Friday Skyline @ 3:30pm

The skyline in the late afternoon today as I peered out of one of the office windows:



It is strange to be raining in Bangkok at this time of the year. It definitely is looking like we are now way past the cool season. Tsk tsk tsk…

But rain is good. I’ve always love the rain. Times like this, I wish I’m at home on the couch, tucked in with lotsa pillows and watching TV, while drinking a warm cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows…

TGIF

This must have been one of the slowest weeks ever. Even though work got me pretty busy during the 1st half of the week, it somehow felt like the days just CRAWLED. Everything that happened in the work day seems to be going in slow motion. Why that is so, I really just don’t know. All I know is that this week just feel too damn slooooooooooooooooow .

I am so glad it's Friday.

Muse! Muse! Muse!

Bwahhahhahahhahahhahhahah! I can't hardly keep my excitement anymore; not when I found out about this just about half hour ago. The timing too is just too perfect. So much so that I bought the tickets online immediately! This would really be something I would really hate to miss.

To think I was wishing it just 14 days ago! I feel so darn lucky...wondering if there's a catch...hmmmm.

If all goes well though, it is looking like my wish is just about to come true! Yippperydoorodaaa doop doop dooo! :D

*singing and gesturing the egyptian dance around the house*

Seafood Sambal

Looking through the freezer, I realised that I still have a bunch of frozen, but still fresh portion of prawns and squids waiting to be savoured. Armed with simple ingredients, I decided to go on a seafood frenzy and make myself a Prawn & Squid Sambal!

Sambal usually only goes really well with seafood or eggs...it somehow doesn't really taste quite right with meat. A good sambal, if and when done right, can be pretty addictive. I know that if it's a really good sambal, I can never have enough of it and would go back for seconds or thirds. I am a happy camper to have the sambal all to myself for a good 3 days!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 5-6 pieces of dried chilllies (add more only if you are sure it's not a killer chilli!)
• 2 inches fresh tumeric
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 red onion
• 1 medium sized shallots (thinly sliced)
• 1 garlic
• 1 inch tamarind pulp
• Half a lemon
• Another half an inch of ginger (pounded)
• Prawns and/or Squid or Anchovies, Fried Fish, Boiled Eggs
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Cut dried chillies and soaked with boiling water for about 10 mins then drain
2. Blend chillies, together with tumeric, ginger, onion, garlic
3. Meantime, lavishly squeeze lemon and pounded ginger onto the fresh prawns and squid till ready to be used (this is to get rid of the fishyness)
4. Heat up oil and once hot enough, put in the sliced shallots till fragrant
5. Add in the belended ingredients and fry over low fire till the colour gets a little bit darker
6. Separately, put in the tamarind pulp in hot water and squeeze the juice before adding in to #5
7. Stir and fry over low heat for 10-15 minutes and put in the seafood
8. Add salt to taste.
9. When ready, serve it on top of rice with a side dish if stir fried vegetables.

You have yourself a yummy sambal and vegetable dish with rice. :)

Natural Type

This is essentially a statement I received from my bank here in Thailand. As I skimmed through the statement, something caught my eye...

Now, I don't know if it's an actual and a true banking term that's being used everywhere or it is just me and my ignorance...But, what the hell is a "natural person" as a type of customer?! What type of customer would be classified as an unnatural person then? Would the eligibility of a not natural person be different? If a not natural entity has access to this account, would the charges be invisible? How would a not natural person be treated as a customer then?

So damn "cheem" that it's beyond me! A case of only in Thailand, probably.

* Cheem: Hokkien term meaning something is profound or deep or intellectual.

Pensive

I was just lounging around on the couch over the weekend and saw Fudge in this posture. I had to quietly retrieve my camera and try to stealthily snap this before she decided to move away.

It's a simple image this, but there's something about it I really like. There's an element of serenity, calmness, yet a sense of curiosity of what might be out there...pensive, yet grounded and sure. Somehow I felt like it was an exact reflection of how I felt on a cloudy, rainy Sunday afternoon.

Queue-cutter

Being born and raised in a rather well-behaved, squeaky clean Singapore while being bombarded by government’s social graciousness campaign almost all my life while living there, it is of no wonder that certain "pink ic" traits come into play every once in a while. I don’t mean the infamous kiasuism here.

