Steamboat Porridge at Tasty Hotpot

Yup, I DO mean steamboat porridge. It's pretty much like a normal steamboat, except that there is porridge instead of the usual soup. We arrived at 7 p.m. and the place was PACKED! Fortunately we made a reservation so we were ushered to our table without much fuss. The restaurant is air-conditioned too, which makes eating steamboat so much more comfortable.. :)

The usual ingredients are featured- all kinds of balls! We ordered a set for 3 people; hence there were exactly 3 of each item. We also ordered some other things- jellyfish salad and an otak-otak yau char kuai; no photos though, sorry.

In they go into the pot! The porridge is in the left section; it has to be stirred every now and then to prevent it sticking to the bottom. We also had the usual soup. Both the porridge and the soup tasted so sweet after absorbing the wonderful flavours of the ingredients. Yummy! :D

jesscet with her ambra juice :)

Many thanks to chipmunkrock for organising the girls' night out! The restaurant, Tasty Hotpot- is in Sri Petaling... but I don't quite recall how to get there, so I guess I might not be the best person to ask for directions! :p

Tagged: 6 weird things about me

Being new to this whole blogging thing, everything is a novelty- hence my strange request to Fatboy, pleading with him to tag me! :D

Here are the rules of the 'Tag':

RULES: People who are tagged should write a blog post of 6 weird things about them as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

Anyway, here is my list of 6 weird things:

1. I absolutely have to wash my feet before going to bed. I don't dry them- I like the feeling of my cold, wet feet slowly drying off on the bed. Have been scolded and told numerous times that rheumatism will plague me one of these days...

2. I love the feeling of getting into a warm car that has been sitting in the sun for a while. Everyone else winds down the window, turn the air-condition on full blast while waiting for the inside of the car to cool down a little. Me- I just hop right in and enjoy the warmth seep right into my bones. Mmmmm...

3. I need to count to three when I do certain things- e.g. locking my car, turning off the bathroom light. So please don't think I'm nuts when you catch me muttering 1-2-3, 1-2-3...

4. I can 'crack' almost every single joint in my body; working from head to toe- my neck, back, elbow, wrist, knuckles, knees, ankles and toes. It scares the living daylights out of people.

5. My palms have the strangest reaction when it comes into contact with hand creams or moisturisers. It gets redder and redder and beads of sweat can be seen forming on my palms after I've slathered on some cream. I demonstrated this weird reaction to some people once and they seemed quite shocked... :p

6. I like to 'split' fingernails. No idea what that is? You know the bit of the fingernail that nail-biters chew on? Well if you look very closely you might notice that these sometimes have a few 'layers' which you can separate and peel off. The closest thing that I can think of to describe this would be like 'splitting' the OTHER side of a double-sided tape AFTER you've stuck it onto a piece of paper (say). Now this is quite an obsession of mine; when my siblings were much younger (and hence less likely to put up a protest), I used to grab their hands and feet (yup toenails can be 'split' too) to satisfy my craving!!

Ok, according to the rule of the 'Tag', I need to tag 6 other people. The 'lucky' ones are jesscet, chipmunkrock, foodiefighters, fatchipmunk, litsberger and dimsuminthecity... :D

New Paris Restaurant, SS2

Every now and then we find ourselves back at this restaurant. It seems to operate on a 'fast-food' basis, but it looks like people don't mind- the restaurant is always packed, even though there are 3 floors!

Eating there seems to be rather cheap- guess their 'fast food' modus operandi (which results in a high turnover of customers) really works, since what they 'lose' in per unit profit, they 'gain' in overall volume.

As usual, we go for our favourite- 'Champagne Watermelon Chicken'; the watermelon balls are just so cute :)

Tried the yam basket, but we opted for the filling to be sweet & sour pork (there were different fillings to choose from, and since we were already having chicken...), which tasted kinda strange. Guess the tastebuds just could not figure out why those two flavours were together, so looks like we'll just stick to the 'usual' fillings in the future...

D-Day Disaster!!

