Home Alone

CT's bf decided to take some time off from his flight school exam(how coool is that) and "flew" over here for two weeks to be with her sayang, ooo...jealousnyerr...Well, of course he's not a certified pilot yet, but I'm sure he'll be able to do that one day...CT will have her personal superman then :D

As for myself, whenever we have guests at home, I'll try to be as considerate as possible, not wanting to be the "spotlight" whenever I can. So I pandai-pandailar this week, try to give these two love birds some time of their own.. This weekend, they are off to The Highlands(where the Highlanders roam) for their "honeymoon", so I'm left home alone...pity me,hor...(CT, in case u are reading this, I am just joking, hehe..I'm sure you know how I love lazing at home!)

So what did I do? As usual, by the time I got up, I am ready for brunch, no cool meals this time as I'm eating leftovers from yesterday. After that, I dilly dally a bit, and then ....and then....

........... .................. ..................................................... .... .... ..

I went to WORK. Yes, I went back to work on a beautiful,sunny Saturday!

Yea, yea..I know you must be thinking I am crazy, but but but...you knowlar, I am sent here to enjoy work mar, and the work environment here is not something to shout about. All my host manager does is to demand this demand that. If he said "I want this done by Monday!",I, as the "servant" of my company must try to comply. Sad huh...

In this project that I'm involved in,I have to put in 10% effort and 90% of imagination (pun intended!). But plenty of imagination(not dirty wan lar) is a fact simply because the product that I am supposed to be working on is not 100% ready yet. So I have to put my imagination to good use when I am developing test on it. I'd imagine if I continue to build up my skills in this field, I'll be the perfect candidate for "blackbox" design company next time! lol...

From the archive..down memory lane

When I looked back(or should I say think back), I do have some regrets for not blogging about all my previous trips. Procrastination should be blame for it, a super duper lame excuse, I know.

After thinking long and hard (yeah right), I decided to make up for this by posting up some of the pictures I took previously, be it the stuffs I cooked, my adventures or any kind of snapshots I took along my travels at least once a week. These pics will be selected from the thousands I have currently stored in my 180 GB HDD. Rather than keeping them there to rot, why not share it out right? :) ..A very good way for me to reflect back on what I did as well as a great way to test my memory too!

Ok, so for today, fresh out from ellwye's vault, here's some pictures of what we cooked last time back in Edinburgh in 2007. Please note the usage of "we" here as I am not here to take all the credits, of course. My previous housemate in Edinburgh was YS, whom is my current boss btw. At that time, we experimented on many different kinds of dishes and I remembered that we always have small dinner/lunch gatherings amongst a few other colleagues whenever any of us cooked anything nice that day...

So without further adieu, I shall present to you our culinary flair...

Ladies and gentlemen, please feel free to drool now... :D

Our mouth-watering Ipoh-style Chicken Rice with bean sprouts and cabbage soup.

Popiah/Springroll

( Deep fried version and Steamed version)
Stuffings consisted of meat,tofu,carrots,mushrooms,eggs and beansprouts.

Nasi Lemak sambal ikan bilis + egg

Lazy Sunday

When I woke up this morning, the sun was shining so brightly, I can barely opened my eyes when I rolled the curtains back..Wow, what a beautiful day! Definitely a change from the typical, cold, cloudy and gloomy weather.

In such a good weather..I told myself that I shouldn't be all couped up in the apartment, I need to get out, get some fresh air..So my plan is to get outside after lunch, maybe u know, do more shopping? hehe........So... right after lunch, and after getting all the dishes done, I looked out of the window..and..... guess what?
Argh!! The clouds are back, the weather has changed, back to the cold, gloomy condition..sigh..

This is very typical of the weather here, at one time it may be all sunny and dry and in a matter of minutes, things might change for the worse...You'll be whipped with strong gales and the sky will turn all dark and gloomy...Not surprising, Scottish actually dressed up to match with the gloomy weather here..The choice of colours are usually dark, like black, grey and dark blue!

Oh well, I'd rather stay home for another day then. Time for more internet surfing (reading blogs!) and more milk tea please.. (teh peng :D)....

Home away from home, but what's "home" to you?

I'd always love staying at home on the weekends. Today is just like one of the many weekends that I'd sleep-in till almost midday (I'm a real pig, sleeping is my hobby btw). The day will usually start with me having a brunch instead of breakfast. Then I'll brew some tea, and while enjoying my tea I'll be surfing the internet.

