Today's breakfast

By now, I’m sure you all have had your breakfast. Don’t tell me that you skipped breakfast ya. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Skipping breakfast will not help us lose weight; but it can get us irritable, restless and tired.

Hmm...what did you have for breakfast today? This is what I had. A piece of char kuey from my favourite stall and a mug of black Nescafe. The char kuey cost RM1.00 a piece. It has been for few years but recently I noticed that the length had been slightly reduced. Why? Price hike in the ingredients. No need to elaborate further la. You guys are smart and can figure it out on your own. :)

Okay, the stall is located outside the vegetable market in Donggongon town. On the sidewalk between the vegetable market and pork market to be exact. Well, the char kuey is not the only thing that the tauke nyong are selling. She also sells buns (butter, tausa, etc), nasi lemak, fried noodles, newspaper and magazines. But the best seller would be the crispy char kuey. Some char kuey are too salty but here it is just ngam ngam. Normally, by 9am, the char kuey are already sold-out. :)

Some of us may prefer to have our char kuey “kahwin” (married) but I always had mine plain. Char kuey “kahwin” is made by cutting the char kuey into half and spread with kaya paste on one side and Planta (margarine) on the other half. Then, they were put back together again and so, they were “married”. :)

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Cheap eyeglasses

Prescription eyeglasses don’t have to cost a fortune anymore. You can get cheap eyeglasses online. One place I know of is Zenni Optical.com. Being the #1 online Rx glasses store, Zenni offers a wide selection of eyeglasses. Well, they may not be designer glasses but if you are simply looking for a decent pair then why not?

Zenni Optical takes considerable pride in being able to bring to all a very high quality product of great durability, safety and comfort at truly reasonable and affordable prices. This is the place to find the lowest price progressive glasses. Zenni are able to offer them at such low price because they have their own factories thus no middlemen and no retail overhead involved.

Since I have never bought from Zenni before, I do not have any personal experience to share. However, I know of one satisfied customer. :) You should read Eric’s review of Zenni Optical.

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The best Monday

For months, I have been dying to get my hands on the latest Dan Brown’s book, The Lost Symbol. I know it has been long available in major bookstores in KK but being in hardcover, I couldn’t afford to buy one. RM99.90 is a big sum to me. I have to ‘suffer’ until it’s available in small-print paperback... :(

But little did I know that my ‘suffering’ was about to end. During lunch, my heart was itching to go the Penampang Library. And…Yay! I couldn’t be happier with my visit. My ‘suffering’ ended TODAY. There on the “Returned Book” shelf was a copy of the book! Yup, you bet. The moment I found it, I grabbed it off the shelf and borrowed it pronto…hehehe….

I was so happy to find the book. I can hardly contain my happiness. I was smiling from ear to ear all the way back to the office. All the stress of Monday was soon forgotten.

Today is by far, the best Monday I ever had. :)

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What was that?

I went to an Aunt house few weeks ago. It’s been a while since my last visit. I was waiting for her to open the door when I caught a glimpse of something protruding from under the cracked pavement of her frontyard. At first, I didn’t really pay attention to it. Then a few minutes later, I saw it moved. Whoa..I wasted no time asking Aunt about it.

I thought she’ll be surprised but I was wrong. She confirmed that there is indeed something living in the ground under the crack. It’s a small monitor lizard (biawak). Well, I was really surprise because I didn’t expect to see one in an urban residential area. Kalau di kampung lain cerita la… :) Good thing that I was not standing near the crack or else, I’d scream like crazy and terrify the whole neighbourhood.. LOL…I keep my distance from anything that belongs in the lizard family, the harmless gecko included…

Right, back to the main topic. According to Aunty, they only realize its existence only a few months ago. That was after her mother passed away few months earlier. Well, maybe it has been there all the while but didn’t make frequent appearance until then. She mentioned about it to her friends and they advised her to treat ‘lizzy’ in good manners. Not to harm it, not to chase it away or something like that. They said, ‘lizzy’ may bring her and family good luck. Some even suggest that it could be the reincarnation of her deceased mother.

Though Aunty is not really a believer in superstitious stuff but she gladly follows their advice. “We (as in her and family) don’t mind having it around. It’s not like it’ll harm you or anything,” she said. Yeah, right. *shudder* Obviously, she and her kids have no fear of this creature. Hehehe…Aunty, next time I come for a visit, I’ll make sure the ground is clear before stepping out of the car. I don’t want to harm ‘lizzy’ maa…*wink*

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Chilled treats

In view of the scorching hot weather, I bet most of us would love to stay indoor as much as possible. Because my house is not equipped with air-conditioner we have to rely on the fans. However, the ceiling fan, although switched on to the max, it is still very hot inside the house. We had to resort to additional help from the standing fan as well. Yup, that’s how hot it is. The maximum temperature outside can go as high as 33 Celsius… don’t play-play ah!

As if the hot weather wasn’t enough torture, there was power failure in our area yesterday afternoon. Huh! What a coincidence?! Vanessa was napping then and I was looking forward to some quiet “mommy time” watching TV, going online or reading a book when suddenly all the electrical appliances went dead! Dang! It certainly killed-off my mood to read. Instead I went to fan the little sleeping beauty, manually. Well, it didn’t take long before the she woke-up. I had expected that. Who can possibly sleep in that kinda heat? Thank God she was not cranky. :)

No TV to watch. No mood to play. Luckily, I had fixed something chilly and yummy earlier on. I have made a bowl of macaroni and fruits salad and the most important thing, it’s chilled to perfection. Just the right thing to have in any hot day!

Nasib baik sempat ambik gambar sebelum habis kena makan...hehe...

It’s so easy to make. All you need are macaroni, canned cocktail fruits or fresh fruits (I combined both), mayonnaise and low-fat plain yogurt. Cook the macaroni for 8-10 minutes, add some sugar and a pinch of salt. Drained the macaroni. Add in the mayo, yogurt and fruits. Mix well all ingredients and chilled before serving. Anybody can make this yummy food… :) We all loved it except Vanessa. She dislikes the sourish taste of the mayo and yogurt.

Knowing that, I had made her these. I named them Crystal-Clear Treasure. Hahaha…don’t mind the fancy name. These cute little ‘treasures’ are made of white agar-agar (jelly) powder, cocktail fruits and sugar. Very appealing, don't you think? My little girl loves them. :)

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