A week of sorts

may 30, 08 friday
Another week has gone by. And this week hasn't been all that uneventful. Plus, it brings us to the end of May.

Besides the sty (read last blog), let me run down in brief how the week went...

The other boys (trainers) at the gym also noticed the mat salleh (read past blog) has been openly checking me out. So what did his trainer do? Introduced us, very casually. So now I know his name, and what he does for a living. I find it flattering. I mean, c'mon! I'm closing in on the big 4-0 and some dude finds me hot?? I text husband J: ugly white guy ogling at your wife. Husband's reply: Blow him a kiss. I showed husband J's reply to Trainer Ela. He burst out laughing. Hmm. During my last session, I noticed the mat salleh at the gym was still ogling, but a little more controlled. He looked flustered. I think he knows the boys are teasing him. Well, at least my time at the gym this week was a bit of a lark...and not so mundane.

Moving on...

The buzz with my aging neighbours was the fence between my house and my right-side neighbour and my neighbour living behind me was violated. There were holes made so that whoever can slid in and out. Husband J has managed to fix the fence but these days we're a bit more vigilant with locking doors and windows. Nothing was taken or vandalised and we hope nothing will happen ever. These are tough times we live in. Malaysia is a faaaar cry from what it was 10, 15 years ago.

Had a huuuuge fight with husband J, something worth writing about! But, I won't dish details! I was so determined not to speak to him for a few days, but the next night, my heart melted when I saw husband J curled in bed, lights off at 8:30pm!! Auwwww! And he said he had a miserable day! Auwwwww! I just could not stay mad any longer. So, the 'cold war' ended. My life would be so meaningless without this man!

Work was as painful. This week, more than any other weeks, I was incredibly tired. Getting up in the (very early!) morning has been harder than ever. I get to work, I sit in the car for 5 minutes before dragging myself to the studio, and spent the whole 6 am hour with my head on the table (most of the hour is usually recorded. Gotta love technology!!). It's hard being at work. It's even harder pretending you're having a good time doing the show, when the truth is your heart isn't in it anymore. The topline survey results came out. We lost 50,000 listeners, which isn't a huge amount, but we slipped back to no. 3 from no. 2. Honestly, I was happy we slipped. Proved my point that we suck. And I hope the station will eventually die. Hah! Wishful thinking...

Still no sign of 'Auntie Flow'. Body still uncomfortable... Still aching...

Got my first ipod. I know, I'm a little left behind...Oh! Well! I'm not a gadget chick at all. Husband J received a free piece from his 'team building' trip to Langkawi. He already has one-bigger, better, cooler. Naturally...*eyes rolling* So what did the good husband do, give the new ipod to wife! It's tiny, I can clip it on my collar. But it's only 1 GB. Yeah! Like that means anything to me. So we spent half the night downloading songs I wanted to upload onto my small ipod, and so far I think I have like 26 songs. I'm not a huge fan of music (and I work in radio!), so I'm not too fussed about putting in more songs. I doubt I'll use the ipod often, like I see most people do.

Oh yes. The Mac iBook husband J passed on to me? It died. It had problems charging, so we took it to the shop, and a week later, the shop told us we have to pay RM3,000 to fix the motherboard (which was the reason why it couldn't charge properly). So we said "no thanks", brought it home, and now we couldn't charge at all!! Aaarrrrggghhhhhhhh!!!!

Wrapped up the work week with a mean plate of rissolles, the great Australian dish. Or so husband J claims... But damn! I make awesome rissolles! He he...

Damn sty in the eye!

may 27, 08 tuesday
I have a big fat sty in my right eye. Upper lid to be exact. It's irritating. It hurts a bit.

Some people say you get sty's because your body is 'over-heated'. I read on the Internet, that sty's develop from a bacteria only found in your ummmm......nose bugger.

I know. Eew.

And seeing that I love 'pointing at my brain' (especially when I am driving), I am going to go with the latter.

My trainer Ela, who is a champion at home remedies, advised that I take fresh turmeric (kunyit), pound a small portion, rub the pounded stuff on a clean towel and press it against the sty. It helps as a cooling agent and the antiseptic in the turmeric will calm the inflammation.

I've actually tried it before and it worked!!

Just having to do that a couple of times a day is a drag. And going to Giant to get the turmeric is another story.

So in my experience, this sucker will subside on its own. And I hope it won't grow any bigger.

Die, sty! Die!