D-Day was such a disaster! But oh well, have gotten kinda used to it already; fighting one battle after another, though it's usually the same recurring one... :p

Proceeded to further compound my depression by watching yet another disaster movie- 'Sunshine', starring our very own Datuk Michelle Yeoh. It's 50 years in the future, the sun is dying and the earth is frozen in a solar winter. A team of astronauts are sent to re-ignite the dying sun by detonating a massive bomb inside it.

Wonder why they named the spacecraft Icarus- isn't that a bad omen? Seems to be rather ironic, especially since they are flying towards the sun... Find out more about the story of Icarus here.

So... did they make it? Shall leave it to you to find out! :D

American I-'DOH'

Oh why, oh why, is Sanjaya still there?
Oh can't they give him the boot?
All they care about is his silly ol' hair,
Can he sing? They don't give a hoot!

*To the tune of 'Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?'

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Obviously I'm NOT a Sanjaya fan. Goodness, this IS a singing competition after all. What are people thinking?

Operation 0904 at 1900 hrs

Mission: To stun Target with fun on 0904 at 1900 hrs

1850 hrs: Target is glued to TV with notes on lap
1855 hrs: Commander locks in on Target
1900 hrs: Elite Team parachutes in- Target successfully stunned and 'taken out'
2100 hrs: LANDSLIDE!!
2101 hrs: Emergency Rescue Operation swings into action. Casualties: Nil

Mission succesfully concluded.

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In case you're wondering what THAT was all about; it was the lovely surprise that greeted me on Monday evening. Hubby launched a clandestine operation with some friends, and I was totally caught off-guard! Had already prepared dinner and all, so wasn't expecting anyone to 'parachute' in!! Hahaha :D

Dinner was simple- takeaway KFC; and dear mum-in-law came all the way from Puchong bearing fried noodles and a whole roast duck (one of my favourites). Chatted and watched America's Next Top Model over dinner.. it was fun!

The next thing that happened will definitely count as one of my fondest birthday memories. Opened the cake box and discovered a landslide!! Shall let Fatboy tell you the story.

It did taste lovely though, and it was all gone in a blink of an eye! :D

Strawberry Meringue PIAKE

(for this to make any sense, you have to read Fatboy's story...)

My dear, dear family and friends showered me with more wonderful gifts. There was this super-cute butterfly pillow (so very huggable!), a delightful bottle holder, and some gorgeous, gorgeous eyeshadow from T'ESTIMO! (I have this weakness for eyeshadow.. :p)

Thanks so much everyone! I feel so incredibly loved; am so touched by the efforts to rush over from work to celebrate with me- and on a Monday some more. God has indeed blessed me richly with friends like you all! :)

Hideki, One Bangsar

Have been wanting to try this place out ever since I heard about it from a 'foodie' friend. We finally checked it out last Sunday, and opted for the buffet (which is only available on Sunday evenings and public holidays).

The buffet here works a little differently- there aren't rows and rows of food beautifully displayed to attract you. Instead, you order directly from a menu and it's then freshly cooked (well at least it seems..) for you. The buffet menu is not as extensive as their usual menu, of course, and at a glance it doesn't seem like there's a lot to choose from. However, when we got down to eating, we realised that we didn't have the space to try LOADS of different things anyway.

How to, when 50% of the tummy space is already stuffed with sashimi?? :D

No Scenes of Stately Majesty...

Had trouble logging in recently, hence the delayed Easter post...

Easter really ISN'T about the eggs or the bunnies. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ; His resurrection from the death He endured on the cross to take away the sins of the world..

Have had this lovely song playing in my head every Easter since I left the UK where I first heard it, but I didn't know the title- just the tune and a couple of lines, plus a vague recollection that it was sung by an Irish singer named Moira Brennan (wasn't even sure if I got the name right). Turns out I got the spelling wrong (think it's Maire/Moya); coupled with the other limited information I had, it took quite a while to find the song on the internet.

The name? 'No Scenes of Stately Majesty'- written by Graham Kendrick. It was written in the weeks following the outpouring of grief and sadness after the death of Princess Diana, hence the use of imagery of candle flames, perfume of flowers and so on; a stark contrast to the death of the Lord Jesus, where there were no vigils, no stately funeral procession...

