sunday is pizza day.........

All set to improve the prototype hawaiian pizza tuna from yesterday, here's a step by step footage of the whole process. Yumm in the making!

The ingredients: plain tortilla, canned pineapples, sliced mushrooms (RM5.99 @Cold Storage)

Shredded mozzarella cheese, canned tuna in light oil...

First, to ease the spread of tuna chunks, mix it into the pasta sauce

This makes it easier to even out the layer of tuna than to put them on separately.

Squeeze the syrup out of the pineapples by pressing them in between two spoons. This will prevent the tortilla from becoming soggy from the syrup. distribute evenly on pizza.

Then layer down the mushrooms, in my case, as much as possible! ;o)

Next, the mozzarella cheese, all over.

Bake at 230 degree Celcius, for about 10 minutes or until the mozza has melted over. If the oven hasn't been preheated earlier, it may take longer.

Finally, to make it authentically seafood hawaiian tuna pizza, some bits of nori seaweed to complete the topping ;o)

Estimated preparation time: 20 mins.
Estimated survival on plate: about 5, or less.

Next try out, substituting the pineapple with Italian herbs and low fat mayo.

Just as yummy. Now move aside, Jamie ;oP

gasp.... starbucks has gone instant........

Don't be too excited yet guys, this is in HongKong...

lazy guy's hawaiian tuna pizza..........

Okay, I've got the wrong type of cheese going on here, but nothing that a short trip to Cold Storage won't rectify. Pineapple needs to be drained before topping to prevent sogging up the tortilla. Maybe a little of olive oil on the edge of the tortilla will prevent it from crisping too much. I'll post up a better looking result next.

tuna pizza........

The lazy guy's tuna pizza.

1. Canned tuna in oil
2. Tomato based pasta sauce with fresh mushroom and herb
3. Mushroom
4. Tortilla bread
5. Cheese
6. Canned pineapple
7. Italian herbs mix

All set. I've decided lunch for tomorrow.

earth hour 2011, 2030hr........

Photo credit - Brandon Nicholas Nathaniel Teo

So what did you do?

yihyi reposted...

Emme was reporting about YihYi's progress earlier, about how she can now recognise colours and knows the meaning of traffic lights. And YihYi keeps on asking when will I come back from school. Kasian semua...

Feeling Maximus Missimus right now... :'oS

breaking the silence.........

1. Phew. It's been a while. I'd love to say that I was extremely busy caught up in studies and work, and have no time to blog, but that wouldn't exactly be true. But then again, it isn't exactly untrue either.
2. The second semester in MPH is kinda crazy. I probably won't be alone in saying that even at this stage where we're 3/4 on our way to getting a master degree in Public Health, many many of us are still floating on a limbo about what's happening with studies. The thought scares the shit out of me, especially at night when I'm about to sleep and I have that few minutes to reflect on my life.
3. Thank goodness for actifed pills, which I occasionally (more often nowadays) abuse for its side effect, those thoughtful reflections are cut down to few minutes only, then I'd doze off to a beautiful uninterrupted slumber, and wake up fresh the next morning so I could procrastinate some more ;o)
4. There's so much in my mind right now. The exams. The seminars. The debate. The weight loss. Or the plateau of weight loss rather.
5. CNY has done some damage I've yet to salvage. I've conveniently dropped out of GX classes due to the mismatched scheduling, but I've leveled up my cycling effort on the stationary bike to max and burn off 500kcal every session. I suppose that's not enough. The last trip to the body-stats machine left me pretty depressed again. Sigh.
6. Maybe I shouldn't be looking at the ideal weight at this point. I guess my intermediate target should be to get off the obesity BMI zone. That sounds more doable. Short term goal may help build up some self esteem here ;o)
7. Red Nose Day Malaysia unfortunately has to be postponed. Not an easy thing for me to swallow, involving a lot of dying of the ego before I admit defeat and had to let it be postponed. Feel like venting much, but I suppose that would be counter productive, so I'll just take it positively, after all, I need to be focusing on my exams ;o)
8. The new date for RNDM is tentatively 12th June 2011, the day before school reopens middle this year. After that I'll be planning the trip home for dad's big birthday ;o)

what's hanging from your tow hook?

