Be Kind Rewind

Be Kind Rewind is the one of the dumbest but funniest movie i have ever watched. It's about how 2 men accidentally erased all the movies in the movie rental shop which was being mend by 1 of the men. Of course they could not recreate movies such as star wars, king kong or even rush hours 1, 2 and 3 but their newly reinvented movies were so silly that people actually loved it and eventually the shop became a great hit.

Ahh.... how nice that we could just press the rewind button in real life. Sadly, be kind rewind will only happened in the movies.

Saw a friend posted a comment on fb asking a question that i am sure many of us have asked ourselves before.

"If we could go back to undo things, would we do the right things this time given the second chance?"

What is exactly the right thing? If we have chosen A in the past, would choosing B the second time around ensure that we have chosen the right thing? Wouldn't choosing B lead us to another path of the unknowns and perhaps it might eventually lead us back to where we were today. If B actually leads us to something new and different, how sure are we that we will be happier or being more righteous?

No one will ever have the answers for all the questions above. No one would ever have the answer to the question that we have asked ourselves countless time.

But i am sure if we had given all our determinations and courage when we choose the first time, whether or not is the right thing perhaps does not matters so much. What matters most will be that we have given all out in our decisions and that regrets should not come to us in the future. Life is fragile and time is short. We should all live as though there is no tomorrow.

McDull W.O.W

麥兜真言：

真正的奇蹟， 並不是當某些事情忽然見“當” 一聲的出現。 真正的奇蹟， 是當那走的很慢很慢 的老爺鐘，經過了漫長的數十年, 依然風雨不改的,依然老老實實的為我們不停的報上時間......

McDull's words of wisdom:

A true miracle is not when something "appears"from nothing. A true miracle is when that really really old grandfather clock is still ticking after all the years, and still chimes obediently a the right seconds to to tell us the time...

Moo....

I was left home alone yesterday since KC had a business dinner to go to.

So i was bored, lingering around, trying to find something to do besides having my eyes stuck to the TV. And i saw this from the balcony opposite of our condo.

Not something we could see in KL really. And i remember a joke told by my Singaporean friends that none of the kids in Singapore have ever seen a real cow / goat / chicken besides from the photos! How true!

So i picked up Cofi and showed her how a cow look like. She just turned her head away from the cows and looked really not interested. She must be thinking, what is my owner doing? Going mad?? LOL!

Singing A Thousand Songs

Today is a great day!

The sky is clear, it fees like spring finally, the conversation with my buddy was great and my heart could sing a thousand songs...

Lauduree Macaron

During my transit in Paris Airport, and after knowing that Cofi is safely checked in, i took the opportunity to buy the ever famous snack - Lauduree Macaron.

The Lauduree Macaron is an expensive snack because it cost about 25 euros just to buy 14 pieces of different flavors. Well it will be consider an ok snack if we were working and earning euros but when euros are converted into Ringgit, it means the pricing cost a bomb. Since i got to know about it from a couple of travel websites and magazines and every source is saying that it is a must-try, i decided to go for it! The truth is i just love sweets lately!

The cute booth in the airport.

What is so famous about the Lauduree Macaron is the macarons are bake fresh daily and must be consumed within 3 days. It was an unintentional creation by the 2nd cousin of Loius Earnest Laduree on the 20th century when he decided to join 2 macaron shells together with delicious ganache filling. Hence the birth of Lauduree Macaron. The inventor, Pierre Desfontaines, hence invented this own secret recipe of the fillingss. Ever since then, Lauduree Macaron is famous as a delicacy because these small, round cakes are crisp on the outside, but smooth and soft in the middle. The pastry chefs also measure out very precisely the required amounts of almonds, eggs and sugars before adding the secret recipe at the end.

Now how do i know so much about the Lauduree Macaron? Because it came together with the box! Anyway i googled more about it and found out that this is actually labelled as a luxury cake and pastries and it sold 15 thousands pieces per day!

There are permanent flavors consisting the vanilla, coffee, chocolate, bitter chocolate, pistachio, lemon, caramel with salted butter, liquorices, roses, orange blossom, raspberry and violet blackcurrent. Total 12 different types and i bought all of these. Since it is the spring season now in Europe, there are 2 additional flavors which are the coconut and morello cherry. Lucky me!

Love the colors! 

The packaging is lovely. Can even reuse it as storage box.

And so i bought all the 14 different flavors available and had it as breakfast for the passed 3 days and they were really yummy. I even shared some with Cofi and on one occasion, while feeding her, she dropped some crumbs on the carpet. As i was picking up the crumbs, i accidentally put the opened box of macarons on the sofa. Cofi saw the opportunity to sabotage the macarons and she dug her head into the box and snatched away a piece of the lemon flavor! Before i could even grabbed the macaron from her, she finished swallowing the whole thing! Sob sob, now i will not know how the lemon flavor taste like....

Anyways, now that i know the taste of the ever famous Laduree Macaroon, i should say though it is a little pricey but its all worth it. I will definitely buy some back for you guys the next time i come back, if i am having a transit again in Paris airport!

