My Carebear Dog (Caredog?)

Finally groomed and bathed Sunshine awhile ago - 14 days after the operations.  I decided to do a 'love' on her back.  You know, like those on Carebears!  Lols...  This is super cute or what?

She was like a walking stink bomb at home.  Can't stand it any longer!  Though the vet said I can bathe her on Monday, but prefer to wait for couple of days more.  Just to be safe.  :p  Her wound are fully healed and all thread have been removed last week.  Still, I am very careful around her tummy area.  In fact, I rather not touch them for time being.  Kept having vision of it breaking open in my mind.  Scary...lols! 

She is back to her normal self already.  Screaming and running.  I am so glad!  Didn't know doggies heal that fast.  Amazing!  But still need to keep her 'halo' on.  Will see what the vet advise this Friday when we bring her back for vaccination.  

"Everything" by Misia

I finally found this song after looking high and low for the past forever.  I have had this song in my Ipod for the last 8 years.  But I know neither the name of the song nor the artist.  Presenting you, "Everything" by Misia.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Christmas & Winter Solstice *burp!*

Happy Christmas people!  :)

Christmas started pretty early for us this year.  Our first Christmas dinner was on the 18th (a week prior to xmas) at Modesto, spent with good food and good-er company of our salsa friends... hahaha.. ya.. good-er.  New word before end of 2010.

Throughout the Festive Season, it was just continuous feasting.  Oh boy... With all those yummy food, I think I've piled on some extra kilos.  My poor dance partner would have to suffer when the training start next year!

All these photos are courtesy from Alina and friends, which I stole them from their FB.  I was too lazy to take pictures.  Whenever there is good food and good company, photography is never a priority.  Hehehehe....  Good food come first.  Update on good gossips come second.  Photography comes after all that is done.  Lols..

Here are some photos taken with friends before the dancing start.  Actually it should be before my hair starts to get messed up with sweat!  Or that my face start to shine with all those...lols...

Alina and I.  From this photo, realized my hair had grown so long as compared to a year ago!  Time to do something about it.

We played secret santa for that party and my secret santa got me this!  A ticket to Aquaria!! Yippee!!!  Will head down there when the school holiday is over (so that I won't get squashed by parents & their kids), have a field day on my own, snapping away or even a little heart to heart with those sharks in the aquarium there :D  *excited*

Next was the party with The Deliquenos at Zouk Cafe in The Gardens on 21st.  The Deliquenos, is another bunch of salsa friends whom I met thru another dance school near my house which I joined last year for couple of months.  This bunch is the real crazy and fun ones.  Despite of the crappy food served here (the crappiest of the crappiest) and the crappy service, we all had so much fun.  As you can see, our theme for the night was green shirt, blue pants and a red santa hat!

I had seafood aglio olio or something...  it looks good.  But it doesn't taste good at all.  Pretty spicy too.

The husband's carbonara fettucine or something.  So-so only.  

Cheers!

We each brought a gift worth exactly RM15 for gifts exchanging.  Not a cent more, nor a cent less.  It gotta be exact RM15.  That's the rule for the gift!  I bought two lovely diaries from Loccitane, RM15 x 2, one for the husband and one for myself to be brought with us to the party for exchange.

In return, I got a 'good luck' cat!  Just in time for Chinese New Year!  Hehehe.... Trying to balance luck above my head in the above picture!

The husband got this mini exercise ball.  It was all in pink and I couldn't resist and tried to inflate it immediately.  It was too cute to resist!  But now looking at this picture, I think I am cuter than the ball... lols... the husband have no eyes see (mo ngan tei).... hahaha...

There we are, despite of the crappiness, we had so much fun.  Love this picture.  Very Christmasy.

And this is the cutest picture for the night.  Hehehe.... The consequences of not dressing to the theme.  Our friend here came in light blue shirt and trying to pass it off as light green!  We all had a vote and concluded that it is BLUE.  And so we stuff that mini exercise ball under his shirt, make him walk like a preggy woman all the way from The Gardens to Cosmic Bowl at the old wing!  Lols...