I've been noticing some peculiar trending among mini / compact car drivers in KL, hanging some sort of plush toys (usually same colour as their car) from the tow hoof at the rear end. I was curious so I did a little bit of googling, and found this explanation. Think I'm hanging something from my tow hook soon too ;o) or maybe I'll just hang a bucket.

"For some reason, it has become some sort of trend for people to hang toys or other items of their cars' rear tow hook, but the origination of this trend came from the Bosozoku (street gangsters with fixed up cars) in Japan. It was a Bosozoku trend to hang a small tin bucket from their rear tow hook to show off how low their cars were- they got the idea from seeing cement trucks in Japan, which always had a bucket hanging off the rear of the truck. The cement trucks used the bucket as a "catch can" of sorts, so that excess cement from the truck wouldn't spill onto the pavement. Inspired by this, the bosozoku trend setters attached small buckets to their rear tow hooks to show how low their bucket could hang- if your car was so low that the bucket could scrape on things as you were driving , they thought it was cool as hell."

Then Ben told me about the truck deco that looks like human testicles, and I think I'm getting these instead, haha....

(wikipedia) Truck nuts, also known as truck balls, BumperNuts, BumperBalls, or truck scrotums, are accessories for pickup trucks and other vehicles. Capitalizing upon the association of trucks with machismo, truck nuts resemble human testicles inside scrota of various colors. This trend began in the United States in 1998 and first sold on the internet in 1999. Truck nuts are used as a statement by the car, truck, ATV, and/or motorcycle owner to boast/amuse/shock him/her self and others. Truck nuts are installed at the rear of the vehicle in such a way that they are suspended in full view of motorists, motor cyclists, bicyclers, lorry drivers, bus drivers, pedestrians, and others behind them.

So cooool!! Where can I get these?

seeking talents, behind and in front of the camera...

RED NOSE DAY T-SHIRT MONTAGE

Hey hey, people!! We're looking for people with nice sweet face and smile :-) to pose portraits of themselves wearing a red nose like this ;o) The pictures will be arranged into a collage to create a montage, of which the Red Nose icon will be super-imposed on, like the sample I've posted earlier. We have relatively short time to do it, so I'm hunting for serious SERIOUS volunteers to help me out with this.

ARE YOU GAME???

Okay, first, we'll need the photographers. Anyone with a digital camera that can take decent pictures with a white background would be good enough. A decent camera means it can take up to 5 megapixels picture size, so technically any compact digital cameras made after the year 2005 would be able to do the trick. DSLRs are GRREAATT but hardly necessary ;o)

We will need the photographers to send the pictures, unedited, to me at arteo@yahoo.com so I can pass them to the design person in the merchandising team of the project. We'll need the format to be upper body, 4x3" @ 300dpi. Since we need about 50 pictures of different poses to make a good randomly distributed montage, we need at least 5 volunteer photographers.

Buzz me as soon as you read this and would be able to help out ;o) We'll really like it if you have celebrities friends who want to lend a hand...errr... face. We'll need to standardise the pictures so please contact me to get the red nose to be used on the models.

RED NOSE ON ;o)

That was about the photographers. Now the talents. It doesn't matter if no one other than your mom thinks that you've got a likable face, as long as you have eyes that can wink, a nose to clip the red nose on, and a mouth that can smile, we'll take you in ;o) Okay, maybe that wasn't haha funny. Anyway...

We're looking for people who'd want to have their face to be a part of the montage. We need people of all sizes, colours and structures. What needed is a few pictures of you doing certain poses ;o) To standardise the pictures, we'll need to adhere to these few instructions:

1. Models must be wearing plain coloured shirts with no graphics. Any types of collar is okay.
2. Red nose is distributed to volunteering photographers. I'll put you in touch with a photographer nearest to you ;o)
3. We'll have you do 3 pictures, one facing the camera winking and smiling, 2 freestyles.
4. All pictures taken down to chest level only, like passport photo, maybe slightly lower... so it's okay if you have a thing about not wearing pants ;o)
5. Back ground must be white (any hue of white is okay)

Buzz me if you want to appear on our t-shirts ;o) I'll tell you more about the project ;o)

mushrooms galore........