Feasting

I woke up today feeling very exhausted. I have been experiencing jet lag for the passed few days. I would be sleepy by the time the clock strikes 10pm here and when i woke up the next morning, it will be around 530am. This is killing me. Knowing that i love sleeping and that i cant sleep now, it is like snatching away my life!

Anyway i could actually sleep till late morning today because i am really worn out and am feeling the exhaustion in me. The bad news is, there is supposed to be a maid coming over to clean up 30 minutes ago yet she is still not here! Darn! I could have slept for another 30 minutes.

Ok back to why i was so worn out. The answer is simple. I cooked for a feast yesterday! This is the first time ever in my life that i am cooking everything thing is XXL size just for the size of 6 pax. And the reason is simply because except me, the rest are all male and they are all BIG size!

My dad came to Algers for business trip yesterday and we promised to cook him some delicious Malaysian food. Then KC decided to throw a feast instead by inviting more people. While he was just doing the smsing from his office to inform me of the number of pax, little did he know that i was on the other hand, running around the house preparing the ingredients like a mad woman, all because i have no experience!

Setting up the table. 

We need a plate for rice, a plate for chillies, a bowl for individual soup...

i cant imagine the amount of washing i have to do later..sigh

The main course of the night was Chicken Kut Teh. We bought the packs from the Bak Kut Teh shop in Kelana Jaya. This is one of the best we have ever tried. The soup is clear yet the aroma and flavoring are so rich! The instruction is simple too. Since i have to cook for 6, i put in 1 whole chicken and 4 thighs, together with 6 liters of water, 4 unpeel garlics, 2 teaspoons of dark sauce, 2 table spoons of soya sauce and the secret ingredients from the shop! Viola! The aroma was so strong and it smelled so good that when KC was walking from ground floor towards our apartment on the 2nd, he said he could smelled it!

Mushrooms....

And more mushrooms...

And so when it was time for dinner, KC helped me to "dissect" the whole chicken and to divide them proportionally within the 3 big bowls. I literally used up all the plates, bowls, cups and utensils i have in the kitchen. One more pax and that person will has to eat with her/his fingers! And the small rice cooker that we brought from KL was also filled up, or maybe stuffed and overflown with rice!

I cant even get the lid to cover the rice properly!

Finally, dinner time!

Cheers everyone!

From left bottom, KC, Yasso, Yokouchi and my dad

Yasso was born in Egypt but raised in Canada. So he is actually holding both Egypt and Canada passport. When the Algeria football team was harmed in Egypt during the qualifying match for upcoming World Cup, Yasso actually received dead treats from calls. After that, he is having problems with his colleagues and eventually now he has to disguised himself as Lebanese in his daily life.

Yokouchi on the other hand has just arrived in Algers for 1 month and is waiting to get his working and residence permits done up before he could get his wife and 2 daughters to come over. Surprisingly he has been to Khazastna to work and survived few years! So i am sure he will be able to adapt to Algers and forgo the Japanese in him for a while. Or else i am sure he would have gone mad from the culture shock here.

And after dinner, it was tea and dessert time - Red bean soup! I was so tired that i only managed to eat a little during the whole dinner. I think just the cooking was ok but the serving and cleaning part was what made me so tired.

Hot red bean soup yesterday..

Waiting for my ice cold red bean soup today.. 

But i prefer another type of dessert.

Fancy packaging only in Middle East.

And today, i have another problem... there are so much leftovers that i could fill my lunch and dinner for today....Gulp! Why? Because stupid KC invited another Japanese besides Yokouchi but he did not arrange transportation for him. End up that poor fellow must have waited and waited for no one to pick him up. Idiot KC!

Counting The Days

A week before my departure to Algers, i filled my calendar with tones of outing with my girls.

It has been a long time since we had a girls night out. Each of us is either too busy with life or someone would have cancelled on the others on the day of the appointment. Initially one of us would still take all the initiative needed to plan for outings. However with all the last minutes cancellations and all the low turned out rate, eventually none of us want to organize anything any more. It was sad because we used to be so closed during our school days.

Anyway, the weekend before i left, thanks to Marcia, she managed to get Bee and Jess to come out together and had a fun time singing our lungs out. We spent our day in the singing room the whole afternoon. Of course none of us sang well but it was really fun. At some point in time, we even decided to stand up while singing and even had our hands held high.

Yeah! We are the queens!

Oh.. she is taking our pic, i am so shy!!

It was also during this singing session that i got to know the outing Jess had with her friend. Marcia and I were the only two who stayed till the end. It was on the way walking out from the bowling area that we had the brilliant idea to stalk Jess. As you all should know, we failed terribly.

Let's sing it 1 more time!

We have 1, 3 and 4. What happened to 2??

The next day, we went for dinner at Bee's favorite  Japanese restaurant. Since none of them want to admit their need for Japanese food, they used me as the perfect excuse for Japanese food. Since i will not be having any until next year, they told me eat more while i have the chance. So cruel!

We went to the Japanese restaurant called Ayoma Room in Hartamas and the chef made us some reall delicious dishes that are not on the menu.

