The Archives

Chinese Dessert
05.28.08 | Permalink |Food| 1 Comment

I love Chinese dessert especially “tong sui” meaning sweet soup dessert. We have red bean soup, green bean soup, almond soup, bubur cha cha, herbal egg, peanut soup, black pulut soup, sweet potatoes soup and sweet sago dessert. It makes me drool just thinking about it.

There is this eating place in I-Avenue Bayan Baru Penang call Chopstick. They served mini bowls of red bean, black pulut and peanut soup. All 3 are my favorite soup. I like the way they served it in small portion so that I will be able to taste all 3 soups. They should prepared more variety and I think it can sell well.

Last time when I was small, there is this “tong sui” seller who comes around our house. We used to line up to buy his desserts. We drink them for supper. Yeap, we Cantonese like soups a lot!

Popularity: 2% [?]
Laundry Flying Around
05.28.08 | Permalink |Living, PP| Comments Off

When I was young, I lived in 3 storey flats. Our flat is a corner flat and we have an opening for drying laundry. The funny thing is when strong winds come, the laundry gets blown away easily if we do not peg it properly. Sometimes we may get extra or missing laundry.

Funny thing is that in our pile of laundry we may find some lingerie, underpants or pajamas which do not belongs to us. The people will not come knocking on our door to claim for it because they are too embarrassed to do so. What do we do with them, we threw it away after 1 month.

Popularity: 2% [?]
FBI Agent
05.26.08 | Permalink |Dream| Comments Off

Yesterday I was cooking up a little drama in my dream. I dreamt I was assisting some high tech crooks to get some memory chips. I wasn’t sure whether they were crooks or good guys. I helped them to enable the chips so that they can fit it into their high tech machines to view a video. The video was encrypted with some message in it.

The crooks had to leave my place in a hurry. While they were leaving, the FBI agents came to my place and pretend not to see the crooks. All agents walk passed them. The crooks pull me aside and questioned me. I told the crooks that I was on another case that the FBI agents needed some info from me. The crooks told me not to release any info to them. Suddenly I felt I was in a high profile with such intelligence helping 2 groups of people to get to the information they want.

I woke up feeling good. I wonder what it would be like if I was a FBI agent in real life. Oh well, maybe I watch too much TV but I must say it was really a good dream.

Popularity: 2% [?]
Office Deco
05.26.08 | Permalink |PP, Work| Comments Off

I admired some of my US colleague’s cubicles because they really decorate their place with fancy stuff. It is a pleasant look and I must say that it has become their second home. US folks love to do that. During Christmas, there will be cotton like snow on the cubicles, Christmas trees, santa dolls and presents everywhere. I just love the atmosphere there.

Back home, we dare not do this drastically. Occasionally we may see some colleagues bringing it plants, silk flowers, small table deco or little souvenirs from abroad. How I wished I can decorate the place where I spend one third of the day with things I like. By the way, one of my hubby’s ex colleague brought a big aquarium to work.

Popularity: 3% [?]
Fitness Equipment
05.26.08 | Permalink |Health, PP| Comments Off

Today a lot of the fitness equipments are in compact in size and easily stored away. It is at a low price too and shipping is free. There are plenty of fitness equipment to pick from like treadmills, exercise bike, steppers, riders and strength builders.

I have wanted to get a treadmill at home. It will nice that I can do exercise at home which I rarely do because I am always busy with my family. Some treadmills are foldable and can be kept below the bed. Now that is cool.

Popularity: 2% [?]
Logic Does Not Apply
05.23.08 | Permalink |Tax| 1 Comment

A month ago, I have just completed my tax submission. There is something not right about our tax system. It seems that it is not working for lower income group and it doesn’t benefit them. Why do I say that?

Take for example: We get books rebates up to 1000.

If you are earning 2500 a year, basically the rebates don’t apply to you because you are not subjected to tax. You get no benefit from the book rebates.

