Everything is illuminated

A friend recommend this quite some time ago, didn't get around to watch it until few days ago. I have to say what a brilliant film it is, and Liev Schreiber is both a good actor and director, i wish there are more to come.
Heard the book is even better, going to hunt it down, people, dont't miss it.

Christmas?? Is all about food!

Merry Christmas everyone.

It started snowing on christmas eve, and it snowed the whole day today, first proper white christmas, cold(It is -6 out there) you would wonder what have we done for the last 2 days.

EAT. That is precisely what we did, cook, eat, dvd, cook, eat, dvd.......

We had enough food in the fridge to last us for...... let's just put it this way, if there is a snowstorm lasting for a week, i think we have a big chance of surviving it. To be honest with you, i have never seen so much food in my kitchen.

So, what have we been eating? Christmas eve, i wanted to do a proper roast, but since it was only 2 of us, i figured turkey is too much, and HE is not a big fan of turkey, so we settled with Chicken, roast potatoes for main. He wanted some bread, so i made some Bruchetta as starter, and i love creme brulee, so we had that as desert.

I found the roast chicken recipe from Jamie Oliver's website, it was very straight forward, easy to make and it taste fantastic!! check out www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/roast-chicken-with-lemon-and-rosemary-ro

here's picture of before and after

I love bruchetta, though it was a bit funny to have this italian bread as starter with the roastie, but He loves it. I don't really remember where i got the recipe, but this is my own improvisation:
I just used normal Ciabatta bread, put it on the grill to toast it a little, at the same time, i mix some cut tomatoes, rocket leaves, salt, black pepper, and olive oil(i didn't mix all the rockets leaves, i left some for garnishing on top later), then i cut a clove of garlic, when the bread is nicely toasted, i just rub it with the garlic, then put the mixture on top, and garnish with a little bit of thick balsamic vinegar, done.

Creme Brulee, who doesn't love creme brulee? Again, super easy to make, found it on BBC website. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/originalcremebrulee_81524
Unfortunately, it was that tasty that i didn't get to take a picture. I was also lucky to get the blow torch ontime, and you reallly need one to make this work. It is a good investment.

There it is, my Christmas dinner.

Brunch on Christmas day? I've got some left overs from the roast chicken, and since we've had european breakfast for the last couple of days, i thought why not make something from HOME? So, i made Malaysian Curry BeeHoon(rice vermicelli/noodles, however you call it). I've got some really good Curry paste from Malaysia, coconut milk, button mushrooms, potatoes, beans, chicken leftovers, fishballs, coriander. Ta-da

Nothing beats this-a cold winter morning with a spicy curry noodle soup, a taste from Home, couldn't be better.

My so called 'christmas tree'

So, it is that time of the year again-Christmas market, Gluhwein(mulled wine), Bratwurst(grilled sausages), crepes, waffles, gold, red, green..... For the last 4 years, we've been celebrating Christmas with His family, and this year, we've decided to have a Christmas with just the two of us. Romantic? wait till you read the rest.....We were supposed to go to London for Christmas and New Year, after getting a mild heart attack when we checked out the flight, and with so much money spent on our last trip to South of France, we decided to stay here in Germany for our 2 weeks long holiday, to chill.
Christmas won't be Christmas without a tree, and i've always wanted one and never- had one(for the last 26 years to be exact), but the problem came- i have a tiny flat, to put a real christmas tree(i don't like artificial tree) would mean i have to leave it in my balcony(which would've been nice), but costly too, as you need to buy all those lights and decorations etc etc to 'fill' it up! So, I've decided to go for a Cheap version. I know, i know, i'm all about budget right now:
Ta Da!
Yes, branches, don't think i just pick them in a park or something, i had to buy them from the florist in town and it cost me 4 euros!
It is still work in progress, but i'm quite happy with what i've got so far! Here's another picture:Lighting still need to re-adjust...
(i know im quite pathetic to have a fake fireplace, but i live in a post-war building, and there is no fireplace in these buildings anymore, so we will have to wait till i move into a period building, and live with this for now)

Bath in baden-baden

This is a super backdated post. I was bored sitting in the living room, sorting out my folders, and came across this few pictures that I've saved to remind myself to blog about it, so here we are, 5 months late, but better than never.

