Of iPhones & Blackberries

It is now official that I am probably the only one in my entire office who neither owns an iPhone nor a blackberry. Everyone who was in the same meeting as me today and everyone in the office  has it. And I mean E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E. And you know what? Not having either one really does not make me a lesser human being! Is that news or what!

Don’t get me wrong though. It’s not that I reject technology…far from it actually. But I draw the line when it comes to iPhone or BB. Despite being a hard-core Apple fan years ago, I had vehemently refused to succumb to an iPhone just because everyone else has it. For BB though, I don’t see the need to be tied down to my email 24/7, and to be honest, I don't see the need for it. It is something I really can live without. .

Besides, I don’t really want what everyone else has, just so I “belong” to the group. I'd rather spend the money on something else. I don't need them to give me an identity so to speak. I don’t belong and I don’t conform; and that my dear friends, is no secret. Never have, never will. I am the rebel and it IS OK if I am just not as cool or “in-the-know” like the rest of the human race wired on iPhone & BBs.

As Silver Bullet once put it, he did not think he is important enough to have a Blackberry. Inspite of the industry I work in, I second that notion. All in all, I am simply not important enough to be needing a BB or stylo enough to own an iPhone.

I guess I am really just not "part of the crowd". It's not really a bad thing, is it?

Sugees are addictive

If there is one thing you need to know about these cookies, they are nothing more than just evil, evil treats that will keep you coming back for more after that first bite. As far as I remember, Sugees have always been my childhood favourite;  usually made during the festive season of Hari Raya. It is really one of my personal favourites.

 

Armed with a recipe given by my sister-in-law, I decided to spend my Sunday afternoon baking away. Silver Bullet has a thing for these since he discovered Sugees, and has, several times dissuade me from making it...

 

But, I like to keep myself busy, and I just had to try baking it! It was worth the effort and I really love how each of them just melts in your mouth. It sure is gonna take a lot of will-power for Silver Bullet to refrain from dipping his hand into the cookie jar!

 

Hot from the over, here's the recipe:

 

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of plain flour
• 1 tin of Ghee (apparently the QBB brand is the best to use) 1 pound/454 grams
• Fine sugar or icing sugar (wash the empty can of Ghee and use it to estimate the sugar - not too full or it'll be too sweet)
• 1/4 tsp. of bicarbonate of soda

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 Degree Celsius

 

2. Mix ghee and sugar in mixing bowl and whisk well till it form like cream.Add in baking powder

 

3. Add in the flour bit by bit, and knead the mixture into a dough. The dough should be slightly sticky on your finger. However, If  the dough is too sticky, add more flour

 

4. Then roll them into small balls and put them on a baking tray

 

5. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the bottom turn slightly brown.

 

6. Leave to cool before storing them in an air-tight container

 

7. Pop them in your mouth without regrets! :)

The one with crossed paws

Andy's signature pose.

The only cat I know so far who would cross one paw over the other whenever she decides to take on a stance that says she's closely W.A.T.C.H.I.N.G you. This pose would usually be accompanied by a look of disgust, with complete aloofness while she stands on guard just a distance away from your feet. I think she'd like to believe that she's a princess and she's got control over things.

Unfortunately, the other 2 cats didn't think so and usually a few minutes away from pouncing onto her...

An unusual morning call

At about 11 am this morning, I got a rather strange phone call from the Building manager of our apartment building. As soon as I picked up the call, Ms Building Manager asked me if we have 2 or 3 cats at home this morning. I thought the question sounded a little strange since I thought she is very aware of the number of cats we have running around, and she likes all of them.

At the same time, I immediately went “uh-oh!” in my head as I thought they might, all of a sudden, going to be making a racket for us keeping cats in the apartment building as pets are generally not allowed. So far, they have been kind enough to turn a blind eye on the first cat…then came #2 a year later, followed by the latest addition of #3 last year in a hush-hush manner…

I thought she sounded a little frantic at the end of the line when she asked me if we have 2 or 3 cats. She quickly went on to say that she couldn’t find one of the cats as they were about to do some pest control in our apartment. T hey looked everywhere and they were not too happy when they could not find the 3rd one. I had to laugh and told her that yes, as of this morning, there were still 3 of them when we left the house. It could also be that one of them could have been accidentally locked in one of the cupboards as they have a habit of sneaking in when you try to retrieve clothes to get dressed. At this point, I started wondering who the culprit was…it should either be Fudge or Andy. While I wasn’t too worried, I called Silver Bullet to just double-check with him if he saw 3 cats, as I was sure I did and told him the story. We had a good laugh about that phone call for that one cat that went missing!

20 minutes later, I got another call from Ms Building Manager telling me she found one of them who decided to make herself inconspicuous by hiding behind one of the curtains. It was Andy.

What a story for a hearty laugh at 11 am in the morning while I was in a middle of a meeting. On the hind sight, happy to also know that the people in our apartment care! It really is not every day you get a service like this here in Bangkok.

No more hairy fruits?

It is looking like the rambutans are approaching the end of their season. I hardly see any vendors piling up those hairy fruits on their mobile carts anymore when I walked towards the office these days. I managed to spot only 1 vendor yesterday selling rambutans and I refrained from buying them as they looked rather small and pathetic.

My guess is, the season for hairy fruits might just be over very soon.

I have yet to see those longans in season too. It's about blardy time!

Sleep Poking

Apparently I had single-handedly woke Silver Bullet up all startled, thus interrupting his sleep for the rest of the night when I unwittingly managed to poke him in the eye in my sleep last night. Or so I was told, when I asked if he had slept ok. I had slept like crap and was really hoping that I had not annoyed him with my constant tossing and turning.

As soon as those questions left my mouth, Silver Bullet slowly replied in a wary, hesitating but purposeful tone, “Uhmm…well..I could have, if you hadn’t poke me in the eye while you are still asleep.”

Oh oooops! I felt terrible but could only laugh out loud as I thought it sounded quite hilarious. Oh my poor husband got poked in the eye. By Me. In My Sleep. And, even though I slept terrible, I have no recollection of it. How bizarre!

I can only conclude that my actions were not my own. I was barely conscious.

Colours of the sky

A lovely view from the balcony as dusk set in...

It was a sight I would not have otherwise seen, had I not been forced to walk home because of the insane traffic yesterday. The colours, while not the most spectacular I have seen, still took my breath away.

It was a sight that made me smile.