26.7.13

This seems a fast week to me as it's weekend again! Well, it could be because I took a day off last Monday, thus I only worked for four days. :) Anyway, I am sure everybody had a fruitful week and it's time to give ourselves some pampering. Let's wind down over the weekend, whether driving to a nearby peaceful town, enjoying the sands and the sun, boozing, sports, movies, makan and etc. You truly deserve the rest and recuperation from all the hard work. Have a sabbatical weekend and heal yourself!

I will be looking forward to Breeks again in City Square, JB, as they served nice western food. Flipping through the menu already makes me salivating as there were so many types of western dishes. I wanted to try the BBQ big prawns someday. Meanwhile, I had this last Friday, Prime Sirloin Steak and Fried Chicken combo, with black pepper sauce. It was a big plate and I was really full! Coupled with an hot cuppa of Americano, it really makes up a good start to the weekend!


Fried Chicken and Sirloin Steak combo
Have a great weekend, folks!

24.7.13

After leaving Zenxin for Kluang, my wife visited her godsister who suffered a mild stroke. She has been staying in the hospital for three days before given the green light to go home. When I read her medical report, I was so shocked that her cholesterol level was 9.9 mmol/L and her uric acid was super high around 410µmol/L. I understand she was a meat lover and didn't exercise , not forgetting that she also seldom did any medical screening. It was real scary but her doc manage to bring her cholesterol level back to a 'safety' zone. My wife's sister will be staying with her for a few days. 

Meanwhile, while leaving for home, as usual, we decided to have a tea break at Kluang's famous Raillcoffee. Their coffee was real good, very 'kao' and aromatic. My wife ordered a mee rebus while I go for Asam Laksa. The mee rebus was good but somehow, the laksa lost a bit of the standard. 

Mee rebus.. love the thick gravy

Asam Laksa
It was indeed a long day when reached home and  I can't wait to have my shower and turn on the air-cond to wind down. And, don''t forget to exercise regularly, have a medical checkup when it's due and keep our blood pressure down. :)

22.7.13

Perhaps this ends my photography contest saga. I went to Zenxin at Kluang, Johor to collect my first prize of cash, vouchers, membership card and not forgetting an interesting Fujifilm Instapix Mini 8, which is an instant camera. They also posted this on their facebook page.


Yours truly and my little princess collecting the prize from Zenxin's rep. 
The camera looks good as it churned out credit card sizes pixs, though the films were not cheap. It's cost almost RM3 per pix but the interesting thing is you can buy various types of photo templates to use. I just had a light breakfast and when reaching there around 2pm, I was really hungry. So, I ordered  their signature dish, Ginger Chicken Rice set with a mulberry drink.  


My lunch at Zenxin Organic Park... 

A refreshing mulberry drink
I think the chicken rice was organic as the chicken meat was hard. It's a bit different from normal chicken rice as I can tasted ginger over the chicken meat. It's actually quite delicious and filling. I drove off to Kluang town after that.

16.7.13

I dunno why I felt I must get this device even before it is launched. Maybe it's the portable 8" form factor as well as the stylus. I always wanted to write on my ipad but then, the rounded kinda stylus doesn't really write well. Then, the Samsung Galaxy Note phablets seems too 'small' for scribbling while I think the note 10.1 was too big, same as my ipad. Thus, I think this device fits me well. I can carry it to work and surf on the bus as it is not that heavy and as someone who likes to scribble, taking notes and as a visual person who likes to draw diagrams to understand logics , I decided to get it. I got the wifi version at S$588 with a free memory card at 16Gb and a cover. So far so good, it's fast and smooth. Btw, this is not a paid post from Samsung, though I wish to earn some money too!


OK, that's my new toy to play with while my ipad was 'confiscated' long ago by my kids. :(

12.7.13


I had a great time with my badminton gang where we decided to have a gathering after work for a nice dinner at the well-known and expensive Jumbo seafood restaurant here. It's all thanks to one of my teammates who won a S$200 voucher at the recently concluded Li Ning Singapore Open badminton championship. Thus, he generously decided to buy us a dinner where we top up a little for the excess. There were five of us all. Anyway, good food aside, it's the company that we enjoyed most and it's always a good idea to have gatherings with friends regularly. I used to do that when I was a teen but now, due to work and family commitment, as well as my friends, seldom meet up. I guess I got to do this more often, to wind down, catch up and have fun! Here's some of the food we ordered from the 350++ set menu.


Appetizer - salad

Love this one ... big head prawn in oyster sauce. Each one of us get a plate.

A fresh steam fish

The dish of the day  - their famous chilli crabs

Dessert - Rockmelon sago
There was a plate of noodles and sotong which I didn't capture (shy...shy...hahaha). Again, it was a good time bonding with friends  and I will continue to do it. Well, maybe let's meet up with fellow bloggers in KL and Sarawak ? How about that ? :)

10.7.13

One of my friends wrote in his facebook that he used to run to keep fit and shed the extra fat away but however now, he run to melt the negative and emotional feelings away. While I was jogging last week in the gym, suddenly this statement dawned upon me as I was feeling kinda down then too and jogging is really a good way to melt these negative feelings away. I felt a little better after the jog and it's true indeed the run makes me felt good.



Thus, whenever you don't feel good, try some exercise. Just go for a run, a swim or cycle. It will certainly makes you feel better.

