkward

Went for a food tasting session today and was quite surprised to be seated together with a table full of Japanese natives. Hmmm. Awkward starts. They were conversing amongst themselves in Japanese and I was just sitting right at the end of the table, minding my own business. Sweat. Thinks the entire table was either Japanese media people or people from F&B or regular customers of the restaurant. More sweat...

Then, after like 10 minutes or so, one Japanese lady at the start of the table then noticed there's this person sitting right at the end of the table that no one seems to know about. So, she sort of like asked something in Japanese and I guessed she was probably asking me to introduce myself. All heads were turned towards my direction and the first thing that came out of my mouth was, "Sorry, I'm not Japanese." Then I smiled...awkwardly.... *facepalm* The table was completely stunned into silence. Then I think she told the guy sitting beside me that she thought I was with him, and then he shook his head.

 Where was my Japanese 101 when I needed it?! Argh! Hahaa, actually I should've said "はじめまして、わたしわLeeです。どぞよろしく。"

Anyway, eventually found out that the person that was sitting beside me, is Chef Nobu of KUMO, specializing in kaiseki ryori. Quite friendly, and conversant in English. Keke.

Here's a picture of what we ate:

special tsukemen

Had another pleasant surprise today. Was at the MRT, and about to alight when two boys passed by and one said, "I like your bag." Then he repeated it again and pointed to my bag because I didn't know he meant my bag the first time round. Hahaaa! That's the black tote bag from Punk Star that I always carry around. Thanks guys, for liking the bag. =)

short visit home

Went home on a 3 days 2 nights trip for a cousin's wedding. Took the bus to Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS), and from there on, just two stops from Kajang. But two stops equates to about 20 mins though.

Must do when back in hometown. Coffee from the local kopitiams.

kopitiam's coffee

The kopitiam that my family frequents, is called "Happy Happy Cafe". Hahaa!

The happening news at home? Free egg sausage mcmuffin from McD. Apparently, they gave out free egg sausage mcmuffins for a few days. But the ones that my dad got after queueing for like half-hour, didn't have egg. Because apparently, they ran out of eggs that morning. Haha...

Liked that the train from Kajang station to TBS are still new.

women only coach

My PJ aunt gave us some fruits; rambutan and longans. It's been ages since I last ate any rambutans.

rambutan

longan

Didn't have much chance to get home-cooked food, but my sis did make stir-fried fish.

stir fried fish with shaoxing wine

Mom's 8th brother's daughter (my cousin) had her wedding in Bangsar. That's about 1.5 hours away. My uncle (mom's 7th brother) was my dad's navigator, so we went to his house in Cheras around 6+ before making our way to Bangsar. Reached the wedding venue only at about 830 pm. About the right time, for first course. Keke.

Played a bit with little nieces (granddaughters of mom's late 6th brother) and got an invitation from the 5-year old to visit their house. She even asked her mom for permission! Waahahahaha!
Her kid sister, who's just two and a half, is soOOOo adorable~ *pinch her puffy cheeks*

exploring Singapore Botanic Gardens

Took the train to Buona Vista and changed to Circle Line to Botanic Gardens. There's a convenience store right at the Botanic Gardens station gates, so can get your supply of water before going into the gardens.

Botanic Gardens entrance gate from Botanic Gardens MRT

Ample signages around, right from the start, so it was pretty easy to move around without a map.

current location map

directions signage to attractions

First impression of the Gardens, after walking a couple of minutes from its entrance? It looked a little bare.

first view of Gardens

 After walking for a couple of minutes more, then the trees grew bigger and sturdier.

nice big tree

Then, I think I've reached Eco Lake. There are many pigeons and ducklings at the edge of the lake where sometimes visitors would feed them. But there are signs that says, "Please do not feed the pigeons." Even the tortoise or was it

Eco Lake

ducklings!

But it was more exciting to see a black swan. That's a pretty rare sight in Singapore, yes?

black swan, surrounded by terrapins

black swan looking at ducklings

Next, the Evoltution Garden was pretty cool. Very interesting to know the evolution of plants on Earth.

Evolution Garden

replica of ancient Lepidodendrons

moss covered rocks

Then, after that somehow ended up at NParks Headquarters, where one can find toilets, the Visitor Centre, register for Orchid guided tour and a restaurant.

clock tower

Found this nearby.

just water cascading down a wall

trying to simulate the explorer's view emerging from lush forest into the beauty of a majestic waterfall

Hahaa, quite bo liao but took that picture just in case, couldn't find the real mccoy.