It was a hillarious sight!  And mind you, the pre xmas crowd was maddening.  Everyone was staring and laughing away.  Lols...

At Cosmic Bowl, it was a game of the fairer sex Vs the not-so-fair sex.  Lols...  It was one hell of a game with all those teasing and distractions.  We were like the noisiest group there... it was so funny.  I played an unbelievable crappy game that night.  Must be the crappy food and the crappy service at dinner thus the crappy game! Blaming blaming blaming...lols.

That night, besides celebrating Christmas, it was also a surprise birthday celebration for Penny.  Halfway thru our bowling games, WK took over the PA system of the arcade and announces the birthday celebration over the loud speaker followed by a birthday songs sang by Derek and out come the cake!  Penny was surprised!!!  She was like... "huh????.....".  It was good.  Simple and nice.

After the game, as we were walking thru the mall, decided to take a group photo at the already closed Bodyshop's booth.  Lols.  I thought this photo were rather cute too.

At the main concourse, where all the bears are put up as Christmas deco, which I would never get a chance to take a decent photo thru the mad crazy crowd during normal mall's hours.  I seized the moment.  I look so 'in love' in the photo.  The bear on the other hand look so BLUR...  hahahaha...

It was 'Winter Solstice Festival' (DongZhi 冬至) the very next day.  One of the most important festival celebrated by us, the Chinese.  It was also a time for family get together.  That evening, we gathered for a sumptuous feast (yeah, eat again!).  A typical full course chinese dinner - vege, fish, sharkfins, abalone & etc... *burp*  Lols... it was extra special cause mom was coincidentally in town.  So it was good to be able to celebrate this occasion together.  It has been awhile since we last celebrated major festivals together. :)  No, I didn't take any photos of the food cause like I said, when there is good food, that gets the priority first.  Lols...

Other than dinner together, another tradition for the special day is the making and eating of tangyuan (glutinuous rice balls) which symbolizes reunion.  I was too lazy to make them from scratch.  No, actually I was too busy with the party the night before and the working Wednesday, I bought those ready made ones from the supermarket instead.  Just left to boil some syrup with ginger and pandan leaves and throw those balls in to boil!  Voila!  Hehehehe...  Still, nothing even come close to the ones I used to have in Kluang.  

Note:

I just learned from Wikipedia that this Winter Solstice is celebrated on a day when the sun is weakest and the daylight is shortest!

Rest for a day and here comes Christmas eve!  Nom nom time!  Again we are at Buonasera.  This has been our third year.  We simply love Enzo's turkey and Christmas pudding!  In fact, were just there again last night with The Fernandez (Alina and Family).  

Enzo brought out the turkey for us to take a picture before taking it back back into the kitchen again to be carved and served.  Lols...

Menu for the festive season.  We finally tried their prawn bisque last night and I am still thinking about it now.  Lols.... 

The carved turkey.  The texture was moist and tender and the flavour was superb.  Ma ma mia!  Super love!  I think I wanna have another go at it before the year phase out...lols...

All licked clean!  Hehehe.... If whatever I cooked ends up like this all the time, I would be the happiest person on earth beaming from ear to ear!  hahaha...

And here comes the Christmas pudding!  Super moist fruit cake in some cognag gravy plus a vanilla ice cream on the side!  *gulp*

This year, everyone came equipped with presents!  We were so excited and immediately exchanged presents the moment we sat down.  Hehehe.... I got mom and mom-in-law a Frances Yip's CD, dad-in-law a collection of oldies, sis-in-law a bracelet, bro-in-law some stuff from Bodyshop and 2 cousins, those handmade boxes of mine that was filled with eclairs!  Last year, I got the husband a Garmin GPS.  This year, I wanted to get him an Iphone4.  Unfortunately, they are out-of-stock everywhere.  Just too bad... :p *rolling eyes*... hehehehe....