The Great Weekend Menu

may 25, 08 sunday
Saturday:

The weekend rolled around again, and I was in a mood to cook. After the much embarrassing little argument I had with husband J (read last blog), I put the disputed lamb to good use. I wanted to roast, and I made pretty good roast! Granted it was lamb (husband J has high blood, and I am a weight-watcher), I got my hands dirty and went to work. I went overboard with the garlic though...

The lamb, overstuffed with garlic!

Getting ready for the oven!

The kitchen was smelling of fresh (Thai) rosemary which I plucked from our garden, and the lamb. It made my tummy rumble!

After a bit over an hour in the oven, ready to be carved for dinner!

Taa-daa! Another great success in the kitchen! I added tomatoes, potatoes, onions and carrots (all marinated in herbs and olive oil) and Gravox's Lamb & Rosemary gravy.

Roasted feast!

Husband J and I had a great feed! Great way to end our Saturday!


Sunday:

After yesterday's dinner, I was eager to make another killer meal. This is not my first time making pizza. The first time was a couple of months ago, with tuna and veggies, and it turned out pretty decent. I was sure the second time would turn out even better.

Ever since the first experience making pizza, I had always wanted to make cheese pizza. I found grated cheese topping made out of three different types of cheeses, so I eagerly bought one packet (expensive!). I bought the pizza crusts and decided to make my own tomato base using canned tomato paste mixed with pesto.

So I made 1 small-ish vegetarian pizza, plus 1 small-ish pepperoni+cheese pizza for husband J. The verdict: vegetarian pizza had too much veggies but too little cheese; pepperoni pizza had too much cheese!

So I moved on to my cheese pizza. I have always loved cheese pizza. The best I had was from my university's cafeteria! So I thought, I would give it a go.

Sunday's disaster! Cheese pizza that didn't turn out quite like I expected!

Looked good, tasted awful.

Somehow, the mix of cheese was oily, I couldn't finish not even one slice. It was a disaster! So in the bin it went :(

This failure dented my ego a bit. But I ain't giving it up! There will be more pizzas in the future!

Miss Grumpy Me

may 24, 08 saturday
This should be my emblem. My logo.

My Gawd, I am a grumpy pot! And the excuse I always give is I am PMS-ing. Which is weird. Because I am usually grumpy around that time of the month. (And during most early mornings at work. But that's a different story altogether..).

So it is PMS.

But husband J refuses to take PMS as an excuse. Yeah. He has a point.

Today, we argued about meat. Correction. I argued about meat. I had set my heart on making roast lamb (or beef) for dinner tonight. We went to The Grocer at Bangsar Village after breakfast and I found a RM91 boneless lamb leg. No! Looked around, no beef looked interesting enough for me to do a roast with.

So I decided to drop husband J off at BSC to look for a cheaper lamb meat (or beef). And he came back with chicken. I was annoyed. I didn't know what to do with chicken. And he said (which set me off) "Look in the Internet".

OK, granted. That was not a reason to get pissed off. But I am PMS-ing remember? Lame, yes, I know. Anyway, I went off at husband J, saying something like, "If I wanted chicken I would have bought chicken. If I wanted to find out the recipe, I would have looked for it myself on the 'net! You didn't need to tell me!!!" Bla! Bla! Bla!

Many hours later (I went out and found a cheaper lamb meat elsewhere), I realised the blow up was out of line.

To say it will never happen again, is like saying Malaysians will adopt a better driving attitude tomorrow. Yeah, it'll never happen. But I am aware of it. And I try to be better. Husband J has been smart at handling my little 'psycho' outbursts. He just ignores me and let me fester for awhile. And for that I am grateful.

So maybe next time, I'll write about arguments that are worth reading about. Fighting about meat surely isn't!

BAH!

Thank Gawd it's Friday!

may 23, 08 friday
It's been a normal week. Of course normal for me is dragging myself though the week. Monday was Wesak, so the week was slightly shorter. Thank Gawd!

Let's see...

Besides the week being a bit shorter, I noticed one (ugly!) mat salleh ogling at me at the gym. I've seen him off and on only lately. Even Trainer Ela noticed him staring. So hopefully, it wasn't my belly that got his attention (OK, I was trying to be humble).

Certain parts of my body are aching. 'Aunt Flow' will be flowing to town again. I thought this was going back to a long (if not longer) cycle, but looks like it's coming to town by next week. Hope this predictability keeps up.