My lunch today. Planned this for 2 days already, since I didn't get back in time to cook after gym last night, so I sped back home after class and start on this culinary project ;o) yummy...

I'm yet to name this dish yet. Ideas?

The ingredients:

Portobello, swiss whites, brown buttons and Korean enoki. Sliced beef is marinated and then stir fried for a few minutes before adding in the mushrooms and seasonings. Salt is added last, just a sprinkle, to prevent water from the mushrooms leaking out and making them soggy.

Last weekend's dinner -- spiral pasta with bbq cheese added to the mushroom tomato sauce. Beef is grilled with Italian herbs rub. Chef Jey lead the production that day.

red nose project coffee chat #2..................

18.01.2011, sbux jayaone, pj

1. Hey hey! Admittedly this has been a very very late minute on our last meeting. Sincere apologies on my side.
   
2. The second Coffee session was held last Tuesday at the same place and time, and we had 3 new people joining us ;o) Sheon came, Shuey brought 3 new friends over -- Wai Ling, Patrick and Dr Irinda. Unfortunately Albert has a meeting on, Garrett was not well, and so was Sheon's friend who planned to come. Anyway, here's wishing a speedy recovery for them ;o)
3. Okay, now the brief on stuffs that were discussed. We were joined by 2 staffs of Malaysian AIDS Council, Azahemy and a friend, to explain to us the related issues on fund raising for Malaysian AIDS Foundation. They seemed alright about the idea of the project, just needing a proposal paper to help explain better to the MAF Board of Trustees. I am yet to receive the document on MAF Fund-raising guideline from them, but once I have read through it, I'll summarise it here for you guys ;o) I will also have to prepare the Project Proposal write up for them by Monday. Ah... there goes my weekend ;o/
4. The amount of money that is set as fund-raising target may be pledged on a contract basis, and we "might" be liable to meeting the amount. That kinda scare us off a little bit, and have decided to bring the number down from RM50k to RM20k. Let's try small for the first time, and over-achieving our target has a nice ring to it ;o)
5. The structure of the Red Nose Project has been modified slightly to better suit the current existing programmes. Rather than having the finale Red Nose Day as a stand-alone event, we're thinking of piggy-riding on The Malay Mail Walkathon planned on the 3rd April 2011. MAF is also their main beneficiary for this fund raising walkathon. Perhaps an army of Red Nose walker will be at Dataran Merdeka, also to promote awareness on HIV/AIDS as it happens ;o)
6. The mob flash (RED FLASH) is still on as previously planned, on the week 12 weekend (26th or 27th March). The locations is still tentatively at the front open space of Pavilion KL. We're still deciding on the thing to do (rather than just appearing with a red nose) maybe a choreographed movement?
7. The Comedian show may be shifted to week 13 weekend (1st or 2nd April). We're still yet to get any comedians to agree to join our project, but I guess it's not time to panic yet. We'll keep om trying ;o) We're discussing the location that is probable to stage the comedian show. Any suggestions on a space that can hold up to 300-400 pax? We're thinking of asking the TAR Uni (PJ) for their auditorium. Got contacts?
8. Rather than setting up a bazaar / garage sale on our own, we've discussed the possibility of just putting up a booth or two, in any existing bazaars or flea markets. This is basically for the Red Nose Project to gain publicity and we're inviting people to come as vendors under Red Nose Project and pledge the proceeds to the cause. Anything with a Red Nose theme would be nice ;o)
9. We're getting samples from 2 resources for the plastic red nose. It's still happening too slowly, and I am getting slightly anxious over this issue ;o/ But thanks Sheon, for reminding me that this project is supposed to be fun and there's very little benefit to gain from getting myself worked up and stressed ;o) Maybe another cup of coffee would help!
10. Since the bulk of the fund is estimated to come from corporate sponsorship, we have to start the soft approach to the companies already and get them to consider donating to our cause ;o)
11. The next coffee session is scheduled at the same time and place next week, unless there's any other suggestions? Don't miss the fun, come join us for a cup of coffee and we'll chat ;o)

shiitake happens......!

