December 2006- Christmas Decoration at Work and Dinner at Italianies

Didn't get much time to update events at my surrounding. Flashback on December 2006. Remember my last entry about Christmas decoration for this HAPPY occasion. Add in a few pictures on the end result.

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The time spent for the whole event to take place, it's worth it as we got first place in the decoration competition among whole organisation.

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My cubicle. Look at the snowflakes and mini Christmas trees.
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Here's the end result


Left: Christmas Trees Alley; Middle: white Christmas Tree; Right: Peekaboo!! (I made that Huge Snowman)



Left: It's not Santa, It's the Elf; Right: My Team

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How can i forget Christmas Dinner with my sis and friends. We plan to spend a day at the Curve to catch the countdown at midnight. Still deciding on where we should have our dinner, we passed by Italianies, we took a look at the fix menu in conjunction with Christmas and we finally decided on the 3 course meal available. Here's the 2 choices we have for appetizers

Salmon Salad and Stuffed Mushrooms with Cheese Cream

We really enjoyed our appetizers, the stuffed mushroom is really good. we were suppose to share..but i finished my mushroom because it is too good to share it..lol

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The salad is just ok, not really taste as good as it looks. Ermm..i remember my sister putting the salmon aside because it was not too fresh and it had bones. Have you ever had fish bone in your Sashimi?

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Then there is our main course. It really looks good, but not all tasted good. The beef is just mediocre, did not have that 'wow' factor. My cousin ordered the fish with spaghetti, the fish is good, but the spaghetti was too dry and tasteless. My sister ordered this rosemary chicken, it looks good in the picture but it was the worst thing to put in your mouth.

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Number one-the chicken was tasteless,

Number two-It was too dry,

Number three-Half a chicken??? Who the hell can finish half a chicken?

Number four-The small little bowl in the picture, i suppose it was gravy for the chicken. Taste like water. Number Five-We requested for some gravy, like black pepper or mushroom. Well, They don't have any, because that is only the gravy they prepared that day.

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We basically have to finish one whole chicken because 2 of them ordered the chicken main course. But we actually returned a whole chicken back to the kitchen. To my surprise, nobody asked why aren't we eating the chicken. How was our meal? Is it ok? What's wrong with the chicken? They just collected the plates with the food untouched. This is the kind of service we are talking about. We don't see the Manager at the Floor, only waiters and waitresses running up and down. I remembered it took them more than half an hour to get my drinks on the table. We practically choked ourselves swallowing the meal, as i said earlier, everything is so dry and tasteless. OK, the appetizers taste good. That's the good thing i can about this meal.

Well, we waited for our dessert. Hopefully it's not a disappointment. It did not disspoint us, the tiramisu and the apple custard taste wonderful. Still the main course spoil the whole lovely evening. Honestly, i never stpped into any Italianies outlet after my Christmas Dinner last year. Not really worth going again, Spent more than RM300 for the meal, but it is not worth the money paid.

Well, we did not let a bad meal ruin our Christmas night together.

It's June Already???!!!

Sigh, i've neglected my blog for the past half a year. Canna, if it's not because of you..i wouldn't have start blogging again. I'm just too busy with work and i just too lazy to find some time to put in a few words.

It has been a wonderful 6 months for a start, another half year to go..then we wil welcome another new year. Really need to find time to Blog, really need to find time to Blog. i've keep telling myself, hehe..Just have to wait and see la.

HAPPY BELATED NEW YEAR!!!

Ohh, my god....it is already the year 2007..time really flies...i know it's kinda late to wish..but what the heck...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! it's been a while since i last updating my Blog, it's because of the recent Taiwan quake that cause from problem in our internet connections. The whole of Asia had faced this problem. I can't seem to get online and log on to my Blog...finally i got to Log on again...I'm back again everyone!!!

Wow, i have so much to update after weeks trying to log on...after the internet connection was back to normal..Blogger website had some update going on...i can't even load the page...Sigh!! Another week was wasted...I'M REALLY GLAD NOW...

Happy New Year everybody!!!

Warehouse Shopping!!!