Ate too much.

Watched the latest Indiana Jones movie. It didn't blow me away. In fact, I didn't like it at all. I was aching to go 45 minutes into the movie. I wanted to like it so badly because I loved all the other ones, but really! In my opinion, it sucks, a tad bit.

American Idol season 7 Finals Performance night saw the younger David Archuletta performing better. Cook was a bit of a disappointment. My heart broke. It seemed pretty clear at that point who will come out the winner.

American Idol season 7 crowned my new boyfriend (!!!) David Cook the winner. Yay! Watched the final show and was completely blown away by George Michael's moving performance of his hit "Praying For Time".

Grumpy.

My youngest brother got a scare when his urine mixed with blood. Suspected dengue. My heart sank. Did blood test. Doctor confirmed later that day it wasn't dengue, but urinary tract infection. Thank Gawd! He is recovering well.

Met up with ex-colleague Carol, but only for an hour, maybe less. Haven't seen her since my wedding. Bitched to her about work, and co-worker(s). Thinking now, maybe I should have played it cool. Meeting her up again next Friday for dinner.

Hate work.

Hate work.

Hate work.

Broke.

Hate work!

Chicken farm fever

may 19, 08 monday
American Idol season 7 is coming to an end. And if you have been living under a rock, the finale is between tween king David Archuletta and hot rock king David Cook.

And StarWorld was running Idol marathon for 3 days, ending last night. The marathon was from the preliminary rounds right through the end when we found out the two Davids are up against each other. It was nothing but Idol, Idol, Idol the entire weekend, and I had that stupid exit song (played over the farewell montage) kept playing in my head over and over and over...

Like anyone who appreciates talent over looks, I'm so besotted with David Cook. He has that smug, cocky look and he knows how to belt it out. The man has talent and a huge future ahead of him. And as competitions like Idol go,we all know that the tweens are the ones who are voting. So the win is slightly slanted to cute-but-boring-and-soppy David Archuletta. Though in my heart, I hope the talented Cook will win. But even he didn't, we also know that he will do better than Archuletta anytime.
We all love bad boys, don't we?? So here's hoping for the hot Cook to win.

**Note: Past Idol runner-up Bo Bice performed his latest single, Witness. Awesome rock song! Wonder if his latest effort will hit our shores??

ANYWAY!

On the other end of the spectrum...

Switch over to Astro Ria, and there's Akedemi Fantasia.

*CRINGE!*

What a difference!

From production to the talents, AF is incredibly stale and boring. The contestants can't sing to save their lives, and it is so obvious that they just want to be famous. No talent, kampung-like no class wannabes. How are we ever to cultivate good local singers? With the exception of the very few like Reshmonu and Jaclyn Victor, the Malaysian entertainment industry is an embarrassment!

After 12 years in the business, I can't wait to get out of this chicken farm!

Blocked!

may 18, 08 sunday
This is SO unbelievable!

I've been locked out from my favourite blog!

You know, the blog about a girl in the Middle East. I so enjoyed reading her adventures so I thought I'd pay her a compliment by writing in to her. All I wrote was how much I enjoyed reading her stories and that I hope she'll continue to write more. It was a compliment. Nothing more.

So I tried logging on just now, and I got the "By invitation only". What the &*%$#@!?

I am so disappointed!! I guess I shouldn't have written to her, huh! Lesson learned.
*rolling eyes*

Jeez! It was a compliment! I wasn't stalking her! I don't understand how some people don't want to share their experiences with other people (besides their friends and family).

Big sigh.

Today has been a series of hits and misses. More 'misses' than anything else...

Rudolph came by early

may 15, 08 thursday
Erggghhhhffffrrrrgggg!

My 12 year-old fat cat Mok just pawed me. Claws and all. He looked me straight in the eye, which I mistook for the look of love, and wham! In a quarter of a second, paw with (sharp!) claws hooked my right nostril.

OOOUUCHH! What the..! Effrgfghffghgehehrrgg! *%#$@?+!

My nose bled a bit. And now the tip looks red and slightly swollen.

*&%$#@?!

All I did was lay my head beside his, like I always do, and looked adoringly into his eyes. Obviously he didn't feel the same way. And the paw with claws came flying towards my nose.

The bleeding has stopped. But now it's throbbing slightly.

So I'm going to look like Rudolph this weekend (and it's a long weekend-Wesak!)

WAAIIIL!

I look like Rudolph!!

