Getting fat on whipped cream!

I went down to the wet market today.  Well, I was there to get the ingredients for the dinner, for Adrian - the one's going to cook... Didn't really know how he'd manage because he only gets off work just about 7...

As I was making my way back to the apartment, towards the end of the stretch of stalls, $20 for a box of strawberries!  Not the best in the world but good enough... I was very tempted and so I bought bought hehehe

Like I said, they weren't the best strawberries but they do look and taste good enough.  Then I start to wonder... eat it like that?  Nah~~~ And so l googled it... everything seems so complicated!  You can either make a dessert or jam... to turn these strawberries into some form of dessert, pastry and oven is a must... nope, I only have a simple microwave and a convection stove, a pot, a sauce pan and a pan.  Jam?  I'm gonna have to need to buy a glass jar and then the cooking and bottling and blah blah blah... bottom line is, it's a lot of work.

I guess just the normal whipped cream on that should do it.  So I googled it again... lucky me, I found the best anwer: how to make whipped cream from scratch (I just know Adrian wouldn't appreciate those that came from a bottle).

And so I went out hunting for cream and a whisk, at just about 5pm, 2 hours before Adrian get home and I have budgeted it to be just about $30.  I got them both at $30.  Although I had to look in 3 different shops for a reasonably priced whisk, so that I don't blow my budget hehehe

I managed to get back to the apartment just before 6, had the air-con on full swing, started cooking our main course, Chicken Chasseur.  Just about 20 minutes before Adrian got back.  Then I started whisking, whilst the chicken's being cooked.  It was really hard work (arm exercise!) but when you see it rise, man, it was wonderful!!  WAHAHAHA


Yup, we stuffed ourselves, after the Chicken Chasseur (that I cooked, as instructed by Adrian), we stuffed ourselves with the dessert.  I just chucked all the strawberry cubes into the whipped cream, mixed them up and then just served in the sauce pan.  And it was fantastic!  And I feel good about Adrian being able to have semi-proper dessert after dinner -- his mom spoiled him!!

This is how the saucepan looked... felt so much like licking it!!

も一度日本へ行きたいなあ～～

初めで日本へ行ったのは２００７年の十月だ。　メンヂィちゃんと一緒に東京へ旅行に行った。　すごく楽しかった。　買い物して、料理をたくさん食べて、温泉に入って、道をちょっと迷って、いい思い出だよ！

今月、仕事でも一度香港に戻った。　今度、昔からずっと欲しくて、理想な仕事ができて、よかった。　仕事、頑張って、主人と一緒に、今度の十月、も一度日本へ行くつもりだ。 　そして、鈴鹿サーキットで日本のF1グランプリを観戦できるんだ。　やった～～

Voo~ Hoo~~~ Vettel and good job to Lewis!!

Despite the fact that his engine failed him the first 2 races, he finally nailed it this time!  Good job!!

And Lewis, VERY WELL DONE INDEED!! From 20th to 6th, it's unbelievable!  He made the race so interesting.  If there was a driver like that in the 90's, I wouldn't have called it "the dumbers-go-round"(儍佬兜圈）!! 

I just love how Lewis drives, he's just sooooooo good!  And to top it all off, I've got a couple of pints of Guinness to go with!!


Great weekend!  --  Although Adrian doesn't agree, but it's good to be back!

Where to Cross the Border?

Received a forwarded mail today, sadly, it reflects something really funny about Malaysia, and it's nothing to be proud of...  it goes something like this....


WHERE TO CROSS THE BORDER?


If You Cross The North Korean Border Illegally, You get 12 years Hard Labour.  (Worse if you're a North Korean and try to cross the border to leave the country illegally!)
  
If You Cross The Iranian Border Illegally, You Are Detained Indefinitely.
   
If You Cross The Afghan Border Illegally, You Get Shot.

If You Cross The Saudi Arabian Border Illegally, You Will Be Jailed.

If You Cross The Chinese Border Illegally, You May Never Be Heard Again.

If You Cross The Venezuelan Border Illegally, You Will Be Branded A Spy And Your Fate Will Be Sealed.

