.....times of refreshing.....

1. I have had a good weekend though Saturday was my kid's replacement class. It was my wifey birthday last Saturday and we had a simple dinner at nearby Moonlight cafe, after fetching him from school. I didn't really took the pictures of the food we had as I was busy choosing a cake for her. We celebrated her birthday at home at her request as she felt embarrassed to celebrate over at the restaurant. 2. I have been busy looking for a badminton coach for my kid. As someone who loves the game but deprived of proper coaching, I really hope to see him learn the basics well. It's also good for him to involved in a sports which will makes him stronger physically and mentally. I am a firm believer of physical workout which will benefits one's health and toughen up. Initially I had a hard time coaxing him to take up the sport but finally he is very interested in it now , thanks to his school which had badminton activities weekly.  3. I woke up early again this Sunday morning at 6.30am to respond to a call for ushers in my church. I slept at 1am and during the service, I almost fall asleep. Luckily, I managed to hold on till my duties completed before the sermon started. hahaha... Anyway, glad I helped out as when I reached there half an hour early, the assistant Pastor was alone doing the ushering duty ! Poor Pastor, he ought to do something more important than this.  4. Ran for 4km this evening and I have clocked almost 50km+ of running in the month of September. I guess this is a first for me in my life , though I didn't run above 5.5km each time. I felt good about it and beginning to think of a mini or half marathon. However, after reaching 5KM when running, somehow I began to feel tired and I wonder if I can last a half-marathon. hahaha... Maybe I need more training and as well as rest. Lina - Any comments? 5. I finally dine at i-Canton in JB City Square after  the place has opened for so long. It was not cheap but the food was really great. We had something simple only in wanton noodles and porridge instead of those extravagant food like abalone and etc.

Dry Wanton noodles - It's really nice and the wanton are big with lots of meat. I love these type of wanton noodles.

The soupy one ...for my kid. Delicious too!

Siew mai ... didn't ordered too many dim sum besides this was har gau. It's big and juicy.

Some cute pig buns which contains lotus paste inside for my kids.

A cute naughty Doraemon with tongue let out...

Up and below. Lots of Doraemons where each one have its own story to tell, probably it's feature in the comics.

I like this one ...cute!

Family portrait!

Another cute one with th flying propeller at the top.

I like this one too.

This one tells the story of how it sheds its yellow colour with a pair of ears to one without ears and the modern blue.

A small garden ....

The marriage ....

Dunno what this cannon is featured in the comics since I am not really a fan but it looks cool.

I love this pix...looks very 3D.

This one also looks 3D to me... the street in the comics.

In the 'class'

Got chopped on the hand as a day pass.

The tickets are not cheap though for a small exhibition like this. They charged Adults for RM25 and kids for RM12. :)

Herbal chicken - famous dish in Pekin restaurant. The chicken really absorbed the fragrance of  the herbs !

Assortment of vegetables in teriyaki sauce

Asparagus - my favourite !

Pork ribs in sweet sauce ....yummy!

:)

I actually thought about this subject while I was running in a gym last week. In fact, it was something I read 20 years ago in a book called 'Being Happy' by Andrew Matthews. Well, that's one bad thing about running alone, you will think a lot of stuffs compare to yoga , games and meditation. Coming back to my topic, do you realised when you are fearful of something, the more you exaggerated that fear and when that happens, the more fear you built up in your mind? For example, you have a fear of flying. When someone try to talk you out of that fear, another related fear will comes to your mind. Our mind is very efficient and when you believe in something, that something really makes it 'real' to you.  For example, you friend tried to assures you that planes are the safest vehicle in the world with all the thorough checks. Then, you may start to think what happened if the technicians lapsed in their duties and forgot to check this and that ? The list of fears will go on and on. I called this 'fortune telling' , where the fearful one will anticipated all sorts of fearful events that may unlikely to happen.