I went on a 3 days trip with Nono in the early spring in May, and our first stop was Baden-Baden. I was there once with a friend, but we didn't have a chance to try out the Bath, and this time, we were determined-we checked in, packed some stuffs, went straight to the Spa-there are 2 bath/spa in Baden-Baden, we went to Friedrichbad, which is a traditional roman Irish bath, one of the best decision i made this year!! Convinced that we should pampered ourselves(this is what a girl's trip supposed to be) we started the evening by a full body massage. I don't really want to go into details...all i can say is, it wasn't good, so don't bother to try it and be ready to be nude and have man masseur. I was ready to be nude, but having NOTHING to cover my body with(i mean full frontal), and a man masseur is not what i expected.

So, after the 50 mins expensive and 'not so worth it' massage, we hit the Bath. You started by having a warm shower, and going straight to the traditional roman sauna(heated from the floor), then to another warmer sauna, then the pool with certain temperatures....in total-17 steps including a nap. Yes, I'm not joking, a nap at the end of it. The whole process takes around 2 and a half hours if you follow the instruction, of course you are allowed to stay longer at certain rooms or pools if you like it. Bare in mind that you have to be nude and there are days when they don't seperate the gender, so be sure to check it before you go. My favourite room is the pool with the Dome, it looks absolutely fantastic(check out the website) but even though it was the 'seperate gender' day, you still have to share that room with the opposite gender. Luckily for us, it wasn't a busy night, sitting in the pool, looking at the dome, i assure you, you don't want to miss that. Dome is my favourite room, no.2 is a wet sauna room with traditional water heating system, because the water comes from the hot spring, it has a very distinctive smell which i like, i kept going back to that room. No.3 -is the soap and brush massage(you need to pay a little extra), quite rough massage, but it got rid of all my dead skin!!

Please, if you go by Baden-baden, don't miss it, highly recommended, i'm planning to go back again since a friend now lives there....hoorah!

check it out: http://www.carasana.de/Tourviewer_Caracalla_Friedrichsbad.html

flower picking

I went flower picking with Him-that doesn't sound quite right, is a bit cheesy, but i assure you it was actually quite fun, and nice. We were driving, with no destination, just enjoying each other's company and the Sunny weather, drove past this little sign board-self pick flower field(There are many of these fields in Southern Germany-as far as i know, where you pick whatever you like yourself, and put the money into a little box they provided, sometimes there are prices listed, sometimes not, you just pay whatever amount you think it's worth). I have never done it before, but i find myself enjoying it, a lot. And Him? not so much, but he was......helpful, just carrying whatever i gave him and he paid. He said he hasn't seen me getting so excited for a really long time, so i guess i should do it more often.

It wasn't a good saturday

It was an ordinary saturday. We were walking in town, had a big lunch, my phone rang when we were queuing for Ice Cream, it was my mum. I thought it was our ordinary chat of the week, and then she broke it to me: the little brother of my sis in law passed away in the morning before. I was in shock. My nephew went into his room to wake him up, he wasn't responding, that's it-he was already gone. A nice young guy, and healthy, no heart problem, i just don't understand!
My sis in law is devastated, so is my family. Who would have thought? I felt sick, i let him dragged me home, i say dragged because i wasn't feeling anything, i didn't know where i was going.
People, life is short. You never know what's going to happen, live life to the fullest, and to my extended family-take care and may You rest in peace.

more than 24 hours journey home

i knew it will be a tough journey when i booked my ticket. I arrived at Hong Kong airport almost 2 hours ago, and i have another 4 hours to go before i board the plane to Frankfurt. Then i have to wait for another 2 hours to go back to Nurnberg. God. Im preparing myself right now.
I better go look for some kind of massages right now. continue later.
ok, now waiting infront of my gate, got a surprise comment from Sandra that she is here! in Hong Kong Airport, don't know if she is still here though, waiting for her next message. Another 2 hours to go. argh..... got a super comfy pillow from MUJI just now and i hope i can at least sleep for a couple of hours. After spending 2 weeks away from my home in Germany, i'm kind of desperate to go back, especially now. I was sharing a room with a colleague of mine when i was in here in Hong Kong for work, then i was sharing a room with my sister when i was at home in Malaysia. I'm so used to having my own 'space' and privacy back in Germany, even though i like my colleague and my sister very much, but i do need to 'breath', and be myself. My mum used to say i'm a loner, i think to certain degree i am. I don't mind to go out by myself, i enjoy sitting at a cafe alone watching people walks by, i like shopping alone, i enjoy living by myself, i find it easier sometimes to work in the late evening or early in the morning when nobody is around,....the more i think about it, the more i believe what my mum said is right. Nevertheless, i still enjoy friend's company.(am i confusing?) anyway, the place is getting crowded here at the boarding gate.
So, another 90 mins to go.......