The worst part about home cooking is...

...the cleaning up ;o(

I love mushrooms... can't you tell?

clockwise from top: runny yolk sunny side up (my favourite), smoked chicken franks, stir-fried shiitake with lemon and pepper seasoning (using fresh mushrooms makes all the difference), hash browns, strips of japanese cucumber

stir fried minced beef marinated with japanese sauce, with fresh shiitake, japanese cucumber and spring onion

3 coffees, red honkers and celebrities.....

1. Feeling kinda restless -- having tremors and palpitations from caffeine overdosing but weirdly my mind is still lagging... Feeling so sleepy. Been doing gym everyday ;o) for the past 5 days, and depriving myself of afternoon naps. Trying to readjust the diurnal sleep pattern, will... get... through... this... eventually... I know... zzz......
2. Feeling the void from post Toy Story Project, I quickly launched the Red Nose Project. Much criticism on the project initially, from the motives of a fun-in-return type of charity, to the seemingly short time for planning and fund raising. Putting the tentative date for Red Nose Day Malaysia on 1.04.11, I still feel that it's a little way to far to get people sufficiently excited at this point of time. Got to strengthen the core group running the show first.
3. Wrote to a few celebrities but have not gotten any responds yet ;o( but I'm still writing more anyway...

red nose coffee chat #1.......

Coffee Talk 01 - 11.01.11

1. Thanks very much to Sheon, Albert, Garret, Shuey and Tony (for coming along a short while) for participating in the brainstorming session at Starbucks JayaOne. We were expecting more would come ;o) but anyway the group was appropriately small for a more intimate brainstorming activity ;o)
2. To keep our discussion ambiance at a more relaxed tone, meetings will be called Coffee sessions. Minutes of discussion will be presented in blog form. Nice?
3. The purpose of that first session of brainstorming was to lay down the basic methodology by which we would carry out this fund raising project. The mood of the project was set to 'casual and easy' by majority consensus. Rationale being that we've been subject to hard structure at work from 9 to 5, so this project would preferably be carried out in a more flexible rhythm -- as friends who want to do a bit of good and have fun while at it ;o)
4. The main objective for organising Red Nose Project, primarily is to raise fund to benefit the HIV shelter homes that are affiliated with Malaysian AIDS Council.
5. Secondary objectives are to raise public awareness on HIV issues, and of course, to have fun in the process.
6. As discussed during the first coffee session, logically we only have time to do 2 collateral events and a finale (which is scheduled on 1 April). These 3 events would be the fund raising components of the project. Another activity that is not a part of the fund raising effort, but more of a publicity effort -- by doing a flash mob activity, will also be planned.
7. According to a document that I've got from MAC, there are 19 shelter homes in Malaysia catering for PLWHA (people living with HIV and AIDS), but only 6 of them cater for children. There are 3 in KL, and 1 in Sabah, Kelantan and Pahang respectively. So we're targeting these 6 homes specifically.
8. The events that are listed (but subject to improvements and further development of ideas) include a stand up comedian show, a garage sale / flea market and a finale event which we have yet any ideas on what type of event to organise.
9. At this point, some of us are doing our initial contacts with some funny people that may help us with the events -- Harith Iskander, Doudlas Lim, Adibah Noor, JJ and Ean. Any other connections to other funny people are very much welcomed ;o)
10. Albert, Garrett and Christine are working on sourcing the red nose.
11. We have no objections for companies to use our events as marketing scheme as long as we're achieving our fund raising objectives, but this point would have to be developed further.
12. We would be getting someone from MAF to sit in our Coffee sessions to advise us on the fund transactions protocols from corporate donors and such. Arteo will call MAF again soon, before the next Coffee.
13. To start small, we've put RM50k as our target amount of fund raising this time. The amount is still open for discussion. We'll have to solidify our targets and events to plan by the next Coffee session. We all promised to sleep on it first ;o) I hope we won't be insomniac after all that coffee...
14. The next Coffee session will be at the same place, same time next week 18.01.11. Invitations will be through an event page. Click on "attend" please ;o)

arteo

trying out fusion........