Other than the few presents I received, I love this the most!  It was from mom and believe it not, she lugged it all the way from Singapore to Kluang to Kuala Lumpur!  Lols.... She wanted me to guess what it was and I simply couldn't guess it!  At the back of my head, I was like, don't tell me this is a doll house!  hahahaha...  She went on and said... "Go ahead think.  What is it that you wanted that is big?".  I was like... "hmmm... the biggest thing that I wanted is already walking around at home! (i.e. the husband)"... hehehehehe....

Amazingly, when the husband got home, he immediately got it right on a second guess!  He is good or what?!?  Mom said he knows me better than I know myself!  Hahaha.... how true!

So, here it is, my brand new Singer sewing machine which I so very LOVE. :)  I can start experimenting with new sewing projects.  I told mom I gonna sew her a blouse (seriously, I know nuts about sewing! Lols...).  She said as long as it is printed with "My daughter sew me this", she will wear it.  Hahahaha...

My fingers are still green. Hallelujah!

Met up with Kamy, a girlfriend of mine from schooldays, for lunch last week, right about the start of Sunshine's drama.  

Kamy is not an average girl like you and me who would go mad shopping for clothes and shoes and god knows what else (we girls buys everything under the sun).  She only goes mad if she is shopping for plants.  Like a child let loose in ToyR'Us.  She thinks a piece of blouse for RM30 is too expensive but a pot of plant for RM30 is justifiable.  Lols...     Remember my 'love love' (elephant) plant?

And my lilies which I blogged about sometime ago over here?  Yeah, she is the one who gave them to me.  Check out how much they have grown.  :)  But, still no flowers yet.  Kamy told me by the look of it, I should be able to expect some colours blooming out of it next year!  But then again,  I am not expecting much also.  As long as they don't die on me, I am a happy girl!

Our lunch sessions always involved a couple of big cumbersome bags filled with potted plants from her to me.  And I am always very delighted with what's in the bags.  It felt like surprise.  Peeking thru the bags, not knowing what to expect, is, exciting.  This time round, I immediately spotted a bright red flower in one of those bags.  A fully bloomed geberra!  How pretty!!!

There is not only geberra, she gave me a pot of this too... petunias.

And a pot of this cute-greeny plant (dunno what is it's name).

And another pot of cute-greeny plant... still dunno what is it's name.

And another 'love love' plant (elephant ears), much bigger species compared to the first pot that was given to me.  This one comes with a tinge of pink around the center of the leafs!

And this one, my favourite, known as 'Pegaga' in the local language, and in English, they are called 'Pennywort'.  Did some survey and found out that not only does Pegaga look pleasing to the eye (loves it vivid green and shiny dainty leaves), it has medicinal uses too.  Apparently they are good for purifying the blood and curing nervous conditions and also said to be good for the eyes.  Besides, the herbs is also used in tonics to improve memories and by eating 2 leaves each day, it is able to relieve arthritis pain.  Interesting.  No wonder when the kakak (helper) saw my plant, she said it looks edible.  I told her.. "No, no... don't you go around start eating my plants... ".. she laughed.

They are all so pretty isn't it?  It's strange but I sort of enjoying this gardening business though it can get pretty frustrating sometimes when a certain plant look sick or why a certain plant doesn't bloom or when the damn dog goes on one of his rampage and start digging into the pots.  But all in all, it is still enjoyable.

Sunshine & Her HALO

The recuperating Sunshine and her cone-of-shame halo.  It has been quite a process caring for dog that just had an operation.  Evie suggested that I should boil some mix vege with a little rice, soupy, for Sunshine and I did just that.  Not only does the sick dog doesn't wanna eat, even the healthy one (Rumba) left the bowl after a few reluctant nipping.  My cooking must be horrendous.  Lols...

