Big City Small Love

Suddenly think of this nice song.... I know i know its quite an old song.. i guess it is 2006 compilation.. i fell in love with this song at the very first time listening to it.. when i got to know who sings this, i was like.. "hehe..no wonder la.." :D

Yes Man!

Besides the hilarious scenes that bring so much laughter to the audience, I personally think that this movie has another message that is much more meaningful.. it teaches us how to open up ourselves to things around us. Saying YES to opportunities really let us embrace the possibilities to SUCCESS.. On the other hand, saying NO means you are turning away even the 1%. So why dont we try to say YES to things that we used to reject. We might like the changes, who knows? :)

Jumper by Third Eye Blind

Warning: Only say YES when you really mean it. Saying yes to everything will bring disastrous consequences.

Merry X'mas!!!

Merry Christmas to all my friends....

How did you guys celebrate Xmas?

Well, I had a simple celebration with my colleagues.. Went to The Manhattan Fish Market for dinner and spent the Xmas eve in the cinema..

Looked like fresh milk, taste like fresh milk but it is actually...

...mushroom soup

I love Adsense!

Last month I applied an Adsense account. It was supposed to get approved within 2 days.. so I checked my email every single day for the reply. However, it seemed like the more eager I was, the longer it is going to be happening.. day by day and finally 2 weeks has passed, yet I have not received any reply from Adsense! Hence I created another gmail account and re-applied for Adsense. I know it is troublesome for me to maintain 2 gmail accounts but what to do.. I need $$$... This time it got approved quite fast.. it took only 2 days.. The problem is, now that I am already halfway earning with my activated account, suddenly I got an email from Adsense sending to my old gmail account... it is an approval of the former request! How pathetic! :( I am likely to get barred from Adsense as one user is not allowed to have 2 accounts.

Moral of the story:
"A watched pot never boils" - whenever we sit and wait for letters, people, the right job, Christmas or anything else we want, it takes a long time to arrive. Sometimes it never comes. After waiting for what seemed like hours, we decided to busy ourselves with something else and bingo! it comes. There is a principle operating here which is telling us, "Get on and live your life in the present moment and dont hold your breath for things to happen. So while you are waiting for one thing to happen, do something else. Letting go of the situation accelerates results."
For those who have no idea what Adsense is about, click on the Ads by Google on the sidebar. Apply one today! :)

Tonight's Supper

I had my dinner quite early just now around 4pm. Papa is thoughtful enough to ask me to bring back a set of meal as my supper so that I dont have to eat outside. He said that the food outside is not as good as home one.. quite true.. but I know you also put ajinomoto la.. haha.. :p

Quite a heavy supper, I have just finished it.. too full, cannot sleep!

rice, egg, ikan bilis, tofu, fish

p/s: dont let papa see this

Congratulations & Celebrations

Today brother went for Arithmetic Competition again. Everytime he goes for competition, he never fails to bring back a prize... We are very proud of you! Although this time, the result is not as what he wished for, but it is already good enough that you've tried your best..

"Jason, you are a lucky boy.. after getting the cup, come home still got prize from us - tangyuen semangkuk! Lastime we all what also dont get..."

Jason looked very enjoyed with the feast, sambil eat sambil complaining why he got such a small cup.. According to him, the judge not fair wor.. So he swore that he must become a judge nextime..

Despite his behsyokness, he was forced to take a photo with his trophy...

The prizes got by 6 of us versus...

the prizes got by Jason ALONE!!!

Happy Winter Solstice Festival

冬至节快乐!

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates

Life is like a box of chocolates...

You never know what you're gonna get

Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies.
Money talks. Chocolate sings.

Eat a square meal a day - a box of chocolate.

In the cookies of life, friends are the chocolate chips.

I could give up chocolate but I'm not a quitter.
Forget love
-- I'd rather fall in chocolate!!!

*Thanks Joe*

Soup of The Day: Misoshiru

In my previous post, I have shared on how to make Japanese potato salad. How about learning another Japanese dish which is much more easier yet highly nourishing? Dont worry, it takes only minutes to prepare.. can be served as breakfast or part of the main meal. Let me introduce the soup of the day.... MISOSHIRU!

Before we start, let me tell you some nutrition fact about misoshiru. It is interesting to know that misoshiru contains anti-cancer characteristics. Long-term population studies in Japan revealed that people who eat misoshiru daily were statistically less likely to get several types of cancer and other chronic diseases. This is mainly because of the soybeans as the key ingredients in misoshiru. Soybeans are high in essential fatty acids, vitamin E, and saponins, cholesterol-like plant compounds. All of these compounds are involved in fighting, preventing and curing cancer.

So the ingredients that we are need to prepare today are miso (soybean paste), tofu (beancurd), and wakame seaweed. You can easily get all these ingredients from the groceries store.