For years I have exercised my patience and  since I moved to Thailand, I don't usually lose my temper as easily as compared to when I am back home. So, this time, it is actually me losing my patience and me getting annoyed at people who generally does not respect Singapore’s national past-time i.e queing, getting in line, waiting for your turn. While I generally avoid queue like a plaque and would rather die than join in a queue that lasts for hours on end, I will not cut queue or tolerate those who does.

It was drizzling when I was waiting for a cab by the roadside just outside my office. I have been the only one there and have been waiting for a while. When a cab finally passed by, 2 idiots had managed to snatch 2 cabs away from me separately, the ones which I was hailing, and the snatching was within seconds from each other. I was obviously fuming and was determined to make the third cab stop for ME. Lo and behold! There was another snatcher that jumped out right in front of me. Just as quickly, I yelled a big “Oiiiiiiii! F*%k off! …Bitch!C.B” , my face contorting in all sorts of way, smokes coming out of my ears, fireballs rolling out of my mouth.

The lady did stop short, turned around and looked at me, blushing. Only then I realized that she looked kinda familiar but could not really put my finger to it. She apparently recognised me because she mentioned my name as she apologized, and offered me the cab. My guess is she probably works in the same office as I do, but just a different unit/floor. Oops! The perils of working in such a big office with 200 staff. Not to mention snatching my goddamn cab which was rightfully mine! Hmmph!

Did I accept her offer to give up the cab for me? Well, if I’m really sure I didn’t know her, I’d also give her the middle finger when claiming what’s rightfully mine. However, given the fact that she does look familiar and that she knew my name, I decided to be gracious and let her have it instead. Reluctantly. Perhaps that would make her think twice the next time she snatches someone else’s cab, especially if the other person waiting has been there F.I.R.S.T. People can really be so selfish!

My patience has been really thin of late, and I can get really antsy and agitated if things get a little out of line or if I feel as if I have been taken for a fool. But make no mistakes --- I make no apologies for my use of colourful languages to those who doesn’t know or respect the holy grail of THE QUEUE!

Calvin & Hobbes

This strip had me in stitches when I was reading it before bed last night. I just couldn't get his expression and remarks out of my head! You gotta love his character.

Source: The Complete Collection|Calvin & Hobbes|Book Three

Orange M&Ms

I came across this recently in a grocery store of a small, yet obscure neighourhood. Apparently of limted edition in nature.

No wonder I haven't seen these orange flavoured M&Ms before. Yummy stuff.

Makes me wonder how long will these babies be on shelf before they decide that they have to take them off because I like it.

Sprouting for Rendang

It's looking like the tumeric plant is showing a healthy sign of life! It has been been almost 2 months now since Silver Bullet decided to start growing his own tumeric leaves by dumping a few tumeric roots into one of the empty pots.

While tumeric roots can be found abundantly here in Bangkok, we have yet to see tumeric leaves being sold. That, however is not the only reason for wanting to grow it.

The main reason is really because tumeric leaves happen to be one of the key and most important ingredients to make rendang, and it is fast becoming Silver bullet's favourite dish. Falling short of importing the leaves from Singapore or having to wait for my Mom's rendang on an annual basis only when we go back home, Silver Bullet thought it would be a better idea for him to try to grow it so I can use it for my cooking. [Read: Me cooking the rendang so he can savour the dish]

Actually, I'm quite excited to see the tumeric plant growing so well right next to the pandan!

Animal Stories

You know how once in a while you come across unexpected stories and after reading them, you let out a heart-felt chuckle? Almost immediately, you then feel all warm and tingly inside and would want to share such stories to those you know whom might just need a little something to brighten up their day?

Here's a couple of such animal stories that gave me all the "side effects" mentioned above:

•  Lost parrot tells vet his address
•  Squirrel stole a couple's thunder. More of the same story here.

Hope they make you smile!

From the inbox

It took me awhile to realise what was so special about this pic, given the subject header of this forward mail was "something to brighten your day"...

A bimbotic HUH! and after about 15 seconds staring at the picture while scratching my head, it finally hit me that it really is a very cool pic. Duh!

Yeah, I'm slow that way.

 But that's ok. :)

Stare what stare?!

When there's nothing else to do, the 2 cats seem to enjoy taking up surveillance of their owners as their new past-time. As we focus on the TV, these 2 furballs focused on us, without even as much as moving an inch of their limbs. The only movement they make is with their eyes...nothing else moves! It sometimes become like a staring competition!

Sometimes, (only sometimes!) , one of them would perk up a little if we leave the couch.

...and only to fall back into their slumber soon after!