Greefhhgfergheg! %$&#@$!

I love you Mok, but really...!

Aarrgggh!

(Now where's my Gamat cream??)

BIG dreams are made of these

may 13, 08 tuesday
I have been reading this one particular blog from a girl alone in the Middle East and she documents her adventures and experiences in a blog, and I was inspired!

Which was how this blog came to be!

I envy her. For having the opportunity to live in an exotic place like the Middle East. For living through the frustrations of being in a different country. For experiencing a whole new culture. For being able to document her day-to-day journey away from home.

And this is the reason why I decided to write a blog - hoping one day I too will write about my experiences living in a different culture. (Hopefully, an exotic culture). I know, it all sounds so romantic, and the truth most times, is far from it. But let me experience it before I completely dismiss it as a mistake.

My dream is to write about people I meet. Places I go. I believe my life has to be more exciting than waking up early for a radio show, or throwing cili api into a bowl of spaghetti! C'mon! I was born to have an adventure! Just like husband J. Away from home, friends and family. Away from his comfort zone. That's what I want.

I visit this girl's blog quite often, hoping she would update with more interesting stories. She's quite good at updating often and I always get excited when there's a new header on the blog.

So hopefully, it won't be long till I write about my travels, and the people I meet. I'm dying to break the routine that is my life now. I'm dying to live the world!

Boy! I have big dreams...

I stop now. If I continue, I'll be depressed :(

Cili Api is here to stay!

may 12, 08 monday
Check that out...I have a signature dish!! Lil 'ol me...who couldn't even turn on the stove...and now I have a signature dish!! *Giggle*

According to husband J, this is my 'signature dish'.

Here are some of the stuff I use for my 'signature dish'. What I normally use are broccoli, carrots, capsicum, zucchini. Of course the staple, pasta (!!!), garlic and cili api. Husband J is a big fan of cili api and everything I make for him have to have cili api. Even roast has to be smothered in cili api! And I can't take hot food or too much spice. Stomach ache!! Husband J likes when I add in the pepperoni. I like the tuna. So I rotate with whatever's available.

Throw all that in the frying pan with olive oil, stir stir stir. Voila!

Salt and pepper. Basil. Parsley.

Ready to serve.

Served some to sister. She couldn't even taste my pasta! She said it was too hot that it was burning her tongue! Well, I might have over did it with the cili api, but my crazy hubby seemed to love it.

Too much cili api! I thought so too (was burning my tongue), but the man of the house likes it that way, sooooo......

The cili api is here to stay, I guess..

Husband-less weekend

may 11, 08 sunday
Husband J is away this weekend in Langkawi so I am free to do whatever I please! Not that I didn't when he is around...but you know, I still needed to think about what to feed the hubs and all that. Most times, he is on his notebook anyway, Earth Googling or playing Point-and-Click games (I know, I married a Grade A nerd!).

This weekend, coincidentally, my sister's husband is away too. So we have 2 husband-less sisters in the city...what to do...what to do....What else?? EAT!

We had an over-rated breakfast at Le Meridien (so that sister could use her discount from her hotel card). She had some "croque" thingy with eggs - it looked good and certainly was different than the usual. I had the usual....poached eggs on WHITE bread (when I asked for wholemeal), veal sausages and beef bacon.My Gawd, my meal was incredibly ordinary!! We should've picked up our lazy asses, drive to Westin, have brekkie there and hang out at the Pavillion mall.

Oh! Well!

In the evening, sister rang again, said she was hungry. So we decided to go to Delicious at Bangsar Village 2. We had the afternoon tea for 2 which had sandwiches, scones, biscuits, fruits dipped in chocolate and one dessert (we picked the usual - Banofie Pie). When we had the tray served to us, I saw a fresh tray of Pavlovas at the counter. I went nuts! But I wasn't sure how they would taste like so decided against exchanging the Banofie Pie with a Pavlova. I didn't want another bad food experience after this morning.

By the time I reached home, I was so stuffed it wasn't even funny. Rung up best friend Liza to cancel tonight. Husband J called and said he'd be home Sunday evening and was hoping I'd cook him something. Aiyah! Just when I thought I could get away with not cooking at all! So I thought...ahhh...the usual, the quickest, the easiest.....my famed spaghetti olio with bits of pepperoni and cili api!

Sigh. I wish my life was a bit more exciting than this...

