Year Cake.

It's a tradition to eat Nian gao (年糕) for Chinese New Year as it symbolises raising oneself higher each year. As in 粘糕=年糕=年高=年年高升. So to wish a person good health, eat some Nian Gaos with them.

Mom bought some "new year cake' home and we ate it with dessicated coconut coating the warm sticky sweet 年糕. Om Nom NOMMIES!

Steaming the Year Cake.

Year Cake is made out of glutinous rice flour and brown sugar.

Finished product.

Dessicated coconut plus a pinch of salt to taste.

Simply take a pinch of the sticky year cake and roll it in coconut, and there you have it

scrumptious dessert or snack.

OM NOM NOM!!!!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

Love, Hugs and Kisses,

Jean.

We're the ones who still believe, and we're looking for a page. In that lifeless book of hope, where a dream might help you cope, with the bushes and the bombs are tranquillized.

A Moment Dedicated to Me, Myself and I.

170111

Another new year! Another Birthday!! Yours truly just had a birthday on Monday. That means now I'm another year older. Three cheers for me for stating the super obvious.

Since my birthday was on a Monday, I actually had 3 celebrations. One with my family, one surprise celebration with my classmates and one with my babes.

My parents took me to eat in a German restaurant in Bandar Puteri called Stadt which is apparently famous for it's pork knuckles. Also, this is my first experience drinking German beers. Well, it IS different from local beers, flavour and texture wise, and it was superb!

Stadt.

Puchong Bandar Puteri

Pouring the German Beer =)

Clockwise from bottom:

Hoegaarden, Weihenstephen (dark), Erdinger, Weihenstephen again

I had the Hoegaarden which was really light and has a nice aftertaste, which according to my dad is the taste of the hops. The Weihenstephen however is stronger and there's a distinctive taste for the dark beer. Erdinger was a bit not to my liking as it was a little sourish.

Note to self : Don't smile through glasses.

This is the house specialty-- pork knuckles, so proclaimed on their website as 'THE BEST PORK KNUCKLES IN TOWN!'

Well I'm not too sure about the 'best' in town but I can assure you it's SINFULLY yummy!

We ordered honey glazed pork knuckles, and the skin was crispy, flavourful and slightly sweet, the meat was tender and melt-in-your-mouth soft. I could just eat this all night.

Mixed Sausages.

I wouldn't recommend this, it's like a waste of money to pay so much to eat some sausages.

Barbecue Pork Ribs.

Again another sinfully yummy dish. I felt so guilty after scoffing the whole lot.

Stadt is a nice and cosy place, perfect for the night out just relaxing and enjoying good food and good alcohol. Take that special someone out to Stadt. *wink*

Went home and cut this little fairy cake as my birthday cake, I think it was for the better as all those 'pork' dishes made me gained about 1000 pounds.

OM NOM NOM

Then it was MONDAY, the *cough* official *cough* day of my birthday. My classmates surprised me with a celebration in the cafeteria with some of my new friends from other classes, who play truant to come for the celebration.

Cue the hearts! I was so touched that my classmates organised this. Even the cake tasted nicer.

However if you look closely there are 20 candles!

Wrong age!

The aftermath!

I was so touched, sniffles. A big thank you to them for this wonderful surprise, and their gift too.

All the funky colours! ALL MINE!

After classes, I then jetted off to Pyramid and had a nice 'quiet' sit down dinner with my babes at Italiannies. I say quiet but in reality we were quite the noisy patrons as the topic of dinner was about things we felt strongly about, but it was fun, and they really made it a special birthday dinner.

The complimentary bread at the beginning as a starter, since we were all hungry, Fat Goat arrived at one and was shopping and waiting for us to come, which was nearly 5 hours later, Mee didn't eat anything, I skipped lunch for cake, HAHA, we devoured it like wolves.

Bread with olive oil and herbs with black vinegar.

Olive oil + bread = Another acquired taste.

I prefer the complimentary bread from Tony Romas.

Penna Bolognese.

Lasagna. Seriously the best lasagna I've ever tasted.

It was swimming in a sea of melted CHEEEESEEE!

Some Italiannies specialty chicken.

NOT recommended.

The meat was too tough and the sauce was too salty.

Lemonade.

Reading Enid Blyton's books during my childhood always prompted me to wonder what will this drink taste like, especially since she always ALWAYS described this as a cool and refreshing drink during a hot summer's day.

Now I know why they are so gaga over this drink.

I LOVE IT!

Refreshing, cooling and zesty.

AND THIS is an acquired taste.

Banana and Strawberry Smoothie. =\

Burns a hole in your pocket though.

Amounting to roughly 50 bucks per person.

Thus, ends my big day! I officially 19 now, and hopefully wiser. HAVE A GREAT 2011 !!!!

Random pictures:

BIRTHDAY COOKIE!

I love subway cookies right at the start of my day!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES at that!

Another type of Birthday Cookie!

Home 'baked' cookies. Yummy.

*kiss*

Posing with the bone as usual.

Super SINFUL, but oh so nice!

Cut the cake!

Italiannies!

Lastly! I WILL SAVE FOR THIS SKIRT!

Hugs and Kisses!!