If you are earning higher and after all the deduction, the taxable income is 10K. You are entitled to a 3% discount or rebate on books up to 1000 you spend.

If you are earning higher and after all the deduction, the taxable income is 70K. You are entitled to 24% discount or rebate on books up to 1000 you spend.

More than 250K, you get a 28% discount.

If you see the trend above, it means the more you earn, the more discount you get. Therefore the richer you are, the more money you save.

You then argue, hey I pay more % tax if I earn more. Regardless of the book rebates, you still pay the same %. You cannot say because I pay more tax, I should have more discount with books. Not right at all. My point is that the book rebates is not equal for every body.

It should be made that lower income earners should benefit more from it versus higher income earners. This is not the case. Someone ought to rethink of a better method. Don’t you think so?

Popularity: 2% [?]
Summer Time
05.23.08 | Permalink |Living, PP| Comments Off

It is getting hot and don’t you wish you can have a dip in the pool to cool yourself down. Have a nice sun bathing while floating in a nice pool with pool floats? My children will sure love that when it comes to water play.

I am sure my family will have a great time in the swimming pool. I can relax while my children splash the water around. I am sure they will spend hours in the pool. Oh well, that is one of the plan for the school holidays. The school holidays have just started here.

Popularity: 2% [?]
How Optimist Can You Get?
05.20.08 | Permalink |Scam, Service| 1 Comment
Can you be too optimist? The other day I wrote a feedback to a local D telco company, telling them there are too many menu options with their call directories and no direct options to reach an agent. I went through their list of options and no options to report a fraud. Don’t you think a fraud is important?! Or they are aware of it but there is nothing they can do about it.

You see I receive a SMS spam saying I won 20,000 00 from telco. I realized it was a spam and wanted to report it. However after calling their service line, I gave up. I tried their company website instead which was much easier.

I reported a fraud and gave a feedback of their lousy helpdesk service.

The reply of my feedback came back:

“Thank you for your feedback on the Interactive Voice Response(IVR) service. Be rest assured that your compliments will be escalated to the relevant management for review and it will be taken into consideration for future development in line with our continuous effort for customer satisfaction.”

Since when did I compliment them? Hrmm….

A. Are they being too optimist, taking every issues as a compliment?

B. Are they just generating the same message for any customer feedback? Like a robot with no personal touch, just like their Interactive Voice Response.

C. They don’t know the meaning of “compliments”.

D. Just making themselves feel good???!!! If they treat all issues as compliments, that will be a good performance, right…..WRONG!

My advice to any company wants to use an automated receptionist:
1. Always give an option to your customers to get to a human.
2. Always allowed your customer to go back to the previous menu.
3. Only have few options (3 max) to select and do not have no end listings. Imagine how long I have to wait if my option is the last selection (>10). Don’t torture us!!!
4. No advertisement played at any time, customer time is valuable.
5. Do test out your call system with a group of people. Get feedback to improve. The turn around time for your customer to get to what he needs is very important.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Delicious Double Boiled Soup
05.19.08 | Permalink |Food| 1 Comment

My mom taught me how to make good double boiled soup. She gave me some Cordyceps Sinensis which she gets from the local Chinese medical shop. Cordyceps used to be very affordable but lately it is getting expensive. I heard one piece costs RM70. Fortunately for me, my mom gave me whole packets years ago.

Cordyceps are a type of fungi. It looks like a worm but it is not. The Chinese called it “Dong Choong Cao” It is said that cordyceps strengthens body immunity, improve respiratory conditions, improved fatigue and stress resistance.

It is simple to make delicious soup with cordyceps. All you need is a chicken, water and cordyceps. For my family, I usually just use a chicken drumstick. Put them all into a double boiled pot and boiled for 8 hours or more. After it is done, you can put a pinch of salt to taste. Believed me it taste delicious and it is nutritious. You try it.