Pour some Oud on me anytime!

may 5, 08 monday
Yeah, OK. I'm a weird one. I like the thought of living in the Middle East. Maybe not Saudi-I don't think I can dress myself like a sack of potatoes. But I think the notion of living in any of the Gulf States is romantic, though I have friends who will refute that in a second. Mom thinks I am twisted in the head. Well, I might be off my head, but there's nothing that puts a smile on face faster than the smell of the popular Arab-scent, oud.

My obscene obsession with anything Middle Eastern stemmed from...well...my visits to Saudi Arabia. Minus the bloody hijab and the ridiculously rigid culture against women, I find life in Arab-land(s) exotic. Mind you, not all Arab states is Saudi Arabia. Everywhere else is a bit more ....ummm...forward, progressive, open. Though I must admit, if I did stay in any of the Gulf States, I still need to change my lifestyle a bit...the culture is still a bit more conservative than what I'm used to. (And my lifestyle is anything but conservative!)

But I am intrigued with the Arab culture, its people, and their way of life. And I'm always curious with anyone wearing oud.It's a kind of scent that the Arabs love putting on. According to Mom, it smells pungent. She hates it. And I love it!! I've smiled at many Arab (Saudi?) men in Mecca and Madina when they passed by me and the smell of oud tickled my nostrils. It has a musky strong smell and I find the scent so sexy! Mom was right. I am a bit twisted. In the head.

I walked into the Body Shop one day and taa daa! Saw one of their perfume oils labelled 'Rose Oud'. I took a whiff, and had to hold myself back. It wasn't as strong as how the Arabs would normally wear it. It had a tinge of oud and plenty of rose scent. Still, the oud scent was present and I instantly bought it. I wore it to work, and immediately got unfavourable comments from colleagues alike.

Bah! I'm still using that scent.

Oud.

Swoooon....!

Everybody wants to be a cat! Or at least I do..

may 3, 08 saturday
Man! To be a cat! A pampered cat. Well taken care of. Well fed. Well loved. Sleep 22 hours a day. Litter boxes cleaned at all times by owner. Like my 2 kitties - 16 year-old Raisa, and 12 year-old Mok.

They are the life of the family. They are the favourite subject at the dinner table. They are the family's stress therapists.

Oh! To be a well-loved cat!

These pictures were taken while husband J and I were at the family room with 'Sweeny Todd' the movie blasting through the home theater system. With all that noise, my 2 lovely cats were dead to the world. Both of 'em, at 10.30pm!

16 year-old Raisa - so nice to sleeeep zzzzzz!!

12 year-old Mok doing what he loves..zzzzzz

In my next life, I want to come back as either one of these pampered felines.

Meow??

I love my siestas!

april 29, 08 tuesday
Geez!

My life is tough!

Wake up.

Go to work.

No traffic.

On-air for 4 hours.

After-show meeting for 1 hour (on a good day none at all..)

Grab lunch.

If no errands, drive home.

Watch TV (Oprah/Ellen)

SIESTA zzzzzzzzz

zzzzzzz

zzzzzzz

zzzzzzz

OMG! I so hate my life!

Back at work sulking

april 28, 08 monday
We (the team and I) were given a week off from work and it was too short. During that time, we were inundated with emails asking us to come back and some demanded(!) that we should never ever go on leave ever again.

Wah! We're not super humans, you know! We are flattered that you love us, but honestly, if we didn't take off, we'd end up killing each other, and you'd hear about it on-air. We need a break to regain our sanity. We were seriously burnt-out. And I am still burn-out.

As for me, coming back to work only proved one point - that I absolutely hate being here. It was the hardest thing to wake up and the only thing that keeps me going is the fact I am leaving in 2 months. I'm on radio, I should be having fun, but instead I am sulking everyday. I don't feel rejuvenated/refreshed etc. I feel like cr@p!

SIGH. I so want to get out of this hell-hole!

Weekend Delight!

april 27, 08 sunday
I never thought I'd be excited about cooking. Not too long ago, the kitchen was the last place I want to be in. These days, it's a different story altogether!

Best friend Liza told me about Potato Gratin, which I thought was easy enough to do. The only thing that kept me from making it sooner was the fact it was potato+cream+cheese= 1 million calories= a lot of kilos=many hours at the gym. You get my drift.

But this weekend, I thought of giving it a go. After all, husband J is all game to try whatever I cook, so I picked up a couple of bags of Russet Potatoes (which I found out later was a wee bit too much), 1 litre carton of whipping cream (too much as well-should've bought 2 small sized cartons instead) and a bag of shredded cheddar cheese (J's favourite). So here we go.