Hearty meal in a plate, where East meets West ;oP

~Spaghetti Al Fungi, with mushroom tomato sauce and smoked cheese~
~Stir fried blanched asparagus with garlic~
~Gung-pao chicken with Korean Seaweed~

GUNG-PAO CHICKEN

1. Chicken cutlets marinated in Italian herbs and oyster sauce
2. Sliced onion x1
3. Diced yellow bell pepper x1 medium size
4. Dried chilli x10, seeded
5. Wasabi flavoured cashew and macadamia nuts x1 small packet from Tong's
6. Korean seaweed, flavoured with sesame
   

STIR FRIED BABY BUTTERHEAD

1. Baby Butterhead leaves
2. Fishcake
3. Oyster sauce

Chef Jeremy at work...

arteo gets a new laptop........

the spankin' brand new gadget -- ASUS A42JE

1. Went for computer shopping at the PJ Digital Mall yesterday. Man, I am so not in tune with the computer lingo, I just can't pretend I'm smart enough to know what I want. All I can say is I need 3 things done -- do a thesis, go online, and occasionally watch a movie.
2. Had a dilemma of either getting a laptop, or a desktop. Since portability is already provided by my netbook, I don't need another mobile computer to lug around, so that benefit is not considered in getting my next computer. Most of the sales people manning the shops there are more, if not just as dungu as I am, I feel. All these youngsters want to do is to impress me with how well their machine can carry a gaming software, which is totally redundant to me. If it's all included, I might even ask for it to be removed just to save on a few grams of weight. Totally of no use to me.
3. So I went around searching for a computer that hopefully will stick around till I finished my thesis, based on how well the sales chap can talk... and answer my questions correctly, I mean convincingly, and don't make me roll my eyes. And I found him at Tech World IT Sdn Bhd.
4. Finally I came home with something out of the convention -- I've been buying from HP for the past 2 computers, and before that, Acer. But now, I'm getting myself an ASUS. Meet my new baby -- Asus A42JE !! RM1799 plus so many collaterals thrown in, including another cool laptop bag, cooler fan, ecobag, mouse, pad, wrist rest, cleaning gadgets, etc etc..
5. My laptop that just conked was one of the few remaining earlier generation HP Pavilion with touch screen that can be flipped backwards to become a tablet pc. This model has cought on such a lousy reputation in the market, with so many complains, that I was not able to trade it in before it crashed. Anyway, I guess mine was one of the lucky ones to have lasted this long. I just hope that Asus A42JE will last for the next 4 years at least ;o)
   

rest well in peace, friend, we've been through a lot together

ie almost the whole season of Gilmore Girls, Chuck 1&2, Heroes and Sex and the City...

arteo's thoughts on red nose project 2011..........

Hey hey... how's everybody? Hope you had a blast during the New Year holiday!

As promised, here's a little thought on the next project that we can do together, it's called The Red Nose Project ;o) read on and hope you'll be excited about it too ;o)

RED NOSE PROJECT
Inspired by the Red Nose Day of UK, we're motivated to join in the fun by organising (of course) fun filled events that involves people participation. Red Nose Project is a series of events organised to raise fund for local charities.

WHY RED NOSE PROJECT?
Because we'll all be wearing our Red Nose during the events! The Red Nose is all about injecting the element of FUN into the activities, a reminder to enjoy what we're doing, even for events as serious as a fund raiser ;o) It's also a way to say that we're doing ordinary things in extra-ordinary ways.