If You Cross The Cuban Border Illegally, You Will Be Thrown Into Political Prison To Rot.
   
If You Enter Britain Illegally, You Will Be Arrested, Prosecuted And Sent To Prison And Deported

If You Are An Indonesian AND ILLEGALLY CROSS THE MALAYSIAN BORDER

   YOU GET:
  
   -  MyPR (Permanent Residence / Pemastautin Tetap)
   -  A Driving License,
   -  Voting Rights,
   -  Job Reservation,
   -  Special Privilege to be Considered as Bumi,
   -  Credit Cards,
   -  Subsidized Rental Or A Loan To Buy A House,
   -  Free Education,
   -  Free Health Care

 Oh Malaysia, what a great country!!

Malaysian Cable TV - Astro

Astro, Malaysian Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) Pay Television service, erm otherwise known as Malaysia's one and only Cable TV service provider (mind you, they also have radios aired through their channels).

I've subscribed to it's service for more than 10 years now.  Except when it rains and we lose the signal, and when there is more airtime for advertisements than the actual programmes in some channels, I really like them a lot.  I'm sure most ppl know what I'm talking about -- it's like half of what you are paying is for the advertisement that are usually a pain in the arse!

If you have watched AXN Asia, you'll notice that the volume of the actual programmes are generally very very low but the volume of the advertisements is usually at least 2 times louder.  So if you were watching, say, the replay of House (one of my favourites), some time in the middle of the night, when the rest of the family is sleeping but that's the only time you have the TV to yourself, you'd better have the remote control in your hand so that you can mute it immediately when it's the commercial break that you have paid for... otherwise you risk waking up the whole family.  It's not just ordinary advertisements, some of them must have been made in hell... e.g. Video Zonkers, So You Think You Can Dance (when they have Mary Murphy screaming like a lunatic - I wish I could slap her and you can tell how annoyed Nigel is) and so on.  Well maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they could just cut the bit where ppl or Mary Murphy is screaming... Goodness...

So I've been using this decoder since the day I signed up, erm... at least a decade ago, now, I found that it doesn't really receive any signal anymore.  It sounded like they won't replace your decoder until it's exploded spontaneously.  Until then, you'll have to call them every time your decoder dies on you and wait for them to send a technician over to fix it for you.  And every single visit costs RM50...

Well, with the technology today, I'm sure we can watch just about everything online instead of having to have a decoder, a remote control and a satellite dish hanging out your balcony... However, with the crappy "broadband" service available and the limited internet knowledge that my mom and dad have, close to none I should say, it's just impossible.

At the mean time, we can just hope and pray for the best.  Let's see what turns up after the technician's visit...

Another marvelous book!! 又一好書!!

I've finished this book whilst I was in the UK for our very long Christmas/New Year holiday.  It was... breathtaking!  It's called "Chinese Tiger", obviously, by a Chinese novelist (Li Ke Wei) and it's in Chinse...

The story is fiction but it's based on facts - the fact about how the Chinese have destroyed the environment and one of the most precious animals in the country.  Once again, the truth about how Chinese deals with things area revealed by through an interesting story on the surface, the fact on the background - a story of how a Chinese tiger was seen and found and observed; how funding & specialists both from some other parts of the world have been put in to prevent the extinction of this beautiful creature; how tremendous efforts were put in to help it breed, probably for the last time in its existence, and succeeded; how fascinating the creatures are and how the human have owed it all to them; how at the same time illegal hunters were sent in by another country where the funding would be if the creature has become extinct for real...

It is very disappointing but I have decided to ignore the saddening fact about the creature while I was reading it and enjoyed the story.  Otherwise it would be too sad to read.  Let's hope that there's still hope.

刚看完了"中国虎"这本由李克威写的小说, 一部让人看得眼冒金星也不愿放下的好书!  又一部藉由小说来揭开中国急速发展背后的悲哀... 也再一次揭露了人性的丑陋... 看了一小半后, 我决定不理作者想带出来的残酷的现实 -- 看完就算, 不然的话太沉重了... 而我, 人微言轻, 根本没有办法去改变些什么...