Sliced the potatoes, arranged them in a tray. Salt and pepper. Pour a bit of whipping cream. Topped with shredded cheddar cheese. Repeat. Ah....easy enough. I got 2 layers and I had a bit more slices of potatoes left so I decided to keep those for tomorrow's dinner.

Bake, bake, bake. 40 minutes. The kitchen smells wonderful. The top layer browning nicely. Cool! Another success story in the kitchen! And this is how it turned out:

Dig in! Half way through chowing down this extremely rich dish, husband J pointed out this would make a great side dish with steaks. I agreed. But that didn't stop us from stuffing ourselves silly! We couldn't finish the entire tray, so we thought...hmmmm...steak dinner tomorrow...

Sunday. Another day to experiment in the kitchen. Thawed out the steaks I bought at Tesco this week. Plucked a couple of fresh Thai Rosemary nicely growing in our garden, chopped garlic, cut carrots, tomato and big yellow onions.

Marinated veggies with herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil. Marinated steaks with garlic,herbs, salt, pepper and a bit of soy sauce.

Pre-heated oven. Stick veggies in the oven for 40 minutes or so at 220 degrees. Fry steaks. Put left over potato gratin in oven for 5 minutes.

Taa daa!

Dinner is ready!

I used up the extra sliced potatoes from yesterday, sprinkle salt, pepper, parsley and paprika and roasted with the vegetables.Instant meat gravy, courtesy of McCormick's!!

The entire house was smelling of rosemary! It was beautiful! And dinner was a hit! Steaks were just right. The carrots were awesome and the onions were sweet. And of course, the left over potato gratin.

It's crazy! I actually know how to cook! And I'm loving it!

Who would've thought!

Puss has a new toy!

april 24, 08 thursday

YAY! I got my first MAC!! I've lusted over their notebooks for ages and finally got one to call my own!!

OK. Here's the deal...its a hand-me down 4 year-old iBookG4, which belonged to husband J. It's a little rusty, start-up a little slow, and I have issues with downloading pictures (not to mention learning the different commands!), but still, it's a bloody MAC!!

Husband J has an even 'better' toy. A 17" MacbookPro which costed him an unnecessary amount of money. What is it with boys-the bigger the better.


So what am I to do with my old HP big fat laptop?? It's still in great condition so I''ll use it for work (until that lasts!) and I'll get to know the iBook better at home.


So now, I have to compete with that godd@mn huge MacbookPro for J's attention. Because he's going to be so immerse with his new notebook, he won't know I exist...

Sigh, such is my life....

But heck! I have a MAAAAAAC!!!! :D

REAL Pornography!

april 23, 08 wednesday
I live with a Porn Star!


*The life of the family, Mok (12 years old, 7.5kilos).

You need to shave, dude!

10 of (some of) my favourite stuff

april 22, 08 tuesday
Just being a gurl, I guess...Was looking around and realised I have great stuff around me. I limit them to 10, because if I didn't, there'll be more pictures to download, and honestly, it'll be too painful for me. Patience is NOT my greatest virtue.

No. 1 on my list is of course my rings. Not because I know my husband J reads this, but because I trully love these rings. I have never been a big fan of diamonds (gasp!), and I remember telling my hubs (when we just got engaged - he proposed without a ring!) that I wanted a pearl ring (!!!). Husband J insisted I get a diamond engagement ring so I saw this one at the shop and immediately fell in love with it. It's not in the traditional setting, but it was contemporary and unique. The wedding band was a plain platinum band, initially was too tight that husband J had a tough time sliding it onto my finger! Old (Malaysian) wives' tale dictates traditionally, when the ring is stuck at the bride's knuckle during the wedding ceremony, it is believed that the woman will wear the pants in the family. Hmmm...

No. 2 is a steaming cup of freshly brewed coffee. And honestly so far, La Bodega in Telawi Bangsar is the only place you can get a decent cup of real brewed coffee. I quite like the black coffee at San Francisco Coffee too. If you know what good coffee is, than you'd know you can't get good quality coffee anywhere else, not even at the other coffee places in this country. Coffee in KL (Malaysia in general) SUCKs!!