WHAT KIND OF EVENTS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
That's where YOU come in ;o) we need to brainstorm on what types of activities we can do together! Events can be of any social function involving the public, preferably FUN type of events ;o) During these events, we'll all be wearing our Red Noses. Imagine everybody with a clown nose... now, isn't that fun? Let's start small for the first year, let's see if we can come up with a couple of events. Maybe 3. Or 4? Or 5?

The Project will then close with the summit event on the 1st of April, which is also April Fool's Day. Imagining an event perhaps involving some of our local comedians... Have a bit of publicity going on... Get people to be aware of what we're doing... and next year we'll plan slightly bigger ;oD

Events are definitely not finalised yet... I've some suggestion scribbled in my notebook. Have any swell ideas? Jot them in your books and when we meet up, lets compare notes ;o) Since events may take a bit of planning, lets meet up real soon ;o)

HOW DO WE RAISE FUNDS BY WEARING RED NOSE?
Ah, the money talk... During events, we'll be dishing out Red Noses to participants for an exchange of a small donation... I'm thinking RM10/nose... proceeds from these Red Nose will then be channeled to local charities.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE THAT COULD NOT JOIN THE EVENTS?
People who are excited about the cause of Red Nose Projects may infect their school-mates / office-mates / family members with the same enthusiasm. Just pledge a donation to the charity and we'll send them the Red Noses to wherever they are ;o) They can then organise their own Red Nose Event in their schools / offices and take lots of pictures, or just have a group picture taken with everybody sporting a Red Nose, and upload it to our Red Nose Project Facebook page.

WHAT RED NOSE PROJECT FACEBOOK PAGE?
Exactly. Currently it is still not in existence. During the last project (if you still remember Operation Toy Story 2010) Kennedy has been (strongly) suggesting that we should have a FB event page where people can join in, get more infos, upload photos etc... Okay now the confession -- I suck at stuffs like these -- and I really hope someone would volunteer to help with these techno stuffs ;o) Maybe Kennedy would like to volunteer? Hehe...

PROJECT GOALS
1. Promote awareness on HIV issues -- we can discuss the scope when we meet ;o)
2. Raise fund in aid of shelter homes that cater for HIV infected / affected children
3. Create a medium of social networking through project organisation and participation
4. Have some fun ;o)

WHO ARE THE CHARITY BENEFICIARIES?
I am in the middle of collecting information from Malaysian AIDS Council on their affiliated shelter homes. The need is definitely there, I've been involved in a shelter home running for the same cause in Kota Kinabalu previously. There is much work to do to create awareness, reducing social stigma and provide resources for the continuous operations of such shelter homes. My passion is for the Paediatrics HIV.

PROJECT SCHEDULE
Since the Red Nose Day is tentatively scheduled for April 1st, we have still about 2 1/2 months to plan, organise and carry out the programmes. I have given myself till the end of this month to source for Red Noses and identify the shelter homes in need of funding. We have to meet as soon as possible to brainstorm on ideas.

I'm pretty excited about this, so do buzz me, or email me back here if you're interested. Lets get together and we'll talk shop okay ;o)

Now you also know why I use this ;o) so much... I'm already wearing a Red Nose all along ;o)

Hear from you soon, ya!!

arteo

things i'm missing right now.......

chicken feet soup, crispy cucur and fresh ikan bakar
Pasar Sim-sim, Sandakan

my potted plants in the office. never dies, never fails. very calming indeed
just need a lil' sunshine.... or fluorescent light would do just fine
Beluran Health Office

the stuff i do when i'm stressed... transforming these fellas to vehicle mode, then robot mode, then vehicle mode, then....
Beluran Health Office

christmas wish, economics, a.g.e. outbreaks and clown noses.....

Somewhere over the rainbow...