Popularity: 2% [?]
Working Shoes
05.19.08 | Permalink |Living, PP| Comments Off

What type of shoes do you wear in the office? For me, I never wear high heels to office because it is not suitable for the environment. Imagine putting a heel scrap on a high heel. I preferred to wear boots type of shoes. It is simple and elegant. I can get around quick with boots type of shoes. Boot comes in different length. The one I am talking about is ankle length.

Naot has a nice range of boots for women. Some of it is on sale too. Go browse through their line of shoes, there may be one that suits you.

Popularity: 2% [?]
Branded Durian
05.16.08 | Permalink |Food, Penang| 2 Comments

Durian season is here and it is every where in Penang. Some are cheap and some are branded. My hubby and I went on a hunt for branded durian. We do not know the price of branded durian. We went to this “Durian Cap Kaki”. We asked for a few of the branded and good ones. I believed he said one of it is Ang Heh and 3 other different kinds. One guy, I believe is the boss, wearing gold chain and rings stood there. I guess you can strike rich just by selling durian.

The ah pek (aka uncle) charged us RM30 each. For those durian lovers, is it overpriced? My hubby said that previously he can get 5 for RM20. I believed that the price was expensive because it was branded. Next time I probably will do a market research on where I can get good cheap branded durian.

Night came, invited my FIL and have a durian feast. I love the Ang Heh, it is creamy and sweet. The rest of them were creamy too and fleshy but bitter. The aroma of the durian filled the entire house even before we open the durian. I guess this is the difference between branded and non branded durian.

It was simply satisfying. Next mission to hunt for cheaper ang heh. Tell me what brand of durian is the pic below:

Popularity: 3% [?]
Transformer BumbleBee OnSale
05.15.08 | Permalink |Toys| 6 Comments

Original Deluxe Bumblebee Transformer from Hasbro
PN: 6633541500
Height: 5.5 inches
Year of Model: 2007

If you would like the above for RM80 excluding shipping charges. Shipping in Malaysia will cost around RM5-10 using post laju. If you are interested, please leave your email on the comment box.

Popularity: 3% [?]
Another Bad Service
05.15.08 | Permalink |Service| Comments Off

Me: I am so and so, I would like to engage your legal service for …
Officer: Your file is 9 years ago, let me locate your file in the store. You know, it is so long ago, it takes time to locate it.
Me: How much is your service?
Officer: I need to find your file first.
Me: When can you have that done?
Officer: I don’t know, need to find your file first.
Me: How long does it take?
Officer: I don’t know.
Me: What is the process step of your service, please can I get some info.
Officer: I need to find your file first.
Me: Can you please call me back when you do locate my file?
Officer: I will call you when I locate the file.

Up until now, no calls from her. In fact, I gave a second chance which I call them to follow up. She told me the file has been found and it with the lawyer. She didn’t bother to call me. She also said the lawyer is busy. I guess her company doesn’t want business from me. It is either they have too many customers or the officer is plain lazy.

As compared to:

Me: I am so and so, I would like to engage your legal service for …
Officer: Let me passed you to a senior officer so that she can explain the process to you.
Snr Officer: Bla…bla..bla…
Me: How much is the fees?
Snr Officer: Let me call you back on this, I need to ask my boss.

She called me a couple of times to get my info and provided what I need. She also has a friendlier voice and efficient too. Bottom line, I rather pay more for this type of service.

If I engage the first legal firm, I will probably vomit blood, calling them for follow up. Who knows, they may loose all my files.

Popularity: 2% [?]
What A Fish!
05.13.08 | Permalink |Food| 2 Comments

I ordered fish and chips and this was what I got.

What a big fish on my plate. Frankly speaking this is the first time I see a chef served the whole fish on the plate for fish and chip. I can understand if it was a shared dinner. However the fish was really fresh and delicious. It was a trout. Cost RM14.90. It has some steam vegetables and a slice of bread with butter.

My children were going for my chips, no matter how I protect it. It ends up on their plate.

Popularity: 3% [?]
Self Defense Product
05.13.08 | Permalink |Living, PP| Comments Off

With crime rate on the rise, we really have to be caution. We need to protect ourselves. If you do not have any self defense skills, you may want to use self defense products to protect yourselves.