Was still on a mission to get to Swan Lake, so hurried along because the sun was getting stronger!

Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage

At that time, didn't know that the Symphony Lake was just right round  the Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage otherwise, would've just gone to see it.

Nevertheless,  in the midst of walking towards Swan Lake, did encounter some pretty nice mini-waterfalls.

mini waterfall

The mini-waterfalls are near the National Orchid Centre. Nearby, was the Ginger Garden which one can hear various birds calls. Didn't see any birds though.

sculpture

ginger flower

Then, after a few minutes in the garden.. came to this view.

big(ger) waterfall

Can even go right behind inside of the waterfall (man-made, of course). That's so cool!

behind the waterfall

The sky was fascinating too. Hot and sunny, with dark overclouds.

dark clouds threatening

Next stop, Swan Lake and hopefully can see some swans! By then, it was very very bright and hot. Read somewhere that photography during noon time is not recommended as the lightings will come out too harsh.

Came to this small looking area with quite yellow and murky waters, and saw two swans. WoOohooo!

swans spotted!

Wonder how many swans lived there. Saw two but only one got close enough for photography without needing to zoom in too much. Elegant creatures, these swans.

birds of a feather, flock together (even when some of them aren't real)

Swan Lake

After that, next destination was the exit. Saw a sign that pointed to Saraca Stream (latest attraction?) so went to take a look. The sound of the stream was quite soothing, but it's not that impressive as compared to waterfall.

Saraca Stream

The exploration from Botanic Gardens MRT towards the Tanglin Gate exit and covered most parts of the garden, took about 3 hours, inclusive of photo taking with about 20 minutes break.

Tanglin Gate exit, bye~

sukiyaki

Why sukiyaki? Because it's a one-pot-cooks-all kind of meal. My kind of meal! Hahaha!

Ingredients:
1. Wong bok or chinese cabbage, or any vegetables that you fancy
2. Thinly sliced meat with some fats (I used pork belly, otherwise can use beef for shabu shabu)
3. Mushrooms (golden mushrooms, shimeji, or whatever that you like)
4. Chikuwa, or fishcake or yong tau foo (anything that you fancy, just to have some variety)
5. Grilled tofu (or any other tofu that you like) - Optional
6. Negi (or chinese leek) - forgot to buy, so don't have this today

raw ingredients

For sauce:
1. Mirin
2. Light soy sauce
3. Sugar
4. Sake

But, looking at the price of Mirin (which costs like some $6 to $7 per bottle), I've opted for a cheaper alternative; the Sukiyaki sauce.

Ta-dah!

sukiyaki sauce

downside is... MSG alert!

it promises to be easy, with tasty end results!

Well, didn't really check the ingredients in the sauce till after I've reached home. As my home used to use Ajinomoto when we were kids, so I guessed that I'm not alergic to MSG...except to be thirsty thereafter...

The preparation before cooking was just get some water boiling in the cooking pan, or a pot. Cut and wash the vege and mushroom. Cook the vege stem in the boiling water and add some of the sukiyaki sauce. When stem has soften, add the rest of the vege and mushrooms. Wash the pork belly and add it last. Add some more sukiyaki sauce over the meat and simmer till meat is thoroughly cooked.

pork belly sukiyaki

yums

finished the vege, now the meat!

clear soup

tasty, but it has MSG (and it rhymed...)

Pork belly was really nice...Tender yet retained some chewiness and the fats just fills the mouth. Yumms. Next round, hmmm...wagyu beef?

invasion of the foamy kind

Was out for a job at about 830am this morning. Everything was pretty normal, except that the canal was foaming. You know when someone had accidentally put too much washing powder onto the water and everytime the water was disturbed, the foam gets bigger and bigger...well, it looked exactly like that. The canal has water continously gushing out, so the foam gets bigger and bigger.

Didn't put too much thought into that, and didn't have my phone with me, so just went on with the jog. After like half hour or forty five minutes or so, I was on my way back. Took the shaded path (a path lined with trees, just behind the private houses) and was surprised to see big chunk of foam on the path. The distance between the canal and this path, was at least a few metres, and there were trees separating the canal and the path, so that was quite a surprise.