Ain't life just great! It makes me wonder what these furballs are up to during the day whe we are not at home. They all seemed so shattered and tired out whenever we get home in the evening!

Nasi Goreng Ikan Bilis

There's something about Nasi Goreng Ikan Bilis (aka fried Rice with Anchovies), I tell you! It's a simple dish to make, yet so satisfying. A taste only fellow Singaporeans can understand and appreciate. A dish Silver Bullet loves to hate..hee..hee!

The only reason I'm making it is because he is not around to nag at me as to how smelly the anchovies are when I throw them into the pan. I relish my ikan bilis-ses. It's one of my comfort food and I think I made enough to last me for 3 days! Lovely.

Exhausted!

The last 4 days have been nothing but intense! They had been excruciatingly exhausting, especially after being cooped up in a function room at some place all day for a full 4 days in light of training and workshop sessions. I love going for workshops whenever I get the chance to. To me, they make a great escape from the daily routine back in the office. However...

...such workshop sessions usually leave me pretty brain-dead at the end of the day! More often than not,  these workshops usually tend to start at 9 am S.H.A.R.P and can be unfortunately be held at some far flung, yet somewhat fancy places to accommodate the number of participants.

If that happens, it usually means that one has to get up extra early and buffer for any traffic jams to get to the venue on time! This, essentially was what I had to do for 4 consecutive days. All I have to say is this:

I BLOODY HATE BANGKOK’S TRAFFIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I inadvertently showed up 20 minutes late on the first day of training because of the damn traffic! TWENTY FRIGGING MINUTES and that’s after buffering almost 2 hours of traffic time! All because traffic got to a standstill for 45 minutes; and that’s just after about less than a km travelling in the cab from my place. In fact, every intersection came to a standstill thereafter. It was so bad that my cab had only been crawling for less than 2 km after one half hours of travelling time…and STILL with about 10 km more to go to get to my destination! I am hardly ever late for all, if not most of my appointments, and so I was fuming when I finally got to the destination. As with other training sessions, we have also been “trained’ that trainers don’t usually tolerate late comers, and late comers would usually have to pay some kind of penalty. It was the first day of training and being quite the punctual person that I am, I almost screamed at the trainer for making us travel to such inaccessible place. On top of that I supposedly had to be penalized by buying coffee for everyone! (That was when my brains started shooting out expletives in all languages I knew!) It really wasn’t my fault and I wasn’t the only one, who was late, but I cannot stand being the last one in. Especially so when I take the extra effort to get there earlier, not just on time!. It did take me a while to calm myself down and I decided to take the BTS then for the next few days.

On the 2nd day, I was but half an hour early just because I decided to do a train-and –cab it –combo to get to the venue.

I swear there must have been some curse or something as my luck ran out again on the 3rd day with the infallible plan of train-and-cab-it combo. For some reason, the train stalled for a good half an hour. The train was there, people were in, but it just wasn’t moving. At the same time, the station was getting crowded with more people queuing up, but they were not able to get into the train for some time. In fact, it got so ridiculously crowded that I could only squeeze in on the 3rd train. You cannot imagine how agitated I was at that time. I just hate being late and I had barely enough minutes to spare! Fortunately, I got to the training room just in time. As I started to grumble to my colleagues on my misfortune with transportation, I was later told that the reason they had to stall the train for a while was because someone apparently had fallen off the edge and into the tracks right about the time I was there.

Yikes!

Fortunately she was alright and was unscathed. I honestly didn’t think anyone who fall into the track would survive, really.

What a week! Traffic here can be as unpredictable as cat’s affection for me. Can’t wait for the weekend to come for a little bit of reprieve.

Plane Food

In truth, the chicken and beef satay which we had the first night there in KL were not as fantastic as I thought they would be. I mean, they were ok, but really not the best if I were to compare the satays I could get in Singapore. They were unfortunately a little bland.

I know it would be a while before I can sink my teeth in another batch of satays again, so while waiting for our flight, we saw a cafe at KLIA that seemed to serve satays. Obviously I wanted to try it, but was quite peeved on the prices and I was certainly not willing to pay bloody RM 40++ for only 10 sticks of satays! In a way, I was glad I did not sucuumb to my temptation as Lo and behold! they served chicken satay in the plane!

Not the bestest satays, obviously...but I was quite happy nonetheless as they were pretty decent. For now, that would tide me up till my next satay decadence back home in Singapore!

