Hectic Equals...

Busy busy busy.
Annoyance and irritation.
Almost stressful.
Tired.

sashimi bento for RM35 at the japanese restaurant on the 6th floor of Sogo.

It started off as a crazy Friday last week and it continues on to be an equally crazy week for me. I am so hating my office right now!

But I could just be plain cranky.

We are in the midst of moving 3 floors up and woh, with the ongoing work and reports that must be done, I have no time to assist with the packing.

I still hate the bloody air conditioning, by the way. I was bundled up with arm and leg warmers with a jacket but it's annoying that I have to take them all off before I go to the loo, for fear of bumping into a customer/client outside.

*grumble grumble*

Last Friday evening was spent at the office gym. An hour of aerobics followed by an hour of yoga (which consisted mostly abs exercises!) and oh my goodness, I was exhausted yet happy by the end of it.

I was with 2 colleagues and we giggled a lot. Now that's the difference between attending classes with friends and without. =D

I was hoping to try out the kickboxing classes but it was canceled. Oh well, I'll have to wait til Friday for another 2 hour workout session with the colleagues.

Today, a colleague has booked me for lunch and she wants to go A & W. Hmmm. I can't think of anything there which will not ruin my diet so I might as well skip breakfast for it. Or dinner.

Oh, I'm cracking my head about my sister's birthday cake. I can't think of something different yet easy for me to bake! It's next weekend so I'll only have this coming weekend to test bake at least once.

Any ideas?

If you're wondering what I'm wondering, yes, I didn't know baking could take over my life just like that.

=D

Oh, this post was supposed to be about how much I hate my job right now or the procedures or the lack of manpower but ah, I have to go and get ready for work now.

Have a better week ahead than me.

Ben's at Publika

Two weeks ago, my sister and I found ourselves at Ben's on a Thursday night for a late dinner. She ate here before whereas I've only eaten and Ben's General Food Store down at the supermarket on the lower ground.

Apparently it's quite similar to DELIcious, although the menu may vary.

I loved the index cards provided on every table. Just in case you run out of things to talk to or you'd like to busy yourself by reading something, the box of index cards will provide you with suggested topics for conversation and some recipes to study. =)

They only have three (3) types of soup to choose from and since my sister has tried their wild mushroom soup and the other one, this time she wanted to try their roasted tomato soup.

Which was too tangy for me. =S

 Service was bad that night (no surprises there, since I read a lot of comments about it online. We waited a long time for our mushroom lasagna, and we suspect they had forgotten about it so we reminded them to check on our order.

It was disastrous. It was hard and cold inside and we didn't even finish it. 

We think they were in rush that they didn't bother heating it up properly!

Compare the one we had at Ben's General Food Store the other time. See how different they look.

 

Char-grilled chicken salad was not too bad, though it could do with a bit more greens, if you ask me. ;D

Dinner was my sister's treat and the bill came up to a total of RM56.00 something. 

Kuih Makmur

My family and I have always enjoyed Kuih Makmur (at home, we call it Kuih Mur) and since we were young, my 2nd sister has always been the biggest fan.

I was planning to make some for my youngest sister to bring them back to the family for Chinese New Year but as previously mentioned, I ran out of time when work took up SO much of my time in January.

I carefully browsed the Internet for recipes and it was there I found the two different types of recipes: one would use peanuts and the other, without.

I asked my sister which one would she prefer, but I already knew how I wanted mine to turn out. I was just asking her for the fun of confusing her. ;D

It came to a shock to realise that these babies require ghee (clarified butter)!

Now gee, there went my diet! =P

I referred to two (2) recipes for guidance, Kuali.com and Sunflower Food Galore's. The first attempt was a learning experience because there's just so much work involved. I never knew I needed sooo much time just to get them perfect.

The first attempt was before the Thaipusam weekend so I could bring them back to my family. I brought some to work and it was huge hit with the colleagues, although some said that they were a bit sweet.

My family asked, "Why weren't they round? Aren't they supposed to be round?"

I said I didn't know why my cookies never seem to turn out round. Seriously!

Nevertheless, that one jar I brought back was emptied within 4 days. Not too bad, eh? =)

The second attempt was 2 weeks ago, as I wanted to use up the remaining ghee. This time, I reduced the sugar and increased the milk powder. 

Unfortunately, by the time I had to roll the baked ghee balls in icing sugar, I didn't have enough for the remaining balls.

I had to add fine granulated sugar and a bit more milk powder to coat the remaining ghee balls. You can tell from the texture, can't you?

(I learned this from my colleague who brought her Kuih Makmur to work a few days after I brought mine. She told me she used fine sugar as she didn't have icing sugar at home.)

Now for this second attempt, I used superfine flour (as per Sunflower Food Galore's recipe) and at first bite, I almost swooned in ecstasy.

Seriously.

I took a second ball to reaffirm my satisfaction.

Yums.

Superfine flour makes a huge difference from the all-purpose flour and with the former, you will no doubt find yourself with guaranteed melt-in-your-mouth Kuih Mur.