No. 3 is my TRF Jeans from Zara. Not Zara Woman. Not Zara Basic. But TRF Zara. It took me a looong time to find a pair with a good fit, because I have quite a weird body shape, no hips, small waist but full thighs. TRF Zara jeans, straight or skinny, hugs my bum and (lack of) curves nicely and makes me look tall and lean. And they are oh-so comfortable! Nice! But only worth buying during sales...they're quite over-priced. Or maybe I'm just cheap...

No. 4 only happened right after I got married (which wasn't too long ago!). I have never been a huge fan of The BodyShop products. I find their stuff overpriced and underwhelming. But somebody gave me BodyShop's Body Butters as a present and I've been hooked ever since. I have super-dry skin. Besides Vaseline Petroleum Jelly, nothing else works! I love the smell of these body butters too! But if you have normal skin, these may be a tad bit greasy though...

No. 5, I was an avid diary writer when I was a teenager. Back then, it was all about boys. These days, it's a Moleskine diary (introduced to me by my radio co-host) and its all about....work!! And expenses!! My first Moleskine was black in colour with a weekly layout. This year I thought I'd go the extra mile and buy the Limited Edition (in red) with a day-to-day layout. It was big and fat and heavy. It takes up most of the space in my handbag. I can write a lot more in this diary, but honestly, I think I prefer the weekly layout better - it's not so thick and it easier to plan the week. God forbid I leave this at home! I'd be so lost without my Moleskine!

No. 6 my bright orange bikini, my first in a loooong time. I only found the confidence to wear one after losing weight and toning up at the gym. I have a few more pairs, but this orange pair has gone with me on practically every dive trip I've gone to.

No. 7 - gotta smell nice! Clinique Happy is a staple, and I've re-connected with Victoria's Secrets Body Mists which I so loved during my college days. And BodyShop's new range of perfume oils are long lasting and smell lovely!

No.8 is mineral make-up. It's touted to be the make-up of tomorrow. Mineral make-up has only natural, pure ingredients, minus the preservatives. Which means it's make-up good for your skin. I hardly wear conventional make-up anymore. If you have very sensitive skin which reacts to conventional make-up, you might want to consider going mineral.

No. 9 is a staple. I love make-up, but I love a clean face more! I received a free set from SKII some years ago to try out, and have never looked back since. This is a rich foamy non-drying cleanser and it costs RM143!! Steep, but it lasts more than 3 months and it's worth every sen!

No. 10, my favourite food. Give me couscous and mint tea anytime and I'm in heaven. My Moroccan friends at college many years ago introduced me to the wonderful world of couscous and I've loved it ever since! And it's been a loooong time since I've had the real deal, with lamb gravy and all. When I saw this at Tesco, I was over the moon. Just add hot boiling water, leave for 10 minutes and your ready to go. It serves 2, and it's only 200 calories per serving. Yum!

The battle of the Pouch

april 21, 08 monday
Some people may call in 'Battle of the Bulge'. But I'm in denial. Mine is more of a pouch. For as long as I can remember, I was skinny and flat like an airport runaway. I was so skinny that I was so unattractive. No curves, nothing. Except for a tummy. Granted it wasn't big then, but still the pouch was there.

Things got out of hand when I hit the 30's. I love being a 30-something but it was a time when my metabolism halted. I packed on the pounds and at 1.61m, I was heaviest at 65kg. From a US size 6, to a US size 10, I was completely out of shape!

So I started working out. 4 years later, I'm still working out. With a trainer, no less. My workouts were intense at 75%. After the diagnose and therapy with my gynae Dr Hamid, Trainer Ela dropped the intensity to 55% minimum. My body shrunk, and I lost 2 kilos of my muscle mass. Not good. Because it's too easy now to turn the lost muscles into fat. Doesn't really help that I have pig-out weekends.

So I am appalled to see this picture I took in the morning (aren't you supposed to be the slimmest in the a.m??). This was after 2 slices of wholemeal breads with peanut butter and a cup of coffee. (Haven't dropped the 'kids' at the pool yet). Sigh. That pouch is so killing my mojo! What the hell is that?? Here's another picture from another angle (actually this picture don't look so bad....):
I remember reading an interview with Carmen Electra who said her pouch was her biggest problem, and she used to work out like crazy to get a flat stomach. Now she just embraces it because the pouch represents womanhood.

Perhaps she's right. The pouch on a woman represents her role as a mother. But I'm not pregnant (yet!) and I still want a flat stomach, embracing womanhood or not!

Grapes and edamame for dinner from now on??