Continued on, and subsequently was even more surprised to see the foam has flown off from the canal and onto the traffic! Whoa. Cars had to manouvre themselves carefully, since the foam was a hazard to visual.

Here're some pictures taken sometime after I've returned home, at about 10am.

foam flying in the air

smaller foam chunks flying everywhere

zoomed-in view

Not sure what's the cause of this, but hopefully the foam poses no threat to health. And hopefully it can clear off, without causing any traffic incident. This is the time, when one wishes for the rain...

Jimmy Kimmel, I Told My Kid I Ate All Their Halloween Candy, Again

Didn't know kids took their candies so seriously, seriously! The one who fell on the floor was very very funny!

Loved this one.

alice in wonderland

Just watched Alice in Wonderland on tv, not a while ago. Wonderful fun, it was. And quite mad. Yes, quite mad.

One can find Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in most of Tim Burton's movies. Brilliant. Anne Hathaway as white queen was flighty and flimsy, while 'Professor Snape's voice can be heard as Absolem, the blue caterpillar.

Liked this dialogue from the movie, where the (Mad) Hatter said, "Have I gone mad?" Then, Alice placed the back of her palm against his forehead for a while, and said, "I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are." And then, they smiled. Endearing.

Quite liked Dormouse too. Spunky!

After the show, was wondering. Hmm.. what could be the moral of the story behind "Alice in Wonderland"? Come on, I mean, all children's tales would've a moral behind the story, doesn't it?

Googled and found out apparently, Lewis Carroll (or Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), the author of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass", had said it himself that these two books "do not teach anything at all".

So there we have it. Just nonsensical fun.

KL work trip

Was called to the office in Shah Alam early this week. Flew by AirAsia and the ticket was so cheap. Costs them less than $100 for return ticket! Now, I can say that I've flew with all three budget airlines! Jetstar, AirAsia and Tiger Airways! WoOoohOOo!

I think Jetstar seats are most spacious. Tiger has the worst delays ever and AirAsia's check-in was pretty fast. On Monday, AirAsia flew managed to touch down at LCCT-KLIA 20 minutes earlier than scheduled! Wah... But unfortunately, on return trip, it was delayed 20 minutes pre-departure. -_- 

Its self check-in kiosk at the airport was very convenient. Much more convenient than doing an internet check-in. It prints out the boarding pass pretty fast once you keyed in the booking number. BUT, all passengers are supposed to verify their documents and get their boarding pass stamped 30 minutes before departure time, at the AirAsia passenger desks inside the boarding area, otherwise, they might not be allowed to board the flight. I feel they should at least print this instruction on the boarding passes that was printed out from the kiosks, for first-timers may not be aware of this requirement. Only found out through the announcements made. Yes, I do listen to announcements in the airport...

The taxi fare from LCCT-KLIA airport to Shah Alam office, costs MYR 84, and the journey took more than an hour. Didn't know which taxi to take, so bought the taxi coupon from airport. That should be the safest bet, right? Then, move towards the taxis that are outside/opposite of Coffee Bean. Almost like the far-end as opposed to the coupon counter.

For accommodation, my colleague jokingly said that I'll be staying in Klang (same area as the senior manager's house). I was like, "Nah.. can't be..." 'Coz all these while they've put me in not too shabby hotels like Holiday-Inn, or boutique hotel like Ruemz at Subang. Turns out, my colleagues were right. My stay for the night was at Panmour Villa (sounds like a motel, right..) in Klang. Room rate was MYR70 per night. Very very cheap compared to the usual hotels! Hahaa!

Nevertheless, the hotel room was ok. The bed was queen sized, there's a functional bathroom although it came without toothbrush nor toothpaste, and only half a roll of toilet paper (budget probably..), has a TV (local channels only) but best of all, it still had wifi. Better than business hotels where internet connection is chargeable!

soft bed with very limp pillows

desk, but power socket something wrong

toilet

shower area that's just next to toilet bowl

no bottled water, but have coffee

Malaysian TV channels (channel 8 and NTV7) has a fair bit of Chinese shows (TVB, local and China-Taiwan productions). Local news on that day reported that two young men jumped to their deaths after being rejected by their girlfriends, in separate incidents. Haisss. The lawyer show that has Shaun Chen is also shown and it's almost ending in Malaysia whereas in Singapore, it's slower.

All in all, thanks to Senior Manager for arranging the accommodation and the transport to hotel, and back to airport for return.