A few lines to share...

No scenes of stately majesty for the King of kings
No nights aglow with candle flame for the King of love
No flags of empire hung in shame for Calvary
No flowers perfumed the lonely way that led Him to
A borrowed tomb for Easter Day

No wreaths upon the ground were laid for the King of kings
Only a crown of thorns remained where He gave his love
A message scrawled in irony 'King of the Jews'
Lay trampled where they turned away and no-one knew
That it was the first Easter Day

........

My prayers shall be a fragrance sweet for the King of kings
My love: the flowers at His feet for the King of love
My vigil is to watch and pray until He comes
My highest tribute to obey and live to know
The power of that first Easter Day

You can find the song at:
http://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk/songs_sound.htm
Scroll further down the page- it is featured on both the albums 'The Millennium Chorus' and 'No Stately Scenes of Majesty'. Each version is different; but nice in its own way.

Lyrics:
http://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk/songs/lyrics/no_scenes.htm

For those of us who know the Lord Jesus, may Easter always serve as a reminder of God's amazing love and grace....

Oodles of Noodles & Stacks of Pancakes

Dear friends from work insisted on taking me out for dinner on Saturday, despite their busy, busy study schedules. Still have to eat, right? :)

We ended up at Sao Nam (which apparently means 'Star of Vietnam') in Hartamas Shopping Centre. Tried the Fish Sour Soup Noodle- found it fragrant and refreshing, with lots of dill and tiny slices of starfruit. Interesting... and yummy too!

Had to take a photo of Madame AAL's hilarious t-shirt, seen here with her order of Red Noodles. Nope, the noodles aren't red lah... :D

We then trooped over to Paddington House of Pancakes for dessert... delicious! We REALLY had this thing for strawberries and bananas... heh.

At the end of the dinner, a lovely surprise was in store for me. Such a wonderful, wonderful gift- a pair of heart-shaped diamond earrings! I absolutely LOVE them!!

Will I look pretty in these? :)

Thank you all so so much; I am really touched. An evening out with you guys and gals would have been more than enough... you really shouldn't have gone thru all that trouble and expense (sorry, I know I sound like a broken record already... ); am so blessed to have your frienship and love!

Ok lah... before I get all misty-eyed (again); thanks a million for everything! Happy studying and all the best in your exams... To Madame AAL (who is SO AWESOME for having put the exams behind her)- thanks for holding up the fort in the office! Don't miss us too much... :D

Nuts about nuts

After the l-o-n-gest time, we finally bought an airtight container for hubby to store his beloved peanuts! Poor dear- he had to exercise immense self-control to resist opening the packet of peanuts given to us during CNY....

So now he can tuck in!

Mine... all mine....

Yup, hubby is nuts about nuts. But not ALL kinds of nuts, mind you- not pistachios, cashew nuts, almonds, etc... just plain old peanuts. I find it very funny when he orders ice-kacang for the kacang; in fact he gets rather disappointed when it comes with crushed peanuts, rather than the 'sebiji-sebiji' kind... Heh :D

My preciousssssss........

Moonie in Scotland

Dear Moonie is on a lovely 3-week holiday in the UK. She's spending the final week in London now, after a hectic tour of Scotland and another of England & Wales. Think she has seen more of the UK in her 3 weeks than I have in my 3 years!

Here's a lovely picture she sent of Scotland. As you can see, the scenery was absolutely amazing...

I thought the photo looked familiar, and proceeded to check out my old albums. Look what I found!

Both pictures were taken in mid to late March. Guess it all depends on the weather doesn't it? Hmm. My holiday in Scotland was a cloudy, cold and wet one. ALL my photos came only in shades of grey, brown and green.. :p

Anyway, that was Loch Garry- known as the 'Map of Scotland' Loch. According to Wikipedia, a 'loch' (the name is Gaelic in origin) is a body of water which is either a lake or a sea inlet. Loch Garry is unique because a quirk of perspective makes it appear like a map of Scotland!