Only in M'sia

Signs seen in a taxi plastered right behind the cab driver's seat in KL:

You know that you are in Malaysia when you see something like that...it is not suprising, especially when the driver seems to be a rather staunch Muslim. It just makes me wonder though how bad the situation really is, such that a reminder such as this is imminent to the public.

3 days of Gluttony

When like me (and this being Thailand) and one don't get access to such food as easily anymore, one tends to want to try eat as many types of food one can stomach. When it may seem like it might be getting too excessive, we started off with a "lighter" type of meal, rest for a couple of hours and then parked our butt somewhere for the next round. Round 2 tend to consist of a different and diverse type of food - mostly as a grand finale to the nightly ritual.

Our 1st night light meal, followed by a grand finale of sata, kangkong, sambal stingray, grilled chicken...

Breakfast with egg prata, masala tosai and teh tarek...

Our 2nd night of "light" meal with the best beef noodles...

Followed by the grand finale food which we pinched from each other, consisting of mee goreng, some kind of special curry, prata kosong, plaster, nasi lemak, maggi goreng...

Just look at Silver Bullet grinning away gleefully as he systematically picked the food from his left, right and centre!

Almost Impromptu

The lure of food is just too much to bear for someone as weak-willed as me. This is especially so, when one of your good friends whom you seldom meet face-to-face, somehow managed to make you salivate from describing the food she's had whenever she goes off to her weekend escapades;enough to convince me that a trip gorging yourself silly and along with good company, is way well-worth the effort!

So, off we went to KL over the weekend to catch up over food with a really good friend of 14 years. The idea of going for a food trip, about a one-half hour flight away from Bangkok was largely based on impulse, and partly because I've had about enough of Thai food. Going out of Bangkok seems to be a feasible solution to my occasional craving  for comfort food which I have known back home. The weekend being my birthday was also a great excuse to justify a trip up to KL to be a glutton!

I have a feeling though, this might be more than just an impulse trip the next time! Not to mention, the foot refloxology there is waaaaaaaaay better than what they have here in Thailand. Their technique is different and masseurs there seems to get the points which the Thai massuers missed. They also seemed to know what they are doing and the massage places are decent in nature.  Easily one of the best foot massages I've ever had in my entire life.

Good food, good company, good foot massages..I'd say, it can't get any better than that!

Scented Diffuser: 4 days after...

This is what it's looking like right now, just after a few days. In fact, these branches started to

soak up that bluey hue just after about a day since we started using it! I think it looks kinda neat.

Not only this diffuser is aesthetically pleasing to the eyes (to me anyway), the scent coming off the diffuser is also the first thing we'd notice the moment we open the front door. A nice little greeting for when we come home! In fact, the pleasing scent just lingers about in the living room the entire day.

The scent is definitely not too overpowering and with this, there is definitely no reason anymore for the use of scented candles, incense sticks, burning off aromatherapy oils on a burner and what nots just to make the home smells nicer.

I am a sucker for fragrant and nicely scented stuff - be it for home or the laundry. To me, these scents makes a home cozier and that much more inviting to the soul! I'm a definite convert to this home diffuser now -- I really wonder how long it will last. And you know what?  It definitely beats Febreeze hands down, too!

Green Day Memorabilia

Green Day came and gone. I'm hoping Muse would somehow make it to Bangkok.

Usually though, I am not one who would care for T-Shirts sold at the event ground. This time, however, I saw a few people wearing those and I thought they were pretty cool. I was actually quite bummed-out to find out later that all the T-shirts which could not have possibly been sold out, were bloody sold out! None was left when I finally got to the T-shirt booth. What a bummer.

All that's left of the concert now are my buzzing ears, the high-energy experience etched in my mind, their new CD and a couple of these:

Wonder how much they'd fetch on e-bay....

In love all over again!

That's how I felt about the band and their music after 3 hours of non-stop, high-energy and an engaging performance by Green Day. The concert was easily one of the best I have attended so far! While the random fireworks caused a little cardiac arrest every now and then, their showmanship was second to none. What still amazes me is how similar Billie Joe Armstrong's live vocal was, to his recordings. After all these years, he still looks awesome too!

It has been a long love affair that dates back to the mid-nineties, and watching them live yesterday just make me fall in love with their music all over again. Extremely talented bunch!

My ears are still buzzing from the loud music at the concert ground yesterday as I'm writing this. But let me tell you, it was one hell of a concert and it was definitely worth it! I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!

Here are some not-really-good-quality snapshots.

