The 2nd 1/2 of my Saturday

I waited for almost 30 minutes before I got a table. It is always fully booked or packed for Rakuzen; simply the food is good and fresh.

Close to 8.15pm, Mamma Mia and Dave arrived. We sat down and started browsing through the menu. We were hungry and we could eat a horse!

I left the ordering of food to Mamma Mia. She is very good with it and there will never be wastage of food! The 3 of us had 4 types of dishes – Salad, fried chicken cutlets, eel roll and grilled beef.

Oh my gosh, the food was just super duper yummylicious.

Salad with crab sticks - highly recommended by me

Half way through it, we’ve decided to order cold soba.

While we were chatting and enjoying the food, Dave called for the boss and informed him about the water leakage of the pipe above his head. Dave was worried that it was from the loo, but the boss assured us it was just a normal piping problem.

The boss of Rakuzen gave us a plate of complimentary ice cream as compensation. Yum….

Ice cream with red bean paste in the wafer

After hours of chats and laughters, we walked to our car and wished each other good night….

That night, I was disciplined enough to do my work till almost 4am before I hit the bed. I needed to finish it as I was going out for “shopping” on Sunday….

Shop for what?! Hmm…..watch out for my next post to find out….

Cheers!

Look at it from another Angle

If you look at it carefully, each cloud has a silver lining……
If you look at it in a different perspective, problems are not as complicated…..
If you are willing leave it behind, life will be happier and brighter…..

Just never raise up the white flag easily.....

First half of the Saturday

Saturday morning, I went to the gym. I’ve decided to join another class instead of RPM. I went for Body Vive. Hmm…I felt a little awkward because knowing myself very well, I am not the-very-flexible-type.

Body Vive contains some of the dance moves and balancing. Gosh, I was feeling a little shy at first and got the steps mixed up – when it was time for left feet to take a step forward, I moved my right…hahhahaa...

Anyway, it was fun after about 10 minutes. I was laughing even though I made a mistake. I know noone there but Mamma Mia, so heck it lar. I just want to relax and release tension.

So, after an hour of dancing and hopping around and balancing, the class came to an end ….

We continued with Body Pump and wow, it was an intensive one. The usual instructor was being replaced with another substitute instructor. I supposed he had some emergency or else….

After gym and my lunch, I revisited “the place” with Gabby. I took her to PAWS again.

Gabby was pretty excited and she was being very friendly to the rest of the doggies there.

While Gabby was socializing there, I walked around the compound. I revisited the area where I first saw Gabby.

This time, there was another lil lonely doggy which looked like Gabby when she was a baby.

See! Don’t they look alike?

This was Gabby when she was younger.

This was the other Gabby look alike puppy......

Hehehehehe....she gave me a sweet smile!

Ein langer aber glücklicher Tag

The title means: “A long but happy day” in German

Allow me to back track a little……

Friday night.

It was the final day of the week. And I was looking forward for the weekend because I felt quite worn out. I had a three hours discussion and brainstorming session with my mentor. I needed her guidance.

My mentor was very kind and patient to guide me the right way of analyzing and having strong rationality to each derived figure and decision made. I admit it was a very intensive session, but at the end of the day, I know I’ve gained more knowledge.

After “releasing” her from the discussion, it was almost 7pm. I quickly got my phone out from the drawer and scrolled through my phonebook. I made a call.

Me: Hey, I will be running late. Sorry. I need to send out an urgent email first.
MMB: Ok, sure. See you.

“That night, was the night”….to celebrate 3rd Fookie’s birthday…

I quickly typed out the report and finally sent it out at 730pm. I packed up and left.

I made my diva way to The Curve. I frantically called MMB as I couldn’t find the diner. Everyone had arrived .Shit, a real diva I was, I thought to myself.

I settled down and it was just in time to order drinks. Food was already taken care by the gang…..The food was good, ambience was great and with a reasonable price.

Hmm…..some happy juice would do me good. Hence, without any hesitation, I ordered Hoegaarden! And so, everyone was having one too!

Yay!

The drink, was THE drink.....lalalalalalala

The shy birthday girl

The not-so-shy ones

The Fookies Family

With a sigh of relieve, my “Friday” had finally came. We had the usual chats and update session! Laughing gas was released....hahahahha

After the full meal, somehow we felt that it wasn’t quite complete. Bavarian Bierhaus didn’t have a great menu for dessert. So, we went to Winter Warmers instead after paying up the bill.

Combo roasted pork knuckles, ham and sausage

The healthy greens

The dissected dish

3rd Fookie made a statement that Winter Warmers is mine. Why?

Simply because the decoration and glass wear was so “ME” – full of flowers!

Yes, I love flowers! Flowers maniac, maybe?…..hahhahahaa

The lovely tea set

The flower tea in a "LOVE"ly cup

We ordered 2 pots of flower tea. I requested for scones! All of the other Fookies looked at me with their eyes almost popped out! Scones at 10pm?

Well, yea, I had my wish granted. We had scones…..and a plate of waffles with ice cream.

The English set up

The clock almost stroke 12 (I didn’t turn into a rat or pumpkin) but my eyes were already closing; and not Winter Warmers. I was tired. A long day it was….