My legs will turn all wobbly whenever I catch a glimpse of those stitches.  So, naturally the husband would have to be the one taking care of applying cream onto the wound.  And as for me,  I just  left to force medications down her throat.  The medications part was easy peasy when she was weak.  But now as she is getting stronger by the day, it was quite a process.  Whenever she sees me approaching with medications in hand, she would go flat on all fours and pressed her face down as if trying to say she don't want it or making it harder for me to get to her mouth.  Lols...  

Sais Green House - Indian Chinese Vegetarian Restaurant

Recommended the husband this new place near our house for dinner tonight and this was what that's left. I only remember about the photo part when all the plates are licked clean.  This only further proof that their food are really yummy!

Sais Green House is an Indian-Chinese Cuisine Vegetarian restaurant which recently opened its doors in Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur.  Decided to give it a try on one of the afternoon last week and never regretted it.  The place is cozy and clean, the people there is friendly and their food where yummy!  Especially love their 'Curry Fish' and if you are there for lunch, they have them in set that comes with na'an, dhall, chutney and chinese tea for only RM5.50+/set (if I remember correctly).

SAIS GREEN HOUSE

No.10-A, Jalan Desa Jaya

Taman Desa 

58100 Kuala Lumpur
(Closed on Sunday)

Day 6 & 7 (Last) : Temple of Heaven in Beijing & Ancient Cultural Street of Tianjin

Finally the last post of our Beijing trip.  Sorry for dragging on for so long.  With all the dramas and happenings plus the season of festive, it is really hard to find time to finish them one shot.  

Anyway, last entry of our 7d/6n trip to Beijing was spent in Beijing itself and Tianjin.  On the next morning after we got back from Chengde (crazy cold place), we visited the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.  From where our bus dropped us off, we have to walk thru a park to get to the temple.  It was interesting walking thru the park for we get to see lots of activities in there!  Apparently one need to pay to get into the park and the locals usually pay a minimal annual fee for usage of the park.

There are lots of activities going on around in the park.  All sort of activities in fact.  Over here, this man was practicing Chinese calligraphy using a syringe!  Believe it.  Yes, those injection's syringe.  Filled it with water and spray the words onto the ground!  In outline ok.  Better than the old man who used a giant brush at the Summer Palace.

Plenty of exercise groups too.  Some doing taichi, some qigong, martial art, kungfu, aerobics, hip hop, some kind of exercise where they balance a ball on a racket as they moving about doing some stunts... you name it, they have it!

As my skin kinda gotten used to the mad cold in Chengde, Beijing kinda don't feel as cold as we first arrived anymore.  So I get to reduce the layers a little, wear this funky jacket and look like myself for once.  Lols..  The park is pretty nice right?  With weather like that, I can sit there whole day, all wrapped up and cozy, with a good book and a thermos full of coffee, read till the sun goes down. :p

Aunty practising some kungfu moves.  Everybody kungfu fighting... lalalalala....

The wind was rather strong once arrived at the temple and on again, another layer.  Lols...The Hercules me pretending to carry the temple!  What do you call a female hercules?  A Herculina? :p

For once, the husband posed for me!  Must quickly go buy lottery!

Up close and detail.  A window panel at the temple.  The Temple of Heaven was constructed from 1406-1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor.  It is a complex of Taoist buildings which was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayers to Heaven for good harvest.  

The red doorway on the left is known as the 'Seventy-year Old Door (古稀門)' which is situated right outside the Hall of Annual Prayer.  Interesting eh?  Emperor Qianlong succeeded the throne at the age of 25 and reign for 60 years.  When he was young, he certainly had no problem walking up the 360m path to the temple.  However, when he was 70, it was difficult for him to walk the stretch.  Therefore the aged emperor was carried to this doorway on a sedan chair and walked a much shorter way towards the Hall of Annual Prayer.  To avoid his descendants being lazy, Qianlong set the rule of 70.  No one was allowed to walk through this door until they are 70!  Lols...

Head back to the bus after the temple and spotted a kid from our group having fun with this feather thingy at the carpark.  The Chinese loves to play this.  You can practically see them everywhere.  A little research moments ago told me that this feather thingy is known as the "shuttlecock feather kick toy".  Lols... what a name!  Look easy but not easy to play ok...