I am All Deserving

Having built-up the excitement since we found out Green Day was coming to Bangkok from months ago, I can't help but felt a little dejected as the concert date came closer. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a case of changing my mind about going to the concert at all. Rather, it was because I felt like an overgrown teenager who somehow didn't grow up. Afterall, I started listening to Green Day more than 17 years ago when I was indeed an angsty teenager who got into music that was labelled as that for rebels...and STILL listening to them now. Truth be told, there are people my age who would not cut me some slack with a "What are you - an overgrown, posey teenager?!" bite-back, albeit mostly teasing, when they found out that I still listen to Green Day after all these years. *blush*

As I scanned the crowd of concert-goers at the event ground yesterday, I was plastered with relief when I saw plenty of people who are much, much older than me! Then it dawned on me that hey! Green Day was the music of MY era and those +/-5 to 10 years older/younger than me! There is absolutely nothing wrong that I am no longer a teenager and still enjoy such music event.

Still scanning the crowd, I had to smirk when I saw posey tweens and teenaged punk wannabes who probably thought thay they are the coolest and most fashionable kids on earth just by association of their attendance to a cool band's live performance. I smirked to myself once again when it dawned on me that even though I am no longer a teenager, I can at least afford to buy my own concert tickets, as opposed to these wannabe kids who are more likely to be using their parents' money to be able to attend such concerts. :p

Suddenly I felt better. Suddenly I felt all deserving. Suddenly it seems alright that yes, I am this much older.

One thing is for sure: I may no longer be a teenager, but I am sure as hell gonna enjoy my hard-earned cash with one of my favourite bands; a band I grew up with. Who is anyone to say anything and really, what the hell was I worried about initially?! :D

Squeeeeeeeezeeeeeeee

No small spaces (usually those devoid of human presence) can deter this anti-social feline from squeezing and contorting her way in, to fit into the spaces she fancies as and when she likes it. She also has this annoyng habit of plopping her entire mass about, with no respect for things that are technically in her way.

How she managed to look as if she's the cutest thing on earth is really beyond me.

Nifty Stuff

Today was one of those bo-liao days where we thought we'd take a train down to Chatuchak just for a plate of those awesome chicken rice. It was a single-minded mission, with no intention whatsoever to purchase anything else, except maybe a couple of ceramic bowls for the cats. While searching for the latter,  we stumbled upon an interesting shop selling candles and spa-types product called Montra Sense. No new cat food bowls for the cats from Chatuchak, but we somehow hauled back a few nifty items for the home instead:

a) Scented Diffuser

I  thought it's a cool concept this,  where several wooden branches are being used to soak in the liquid from the jar that would just diffuse the scent. It comes with all sorts of scents from jasmine to sandalwood. I picked "Ocean" for that fresh and light fragrance. It really is an ingenius concept and as soon as I put those branches into the liquid, I could get the whiff of the fragrant!

b) Candle Holder

Initially for a gift, but it looked so chic and elegantly cool that we made a unanimous decision to get it for ourselves, too! What's more,  we can also do our part more regularly for the environment to consume less energy when dusk sets in.

I have to admit though that these pictures don't do any justice to the actual atmosphere. But, when all the lights goes off in the evening,  and all that's left  in the background is the light from the TV, these lighted candles brings about a cosy and warm feeling in the apartment without having the fan blowing the flames away. Ain't this just neat!

Ispahan

The cup may have looked a tad funny, but the home-made Ispahan Sorbet is so heavenly refreshing that we want to tarpao more home. Unfortnately, this tiny shop somewhere at Paragon does not cater for take-homes...which is a darn shame.

I have no clue what "Ispahan" really means or why the fancy name for a sorbet. But I do know they are of lychee flavour, and apparently made from real lychees. Whatever it is, it is really good stuff. Just perfect for a hot, hot afternoon!

From the inbox: Japlish

Stumbled upon this forwarded mail from a while back, courtesy of Vicvanvinkle as I was clearing my inbox. Japlishly hilarious!

TSD: Excuse me...but WTH are you getting at?

TSD: Hmmm...that's a clearly not for Female Men then

TSD: Ahhh! and I always wondered what they do with the used tissues

TSD: Wonder if it's because they are just "cheesy"

TSD: Possibly for those who can hold out the longest?

TSD: Ahhh! Male's heaven!

TSD: if only the building could talk, would it make more sense?

TSD: WTH is horny care...???

TSD: Whatever they were selling, the soul has been out and about

and the best for the last!

TSD:WTF?

* TSD: The Sleeping Dragon