I would recommend this to any female to protect yourself from harm. It is not a very safe world out there and it is really sad. I hope with the self defense product, you can go out without worrying. The products are affordable and easy to carry with you.

Popularity: 2% [?]
Eliminate Acne Problem
05.13.08 | Permalink |Living, PP| Comments Off

If you are looking for best acne treatment, look at Acnexus. It is natural and only one step solution. It has 27 natural ingredient such as organic aloe vera gel, white willow bark, chaparral, gotu kola, alfalfa, valerian root, green tea, walnut shell grit, Redmond clay, vegetable glycerin, jojoba, oatmeal, avocado, MSM, bergamot oil, chamomile oil, clary sage, frankincense oil, geranium essential oil, juniper oil, jasmine essential oil, lavender oil, palmarosa oil, parchouli oil, rosemary oil, ylang ylang and vitamin E oil. Wow so much great stuff. I bet after using it, your skin will improve.

Popularity: 1% [?]
Network Cables
05.13.08 | Permalink |IT, PP| Comments Off

Do you know that there are female and male HDMI cables? I wonder who started categorizing cables to gender categories.

Last time, when I was working in a computer lab in the university, I had a funny encountered. The lab assistance asked me to search for a female printer cable in the store. I thought I didn’t hear him right and I said “What was that?” He repeated the same thing. Nope I didn’t start looking for cables with ribbons. Anyway I finally understand how a female printer cable looks like.

If you are interested in any network cables, go to Firefold.com. They have pictures and a whole range of cables for sale.

Popularity: 2% [?]
Night Snack
05.10.08 | Permalink |Food| 1 Comment

Every time I worked late in the night, I will go hungry. Yeap, it is my high metabolic rate that I do go hungry fast on certain days of the month. I just want to chew something. Sometimes I will have chopped carrots to chew on. Other times it will be unhealthy junk food.

Today I got a pack of marukku, an Indian type of snack. It is tasty, crunchy and some actually are spicy. It is made out of flour, urad bean and flavorings. At least it keeps me awake at night.

Popularity: 2% [?]
Mashinun
05.08.08 | Permalink |Food, Travel| 1 Comment

That’s delicious in Korean. I loved Korean food especially the different types of side dishes called banchan. Side dishes such as Kimchi, spinach salad, glazed potatoes, cucumber pickles and others.

I went to a nice Korean Restaurant called Arirang @ 11-G-1&2 Jalan Gottieb (aka new Bob Center) Penang. The atmosphere of the place is good with a small room of toys and books for the children to play while we dine.

My family ordered the Kimchi soup based vegetables set, bbq pork, the fried glass noodles and the ginseng chicken. The bbq pork was really tasty. They provided a free flow of Korean tea. You can also ordered the beef where they bbq on the spot. It has lots of side dishes that come with what we ordered. The Kimchi soup was a little too sourish and spicy. It can be very acidic to your tummy. My advice, eat some rice to fill your stomach before attempting the Kimchi soup.

I will recommend this place to anyone who is visiting Penang. The owner is a Korean and you get authentic Korean food. It is simply delicious. Enjoy the pictures.

Popularity: 2% [?]
Pork Leg Vinegar
05.07.08 | Permalink |Food| 4 Comments

After a tired & stressful day at work, I came home with this delicious treat. Thanks to shooi who was so kind to bring some of her mother’s specialty for me. Pork Leg Vinegar is usually cooked as a confinement food. It has ginger, pork leg & meat, vinegar, dry chilies and I believe sugar. The ginger is good to relieve air from your body.

I had my confinement lady cooked this for me once every week. No matter how big a pot she cooked, it is always finished. I loved to eat it with warm rice. It taste so good and you can drink the sauce too. Although it is vinegar but it is not too sour. It is simply delicious.

If you ever cooked this, please invite me.

Popularity: 2% [?]