My sister got this email from Pay Less Books, they are advertising on their warehouse sale from the 15th of dec till the 17th. Been waiting for it since last week, as i've been to this Popular book clearance 2 months ago, sad to say..it is not all that cheap. Bought a few books though..still it was expensive.

I went there with My cousin Nicole after her work. Did not expect, that the books there are so damn cheap. Never really expected to be this cheap at all. 1 book for RM 3.00, 3 books for RM 5.00 and 5 books for RM 12.00. Ain't it a bargain! I bought about 10 books and it only cost me RM 24.00, even lesser to buy one ..only one new book! Considering it is second hand book, but who cares! It is all in a good condition and i get to read without splurging RM 40 plus on a new book. i mostly got books that are selected for the Oprah's Book Club. A very big fan of hers.

Books that i got from the Warehouse Clearance:
1) While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
2)The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton
3)Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
4)Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
5)Vinegar Hill by A.Mannete Ansay
6)Before Women Had Wings by Connie May Fowler
7)A Map Of The World by Jane Hamilton
8)The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
9)Lovesick by Angeles Mastreta
10)Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

Malaysia is talking about encouraging a reading habit to kids and the society. It is so expensive to buy a new book, i have to think twice before buying a book, and they rarely go on Sale! Kids can't even afford to buy books, Oh yes, we have public libraries here, i don't think anyone even consider going to the there as you can never find the books you want to read. It's really impossible for kids to take out their pocket money to buy new books, look at the price to buy Harry Porter Books. It's crazy, nearly RM 90.00 for a book, only working adults could afford that.

I was looking for some books online, and i find that books are so cheap in America. It's only USD 1 for a book that is now selling at RM 39.90 in Malaysia. No wonder they develop a nature for reading, books are affordable and not at some ridiculous price. Too bad the shipping is only available in USA, if not, i would have ordered it and shipped to me. Only thing i can do now, is to wait for another Warehouse Book Clearance to get some affordabe books. Anyway, it will take me some time to finish reading that 10 books. Happy Reading!!!

Deco...more Deco

It's the time of the year again, for all of us in my company to decorate our office. It's kind of a tradition that we have held this annual event where whenever there is a celebration. You will see all of us all the creativity and talent shine through from our decorations.

Everyone will be either painting or cutting, some will do some pasting and climbing up to the ceiling to hang up all our precious ornaments. Everyone is in the Christmas mood as usual, a very busy time of the week, as the judgement day is just around the corner, but all are excited to see everything put up and as usual, we always won the deco competition.

I normally volunteer for this, helping out and giving ideas on the decoration. We work so hard, some times just need to relax and release stress a little, :) At work, all i see is documents, more words and numbers and black and white. A little colour at work really helps me to look forward for work, really, i'm not kidding. I actually really like my working environment, everyone is nice and friendly, of course when the volume is high, everyone get stressed out. Overall, it's very flexible, flexible working hours, and breaks, as long as you get your work done. That's the bottomline!

Hooray!! Hooray!! It's a Holi-Holiday!!!

I have been anticipating this trip for months. I saw this promotion on AirAsia, tickets to Bangkok for only RM9.99. What a bargain,i jumped on this opportunity for a budget trip :) So, i invited my cousin to come along with me for this trip and after 3 months of planning. We were finally on the flight to Bangkok!

My plan was upon landing, we'll head straight to Pattaya. We arrived about 8pm local time, reached Pattaya at 10.30pm. The taxi driver could not locate the Hotel that we booked online. The first night, we did not do much, just walking around looking for a good place to have dinner. We manage to find a small stall selling 'Wantan Mee' the Thai style :P yummy! We ended up back in our Hotel room, drinking vodka that we bought before the depature to Bangkok.

There's nothing much to see in Pattaya, unless you are on outdoor kind of person. We manage to get a cab back to Bangkok City. Luck was not on our side, the cab that took us there broke down and we had to wait for another transportation to arrive. It took us more than 4 hours to reach our destination.