Inception

Incredible and brilliant!!! love it.

Design camp

For those of you who have no idea what the design camp is for: Puma organise a design camp every year, inviting designers(my colleagues) from different offices around the globe to attend a 3 days workshop. It is intense, but is always good to see everybody and be able to talk and find out what everyone is doing, at the same time we do some brain storming session to define the direction for the next season.
Hussein Chalayan is our creative director since 2008, and for those of you who don't know, i'm a fan of his work. I missed the opportunity to talk to him last year, and i complaint about it for the next three months(according to someone), so i decided i have to do it this year no matter what. I walked up to him after the presentation, introduce myself, told him how much i admire his work and what an great inspiration he is to me. I'm glad i didn't chicken out, and that-made my day.
(PS-he was super nice and super humble)

happy anniversary

This is a backdated post.
We celebrated our 8th anniversary this June in Bodensee. I was amazed at myself how i manage to 'stick' with this Man for the past 8 years.
Why? because we have very little in common, he likes modern architecture, i like period buildings. He likes rock and roll band, i like....everything, he will flip if i turn on for example french oldies, or classical music. He likes to eat burger and sandwiches, i hate both of them, can't stand them. He supports McLaren and Liverpool, i support Ferrari and Man.Utd. He likes Coffee, i like tea. He hates to travel, i love to travel just anywhere. I like rice, he prefers bread. I like dogs, he is afraid of dogs. I prefer wine to his beer. I don't like to go into electrical shop, but it is his happy land. I love reading books, he prefers TV. I like to clean up on a Sunday, and he likes to go to car showroom. I hate his impatience, he thinks i'm undecisive.
See what i mean?
Nevertheless, we did stay with each other through ups and downs for the past 8 years. Although i sometimes feel like i want to twist his head, or kick his balls, (i'm pretty sure he feels the same, he did mentioned he would like to kick my ovari), i do love him more than anything. After all, there is no perfect relationship, no perfect couple. We are both grateful that we are able to share our life experience together, and we manage not to kill each other during the last 8 years, and hopefully not in the future too, this is quite an achievement, don't you think?

You are loving, supportive, thoughtful, kind, considerate, tolerate,.......although i have never told you that. You said on the phone today that i'm not your girlfriend anymore, because im more than that, well, that. was very sweet. I hope we do have many more anniversaries to come, and You, You just make me so happy(at times), and i hope you feel the same.

Happy Anniversary

(PS-No, we are not getting married, pls stop asking) :)

My Birthday Present

I wasn't very happy at the beginning of July. This was exactly the same as last year, i suddenly have this huge workload that i find it hard to cope, i told myself last year that i want to have a different birthday this year, to pampered myself on my birthday-massages, having my nails done, spa, whatever, just not working, but of course it didn't happen, or else i wouldn't be here complaining. Disappointed, but I'm still hopeful for next year.

So, i spent my Tuesday evening(13/7) catching up with a old friend who now lives and work in India, then i spent my first hour of my birthday reading crap magazines-HEAT. It is crap, but i enjoyed it very much! Dad was the first to call, it was way too early, but it means a lot to me.

Anyway, getting back to my present.

What did i get from colleagues?
Yea, money, cash. It was a very sweet idea. They knew I'm fanatic when it comes to flea market, they even have a flyer which has all the dates and address for all the flea markets in Nuremberg. How sweet, it couldn't be better. Isn't it cute?

HE was nice enough to take 2 days off work and flew down here on my birthday, this is what i got from HIM. It is much better than IKEA voucher(what i got last year), and no I'm not complaining about the vouchers, there were practical like him, but yea, voucher.HE said: i don't want you to give up your dreams, this is to remind you.

That was sweet of HIM.

happy birthday.

the bell is ringing from afar....is 12 oclock. I'm officially a year older. er no, is wiser.
Happy birthday.

treat yourself with good and healthy food

Is strange how your body changes when you grow older, you get tired more easily, you are getting very picky about food, 'things' or 'stuffs' starting to build around your waist, you noticed that wrinkle on your forehead, you can't catch your breath when you walk up the hill.......
Is not like i've been neglecting my health, I've always been careful about what i eat since i have a very sensitive stomach, but still i can't help but noticed that i'm getting....just older. Convinced that if i don't take any action now, i will look even more horrible when i reach my 26th birthday in July, considering all of that, i've decided to run(excercise) and eat more healthily. The food part, does come with a price though, i've been spending money on good fish, good bread, good olive oil, fresh vege, fresh herbs....it uh...hurt a little bit at the check out, but i convinced myself it is worth it.
This is what i cooked 2 weeks ago, quite a treat for myself on a saturday night: pan fried sea bass, rocket salad with cherry tomato and Parmesan, a glass of good wine. That was heaven.