The book "I don't want to be Chinese again" 来生不做中国人

 (click on image to view original size)

Based on a research on www.163.com in September 2006, titled "If there is next life, would you want to be a Chinese again?"  and in just 12 days, 65.1% of 11271 voters said no to being Chinese again.  The poll was terminated and the web page was deleted 26 days before the end date of the poll two editors of the website were sacked on the same day.

This incidence inspired the writer of this book, Joe Chung (a journalist, born & bred in HK, currently resides in Norway), to write this book named "I don't want to be born a Chinese again" 来生不做中国人

This book is banned in China because it is too "aggressive".  I couldn't find it in Malaysia so I asked Adrian to buy it when he went to HK. 


I got to know this book based on a critic by Ni Kuang (the famous Chinese/HK novelist and screenwriter) published in one of his books.  This is a book that reveals the truth about China... from a Chinese point of view.  Being a Malaysian Chinese, I guess I'm luckier... However, with China growing by the minute, it is very difficult to avoid being affected by the irresponsible actions of her people.  And the impact is ginormous, but some may not notice... Also, it kinda explains why I feel different from most of my HK/Macau friends.  I didn't know what it was but now I have a better picture.  It's sad and the truth is very cruel, the writer has been very blunt.

I have written to the writer to express my appreciation.  He replied and this is what he said (I have translated them into English, not very well translated though):


我寫這些文章，是因為我們必須誠實的面對人生。能發聲的，

必須為弱者呼喊。至于這會得罪多少人，是毫不重要的。

中國文化本身已是百孔千瘡，「虛假」二字，是其精髓所在。人誰無過，最壞的還不是百孔千瘡，而是不肯面對百孔千瘡這個事實。

希望你能向親友推介此書，讓更多人了解中國。

"I have written these articles because we have to be true to ourselves.  If we can speak, we must speak for the weak and helpless.  It does not matter how many people may have been offended during the process, it is simply not important.

The Chinese culture itself is already very badly damaged, FAKE is the word to describe it.  Everybody makes mistakes, the worst is not that it is badly damaged, the worst is not willing to admit to the fact that it has been badly damaged.

I hope you can introduce this book to your friends in order to let more people know China."

(please do not hesitate to comment/let me know if there's a better way of translating what he has written)

I am still searching for an English version of this particular book, I know some of my friends who cannot read Chinese might be interested.

 (click on image to view original size)

Happily wedded at last! - part 2

We walked to the Lippo Centre to have our brunch after the registry. Then it was just me and Adrian, the photographers and the hired cars (with the drivers of course). First we had some shots in the car and then as the car got on the high way, we took some more nice photos too(I presume they were nice – we had the roof opened and stood as the car moved slowly to the exit of Lippo Centre, standing up waving and posing and all sorts of stunts haha!).

We went to Shek O and Stanley for our photos. I climbed the rocks on my 3-inch high heels and almost got myself blown off the cliffs by strong wind – so strong that I had to take off my veil as it was just about to be “detached” from my hair by the wind…!! And as we arrived at Stanley, it started to rain. The horizon did not look a bit like HK… it was simply phenomenal! I just wish I had the photos with me now so that I can show you what I meant!

We then took a ferry from HK to Kowloon, as we got off the ferry, we took a few shots and before we knew it, the next ferry was docking already! As we were running away from it, people on that ferry cheered for us, it was unbelievable! Hehehe… Soooooooooo much fun!!

As we were making our way to our cars, we saw an accident at the taxi stand. One of the taxi just drove into the taxi in front of him in the queue! I sure hope that it wasn’t us that distracted him.

We were dropped off at Delaney’s, had a pint (yes, you guessed it, it was Guinness) and of course, some pictures taken (again!!) hehehe and then headed back to the hotel to prep for the banquet. It was just about 4:50pm when we finally made it back to the hotel. What a day what a day! And it’s not over yet!!