9.7.13


Sometimes it's easy to frown and get angry over small matters. I remember there was once when I was in my previous company, a colleague of mine just cut through a working conversation that I had with my another colleague. This 'rude' colleague was much senior than me and while I was speaking, she just cut through and talk to my colleague! I was like ....wtf .... but I kept my cool and wait till she finished. Anyway, that really spoils my day and I was feeling irritated when I thought of it! However, on the other hand, it's not worth fretting over these small matters and I guess this colleague of mine may do it habitually or not on purpose. Well, it could be culture, mindset, stress or whatever, as she's actually a nice lady. The bigger picture is not to sweat the small stuff and spoils your day, don;t you agree ?

I patronized Breeks in City Sq. Jb and I love the coffee! It was so refreshing and really helps me to wind down on a Friday night, after I have braved a crowded and jammed custom. I had salmon steak for dinner which was quite pricey, at RM29.90. However, it's quite a thick piece of meat and I love the sour and sweet gravy on it. 


A refreshing cup of americano

Salmon Steak...love the gravy

8.7.13

I had a pleasant Sunday service in my church today. Somehow I felt good after the church service. Maybe its due to prayers by the Methodist Bishop of Malaysia where my church invited him to preach as well as conducting the Holy Communion service. Somehow this reminded me of what I read in Norman Vincent Peale's (author of The power of positive thinking. I recalled he wrote in one of his books that even you don't listen to the sermon but by attending church will makes you feel good. I was not very focus on the sermon all the time ( which is normal ...hahaha) though I understand the gist of it. However, I felt really good after it, especially after I woke up from a nap in the afternoon,

Meanwhile, I had a fabulous dinner at Yew's Cafe in JB. It's been awhile since I have dined there and I ordered a Sirloin steak with herbs while my wifey ordered a fish fillet for the kids while herself had a yang chow fried rice.

Fish fillet in cereals

Sirloin Steak with herbs butter
I truly felt refresh after a church service. Have a good week!:)

4.7.13


Most of the time (and all the time....) , daddies like me usually leave the tutoring of homework or even crafts work to the wives. Somehow, I always felt my wife can teach my kids better....LOL. Well, there was this evening when my wife  nagged me (again) to help my kid with his school work. It's about creating a bookmark by simply drawing and painting an object on a colour cardboard and cut it out, as well as tying it with a ribbon on top. I was kinda reluctant and lazy initially and so wanting to go back to continue reading on my iPad. However, once I get started, though slowly initially, both my kid and I actually enjoyed the process. I was so focused on the work that time flies so quickly. Before I knew it, I actually spent some quality time with my kid! How nice! I was appreciating the bookmark a few times after it was completed! :)

Meanwhile, I was back at Old town cafe for some Ipoh food as this seems the only option for me to enjoy Ipoh food in JB, especially the chicken hor fun. 

My all time favourite. chicken hor fun. Definitely I will wallop a few bowls in my next trip home  to Ipoh

And, a curry laksa for my wife.... looks yummy ?

3.7.13

I posted two weeks ago that I entered a photography contest and I even solicited some votes from my dear readers here. Well, to my delight, I came out as the winner of the photography contest with 271 likes (votes) compared to second place 145 likes and third place 111 likes. Though the prizes are not very attractive, it's a great feeling to win something. And, thanks for your votes!! :)



It was also quite a fun and exciting two weeks where my competitors and I chased each other to get the top spot. In the beginning, there was this contestant 'C' who fought neck to neck with me for the likes for the first 3 days. It's either I led him with 5-10 likes and vice-versa. Then, thanks to my niece,  who was my 'secret weapon', she 'liked' my photo and I gained almost 50 likes instantly. She has a huge fans followers in her FB page and I got lots of support from her fan base. Contestant 'C' seems gave up and his likes kinda stop growing after that. *evil grin* 

Then, there was this contestant 'B' who suddenly caught up with 'C' and her likes suddenly shot up to 80 from 20 over the weekend! I was leading by 100+ then. She was very aggressive and at this rate, I might lost! Thus, I messaged my niece again and this time to share it on her timeline, and my vote count shot up to 150+.It shot up again to 200 when she shared again the following day.  LOL .... And, yeah, I also broke the morale of contestant 'B'. Her votes also slowed down after that.

It's all for the fun of it and I am going to buy my niece a good dinner! And, thanks to all who voted for me again! Anyway, I don't think I will participate in this kind voting kinda contest again as I really don't think it's a right method to choose a beautiful photo. I still prefers a judging panel. :) 

2.7.13

Strange, somehow I recalled a piece of advice from a classmates back in the 90s then. I remember he told me whenever I wanted to do something, do it wholeheartedly with 100% efforts else do not do it. We may set a lot of goals and have a lot of wish lists but somehow, if you are not interested in putting efforts to get it, chances are you will attempt it half-hardheartedly and give up. On the other hand, don't do it if you are not interested rather than being greedy in wanting this and that. What do you think ?

Btw, I had this yummy, delicious and rejuvenating beef noodles soup at Niniq bistro and bakery, JB. The soup was damn good while the beef was very tender. Dipped it in their chilli and it was really good! This should be Indonesian type of beef noodles as Niniq is famous for their Indonesian cuisines.

The beef noodles I had at Niniq Bistro in JB