As of late, reading blogs about Malaysian political news have been my favourite pastimes. I think you would have guessed what I am talking about and where this will leads to.The more I read, the more radical my thoughts would be. As ignorant as I may be, the news these days is not something that you will just bat an eyelid and forget bout it the next day. How much more can the they deprive us, how much more can they deceive us?

The arrest of RPK, Theresa Kok and SinChew reporter under ISA. Is this a joke?
This is clearly a practice of injustice in broad daylight. What does democracy means when the draconian law of ISA could detain just about anyone without a trial? What is human rights? What do you mean by freedom of speech by the Malaysian context?

I am just so dissapointed right now..sigh..



Let's pray for those who fight for us, let's pray for RPK and Theresa's release....

Forth Bridge..an annual ritual

For everyone (from my company) travelling to SQF, it must be a ritual of sort to visit the two great bridges -The Forth Rail Bridge (built on the 19th Century) and Forth Bridge (ala Penang Bridge) connecting North and South Queensferry. Well, I must admit that it was really a sight to behold, the architecture of the red Forth Rail Bridge across the Firth of Forth.

As for me, yes, it was a ritual of sort for me too. I don't think I'll ever get bored of this place...
That's me back in April 2007

That's me recently on September 2008

NOTE: Let me find where's my 2005 photos and I'll post it up later...It should be in one of my backup CDs.

Apart from that, CT's friend, Bulat and Ivy came all the way from Manchester for a visit. Initially, they were kinda reluctant to visit this please as it wasn't really a touristy place I guess, but when they arrived (it was freezing by the way, the wind there was chilling!!) they probably changed their mind! Who can resist such a pretty view of the majestic bridge ? :)

[Top]: Bulat, Me & Ivy ; [Bottom]: Bulat, CT & Ivy ( we're at Queensferry Town)

Weekend Cookout#3

This week, we cooked a sinfully delicious meal of authentic Nasi Lemak, with sambal, ikan bilis, eggs and acar! Fantastic!!

Menu:
1. Acar (cucumber, onion,carrots)
2. Fried ikan bilis
3. Masala chicken
4. Sambal for ikan bilis
5. Boiled eggs





Nasi Lemak Apt no:11 ..Any takers ? :)




Ratings: 8/10

On top of that, we also baked our first chocolate cake!!!! The cake looked horrendous on the exterior but thankfully, it tasted good! What an achievement! :D











From left to right: Chocolate cake fresh from oven; that's me trying to save a slice from falling out, we forgot to snap a picture before we cut it! lol!

Ceeeeeleeeebraaaaatiooooooon!

Last Tuesday was a lucky day for me as CT decided to give me a treat. Well of course it was an even happier occasion for CT , but I shall not reveal here, for privacy sake :) ..Anyway, all good things must be celebrated with food, glorious food! So we went to Sushiya, aahh...we simpy love Japanese food...


Here's some crazy pics we took:





See..CT could't help smiling,isn't it obvious?..lol













That's me enjoying my Teriyaki Chicken set! Yummy!











CT gobbling down the sushi of her choice..forgot the name :D

Weekend Cookout#2

On the 2nd weekend, here's our Menu:

1. Brinjal with Sambal
2. Tumeric Chicken
3. Fried Ikan Bilis
4. Sambal (for Ikan Bilis)

Ratings:6/10

[Top left]:The super spicy sambal brinjal, not a very nice shot..
[Top right] :A horrible presentation of the tumeric chicken, looked gross right?

Scotland national emblem

Having been here so many times ,I am embarassed to say that I have not actually seen the Scottish National Symbol the Thistle. Besides tartan,blowpipes and kilts, the Thistle is perhaps one of the most identifiable symbols of all things Scottish. Funny, Thistle is actually a humble weed, commonly found in Scotland. For this trip, I vowed to myself that I should try to spot one this time around. Surprisingly, I did find one, during my shopping trip in Livingstone..

Ah, what a great feeling! :)

Here's a pic that I captured!

The Scottish thistle

Fireworks Galore!

Guess what?

The date is 31st of August 2008 and fireworks display being lined up.

You must be thinking of Merdeka Celebrations? :)

Well, not really...and coincidentally, there's a celebration of a different kind over here in Edinburgh City.

