Ayuria's Aquascape

In one of my previous post, I did mention that we went to Ayuria for a swim. Then I received messages from friends asking me where this place is.

Ayuria, is the third condominium development in Mont' Kiara by Hong Kong developer, Asia Quest after its much successful Sutera and Cendana.

It is located up the hill beyond Jalan Kiara 5, next to Sutera and opposite Cendana. It is made up of three tower blocks. The jewel in the crown is a 520-foot long winding landscaped water feature that meanders around the tower blocks. This 'Aquascape' embraces a half Olympic length swimming pool, 2 lap pools, a children's wading pool, hot water spa, sauna and more. This exceptionary long pool with state of the art water garden is a most unique feature, found in no other residential development in Malaysia.

The aqua foot reflexology path

The water slide structure. Not very impressive though.

The jacuzzi

Fancy staying in this prestige and serene environment? It will only cost you RM1 million for a 1600 sq. ft. unit.

My Bottomless Stomach

I have been eating since I woke up this morning. Everytime I walked out of the kitchen, I have something in my mouth. First, it was a huge bowl of Honey Bunches of Oat Cereals. Then it was half a bar of Cadbury white chocolate, and I finished off my mom's unfinished breakfast of cheese on wholemeal bread toast. By mid morning, I guzzled down a curry puff and a nice cup of coffee. And now, while I am preparing to bake a banana cake, I am working on a mega bowl of Bak Kut Teh noodles.

With the global financial meltdown, every housewife out there is carefully, strategizing how to cut down their grocery bills. But, on this end, I found myself stuffing like a piggy. WTH. I urgently need appetite suppressant, by a lorry truck, please!!!

White Coat Hypertension

Took mom back to Ipoh for her follow-up sessions with the orthopaedic specialist and the geriatrician. Glad and relieved that mom's blood pressure has returned to normal, meaning that I can now discard the mecidine prescribed by the geriatrician for reducing blood pressure.

On the subject of blood pressure, have you ever heard of the "white coat hypertension"? Well, we all know that hypertension is the medical term for high blood pressure. Whereas 'white coat' refers to a doctor's white coat, and therefore signifies a clinical or medical environment.

In simple terms, white coat hypertension means that having a high reading only when your blood pressure is measured away from your normal home environment, usually in a clinic or a hospital.


The white coat effect is caused by anxiety you feel while in a clinical or medical envinronment and raised your blood pressure when your body stimulates your fright response. Many people may think that they are relaxed when, in fact, they are not. It can affect anyone, young or old, male or female and some people find that anxiety can raise their blood pressure by as much as 30mmHg on the systolic (top) number.

Sad to say, I happen to belong to this group of people. Essentially, my blood pressure readings taken at home are often lower than those taken at a doctor's clinic. I recall that on one particular occasion, it shot up to 140/95mmHg, and I was wrongly diagnosed as having high blood pressure and nearly receiving unnecessary treatment.

Now that I know I have this white coat effect on me, I keep telling myself to relax everytime my blood pressure reading is taken by a doctor. But, the more I reminded myself to relax, the more tense I eventually became. I sometimes wonder if the doctor happens to be a handsome, good looking and soft spoken guy, may be the reading would turn out to be otherwise...

Dato Khan?

In India, they called him King Khan.

In Malaysia, they now called him Dato' Khan.

Yeap. I am talking about Bollywood's heart throb Shahrukh Khan.

The many girls' and aunties' dream guy. Hot! Hot! Hot!

If you have followed the daily, you would have probably read this :

"Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan was conferred a Datukship by the Melaka Yang DiPertua Negeri"

I was flabbergasted!


Isn't Datukship be given to individuals for their contributions to a state or the country?


So, what on earth has Shahrukh Khan contributed to Melaka? Must be something that we do not know.


The Chief Minister's explanation is that Shahrukh Khan has helped in promoting tourism in Melaka by featuring Melaka in one of his songs, in a movie.


What? This is becoming a laughing stock to the Bolehland. Thousands of people sacrified for the country but was conveniently forgotten. And now, an Indian movie star who absolutely has no idea where Melaka is located on the map, is being conferred a datukship.