We said our goodbyes and parted for the night.

I had my long-awaited, relaxing bath and hit the bed…

That was how my Friday went….

Cheers!

Groggy Monday Start

I was tired yesterday; after an extremely long week.

I tried sleeping after watching Miss Malaysia Universe 2009 last night but fortunately, my eyes just refused to close and mind “said no” to rest. So, I picked up a book and started reading a few pages. Slowly, my eyes lids started to feel heavy. It WAS time to off the lights and pull the sheets up to my chin.

I woke up this morning and still feeling lethargic.

There is nothing that I hope for but a smooth week ahead.

Have a great Monday, all!

Blings on Dolls

When I saw these at the mall, someone came to mind. A close buddy of mine who loves blings and is a princess……

You know who you are there…..

Girls' bestfriend

A jewelry fair that was going on. Their concept was to have the dolls’ clothes and accessories made out of real diamonds, pearls and stones…..

Cool, eh?!

THE Cream

This caught my attention.

It was early in the morning when I was driving out from the neighborhood for work.

Mann cream? I wonder if it is yellow in color?

Does a man really need to use it to be a MAN and feel MANLY?

If one doesn’t want to be “unenergetic” like this…..

*Note: this is known as banana slug

How about eating these? I wonder...

以形补形?

Someone will pick you up when one is Falling

At times, when someone is feeling down and almost gave up with what he or she is doing or with themselves, it is important to have someone who provides support and encouragement.

I experienced it today………

…………..and I am grateful.

Wanting to be a Survivor to Survive

After what happened today, I need to train myself to be a real SURVIVOR.

I need to be more FIRM (not physically but if it is, it would be great too, but I am referring to my attitude here). (Being more confident and not turning it into arrogance).

I need to be stronger, mentally, to handle situations with a calm and clear mind.

I need them desperately.

Once I am a true survivor, I know I have won the battle (with myself).

Everything will be fine

I had a few challenges today. It was one of those days and I felt it quite badly.

But…. I faced with it courage.

Let me tell you about my day…

First half of the day I had meeting with the CBD team and attended a teleconference for some update. Had a discussion with my mentor and then it was time for a farewell lunch. Lunch was great and all of us had a hearty chat and the room was filled with laughters.

In the afternoon, my mailbox was filled with emails. I was really put to the test to think for solutions to the problems arose. Later, I received a phone call. I was glad that my mentor pointed it out to me; or else I would have or will repeat it. There were two parties who are at fault and on my side, I admitted the mistake I made. I felt bad and will buck up on it.

Here, I would like to pen down my thoughts. I am writing the below because I care for this person very much.

Regardless what, why and how it happened, I believe everything happened for a reason. It was a challenge and it had definitely made the person stronger; mentally. Forgive and forget is the right thing to do. That is the only thing that can be done to feel better; to move on……

It will be an achievement to do so and the sky will be blue again, one will hear the birds chirping happily and flowers bloom with indescribable beauty. Life will be a bliss and it will be a whole new beginning ……

Why not leave the bitter footprints behind and embark on a brand new journey?

It will not be as bad as it seemed to be, I believe. I believe it is a whole new world out there to explore…..give others a chance and also to yourself.

I hope you will be okay. Here is a song for you.

Cheers!

Popeye, not the sailorman - The Chicken, Seafood and Biscuits Outlet

I love weekends….!

…..Simply because I get to explore new eateries….!

I headed to TTDI. I wanted to try out this Louisiana fast food restaurant. It is weird that it is called POPEYE because to me, POPEYE eats this!!!!

Anyways, I strutted into the restaurant and I was stoned for awhile. To my utter surprise, the menus stuck on the light boxes were similar to KFC’s or Kenny Rogers. There were fried chicken, burgers, mash potatoes, coleslaw and so on…..but the whole purpose of going there was to whack the biscuits.

Biscuits? Well…..they are A.K.A scones in local language. Apparently in America, the locals call scones, biscuits. I am a scones lover! I don’t need jam or whipped cream or maple syrup, all I need is butter!

These scones are different as compared to the usual ones as they are slightly salted. Well, Popeye doesn’t serve the complements for the biscuits, so I tried it with some chili sauce!

Scones with chili sauce

Crazy? Yea…a little!

These were what I ordered.

Fried chicken with a different batter

Chicken tender slices

The fried chicken tasted a bit salty to me. Well, maybe because I am used to having less salt in my food intake. The mash potato – another favourite of mine – was creamy smooth, but the gravy was also slightly saltier than KFC’s (KFC is just located diagonally opposite of Popeye).

The decoration and setup of the restaurant was quite a typical fast food outlet. It looked a bit of those in America (well, I don’t know if it is true as I haven’t been there- not as lucky as Christopher Columbus?; but from what I see on TV).

Just before I left the restaurant, I ordered a dozen of biscuits to go. I wanted to share some with my other makan kakis. I sent a text to them and informed them that they will have breakfast this morning. All that they have to bring is their own jam or butter.

I checked out the box of biscuits. Wow, they have a few “powerful claims” printed on it.

For those who just want "hit and run", why not pick up the phone and dial this number and pick up the ordered later?