Go and try them today!!

UPDATE: YOWZA! I just realised today (4th Jan 2013) that some of the images have been accidentally deleted and you haven't had the opportunity to admire these white balls as lovingly as I did. So here you go!

~*~*~*~*~

p.s. these Cornflake Cookies were a hit at work, too, but I can't remember where I got the recipe. I'll let you know when I find it again!

p.p.s. I really MUST stop baking cookies soon and focus on improving my cooking instead. =)

OMG It's February!

picture taken at Air Itam waterfalls near Jelebu / Taiping.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY, EVERYONE!

First and foremost, a thousand apologies for the silence. I swear I wrote something here last week but when I came back from lunch, the post wasn't saved! It was a #%*&@#()@ moment and I didn't feel like re-telling everything all over again so I had to leave it as that.

Secondly, I don't know about you, but hasn't the time just flown by oh so quickly since the Chinese New Year festivities? And we're already halfway through February, acks!

How was your Valentine's Day, or Tuesday, if I may ask?
I went for my facial after work and came back to a simple dinner, since both YB and I are now trying to frantically shed the extra kilos we piled on from our CNY holidays. (Seriously! I now have to lose 4kgs or I'm going to be a fat blob forever. *sobs*)

At the last minute, say, yesterday afternoon itself, I decided that I'd bake carrot cake muffins for YB for Valentine's Day. But it's funny, really. By the time I finished frosting the muffins, it was close to midnight.

Ha ha ha OMG, who cares!
Muffins for breakfast instead, then!

My ankle is still feeling a wee bit fragile so I'm staying off trail running for the time being. It's a real bummer, you know. Road running is no longer giving me the sense of satisfaction and I wonder is it because I'm psyching myself out. You know, like Inception? ;D

YB is planning on taking me camping as often as possible and to tell you the truth, I'm pretty reluctant and he KNOWS it. But I have to play the role of the good wife, smile and oblige him every now and then. *grimace* Wish me luck.

If only we had a backyard and we could camp out there, so I can run back into the house to use the loo when necessary. ;D

It's been a crazy year so far, and February isn't over yet.
Work is piling up and it seems like the boss(es) are throwing more work and responsibilities my way, which is ... blah.

I was hoping to be able to slack a bit, go on long holidays and such, but things don't look too promising right now. Shitty shit shit.

My niece, Aaliyah is so round and cute and adorable and active for her age, so she's madly adored by the entire family. I don't think I'm very good at keeping babies entertained but what Aaliyah enjoys most is when you sing to her. But my voice is pretty flat, so I wasn't sure whether she enjoyed my singing or was secretly begging me to stop torturing her delicate ears.

What's new with me so far?
The only change in my daily routine (since last Thursday) is that I make it a point to spend 10 minutes in the morning doing some stretching exercises. The discipline is killing me - and it's not even a week yet!

I went for an aerobics class at the company's gym last Friday and I enjoyed the workout (although I grimaced occasionally whenever my right ankle hurt). Hopefully I'll stick to it.

*giggles*

I bumped into a few colleagues at the gym and one of them was introducing me to some buffed up guy as a marathon runner. I had to tell him to shush it, because I could be a lousy marathon runners for all you know.

One of the gym users must have overheard the conversation because he approached me after that.

Him: "I heard you ran the 21km for the Penang Bridge Marathon?"
Me: "Yaaa..."
Him: "I was there for the cycling event thingy ..." (I zoned out after that)
Me: "Ohhhh that one. You don't run?"
Him: "Just cycling. I usually join cycling events ... blah blah blah ..."

Okayyyyyy.

I was giggling in my head!
Isn't it flattering to have people chat with you out of the random blue? ;D

I sent YB a message to say, "Ooh some guy is chatting me up in the gym! Just because I'm wearing the PBIM vest."

I could imagine him rolling his eyes in response to that.

The Red Beanbag

The problem with Publika is that you'll have to walk around to find the place you want to go. We were there on Sunday for our 'second' round of breakfast.

After walking around for a while, we finally located O'Briens on the 1st floor but the air conditioning was so weak that we decided to find an alternative place to go.

Across on the other side was The Red Beanbag, seemingly filled with patrons. We thought we might as well check it out, since we didn't know where else to go.

Sack decorations on the wall. I didn't walk in all the way since we were seated right in front of the payment counter.

The menu was really cute, I liked it very much!

You know, I've been contemplating getting a typewriter just for the fun of it (how random is that?), but ... I think I'll just get a sewing machine instead.

The dessert section.

However do they keep the menu nice and clean and free from food stains is a mystery to me.

YK ordered the Latte (RM8) while I had the Flat White (RM8). Not too bad, but it went cold pretty quickly.

OKT ordered a Passion Fruit, Orange & Yoghurt smoothie (RM10) which was very watery. YB had the Golden Slumbers (RM10) which was just OK.

Both of them looked pretty forlorn with their drinks.