For the past months, Edinburgh was the host of a few International festivals in the likes of Edinburgh Festival, Fringe Festival , Book Festival etc. At the end of these festivals, it is customary that the closing ceremony will end with as much aplomb as the beginning, thus tourists/visitors will be mesmerized with a 45-minutes fireworks display dancing to the beautiful live music played by world-renowed Scottish Chamber Orchestra while a fireworks team based in the castle provides synchronised visual accompaniment.

Of course to watch the live Orchestra, one would have to pay, but we can always catch it FOC from a few vantage points, the best would be Princess Street.I have watched a similar event last year, and it was really a great experience! This year, I will be going again this time with CT. We thought the show will not commence until 10pm(according to the website) but somehow the show began at 9pm sharp. Which means that we missed about half hour of the spectacle by the time we got to Princess Street! The place was really crowded by the time we got there! Now I know why we need to leave earlier to bag a good spot !!

Here's some snapshots of the fantastic spectacle. Please note that I am no professional photographer, so please bear with the quality of the pictures! hehe.. Enjoy!

Last year: 2/09/2007

It was just like yesterday..

I still remembered vividly...last year when we were trying to snap a pic of all of us (4 of us) without a tripod.Each time we tried, the person holding the camera will look kinda funny (face looked too big, distorted view etc..hahaha)..This one turned out to be the best. Guess who's holding the camera?? :D

Fast Forward to this year: 31/8/2008

Nice eh? But too bad, my photography skills is a bit cacat..

the pics looked a bit blurr!...

Aihh.. no chance to take a pic with CT too...:(..Too many ppl ler..

Shop till we drop!

I find it funny that it has to take me on my 3rd trip to Scotland to realise that there's actually a factory outlet here, barely 40 mins drive from Edinburgh, in the South of Livingstone.Of course I have heard many times that shopping in Livingstone is great but I always have the impression that the malls in Livingstone is just like any other malls in Edinburgh perhaps slightly bigger. Boy, was I wrong. Never had I imagine that Livingstone is actually a shopping haven, a congregation of all the outlets of great brands like Gap, Next,Topshop etc just like the outlet malls in the US!

Our trip to Livingstone was kinda impromptu. We have planned to go to the car boot sale nearby St.James Square that Saturday morning only to realise that the sale is only available on Sunday. Talk about bad planning :(. At that instance, we decided to head West to Livingstone instead. It was just a quick check on the internet, and the next thing we knew we're on the bus on our way there. We took the Lothian bus (No.1) to Gorgie Road(pronounced Gor-Gee instead of Jor-Ji) and from there the FirstLine bus no 76 heading towards Bathgate/Livingstone. We were kinda lost initially (due to last minute planning) and we have to ask a few passers-by to confirm on the correct bus we need to take! Btw, a return ticket for Lothian bus costs 2.50 while a single ticket from Gorgie Road to Livingstone costs 4.30.

The journey there was really scenic! The best part was that we got the front row upper deck seat on the double decker bus, which offered a great 180 degress view of the countryside along the way to Livingstone!

CT and I, posing at the double decker bus. We're on the front row of the bus!
The mall is called Almondvale Shopping Center and it sits right beside the Livingstone Designer Outlet. Almondvale is a huge mall with at least 200 outlets, and now they have an extension that will be ready by winter 2008. Brandnames at the outlets includes the likes of GAP, Matalan,TK Maxx and etc.

The interior of the Almondvale Shopping Center

So, how cheap are the stuffs here? To me, it is very cheap, at least when it is on sale!!!Well, the best part was that at that time, the outlets were having a Clearance Sale to get rid of the summer season stocks. Summer clothings was definitely what we were looking for!!!Woo hoo!!!

At last count, I got 3 pairs of GAP pants at the price of 3.99 pounds each, can you believe it???CT on the other hand, bought a cute leather handbag from NeXT for 10 pounds and a pair of pure leather shoes for less than 20 pounds! What a bargain!Oh, my only complain is that I could not buy more as I need to ensure that I do not exceed my baggage limit when I get home. The limit is a mere 20 kg, and my luggage bag itself already weighs a whopping 8 kg!! waaaaaaaa.... :'(

All in all, the trip was indeed a satisfying retail therapy for us!! Where's next? Glasgow ? :D