This photo is taken thru a hole in the rock while I stood at the other side of the rock.  Lols... So cute!  We were at this fengshui place within the palace vicinity.  After listening to all the tips they offered, we wondered around the estate to look see look see.

Me and mom, at the top one of the fort that used to guard the Forbidden Palace.  From up there, we get to see the railways down below and a little part of the cosmopolitan skyline.  Get to enjoy the cold breeze, warm our cold fingers on the hot walls too...

Did you notice the different bricks used on this wall?  This is part of the wall that surrounded the Forbidden City.  Apparently once upon a time ago (not too long), after the dynasty has fallen, the people were very poor.  The government told it's people to remove bricks from the wall to build home for themselves.  Many years later, they recollected these bricks from the people by offering them cash in return so that they are able to restore it to it's original structure for me to pose for a photo! :p  hehehe...

This photo taken from the bus, show a wall that is not fully restored.

After lunch, we went for another show at this Red Theatre.  The thing is, I suddenly can't remember what show we went for!  Lols..... Next time, I shall note down.  Sigh...  Memory really cannot use already.  Not enough RAM.

That evening, we took this bullet train from Beijing to Tianjin.  A journey which usually takes about 2 hours by bus, took only 30-45minutes in CRH Bullet Train.  Nice........!  If only we have one of these here from North to South, I would be able to go home (Kluang) for dinner every week!  

The LED sign in the coach shows the speed the bullet train picks up as it goes.  Exciting!  313km/hr.  From KL-Kluang is approximately 280km.  It would probably takes only 40minutes to go home for dinner!  So, Najib, build this please and I'll vote for you come next election!

The night view in Tianjin is so pretty.  So so pretty...!  All lighted up like a theme park like that.  Tianjin's architecture are generally influenced by western culture - French, Russian, Italian....  Wish we had more time so that I could take more photos of the night view!

Next morning outside our hotel.  The flowers were blooming so beautifully!

Traffics in Tianjin is generally less hectic as compared to Beijing.  Bicycles everywhere too...

We visited Tianjin Ancient Cultural Street that morning.  It is a stretch of little businesses housed in splendid replica classic architecture of the Qing Dynasty, formerly opened in 1986, designed as a place for tourists to experience the atmosphere of walking down ancient town.  

There were a lot of bronze statues like these too all over for us to go mad camwhoring with.  Hehehe...

You can buy souvenirs, local snacks, artwork and etc here.  Of course they should be pricier as compared to other places. Come on, this is afterall, a specially designed place for tourist.  To spend money that is.  Lols...

But then again, no harm checking it out  as there is no entrance charges.  Interesting to check out all sort of oriental knicks knacks.

A beggar at the other side of the street.

Entrance to the Cultural street.

From there, we head over to Tianjin's snack market for these.  Some rope like biscuits.  Hard as wood :p  But I bought some home too.  Lols....   Apparently a famous local snacks.  

Other than biscuits, they also sells a variety of dried seafood as well as live animal like the picture above.  Tortoise for the cooking pot?  o.O

We had steamboat for lunch.  No, not with the tortoise above.  Lols... Just plain steamboat.  Super plain till tasteless.  The husband said, worst meal ever.  Lols.....

A Canon moment with our handsome tour guide of the trip at the airport before bidding farewell. :)

The view outside from the plane.  Pretty isn't it.  We had had a great 7d/6n trip to Tianjin-Beijing-Chengde and about time to go home too.  Kinda begin to miss home already.  The duration is just right.  Any longer, there will be more breakouts on my face a result of not enough sleep.  Lols...

Check out the sleepy heads! Hehehehe...

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy reading this travelogue of ours that I've put together as much as we had enjoyed our trip. Also, hope it will help you in one way or other if you plan to visit where we went!   Have fun!

p/s: thank goodness i finally finished this 7d/6n entry!  hahahaha...