Buttered #2

It was a really fun night! Second time at Butter Factory for a casual night with great people and everyday music. Hanged out upstairs, much better instead of squeezing downstairs among tables. Though I must say that the placement of furniture upstairs wasn't that tipsy-friendly. Through the night I managed to kick (really hard) at the platform near the bar, tripped on myself (my fault) and fell head first onto the end of our neighbour's table. Thankfully some of them saved me from a terrible fall, and thankfully I didn't fall ONTO the table, there were so many MOET bottles (rich people I think) I don't even want to imagine what will happen if I did. Other than a few bruises, everyone had fun!

DIY-ed Projects : New collars for my furballs

After going through some DIY & Crafts inspirational photos on Pinterest, I had this idea to do-it-myself cat collars for both my cats. I used to make friendship bands when I was younger, so all I needed were the threads, bells, some loops, and probably one or two additional stuff.

There's this place at PJ Old Town that I was told, called Sin Wah. They have tons of crafty knick-knacks for sale and I needed some lace wraps for the recycled mason jars that I bought for the wedding, so both the hubs and I took a trip down to check out that place. Anyway, I'll blog about that in another post because this is mainly for the cat collars. I managed to get everything I needed for the collars and the total came up to less than RM10, which saves a tiny bit of money as compared to those retailing outside but the whole point is the love I put into these two collars for the two fluffballs that I love so much. Lucky cats :B

Everything you need to make two cat collars.

We wanted to match the collars with their eyes, so we've chosen Blue for Manja and Orange for Mojo. Love the shades we picked out for them, plus I added a jewel to each of the collars to make it a tad bit different from others out there.

And the FINAL RESULTS after a few days!

LOVE.

Just 'coz I Love You

The day began with a visit to Antipodean which we've not been for months. Decided to treat ourselves with a little Western food since we've been consuming Chinese food every single day throughout Chinese New Year. As usual, he had his Mushroom Cheese Omelet and I decided to try something new but it was pretty disappointing when my meal arrived.

RM18 for this plate of French Toast, Maple Syrup and 2 small tiny pieces of Pork Bacon. We've pretty much agreed that Antipodean is really nothing much for their food, unlike when it first opened. The worst is that they stinge with the portion of quality food. For instance, I used to find that they load the plates with too much eggs, mushrooms and of those which cost less and only gave one or two pieces of those which cost quite a bit.

RM9 for 2 slices of bread? RM9 for extra 2 eggs (no choice for 1 egg instead)..I got pretty annoyed actually.

Won't be heading there unless I wanted the breakfast meal which they priced at RM19. I used to opt for Pork Bacon but they gave only like one or two pieces and if you are a bacon lover, you'll definitely know what I mean by one or two pieces just won't do. So, I decided to go for their Beef Sausage instead which was still served a piece but I found that the sausage sort of worth more than the bacon in terms that there's more meat to chew on. More meat, get what I mean?

Soon enough, it was time to head out for dinner. My better half surprised me with a romantic candle-lit dinner at PLOY @ Clearwater. The view of Kuala Lumpur and its' Twin Towers from Work @ Clearwater was really something. I had never been to that place, so it was my first. I've always thought that PLOY was one of those Plan B, Ben's type of restaurant but they are pretty unique.

"Ploy means ‘gem’ in Thai. We were inspired by the true gems of Japanese and Thai cuisine – the interplay of sweet, sour, salty, spicy and umami flavours; the meticulous preparation of dishes using only the freshest ingredients. By applying these tenets of asian cooking to not-so-asian dishes, we created a new modern asian cuisine." - http://ploywithyourfood.com/

Their Valentine's Day set menu was a good selection of mixed Japanese and Western. We started off with a bowl of Mushroom Soup lightly dazzled with Truffle Oil.

Tempura Seabass with Japanese Mint Leaf was pretty unique. I loved the dip. Not too sure what it was but it tasted good.

Five Element Linguine, which was tossed Linguine with dried chilli shrimp, fried crab sticks, poached egg and fish roe. I was okay with it but hubs didn't like it at all because he thought Linguine which was something Italian, should never go with Pan Mee side-lings.