YB ordered the RBB's Speciality Eggs Benedict (RM15.90) and I bet it was because the asparagus caught his attention.

The eggs were nicely done and the mushrooms were yummy, but I feel like the asparagus was an odd addition to the dish. YB didn't think the bread combined well with the overall ingredients.

YK ordered the Baked Eggs (RM17.90) which looked scrumptious when served. I think it wasn't too bad, but I really don't know because I forgot to ask him for his verdict. ;D

OKT ordered the Foong's carrot cake (RM8.90) and I think it was a disaster (I could tell from OKT's dissatisfied and unhappy expression). I took two bites and gawd, all of us agreed that it was too wet. It was mushy like baby's food. Oh, and the cinnamon taste was too strong.

The cute little carrots on top didn't improve its taste. ;D

Oh well, I'm sure there are other who had a better experience than we did.

The Red Beanbag
Tel: 03 6211 5116
Address: A14-1-08, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur
Opening Times: Tue-Fri, 8.30am-5pm; Sat-Sun,
9.30am-6pm

Reviews:
Kampungboycitygal
Bangsar babe
Eat Drink KL
Miss Adriennely

Things Don't Go As Planned

I only managed 3 types of cookies instead of four, as planned. =(

Update as at today: muscles are aching from the hike. I'll need to hike some more to improve my strength!

And look at how time flies, I don't have enough time to bake away. Grrr.

By the way, Nadal FTW for the Australian Open. Cross fingers! =)

Baking Frenzy For CNY

 And I'm still not done yet! HELP!!!
Why must I be so ambitious? Why did I think I could do it, bake cookies for Chinese New Year for the families?

.I started since Friday night, before my nose failed me. It was slowly getting blocked, and I knew I was going to lose my sense of smell and tasted.

Or should I have just given up?
NO!!
I stomped my feet when YB told me to "just buy the cookies".

"I told my family that I'll be baking them cookies," I insisted.

 cornflake cookies

 OK, I confess that my Friday night baking was a disaster, and I blame it on the main ingredient I used. I tried a shortcut and I failed. So, I'll have to redo a fresh batch all over again.

On Saturday, I proceeded to make cornflake cookies instead, which turned out alright. It wasn't the taste that I was going for. YB finds them a bit too sweet and I agree. The sweetness comes from the cornflakes. Hmmm.

 ugly looking pineapple tarts but taste SO good.

 Why must I be so bloody ambitious? Yes, you read me right. Pineapple Rolls, for goodness sake! I'm just a beginner, for crying out loud!

My Sunday evening was spent baking these babies, which turned out ... let me eat one now and see if I can find a justified description of it.

Erm. They DID taste yummy fresh from the oven, I swear!

Now they taste just OK (to me). *frowns*

BUGGER BUGGER BUGGER!
I need to find the recipe for the melt in your mouth ones... *wails*

But it's not too bad, I guess. If YB likes it, I guess my in-laws will be OK with them, too. Initially he was complaining that they were a bit too sweet, but now they don't. I guess the rolls take a bit of time to settle down or something.

(I can smell Indomie right now ... someone's making supper and it's not me!)

 pumpkin puree soup with fried chicken.

Sooooo much work for pumpkin soup! And yeah, chicken looks pathetic. I'm really bad at frying stuff. But I love pumpkin and the soup was yummy, but definitely not for someone who's on a diet. Tsk tsk.

That was our dinner on Sunday night. The chicken was marinated with cumin seeds, garam masala, dark soy sauce, pepper and salt. It was stuck in the fridge for 3-4 hours before cooking.

Mushroom Lasagna and beetroot with white beans salad thingy.

Let's look at food which are much better presented.

The other day, YB wanted to eat out at Ben's General Food Store, at Publika. I think it's because he keeps seeing pictures of the food there on Facebook, or because I kept telling him about it?

Well, I've only been there once and I thought there was no harm in going there to try something new. YB chose the lasagna, which I think needs to be shared. It's rich and filling, definitely best shared.

chicken pie with limey barley and white mushroom salad thingy.

I opted for something else, although there was nothing else I wanted to try. Oh, I wanted to try the pizza but wasn't too sure if we could finish it.

The chicken pie was a bit dry inside, I won't recommend it. A friend of mine once ordered the Moroccan Lamb Pie and found it a bit dry, too. 

The salad was very interesting. I can't imagine serving it as a salad for my family or the in-laws, though. Hehe.

~

Happy Chinese New Year to you, if I don't catch you online again before then!

Work was ridiculously CRAZY the past 2 weeks that I'm so relieved it's over! We were busy computing whether we achieved our KPI for 2011 and completing our appraisal. I just had mine today with my supervisor and he has submitted it to the unit head who will review it with the head of department. Bah!

p.s. I hope I don't get mopey during CNY ... it will be different. I miss home soooo much! My sister has reminded me that I'll be the last to have met my niece (her daughter)! SIGH!!!! But we'll be back in KK during the Thaipusam weekend, anyway. ;)