170111

I miss winter just because I miss when I knew you best
I miss the typewriter in the basement, I miss making your room . . a mess
I miss not being misused
I miss it all, so I guess I lose
Sea green, see blue
Hmmmmm

Busybodies.

My new classroom, wait let's rephrase that, my- actually it's old but since my class hasn't used yet for the whole year last term so technically it's new- classroom faces the main road, first day back I have bagged the last seat at the last row in that class. It wasn't until 4 days later did I realise just exactly how great that place was.

By main road here, I mean the road outside the Main Campus, which has shit loads of shops and eateries (being near a COLLEGE and all). So guess what? Where I'm sitting right now, enables me to use the free wifi service provided by those shops and restaurants, literally free internet connection while I'm in class.

But that's just one good thing about it, the other good thing is first hand glimpse at the action going on below, and by action I mean accidents.

So imagined you're in a cramped classroom, on a FRIDAY afternoon having an EXTRA period of nothing more mind numbing than physics, QUANTUM physics at that, an introduction to quantum physics more like. The air conditioning of the room for some reason thinks it's funny to only blow hot air into the already stuffy room, so while you're listening to the lecturer talk about Maxwell and Planck, suddenly you hear a crunching noise from outside. (Oh by the way you have opened the window in a pathetic attempt to get some cool air)

Then your classmate turns around and asks you 'zhong che arh?' ( literally meaning bang car or in other words accident), but you are busy pondering quantisation so you just shake head absentmindedly, then suddenly you hear screams of someone dying of flesh burning poison. It went on for a few moments before someone thought to look out.By someone I meant me and my classmate also sitting in the back row.

We saw puddles of melted flesh as a result of the flesh burning poison.

NOT!

We saw a general state of confusion, there were students pausing in various activities to look at a malay guy on a motorbike screaming in pain, shouting out that his leg was broken. I heard that people could see his bone protruding out. So none of us know what really happened, but it was a welcome break from physics, and the lecturer just let us do what us Malaysians do best, ke po (being a busybody), albeit for a few minutes only.

Typical of us, the first thing we do is hang about looking at chaos. OH well, it was interesting though.

Which brings me back to why sitting at the back row was awesome, I looked out and said 'wah, really got accident', it was an instantaneous effect, everyone left their seats too look out the window, but being there first I got front row seats.

Awesome.

And NO I'm not some sort of sadist that builds my pleasure on other people's pain, I just am that busybody and I just gawk at something I don't see everyday that's all.

Scene of accident, right next to that rust coloured car.

The victim.

Hopefully he's all ok now.

That's it, now back to solving the taman shud case, or at least read about it. Haha.

Love,

Jean.

If you seek shelter from your past, they'll come to point their fingers where, you cast your shadow, you cast your shadow.

Zero Days and Counting.

Those little 'countdowns' you could see at the end of each post?

Yeah, pretty much counting down the end of my holidays. So today is the first day of college, we are all Sem 3 students now, and our classrooms have downgraded to the little ones at the other block, well I'm pretty neutral about the classrooms, as long as I get my stuff done, the classrooms just don't bother me. Anyway, many people have already been through it so no harm done, just those pesky little desks make maneuvering round the classroom a bit difficult.

How was the first day back?

A BLOODY NIGHTMARE.

The first hour in college in the new semester, lecturers have already announced the date of our results, so no pressure there, also they decide it would be nice to jolt us into perspective by announcing how we have 'no luxury of time' to prepare for our finals, like I said, NO pressure at all folks! Just another day in college.

Welcome back eh?

So to those doing Sem 3, WHAT UP! and GOOD LUCK!

=\

Love, Hugs and Kisses,

Jean.

I'm reeling in the wrong day getting behind ? Why didn't i think "what in the world? It really took a tall one to see it Two to believe it Three to just get in the way

P.S : Apparently 'parents' were IMPRESSED by me during campus day! BOYOBOYOBOY!!!!

The Second Day.

BECAME CREW!!! Instead of CAL CREW!

ACHIEVEMENT!

THE SECOND DAY.
Was late for briefing, then requested NOT to be a CAL crew anymore, and instead got 'crew', so more freedom to roam about.

Then, the day progressed as thus : Sat behind reception, grew bored, talked, talked, joked, went to the carpark, went to the cafeteria, drank coffee served at ground floor, high tailed to ECA and brought a volleyball back, went crazy and super high at the basketball court outside the cafeteria. Squeeze in showing parents around and talking to parents, and there you have it----My day.

Typical conversations between the students,

F: How's this? *points to the two name tags pinned on chest*

J: Your 'boobs' are lopsided.

F: HAHAHHA, HIGH 5!!!

J: HIGH 5!!!

Pre- U for you =)

Another productive (sort of) day.

One day and counting.

Love, Hugs and Kisses,

Jean.

OCD-ness

They craved a smiley face onto the enquiry drop off box!

Then a Jack o' lantern came out from nowhere.

Innovative also.

Was entertaining a cute 6 year old and he wrote this on my palm.

Kids, they ish sho cute!

UPDATE :

Pics I found on Facebook that showed that cute 6 year old writing on my palm.

Bathe me in water vapour Erase me to ashes with fire I grow old to dust in the dark You left me be soluble in air