Its time to move!

There has been quite a few changes to this blog. But finally, I'm moving it out of the Blogger family.

Previous posts have been moved, and I will continue writing here:

http://mayjin.wordpress.com/

The other day I saw Radley. It's an English brand that is still relatively new in KL. I love the little streaks of playfulness in their designs.

I really wanted to get this Beach Ball Purse in turqouise (as shown):

... but they only have the black and ivory ones left. *sobs*

High expectations?

It was all innocent talk as the Lady, the Missus and I sat for lunch yesterday.

First was about travels. Which lead to my main problem with travelling- the difficulty of finding a like-minded travel partner. Take for instance, how hard is it to find even ONE person who would want to go to Laos or Cambodia. My mates generally prefer shopping, beach, city, and/or expensive (like to Japan, Korea, US) holidays. I like places like Nepal, Laos, and China. Not that I don't like the expensive ones, but maybe later.

Then the Lady suggested that guys are usually game for the kind of holidays I like. That's the problem. Guys are. But, I am not comfortable sharing a room with a guy. Shocked glares from the Lady and the Missus.

L: "But Stef, you need to get use to that? Sharing a room with a guy teaches you how to 'behave' in the room."

S: "I don't need to share a room with a guy to learn how to behave."

L: "What if you have a boyfriend next time? At least now, you get to learn."

M: "Stef cannot wan."

S: "Having a boyfriend is different from sharing a room with some guy on travels."

L: "Stef, are you a virgin?" (very serious face)

M: (laughing away)

S: (HUH!)

L: (still staring expectantly at me)

M: (s.t.i.l.l. laughing)

I love you like that.

The 15-day celebration is over. Boo.

As far as I can remember, this year I have watched more lion dance performances and fireworks than any other year. I love it. The festivity of it all makes me want to linger between these 15 days 3 times over. Maybe 4.

On the night of Chap Goh Mei (the 15th day), there was a light tap on my door, to which I responded “coming”. Under the dim light from my bedside lamp (which is really just a desk lamp placed by the bed), I was comfortably curled under the covers with Haruki Murakami. Outside my room, a priceless sight awaited- mum on all fours with face almost plastered to the floor, peering through the slit beneath my door.

“What. Are. You. Doing?”

Mum turned to face me, with a chuckle she said “Oh, just trying to see if you’re up or not” “and you had to go down on all fours?” “yea, cause your room seemed kinda dark” now a smirk on her face, coupled with laughs.

With a mum like this one, I have many more funny years ahead of me.

Priceless. Love.

Guess what flower?

Oh! Joy.

Today turned out to be yet another pretty cool day. The sky was overcast, bearing us hope of a downpour. Six hours later and it's still overcast with no sign of rain. Freakin' hot weather these days, and that's not cool.

The awesome thing is, hot as it was, it was actually really fun.

First, I shared my love for The Bread Shop with Tyng and Fel, and we had our lunch there. Tyng and I had an Ice Latte each. It was sooooo good. Good coffee with good bread and pastries, this is now my favorite place to chill out in KL. Fel also fell in love with the place. 

After lunch, we headed to SSF. Tyng was shocked that Fel and I have never been to SSF. Surely we're not the only people in KL/PJ to not know what or where SSF is yes?

But my-my, this place is like a 4-storey high heaven for home deco. The variety is quite amazing. 

 

There were way more sections, from prints to be hung on the walls, to glass containers, vase, kitchen cutlery, etc. 

After SSF, it's Ikano time! Here we each spent some time shopping, first for magazines, then for clothes. We left with a new top each! Voila!

Alas, good times like this must end, we have a job to keep, so we went back to work. 

It was a pretty cool day don't you think? :)

A pretty cool day

1. Domesticate me

Discovery Travel & Living was about to launch a new series - Cake Boss. So we were invited to have a little sneak peak at the first episode, and to get our hands into cake decorating at The Cooking House in Hartamas.


This is the very beautiful Sher.

And her pretty manicured hands working the sugar paste.

Quite frankly, we were not very successful. My work of 'art' was pretty grotty. But since this is my first attempt to decorate with sugar, I shall not dismiss all hope. Maybe still got chance la. :P

2. The Bread Shop

My parents are awesome in many ways, one of which includes them extending me the luxury of spending a few years abroad [on the pretext of furthering my studies]. Those brief two years changed my perception, expectations, and preference for people, places, things and food. Two of the many things that didn't sit well with me when I came back to KL was the milk and the bread.


If you pay attention to the label of most [if not all] famous local milk cartons [HL, Goodday, Dutchlady, Marigold], you'll see that what is supposed to be fresh milk, is in fact....reconstituted milk [HUH?]. And my Aussie-fied tongue can suddenly taste the difference. But thank God that at a slight premium, I could drink fresh milk imported from Australia.


But the bread. Bletch. I am the kind of girl who would choose good bread over sweet cakes almost any day. The commercial brands like High 5 and Gardenia are absolute untouchables, and don't even start on Federal Bakery. I even went to Mercato and Cold Storage hoping to find something I might like even at a premium. No luck.