This salad is really nice with a touch of lemon, making it very appetizing.

Raw beef in the spoon, fish eyes in the cup, fried fish and volcano egg.

This is really good. Made up of yam, potato and shrimp.

This is a must try. Kimchi fried rice. I was so full yet i could not stop finishing this.

The dinner went on really well. Although it was rather short but we had so much fun laughing and teasing each other. At one point, i broke a joke that had literally choked Bee. Poor thing. She was downing some sake when i stupidly made the joke and the sake chocked her up. 

Me thinking "Oh i am so full but the beef looks so yummy...should i go for it?"

Jess thinking "She will definitely take it! Trust me!"

Ah dont care! Let's stuff myself!

Kan-pai!

One should never turn down ice-cream.

Thanks girls! April is really a fun fun month! Cant wait to come back during December for the big event! *wink*

Cofi's M.I.A In Paris

On 21st April 2010 i decided to travel with Cofi to Algeria. It was the first time i have traveled with Cofi and i was rather worried the whole time.

We have to be at the airport 3 hours before departure in order to check in Cofi and also pay the necessary. So by 7.30pm we started our journey to the airport. Cofi was all dressed up in case it gets really cold in the cargo and she was excited. Looking at how happy she was, i was wondering if she would still be that excited if she knew she will be locked in the cargo for 30 hours.

Yeah, another outing for me!

The airport was full withe people and it took 1 hour to check in Cofi and Me. Of course first I had to pay the surcharge for Cofi. KLM will only take pets in the cabin if they weight 6kg including the cannel. My fat Cofi weights 6.6kg by herself. So she has to be checked in as excess baggage in this case. 

Cofi pleading with her puppy look for us to release her in KLIA

The sticker on her cannel

All her certificates sealed and attached to her cannel

Since April onwards, KLM and Air France has implemented the per-piece luggage rule upon all passengers. Regardless of how heavy the luggages are, the first additional piece will be charged USD55 whereas the second luggage will be charged USD200. And since Cofi will be at Paris airport for more than 2 hours, there is an additional USD200 fees for pet hotel. So all in i had to pay USD400 for her which was pretty ok since we thought it might cost us RM5k just to transport her in the first place.

After paying the money, i got my boarding pass and then we were lead to the excess baggage area to check in Cofi. The guard then told us that it will be better to send Cofi to the airplane via the lift instead. And so we went.

My last view of Cofi at KLIA

So i flew from KLIA to Amsterdam, waited for 2 hours before my next flight to Paris, all the time without any news on Cofi. I was stupid that i didnt check on her in Amsterdam until i reached Paris. When i asked the cabin crew about Cofi, they all got a shock because they were not informed about having a pet on board. Even though it was written on their passengers detail sheets, but no pet was check in and they never pursuit the matter.

I was told that Cofi was not on board. I freaked! The moment i heard that i began to cry. The cabin crew then got panic and did their best to help me tracked down Cofi by calling Amsterdam airport and going into the cabin area to check again. No Cofi!

At this moment i cried even more and i texted KC about the whole situation. He was worried too and called me and asked me to check again. Then i followed one of the ground crew to the transit area. She looked at me in the eyes, apologized for the whole situation and told me that they will make sure that Cofi will be tracked down. I waited with a very heavy heart.

20 minutes later, the ground crew came to me with a smile and told me that somehow Cofi was transported from Amsterdam to Paris in a different plan. She hurried and brought me to the luggage claim area and there i saw Cofi coming out from the conveyor belt. It was only then i could stop crying and thanked the ground crew.

After that she went all the way to help me to get my new boarding pass and told me to send Cofi through the excess baggage area 30 minutes later. What best about Paris airport is pets are allow to roam freely in the airport. So i took Cofi out from her cannel, fed her with the energy bar and let her roamed and released herself.

Finally Cofi is with me again. It was already 18 hours passed the last i saw her.

No one at the airport was freaked out to see a roaming dog. 

Cofi getting all excited after releasing herself.

After the Paris lesson, i made sure i asked the cabin crews about Cofi when i boarded the plane. I was sitting at row 12A and one of the cabin crew came to me and told me Cofi was just at the cargo area below my seat. Phew! And by the time my flight too off, i was exhausted physically and mentally due to the earlier crying.

When i landed at Algers, there was another flight by Qatar which landed the same time. The queue at the immigration area was long! People were queuing up in a zig zag manner. I thought it will take forever for my turn. But good old KC did his trick again by pulling strings for me. He asked his colleague who has a friend working as custom officer in Algers to look for me.

The moment he got me, he took my passport and asked me to go ahead for hand luggage clearance. After that i was directed to the baggage area to claim my luggage. To make it even faster, he took the luggage number sheets from me and passed them to the boys who were retrieving the luggage behind the conveyor belt. By the time i got back my passport and took everything i had, it took only about 30 minutes and this was due to the VIP service i got. If i were to wait like others, it will definitely took me hours.

Thank God Cofi is safe and sound with us in Algers now. Somehow she settled down faster than me.