1. Generally a good day today. The dreaded Health Economics class turned out to be very interesting. It could be because of the interesting way our lecturer DrN presented economics to us (and also the umpteen reminders of how she loves Cadbury Chocolate Family-size Bar, Milk Chocolate No Nuts No fruits, preferably Not Made in Malaysia) haha. But she sure whipped up the entire class' appetite for more of her lectures (other than the appetite for KFC Original Recipe drumsticks with sides of coleslaw, whipped potato and a bun)
2. Got my Christmas present today. Late, but very timely. I was at Bangsar Village II waiting for Garrett to go lunch, and there was this blind guy on the piano serenading away. So I helped myself to the free performance. And suddenly he stopped and I guess it was the intermission, but I asked him if he could play O'er the Rainbow for me. He obliged and did the slow-jazz rendition of that song. Loved it. Loved it much! He's good!
3. Jeremy has had food poisoning over the New Year weekend, and he wasn't able to eat anything for more than 24 hours, so I brought him to UMMC thinking of getting him put on a drip. At first he was given a Triage 3, so I told the counter fella that I'll put the drip on myself so he was changed to Triage 2. After getting a bed and got his vitals taken, I realised that I wasn't allowed to put a line for him, as I am not a staff of UMMC. So we got demoted back to Triage 3, and out to the Common Waiting Hall we were for the next 2 hours. We even watched a whole movie on TV about a dog who could fly and wears a cape, from abut 30 meters away, and never even really found out the title of that movie. Finally he got fed up, and decided to leave. Fortunately he was okay and able to tolerate sips till the next day.
4. Found out that Garrett was down with food poisoning too, and right after our lunch today, he went back to puke some more. He found a curly piece of hair in his second round of fried rice in PapaRich (ullgghh) and got it replaced after downing half of it. So he ended up eating 2 1/2 portions of fried rice with eggs. My suspicion is overloading on fried rice, however, haha.
5. Went over to a party supplies shop in Bangsar and found a red nose there. RM5.90 per piece, but not exactly the type I was looking for. So the hunt continues...

cheaper than eating out....?

Hardly, I guess... but this is just the beginning, and soon I'll be cooking boring cheap stuffs not worthy of blog posts... till then, let me pride over my creations ;o)

Okay this first one isn't really a creation, just crack, tear, throw in pan and stir fry...

Sunday breakfast
~SUNNY-SIDE-UP, OMEGA-3 ENRICHED EGGS~
~SMOKED CHICKEN FRANKS~
~CHICKEN HAMS~
~PAN-TOASTED MULTIGRAINS BREAD~

single course dinner
~SPAGHETTI WITH ITALIAN HERBS AND EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL DRESSING~
~TOPPED WITH PAN FRIED CHICKEN BREAST MARINATED WITH LEMON AND PEPPER, AND SQUEEZED FRESH CHERRY TOMATOES~
~ASPARAGUS WITH LEMON AND PEPPER~

when service tax is up to 6 percent........

While the Government has decided to postpone the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), it has increased Government Services tax from 5 percent to 6 percent effective on 1 Jan, 2011.

Time to learn to cook and put my Jamie Oliver cookbooks to good use!

Dessert
~FROZEN STRAWBERRY YOGURT WITH FROZEN GRAPES AND APPLE SLICES~

main course
~SPAGHETTI AL FUNGI IN CHEESE AND HERBS SAUCE~
~MEDIUM DONE KNUCKLE CUT IMPORTED BEEF MARINATED WITH ITALIAN HERBS AND JAPANESE SAUCE~

side of

~TRIPLE WASHED GARDEN SALAD IN VINAIGRETTE DRESSING~

main dish
~PAN GRILLED SALMON STEAK WITH ITALIAN HERBS RUB~

main dish
~BLANCHED BROCCOLI IN GARLIC DRESSING~

main dish
~PAN FRIED CHICKEN CUTLETS IN JAPANESE SAUCE~

main dish
~SPAGHETTI AL FUNGI IN FRESH MUSHROOM SAUCE WITH SMOKED CHEESE~

eleven resolutions for the two-owh-one-one......

the gunturun is difficult to control... breathe... breathe... breathe...