I guess the remedy to this is try to challenge this negative thought. For example , just keep telling yourself the plane is very safe and the organisation is very effective and organised since it is such a big corporation where lapses are almost zero, with so many experts maintaining a plane. Keep repeating this alternative thoughts or better still, write it down. (Btw, I am not flying to anywhere for vacation yet if you thought of asking me... Lol) This applies to all fearful situations like public speaking, driving and so on. Just tell yourself to speak slowly and everybody makes mistakes, so it's ok to make.

I have been watching an idol singing shows lately in 'The voice of China'. I thought some singers sang very well until the mentor pointed out their flaws. Thus, for the majority of us, we do not realised or spotted any flaws the singer had made, but only the professionals. So, most of the time, even if we are giving a speech, only the folks who know the subject very well will spot your mistakes and thats a small percentage. :) It's ok to make mistakes , after we are just humans.

Meanwhile, I did some shopping at IKEA SG at their Tampines branch and finally got to eat the salmon set again. I love this set, it's very healthy, delicious and filling.

It's a long post and I wished you a good week. :)

Phew....my company's dinner and dance was finally over yesterday night. As one of the organising committee members who sat through meetings months before the actual event, it was really a relief to see a successful event completed, though I am not the overall Project Manager. The team really works hard especially on the actual event with lots of excitement as well as full of anxieties. I was so anxious when we are required to go up on stage for acknowledgement by our CEO as well as did some very, very minor moves and posed in front of 800 crowds behind the dancers.. LOL....  Anyway, since this is my company's events, I am not going to post any pics  here but I really felt so relief and looking forward to year-end. Year end is always special to me!!

Back to my last weekend retreat, we patronised the popular Kota Tinggi's Bak Kut Teh again on a Sunday morning after my church service. The service started at 8am which means I needed to wake up at 7am on a lazy Sunday morning and though I can 'tahan' the service for an hour, the sermon was prolong to 10am and I almost felt asleep.... LOL  Luckily, I still managed to drive for 45 mins to Kota Tinggi later. We were quite late around 11am+ and the crowds were building up. Some of the dishes were sold out and it's so difficult to find a table. It was a long wait before we were served and the soup seems to be too 'kao' (condensed) where it was slightly bitter. In my last trip, where we were early, the soup was just nice and thick enough. However, this time round, I guess the soup was finishing soon and it was slightly bitter due to over-brewed. It's still good and I guess some folks love the 'herbal-bitterness' taste.

Look at the crowd , some were still waiting to be seated.

Tough finding a parking lot!

Got served by some nice chinese tea in 'pu-erh'

Claypot fried tofu - Very nice , the soup were same as the BKT

Somehow I love this the most that day, a very delicious otak-otak

The 'mei chai' also not bad... very soft.

And, here's the main dish, their famous BKT.

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to my off-day this Friday, just hang on for another two working days. :)

It was a great weekend for me. School holidays was here and thus, I had a good time bringing my family around on Saturday and Sunday. In fact, both were busy days. Went to Johor premium outlets, two Aeons malls, got my supplements at Amway Jb and had bat kut teh at the famous kota tinggi's restaurant. It's really been a long while since we travelled like that and that was usually what we did before the new weekend (friday and Saturday) starts.

First, I had a good time getting two pairs of shoes, a working shoes and a running shoes.  I also got one for my kid at JPO.

That's my kid's sketcher which is also his first sketcher shoes. He likes it very much especially the 'memory foam' which provides very good cushioning. Got it at RM120.

I got a new working shoes from skechers since my old one was really worn our with no more frictions and grip at the rubber sole. It's also 'memory foam' and its really very comfy with lots of cushioning. Got it ar RM199.

Finally, I got myself another running shoes at Nike Factory Store. Got it at RM240.

I was wearing my current 3 month old Nike shoes to this store and the sales promoter actually told me my current shoes was good with a good cushion. However, I told him that I got knee pain as well as calf muscles ache after wearing it for long distance run. Then, he told me my shoes are meant for flat-footed folks and asked me to show him my foot shape. It's actually the arch type and thus, he told me that could be reason I got the pains. He even told me I will get back pain soon. hahaha... Thus, I asked him to recommend me a good arch type shoes and I got this one. Quite comfy as its fits my feet as I ran yesterday.