I guess one of the most important thing you learn when you get older: is to love yourself!

What happen in Istanbul

Came back from Istanbul almost 2 weeks ago, didn't have a chance yet to upload pictures or to share anything, been pretty busy lately.
Just remember an interesting night at Starbucks(i didn't choose the place, would rather go for something local) in a huge shopping mall. Me, Sorah(work colleague in Herzo) and Yusuf(work colleague who based in Istanbul) sat down after a long day,taking a break, and have some famous turkish cakes but it turned into a rather interesting conversation.
We all come from very different background, Me(Malaysia born Chinese), Sorah(half Afghan and half German), Yusuf(Macedonia born Turkish), bizarre really to end up at the same place, well not really, but we are all working for the same company at least.
From food to parents, to grandparents, to ancestors, to heritage, to history, to culture, to war, to survival.....we shared our experiences, we talked about religion(big part of the discussion), it was inspiring and bloody fantastic! I never felt.more.alive! I've been travelling quite frequently for the last 4 months: London, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Nurnberg, Dusseldorf, London, London, Hamburg, Istanbul-even went to London twice in March, but Istanbul was by far the most interesting one, it was a very tiring trip, but i love it so much that I'm already planning when to go back again.

how do you ask for pay rise and less work at the same time?

Tricky. Tomorrow is my yearly appraisal, and i've tried to come out with a plan. A plan which i can get what i want- a pay rise and reducing my current workload. I cannot think of how i can justify why i get more money but not taking on more work. Hm.....

well, it does hurt. leaving tomorrow

I didn't think it would hurt so much to leave family and friends, is tearing me apart right now. When i told my nephew who is not yet 4 that i'm going back to a country far far away, he said 'don't stay too long'. I didn't really know how to reply.

I have to admit, i do miss my life in Europe, the weather is unbearable here, safety is another issue, freedom....but now i feel terrible of leaving. I ask myself: what do i want-honestly, i don't know.

Alexander McQueen died

Rest in peace. You will be remembered.

I'm too upset to write anything

New Year. 2010

New year started off with a busy schedule again, work for 2 weeks, went to Berlin for Bread and Butter show, then work for another week, i packed my bags and flew to Hong Kong before coming back to Malaysia.

I had a good time in Hong Kong and Macau, met up with some friends and finally i came home. I have to say, is a strange feeling to be coming back here, is strange yet familiar.

ps: is so hot that i cant write anymore.

Quite an unusual christmas day

It was Christmas Day, everything was close. We were sitting at home(in London), had nothing to do, feeling bored and hungry, and feeling the urge to escape families, we thought it might be a good idea to go out. Convinced that we are in London, not in Germany, we can get food easily at anytime and anywhere, we set out to our little adventure, looking for Food, or more specific-fast food-KFC.
We started on Fulham high street, to our surprise, nothing was open(except chicken cottage), feeling disappointed, we drove on and believe any of the services on motorway would be open. We drove towards Heathrow direction, and saw one services coming up soon, not feeling too excited because we would have to settle for Burger King(most of the motorway services in UK has Burger King), and i don't like burger king, only to found out minutes later it was close! Completely! Not even the Gas station was open! Disappointed again! we decided to head to the last resort-Airport. Parked our car at Heathrow Terminal.5, saw the Costa coffee wasn't open in the arrival hall, my heart sinked. He didn't care and dragged me to the departure hall.
He.was.RIGHT. we were lucky that almost everything was open. We settle at a Italian restaurant, relieved that we were not going to starve to death. We had a good meal, even got magazines for the evening, still it was kind of strange to spend Christmas day at the airport when you are not flying.

I have to thank him for his determination and stubbornness, or else i would have been starved to death(ok, I'm exaggerating) I have to say sometimes I'm not that spontaneous like him, i wish i am but I'm not. It reminds me of what my friend said once-Maybe life with a very different partner is not that bad after all because you experience more and it brings you jump out of the box sometimes just to please the other half, of course, you are not going to enjoy it all the time, but this Christmas day, i find it extremely fun and i thoroughly enjoy it.