1. Stop procrastineting. I'll check the spelling later.
2. Listen more, talk less...
3. Remember to breathe. Bite the urge to retort. Be milder of temperament.
4. Gym, gym, gym, gym, gym...
5. Drop 6 inches. Maybe 4. Why not 6... Okay, 4...
   
6. Learn something new. Perhaps start on the felt-craft project.
7. Start on Wings Connection
   
8. Cook more often.
9. Have more ME TIME.
10. Run a marathon. Or at least join one.
11. Go vacation...

For those who need help coming up with New Year resolutions, click here

happy new year 2011.......!

See'ya 2010, it's been great ;oP Thanks very much!! Now to aim higher and better for 2011 ;o) love, hope and faith all the way! Happy New Year!

The socks doll sent by Florence for Operation Toy Story ;o) posing for photo before being sent to the kids

the year that was 2010..........

for the first half of 2010, I was still flying over the mountain twice a week... now I'm missing the view...

1. I know, I know, the last few entries were crap entries but I really want to hit 100 posts for this year, so just let me continue ;o)
2. 2010 was marked with quite a few major changes in life. Going on study leave to pursue Master in Public Health was one. It wasn't easy to regrease the brain engine after leaving it out rusty for donkey years. But it was probably the single most important decision that I've made in this year.
3. Leaving office was not so easy on the emotions. I've been working in the past 7 years, from managing a clinic to managing a state programme, and finally managing a district health office. I've worked with the best staffs, being guided by the best seniors who treated me like peers and was mentored by the best boss who believed in me. Coming back to studies where everyone starts from scratch, not so exciting.
4. MPH has been okay so far. First semester exam just passed and now waiting for the results in a few days time. The next semester starts on Monday. Having worked in the field did help in understanding concepts, but come exam, whatever I know may just freeze and refuse to come down in writing. Why that happened is still a mystery.
5. Okay, maybe I didn't mug hard enough. Promised myself to mug harder for next semester ':o/
6. Rekindled some lost friendships, made some new ones... and in the process made some 'dislikes' too perhaps. Learned that anger, frustration, disappointment is not the opposite of love, but can be part of love. Hate is the opposite of love. Since I don't hate anybody, I must be loving everybody! Oh wow...
7. But wait... then there was that person who stole our Christmas toys... okay, there is someone that I hate >:o(
8. The most exciting month has to be December when I turned an evening of depression into fruitful initiation to start on Project Toy Story. Now come to think of it, I have the 3 Ps to thank for doing the publicity (another P here)... Pang (of Annexe Gallery) Patrick Teoh (of Niamah!! blog) and Poesy (of Helping Angels)... Nice coincidence ;o) By the way, the name Operation Toy Story was coined by Pang, not me.
9. One of the frustrations I've had in this year, was the inability to keep to training discipline despite having a Personal Trainer to whip me around the exercise machines. One reflection from this. I guess I'm more comfortable climbing on the machines on my own effort than having someone push me there.
10. The total body fat composition is another strong drive to keep coming back to the gym. I was upset with the 42.2% earlier, which got me started with OTS. After a couple of weeks of going to the gym and toiling on OTS (and I swear I didn't stuff the face during Christmas) I couldn't believe my eyes when the body stats machine reads 43.3%! on the good side, my weight did drop.
11. Now that does it... I will not let some numbers (in percentage) define who I am. Now off to bigger projects....

some thoughts on the next project...

where are you christmas?

My Christmas theme song for this year...



Where Are You Christmas

Where are you Christmas
Why can't I find you
Why have you gone away
Where is the laughter
You used to bring me
Why can't I hear music play

My world is changing
I'm rearranging
Does that mean Christmas changes too?

Where are you Christmas
Do you remember
The one you used to know?
I'm not the same one
See what the time's done
Is that why you have let me go

Christmas is here
Everywhere, oh
Christmas is here
If you care, oh

If there is love in your heart and your mind
You will feel like Christmas all the time

I feel you Christmas
I know I've found you
You never fade away
The joy of Christmas
Stays here inside us
Fills each and every heart with love

Where are you Christmas
Fill your heart with love