After a quick shower, Rosita put my face back in place, and we were ready for the tea ceremony! Yes, we have a tea ceremony, the Chinese way – where we serve tea to the family members and gifts/”Lai Si” were given to the bride & groom. We were late by the way. I made some last minute changes and that did not impress Adrian. Ooops! Ok, I make quick decisions and I know that if I waited I’d probably forget about it… but what so bad about me was that I forgot to tell Adrian about the changes!!! Me soooooooooooo baaaaaaaaaaad!! Well what am I meant to do when I needed to make the decision and he wasn’t there?? Oh well, what’s done is done and I thought those were right decisions hehehehe

As the song “I was born to love you” by Queen played, we happily walked into the room in linked arms (Adrian said he was proud to be doing that but I didn’t feel proud, just overjoyed). I was sooooo touched to see all of our friends there cheering for us… man, I almost cried!! I had tears in my eyes I could hardly see!!! I know that this could be the last time I see these guys in Hong Kong and it’s probably going to be a long long time until we see them again! These thoughts just beat me. (We’re still working on our thank you emails, and, it’s not easy at all!!)

The food was fantastic, the music was good (well, songs actually, and Adrian and I chose them), the people were fantastic, the view at the Patio (we have the breath-taking view of Victoria Harbour, yes, yes, yes, it was a very clear night!!) was phenomenal, Percy and his team of waiters were great, in fact, the best I’ve come across so far!! I mean they are by far the best waiters I’ve ever been served!! They are always there but they are never there!! I mean, they are always there the second you feel like you needed them, and they are never in your way or visible when you don’t need them!! How good is that? I can’t imagine the amount of training they had to be put through… 35% more than the market price was well worth it!

The night ended early, well it was a Sunday and almost everyone had to get back to work the next day, some to Macau and some had to get back to ZhuHai before the border closes at 12am you see… we are really really happy that almost all of our guests turned up, only one thing Adrian wasn’t impressed was that this mate of his (who now works in Singapore) who didn’t reply to any of his emails/invites (hence no formal invitation was sent out), he turned up because he happened to be in town and thought he wanted to turn up in a pair of jeans… with his mistress… Well I don’t think anyone would be impressed anyway, only one positive side about them turning up -- we had a couple of uninvited guests to fill the space of the two invited guests that couldn’t make it… Ya, me bad, but I’m not thick skin enough to gate crash a wedding dinner, not with my mistress anyway! Took me some time to calm Adrian down though…

Other than that, the dinner went fantastic! There were so much divine food (although I didn’t have much >______< to eat but I was very happy that the food turned out to be delicious, well, according to our guests), tasty wines (which I had quite a lot of hehehe), beautiful tulips, and Jane even to play a song at the piano (she was too nervous and forgot most of it), got Zuzanna and I sang along. Well Rosana did suggest for Zuzanna to sing but I was distracted immediately after she said it, dunno by what though hehehehe Anyway she sang and it was great! Haha! In the end, Mark & Shirty and my mom had to take away with them one wedding cake each (the wedding cake consists of 5 heart shaped cakes 3 of which were consumed…), mom got herself a bunch of tulips to take back to the hotel… phew! What a night!! In fact, what a day! There are sooooo many people to thank for, for this wonderful day. Our families – Philip & Ann, mom & Dad, my aunt, my brother Chee Mun, his wife Chian Chian and his son Heng Heng; Jane; Mark & Shirty & Conrad; our honourable guests (Steve & Rosana, Tony & Zuzanna, Terry, Peter & family, Eric, Jason, Eddie, Paul Lee, Don, Michelle & Frank, Chin & Philip, Malcolm, Dave, Paul S., Kenneth Terry, Robert, ; John, Percy and his team (The Peninsula), Ann Choi and her team, Billy Yiu (we hired his cars and had him and his mate driving us around HK for half of the day), Rosita and her assistant, The Delaney’s, the Star ferry, the good weather, and everyone and everything!! We had a little more than 4 hours sleep in our room (2306) in The Peninsula, which was upgraded FOC by Peninsula, then we were off to our honeymoon! Wahahahahaahaa!!!