Miso is actually a rich, earthy paste made from fermented soya beans. It can be categorized into white (shiromiso), red (akamiso) or black (kuromiso). So what is the difference? White miso has mild and sweet flavour while akamiso is saltier. The black one has even saltier and stronger in taste. If the label is not clear or in Japanese, trying spotting the color of the paste. White miso is pale gold in colour and red miso is more caramel brown. Black is even darker. Well, in this experiment, I used the red one simply because I like salty taste than sweet.

So what is wakame? It is actually curly-leafed seaweed, usually dehydrated and broken into small pieces. It swells quite fast when added into the water and has a soft texture. Hence if it's left soaked for too long, it can become slimy (liam liam). Tofu is soybean curd, pressed into blocks as fresh tofu or processed further. Tofu is often an ingredient in soups and stews.

Ingredients:
- miso (soybean paste)
- wakame seaweed
- tofu (beancurd)


Method:

1) Prepare a pot containing water. Boil it.

2) After the water is boiled, rinse the wakame quickly.

3) Put 2 tablespoon of miso paste into the pot containing boiling water. Stir well. Add in the wakame and tofu.

4) Tada!!!! Here is the misoshiru!

Mistake Made:

1) Rinse the wakame in the first step

By rinsing the wakame, you are extending the duration of exposure to water. It will only make the seaweed more slimer.

Lesson learnt: To prevent it, dont rinse it or if you have to, just immerse it in the water quickly after your pot of boiling water is ready..

2) Put in the wakame in the water first then only wait for it to boil

By the time the water boils, the wakame already swell till very big.. :(

Lesson learnt: Again, put the wakame into the water after the it is boiled.

3) Lack of ingredients

When the soup is served, we suddenly realized there is something lacked.. misoshiru without tofu is not like a real misoshiru..

Lesson learnt: Remember to get all the ingredients before start cooking. During shopping, dont sembang till forget to buy the necessary things!!! (im actually scolding myself :P)

But still, it tasted delicious... Dont believe? Ask my housemates :) For those who are too lazy to get the ingredients, wash the pot or even to boil the water, you can try out the instant miso soup. But warning! It might contain up to 3 times the amount of MSG of my recipe :D

*Again, credit goes to VM*

New Place New Life

I was in the midst of packing all my stuff... wondering why? I am going to move!

Dont worry, just move cube only la.. Have taken some photos of my cube, before and after.. I will miss my old cube.. but I cant wait to be in the new location! :D

Fellow Kogepan.. pls evacuate yourselves to a corner and line up in a row... Start count! 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8.. We are going to march to the other side..

Too bad my Kogepan armies have difficulties crossing the road..

cos their eyes are white, see? So no choice.. all masuk kotak!

Happened to find this kotak to fit in all my Kogepan. The cannibals on the box really look like kogepan, also white eyeball...Seems like this box is destined for them..

These are the 4 dimensions of the box which explain Abu's family.
I think the story goes like this.

The cannibal tribe is going to die from starvation.. So Abu and family risked their life to cut the One-eyed Monster's tail off and bbq it like potato. Yeah~ the folks are saved!

Does it make sense?

Box #1

Im yours...

Box #2

Double protection for the fragile items

Wow! Look at my keychain collection! Spot the kogepan.. Cannot see?

A closer up shot.. Can see it now?

Hot bread for sale...

My birthday balloon shrinks!

Sorry I have to kill u Mr Bean and SpongeBob.. you are too fat to go into the bin.

Japanese Potato Salad

Do you know the little bowl of potato salad that they always serve with your bento set in Japanese restaurants? Basically it is different from the potato salad that you normally have in Kenny Rogers... Today I will teach on how to make delicious Japanese potato salad!

Last Monday I had made some and bring it to the office.. luckily got ppl pong chan.. in fact, many of them praised nice :) Thanks for your support ya.. One of them asked me how to make.. I told her, "Easy! Only 4 ingredients and POP! come out a potato salad!" Actually it is one more ya.. 5 ingredients altogether...

Here I put down all the snapshots and step-by-step instructions.. hopefully by looking at this, she can get a better idea.. :) So are you ready? Here we go...

Ingredients:
- 3 potatoes (RM0.40 per kg)
- 2 Japanese cucumber (RM3.99 per packet of 3)
- 1 carrot (RM0.90 for 1)
- Japanese mayonnaise (RM4.99)
- pinch of pepper (RM2 per bottle)


Method:

1) Put the potato into boiling water for 30 minutes.

2) In the mean time, peel the cucumber.
3) Peel the carrot also.
4) Slice the cucumber and cut into shreds.
5) Slice the carrot and cut into shreds.
6) Take out the potato from the boiling pot. Soak in cold water for 2 minutes and peel it.
7) Crush it.
8) Grind it.
9) Mash it.
10) Add in the cucumber shreds.
11) Add in also the carrot shreds.

12) Put generous amount of mayonnaise. Add a little pepper to taste.

13) Mix and stir well. Put into the fridge and serve chilled.

In short, just mix the ingredients, chill and voila! a light tasty dessert.... isnt it easy? Have fun trying it out at home... :)

*Credit goes to VM*