Not that I am against him. For all I know, he has nice feature, sexy, wonderfully good at shaking his butt, rolling down hill, jumping from a tree to another tree.

So you people out there, don't bother to work your butts off in order to be recognised and anugerah. You need only shake your butt like Shahrukh Khan does, the Datoship will be delivered to your doorstep. Easy-peasey.

My Maiden Attempt At J.H.C.

J.H.C. stands for Ju Hu Char, a popular nyonya dish. Hokkien Lang like to cook this dish when there is festival. It is basically stir fried turnip (sengkuang) with shredded dried cuttlefish.

There were abundance of turnip at Jusco and I bought a medium one. Took out my mini plastic grater, chose the garnishing blade, there I was, exhausted all my energy to shred the turnip finely. I added in shredded lean pork instead of belly pork. However, I forgotten to soak the chinese mushrooms in advance, therefore it was omitted. Finely shredded cuttlefish is a must as it gives the dish oomph!!!

Umm. So sedap! I could eat unlimited amount of this.

SIL From London

My sister-in-law Angie from London, made a last minute decision, boarded the plane back to M'sia for a short holiday. We haven't seen each other for years coz we have always been on a cross line! Everytime I went back to London to have my PR extended, she just happened to return to M'sia for a break. I was overwhelmed when she facebooked me that she will be in town.

Unfortunately, with mom's condition, I could not meet her at Starbucks over a Frappucino nor go out for some sushi/sashimi to satisfy her cravings for Japanese. I was delighted that she turned up at my place, all the way from Seremban, armed with lots of goodies and prezzies for me and the kids.

The "Passion Fruit" happens to be mine as well as my daughter's favourite line from the Body Shop. Thanks, Angie. Luv it!!

Amongst other goodies like the Korean Ginseng Tea, the honeycombed cookies, there were also slices of yummy cakes from Secret Recipe.

Thinking back, we used to sit around the facing-bricked fireplace during winter nights, decked in our usual thick woolies and track pants, sharing stories and exchanging gossip over morsel of Mr Kiplings' apple pies and cups of warm hot chocolate. Or during summer, we would be sitting outdoor, on the dewy lawn of my MIL's place in Slough, watching the kiddos playing and chasing each other, over Marks and Spencer's chocolate eclairs and a pot of English tea.

A decade on, we too, sat outdoors, under the shade, in the breeze, over shits and giggles about our unglamorous lives, our inner rebellious self staging ahead for a real battle, more stories unfolded, more secrets revealed.

I could see it - the hopes, the relief, the uncertainty, the desperation from unfulfilled expectations - it is all written in her gaze. I am glad she is very optimistic towards the future. I sincerely hope that things will work out well for her, in all aspects.

Friends Forever

Although it was a short and sweet meeting, her simple gesture of earnest gratitude more than warmed my heart. Thanks for everything, Angie. So, can I count on you to 'ransack' Jogoya together with me, next August?

Literary Troves

Since I am on a long break away from work and activities, I now have time to pore through books that I bought from the not-so-long-ago Times warehouse sales.

Well, it was in August that I encountered this wonderful book sales while sending my kiddos to electon lessons. Felt like I had stumbled on Treasure Island as I stepped into the sea of books. Spread out there were shelves after shelves, rows after rows, boxes after boxes of paperbacks, hardcovers, magazines and what-nots.

For once, I was lost! I didn't know where to begin. I strolled along the tables on which the books were laid, ran my fingers and rummaged through the literary troves and hunt for my own treasures.

Most of the paperback fiction published few years back were going between RM10-RM15. This was indeed a bargain, as these books are normally priced between RM30-RM70.

My daughter and I managed to loot from the scattered piles of written work some of these titles.

I do wonder, how on earth is the government going to cultivate a reading society when books are so damn expensive nowadays, and warehouse sales like this one come but once in a blue moon?

I am now devouring these books one-by-one. It is definitely better than reading the Malaysian newspaper......