Baked Chicken Ham and Dory Fish with Miso Butter Sauce for the hubs. I didn't like it because they included Chinese Parsley in it and it totally ruined my taste buds because I've never liked eating it. Without the parsley, maybe I would have liked it.

I chose the Australian Tenderloin Steak with Asparagus, Baby Potato, Bacon and Gorgonzola Cream Sauce. I loved it. tasted really good. The beef was really tender, and the sauce was similar to a Cabonara sauce that I've tried elsewhere. Had to get them to re-cook the beef though because it was too red for my liking. Otherwise, all good.

Oreo Cheese Cake for dessert. Light and fluffy, not at all heavy. Had lemon taste to the cream cheese and the bottom cookie was just right.

Overall, we enjoyed most of the food. I loved the atmosphere of the place. It was even more special when couples were seen having an intimate time together and everyone spoke in a hush manner. LOL. However, the bill came up way more than we thought the food was worth. PLOY would be a better place to wine, perhaps?

Last but not least, my now fav Leopard printed weaved clutch from H&M which I got at RM40 only! LOVE.

Year of the Snake

This Chinese New Year was pretty fulfilling. It used to be just another day with loud music, bunch of cookies and food but this year seemed to be quite different, maybe because it will be the last of getting Ang Paus for me since I'll be giving instead next year. So it was like, the last Chinese New Year I'll be celebrating as a kid ever since I was born. In a way, it was pretty meaningful to be able to spend some time with close friends & family members.

It was never really about the money. Giving angpau is part of the whole Chinese New Year tradition, no matter how much is in it, it is the whole meaning of giving and receiving during this auspicious time. Yet, it is a shame that some sees it as once you have signed those law abiding papers, you are considered married and you no longer deserve this red packet from them anymore. Well, from my point of view, Chinese New Year is a traditional celebration and as long as the couple has yet to have the traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony (unless the couple doesn't want to), is not married by tradition. But then again, this is my opinion. Everyone has their own and this Chinese New Year, it was pretty clear who were the people who actually embraced the whole tradition of giving and receiving and of those who does it as a chore.

Pinterest has been my source for everything I want to know now. I check in almost every hour to get inspired of all sorts of arts & crafts, wedding ideas, designs and mostly everything I love. So I decided to try this hair-do. My hair was getting pretty heavy if I tie it up and it's really annoying when I let it down because it is so long that it tends to get stuck somewhere, in between stuff and blabla.

What do you think? Though it isn't as neat as the one I followed from, I absolutely loved it. The bun actually felt weightless which was the whole point. So, that I can dig in those food in peace, right. :P

Anyway, every year for Chinese New Year Eve, we'll be heading over to Daniel & Karen's place for dinner. This year, we had crazy amount of dishes that Karen prepared all by herself and they are so delicious!

First up was Lou Sang that was pre-prepared by AEON. Money. Wealth. Happiness. Bora-Bora. Lamborghini. Joy. Wisdom. More Money. Big House. Maldives. Europe. Japan. More Money. Success. The usual :)

Fish Maw soup with alot of stuff in it. Scallop, Abalone, Fish things and it was super goodness. Boiled for more than 12hours!

Curry Chicken. Not sure what do you call it but it's the Mushrooms, Oysters, More Mushrooms, Broccoli, Carrots and some fortune luck thingie that comes with the dish.

My favourite! Roast pork with Leek which I ate like half a bowl, Cereal Prawns ; super yummy! I love cereal prawns and I make it often myself. Steam Red Snapper (if not mistaken) with Ginger and Soy Sauce.

Karen even made Orange Juice and boiled Red Bean Soup!!!!! Jeezzzezzz, how on earth can one person prepare so many dishes for all 7 of us?!

Dinner ended, we had glasses of red and white wine to catch up. It was great, the night ended pretty late and we had a brand new "year" the following day at Grandparent's house. So, we ended the night with hugs and well wishes. :)

DIY-ed Projects : Walk-in-Wardrobe

AND MY WALK-IN-WARDROBE IS DONE...after moving in close to two years. Can you imagine, two years of clothes draping here and there. Stocks lying about. No dresser, no full length mirror and the worst was, not enough room to walk about. Even the railing which I used to hang my clothes was missing a leg and it took up most of the walking space and I had to make do with squeezing about the room, looking for stuff.