Today, Sher brought me to The Bread Shop in Damansara Heights.
*ta daaa*
    

Heaven. Utopia. Nirvana. Whatever man, this place ranks way up there!


From the deco, to the quality of freshly made breads and pastries [and supposedly their coffee too], this is THE best. I bought a loaf of Raisin Walnut bread, which was still warm to the touch. The crust was crisp, the texture of the bread was dense with a hint of sour dough.


I am coming back to this place very soon. Very often.


Oh, and if I'm not wrong, this place is barely a year old. More happy days ahead of me.

3. The lion can dance

A pair of lion came dancing into dad's office.


This Chinese New Year, I've seen and heard more lion dances and fireworks than any other year [as far as I can remember]. I'm going to miss this festive season when it passes on Sunday. 15 days of celebration just ain't enough for ol'Stef.

4. A hole in the wall turns out to be an artsy cafe

The food wasn't anything to wow about, but it's above the Malaysian par. The ambience of this little diner exudes an artsy kind of ease. I don't know if this make any sense to you. But if there's one thing I'd change about this place, it's got to be the music. Why, why is it that so many cafes in KL know of nothing else to play than Zee Avi?

And that pretty much sums up what's so cool about today. :) One more day, and we're off for a long weekend.

Toodle dee.

I bought

Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood. His first book, which propelled him to fame. Originally written in Japanese, I bought a translated version by Jay Rubin. I was most sceptical of this one, but it came with high recommendations from Christine.

Paulo Coelho's Like The Flowing River. More famously known for A Walk to Remember [made into a motion picture], and The Alchemist. Like The Flowing River is a compilation of short stories and reflections about life written by Coelho.

Both rather unusual choices for me, especially Norwegian Wood. But seeing that I've not touched fiction in such a long while, I thought I'd start with something fresh, an unfamiliar writing style, with hopes that I might be well entertained.

I'm in shoo-shoo-shoo

I got some troubles but they won't last

I'm gonna lay right down here in the grass

And pretty soon all my troubles will pass

'cause I'm in shoo-shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo-shoo

Shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo, shoo-shoo Sugar Town

~adapted from Sugar Town by Nancy Sinatra

That song was actually written about drugs. Coccaine to be precise. But, this yummy picture is from Savoury Sweet Life, and its a stack of S'MORES!

Sadly, I've never had s'mores before. I have thought of making them, but I don't think I can trust myself to Not finish the whole batch. You see, the problem is, I love marshmallows. A lot. I can buy a big bag and munch through it on one seating. No good. 

I did think of making s'mores for some of the house parties I've been invited to, but I think s'mores are best savoured warm, while the marshmallow is all gooey and melts in your mouth. It's just like how marshmallow toasted over fire is best eaten warm. Simple. :)

I'm walking on air

Perhaps I'm just a bit of an old soul.

Here's Believe it or not by Joey Scarbury. I think he has a good number of songs from The Greatest American Hero. I wasn't even born when The Greatest American Hero was screened [a series running from 1981 to 1983].

This is still my favourite by him, and probably his most popular one as well.

A great actor, A gifted author

My current read is The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier.

I have not read a memoir/autobiography for years. This one I purchased during my last trip in Singapore.

Last night, I read up to page 77 before tucking in. If I didn't have to work [and oh, how often I wish so], I could have stayed up to 4am to get through its pages. It's been a very soothing and comfortable read. Not one of the fast page turners where you can't wait to get to the end of it. This story was good to be savoured at every single page [up to page 77 at least]. 

Thank God this wasn't one of those memoirs where the main character is portrayed as a person who has been dealt the worst card in life, and out of the ashes he made something of himself. Not at all. Instead, although Sidney Poitier's life [being an impoverished African-American in the 1930s], can easily be placed in a degradatory light, he had a very jovial take on his childhood without being in denial of the difficulties that came with it. And indeed, his take on his life in poverty and the joy that is available to him as a child under such circumstances, echoed in me something I read not too long ago in Philip Yancey's book- Soul Survivor. Yancey wrote about how Dr. Paul Brand reckoned that there were certain joys in life that are readily embraced by those in poverty, yet were seemingly unattainable to the wealthy. I have to find that exact sentence, because Dr. Paul Brand said it so much better.

If Sidney Poitier continues to deliver a good read through the rest of the book, I'd be getting his other book- Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great Granddaughter. Another African-American actor whose writings I am a HUGE fan of is Bill Cosby. His book titled Childhood had me in fits and fits of laugther, and to think that I bought it at a second-hand charity sale for a few bucks was an absolute treasure. Unfortunately, I've tried hunting for his titles in KL. No luck, giving me yet another reason for me to head down to Singapore.

I know this post is already painfully long, but I've just learned from my editor chieftain that there is the Page 69 Test. According to Marshall McLuhan [the person behind the test, and the guru of The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)], to decide whether you like a book or not [prior to purchase], flip to page 69 and read, if you like that page, it's good to buy. I have yet to try this theory out.

I think Twilight is lousy, BUT

Robert Pattinson makes a good portrait!
(only in certain pictures. Credits to good art direction) :P

*Picture from Details.