1. I was surprise and delighted to see so many Doraemons at City Square Mall in JB. I was actually coming home from SG and while going to Dragon-I to pack some fried rice and noodles, I saw the exhibition from the third floor. I guess it's a paid exhibition. Anyway, don't think will be going there since my family and I are not really fans of this little blue cute character.




2. Though the mooncake festival is over, the celebration seem still on-going. My little princess kindy going to have the celebration tonight while I got some biscuits which were made from the mooncake ingredients (same as those animal biscuits that sold during the festival). There were kuaci  (sunflower seeds) inside there and it's not too sweet. I like it. And, its home-made too.



3. Phew ....  I finally managed to catch Guardians of the Galaxy before the curtains down. I caught an 8pm movie after work and a quick workout at the gym. I actually left office early at 5pm and confined myself to an hour's workout. The show was good but I am more interested in following the continuation of  the Marvel superheroes' storylines which has links to this movie. Afterall, I am a superheroes' movies fan! The cinema was quiet and even though I am alone, it was a great! I almost had the entire cinema for myself ,together with my pop-corn and coke. Next, maybe I will catch Lucy two weeks later.

4. It will certainly be a busy next week for me as I am in my company's Dinner and Dance organising committee. The event will be held next week. I am sure there'll be  lots of pressure from the organising committee. However, looking forward to some planned off-days after the event to wind down and phewww........ Looking forward to the off-days!!!



Have a good weekend!

Tobiko Sushi - my kids favourite.

Kani maki - ordered by my kid.

A teriyaki salmon for my little princess that comes with a bento

Their specialty home sushi with egg roe on top

I had a simple Yaki Meshi fried rice since we intend to have  sushi. There was a sushi promotion last Saturday.

Assortment of sushi

Well, btw, I learnt something from this video which my Japanese friend shared it on her facebook.

Happy mooncake festival everyone! Hope you have a good time savoring the different flavours of   moon cakes whether its from Starbucks, Lavender, Baker's Cottage, Raffles , Hyatt, i-Dragon Pensonic and etc. My kids were having a good time tonight as my wifey and SIL brought them around our condo with the lanterns, which were joined by the neighbours' children. It has been a while they had such a good time staying up late and moreover, the school holidays are coming. In fact, my kid's school holidays already started as his class has to make way for the UPSR. So he got a bonus extra 1 week holidays... LOL.

As for the the daddy here, I got to work today and was in SG. Thus, it's back to my usual routines where I hit the gym, and I was early today since I left office around 5pm after my meetings. Did some weights and ran around 5+KM on the treadmill. It was nice! After that, I gave myself a reward by having a pasta set at PastaMania. (I had a Japanese Bento earlier for lunch .... :P)

Chicken cream soup to start with ....

Ordered a Turkey ham and bacon linguine

And, top up a scoop of 'Gelato' dark chocolate ice-cream.

Well, so that's how I gone thru my Autumn festival tonight. hahha....

A bento set for my little princess , consist of fries, nuggets, mochi, salad and yakult.

A rice set for my kid where it came with fish balls, a nicely decorated fish in rice, vegetables, mochi and Yakult.

I had a Chicken fillet croissant sandwich with fries. The chicken is crunchy and the  meal is filling. Good to last me until 7pm after my church service.

Both bro and sis so delighted...

My wife was not too hungry and she got herself a home-made mushroom soup and she can't even finish it. The portion was big!

I had my usual flat white after the meal

And, my little princess had her mini strawberry cake, with yam slices.

Too busy eating her cake. She didn't manage to finish her bento and my wifey gotta help her ...hahaha...

And, that's another relaxing afternoon..... before I headed off for my service. My kids were kinda lazy  that day and I didn't bring them to church school.