A walk-in-wardrobe for me was definitely the plan, but we delayed it for 2 whole years because of the money factor and everybody knows that a custom one could cost a zillion! So one day, hubs was wondering if we could custom make a whole wardrobe using IKEA's shelves and with the few visits that we made to IKEA few months back gave us plenty of ideas how to make it happen.

So we bought the shelves, bought some curtain hooks and railings for my clothes, gotten some storage boxes, chose a brand new curtain to lighten up the room, cupcake trays for my make up thingies (saves space by stacking things up), grabbed hold of a grey discounted rug which was selling really fast (the next day we went to IKEA again, it was GONE!), and made do with some old stuff about the house.

Once we were done with the whole room, I just couldn't believe it. I loved the transformation. Friends & family who have been into this room once, know how big a transformation from a plain to-do room into this. All that with the effort of my other half, working and hammering well into the night. We've probably spent 1/4 of what it may have costed us if we were to get a contractor to custom make one. I've always had a thing for DIY pieces and the fact that I get to be in a room where everything was self-made, makes the room a whole lot special. :)

Weekend and the Awesomest maggie ever!

I've realised that I never really blog about my days anymore, unlike when I first started blogging. What has become of blogging anymore? It used to be sort of a personal diary to me and it was only open among friends, but I guess as we are more exposed to social medias everyday, things have changed. I guess only 20% of the society nowadays genuinely blog about what they really feel and what they've been up to on a daily basis but blogs have now become more of a advertorial platform for most.

It may seem that mine has turned from a personal blog, to an open directory where people can get info on food, fashion and whatever I want to share on other stuff. Back then, when things got a little to personal, there won't be anyone to judge if the blog was only open among friends and those whom you choose to share them with but I guess, you'll end up hurting one or more if it got way serious. So, people mostly blog about what's on the surface and not what's deep down anymore.

Ah well, welcome to the future of blogging.

My weekend wasn't as hectic as the last. Mainly gotten my car fixed. The thing is, it is already 6 years of age and I really can't blame that some of the parts are close to expiration. Battery was weak, window switch was spoiled, car key battery died, road tax was laid on the dashboard ever since last August (very lazy to stick it on my windshield - okay, that has nothing to do with my car's age) and basically those were the things I had to get done.

There were these cute little kittens playing around the workshop when I was there and they are for adoption. Mommy cat, which is a stray was adopted by the workshop owner which then gave birth to three really lovely kittens and one have already been adopted. These two photos of the kittens are still there, open for adoption plus one more hidden behind the orange/black one was actually found by the owner, so he picked it up and put them into the lot. It would be great if any of you reading this can share the news for the adoption. Though the owner seem to take good care of them, they are still in need of a good home, one where they have a more comfortable and cleaner place to sleep and play in. So, if you are ever interested, the workshop is in OUG. You can email me for more info.

Kitten with orange and black patches. Really really playful and sweet looking :)

This one resembles alot of a Siamese cat colour with really distinctive blue eyes.

Took a little trip down to Bangsar Village 2 to have a good plate of fried rice at The Rice Restaurant (by Big Group) but to my horror, they (The Rice Restaurant and Canoodling) were no longer at BV2!!! So, the hubs and I had to settle for WonderMama because it was already 3pm and we were really hungry. If given the choice, we wouldn't have chosen WonderMama because we didn't feel that the prices were reasonable enough.

What altered our perception of WonderMama was when the plate of Maggie came and it was the BEST Maggie Goreng we've ever tasted! It came with prawns, scallops, fish roe and some other stuff which gave the noodles so much taste! I've got to order that the next round I am there because I only had a spoon to try, .. maybe two, .. the noodles were ordered by hubs actually. :B

Tried my luck at Borders, once again. I wanted to get the book ever since I watched Life of Pi because I heard the book is good. Luck was on my side that day, there were only two books left. So, I grabbed one and began reading it in the car on our way back home. Definitely was not disappointed by the author, and that was when I read his note, haven't even begin on the story of Pi yet.

Ended my weekend completing one out of the 22 conclusions of Heavy Rain on PS3. This game is really awesome. Came to a point where I actually felt the pain when...okay, I am not going to spoil it but check it out, you'll love it.