Our first day there was nothing special, we just took a walk around the city, visited their famous shopping center which is the MBK a.k.a. Mah Boon Krong. It is sort of our very own Sungei Wang, lots of boutiques selling fake and cheap handbags and also cheap clothing. We took a slow walk to another Shopping Mall which is also known as the Siam Peragon, it is something like our KLCC. All branded goods, and it’s definitely more expensive compared to Malaysia, so there is no point for shopping there. The area is sort of like our Bukit Bintang, all shopping malls are just across the road conjoint to each other.

We had been in a few tours; the most memorable one is the Ayutthaya tour, better known as the River Sun Cruise Tour. It starts very early in the morning, my tour guide arrives at my hotel at 6.15 am, me and my cousin had a very early breakfast. We have to make a few stops, to fetch other people before we are transferred to a tour bus. Man, we have to wait for this guy from India to get ready, we waited till 7.15 and he is not even ready. When finally he got on the van, he yelled for the tour guide to stop..He forgot his Camera!!! My God!! When we reach to the bus station, we were the last to arrive, everyone is waiting for us. Because of him, our journey was delayed and behind schedule. Talk about luck. We didn’t have any luck that day, we have to skip a few stops to make it in time for the Cruise back to Bangkok. No ship is going to wait for us!

Overall, we had a blast, visiting the Ancient City, bringing us back in time. It’s really an amazing sight, Magnificent Bang-Pa In Palace, Wat Mahathat, The ruins of the Temple (not sure of the Temple’s name) where we saw the Buddha face on the root of a Bodhi Tree. We suppose to make another stop, thanks to the guy from India, we have to cancel that and went straight to the quay where we board on the ship. We had lunch on board while enjoying scenery and sights along the mighty Chao Pharya River.

Another place that we visited was the Floating Market called “Damnoen Saduak”. It is one of the must go places when you are in Bangkok. We get to ride on the ‘Sampan’ to reach to the destination, looks sort of like our Pulau Ketam, except that it is more colourful, more people J more food and souvenirs. We book this tour when we arrive at the airport, it’s affordable as they were having a promotion. We paid RM 80 per person, with a private tour guide and driver. We detour to a few other places, stopped at a teak wood factory and also coconut factory, definitely to their export centers, where they sell, jewelry and clothes at a very low price.

During the weekend, a place that every tourist will visit is the Chatuchak Weekend Market. It’s huge, about 65 acres, it takes you more than a week to complete. You can from anything to everything at the Chatuchak, a very good place to bargain. I and my Cousin took the BTS there, it’s really convenient. I don’t think we even finish ¼ of the area, we walked around and got lost and we find ourselves going around in circles; still it is fun, we got most of our souvenirs from there. At about 2pm, we were so worn out, when we reach to our hotel, both of us went flat. It’s a day well spent.

After 2 trip with the same tour guide, we became friends, her name is Nuttaya. She offer to take us around Bangkok at night, she also happen to live near my Hotel. We went for Dinner, took us to her favourite spa for a good Traditional Thai Massage. She even took us to see the ‘Cylpso Show’ aka LadyBoy Show, definitely not as grand as Tiffany Show in Pattaya. She even took us to the “Thai Girl Show” hehe!!

We even made some friends when we were on the cruise, we suppose to meet up at Patpong Market, just to hang out, unfortunately, we were in the middle of a terrible traffic jam and it was raining heavily. We’ll catch up some other time Maria! We did manage to meet up with one of my friend from Bangkok, Leaf, thank you for your hospitality, and for that lunch J

On our last day in Bangkok, we went visiting the last few places, which is the famous Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Pho where lies the Gold Reclining Buddha. We did some last minute shopping, and then back to the hotel to pack up. Our flight was schedule at very odd hours. What do you expect right? Paying only RM 9.99 for a one way ticket. It’s quite a bargain, considering only paying less than 10% of normal flight charges. To sum up, I spent a total of 9days and 8 nights in Thailand, including of my all expenses (accommodation, food, transport, tours, souvenirs and air ticket) I spend less than RM 1500. What more can I say, it’s a steal!! I just can’t wait for my next holiday!