A Lazy Afternoon By The Lake

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I sit by the lake on this wondrous day,

sipping the sweet iced red tea,

watching the reflection of the lush green bushes.

The wind softly whispers through the trees,
I feel a peaceful feeling overtaking me.



This reminds me of a poem written by an Irishman, William Butler Yates, entitled, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree". For those of you who have kids taking PMR would definitely have come across this poem in their English syllabus.



I will arise and go now,
And go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there,
Of clay and wattles made,
Nine bean rows will I have there,
A hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.


And I shall have some peace there,
For peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning,
To where the cricket sings.
There midnight's all a glimmer,
And noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.


I will arise and go now,
For always night and day,
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore,
While I stand on the roadway,
Or on the pavement gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.





A lazy afternoon, lunching at Secret of Louisiana, an interesting restaurant at Plaza Kelana Jaya's waterfront. The restaurant claims to serve the best Cajun style seafood and steak in town.

Al Fresco dining

The indoor dining area

The menu

With a lake view

Iced cold red tea

Sonoma Red Wine Chicken (RM23.90), chargrilled chicken boneless leg with tangy red wine sauce. Tasty, tender and juicy.

Hawaiian Pizza (RM23.90)

Something penne with Cajun Chicken

I love the atmosphere. Well, I love any place with the sound of water lapping. The food is quite decent, worth checking out this place. If you coming along LDP towards Damansara direction, it is behind the now defunct Kelana Seafood Centre, full address as below:

Secret of Louisiana

Block D-01-01,

Jalan SS7/13A,Plaza Kelana Jaya

Petaling Jaya 47301

Tel : 03-78755230

My Sausage Buns

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Since two days ago, my car was having much difficulties climbing up ramps, or even surfaces with slight gradient. I wondered why? Only then I realized the major servicing of my car was loooooong overdue. I only phoned in last week to fix a date for this week. To be safe, I thought I better stay put at home and not going into the office, excuse being the ramp leading up to the car park of my office block is darn steep and I doubted my car could make it.

Umm... not bad lazing at home on a Monday morning. Finished watching all the installments of the drama series on Astro-On Demand, I was getting bored and agitated. Suddenly the thought of having homemade buns was roaring in my mind. Checked my kitchen cabinet. Yes! the ingredients needed to bake buns were waving at me. But then, what about fillings of the buns? I had only a couple of sausages left in the freezer and have run out of stocks for pork/chicken floss. Well, I supposed I could do with some sweet filling buns instead of savoury ones by using Nutella and kaya.

Mixing the dough was easy. But when it came to kneading the dough, I wished I could lay my hands on a heavy duty mixer or a bread machine. I gave up after a solid 15 minutes of continuous kneading in a boiling hot kitchen, no joke! Then I covered the dough and left it for proofing. Only that I realized the weather had suddenly turned breezy and cold. What the heck!!!

After an hour of proofing, my bread dough had almost doubled in size despite the temperature. Punched out the gas and let them rest for another 15 minutes. I divided the dough into 10 portions and stuffed in the fillings. I ended up with some sausage rolls, sausage twists, kaya buns and chocolate buns. Another hour of proofing was required before shoving them into the oven.

A mere 15 minutes later, TaDa, here comes my buns.

The sausage twist could do with some rosemary sprinkle or cheese. Was I too generous with the egg wash glazing? Come to the texture, they weren't as soft as those on the shelves of Bread Story or Bread Talk. Considering the fact that I was not in possession of a bread kneading machine and did not add in any bread improver or softener, I was happy with the result.

I find breadmaking quite therapeutic considering the time required for repeated proofing and resting of the dough. I thoroughly enjoyed this session.

Take A Breath

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It is 2nd October 2009.

Time really flies. I am not entirely sure how that happened. It seems like only a minute ago I went to China in May to 'offload' mom at my brother's place. And at the blink of the eye, mom was already back for over a month after a three month stay in Panyu.

Received an email from a friend the other day enquiring after my well being and suddenly realized that I haven't been blogging for over a month.

The truth of the matter is that I’m fine – indeed, we all are – but the inclination to blog, which has been on the wane for some time, seems to have temporary left me. There is so much on my mind now, so many choices to make, so many bills to settle, so many promises to fulfil... Argh!

Life is short and moments like this frustratingly few and far between.

Sometimes the most important thing is to ... STOP!

Step outside.

Take a breath.

Look around.

Do whatever it takes to be fully in the moment.

Then you will probably realize.

It really is a beautiful world out there.

Am I Happy?

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Happiness is believed to be one of the most important criteria for good health. However, how to be happy?


Obviously, we gain happiness when we are satisfied. Sometimes a simple satisfaction is good enough to make a lady smile.


It seems women are easily satisfied. I suppose that is the reason why women generally live longer than men.


Normally she will be happy when:

1) Her loved one says "I love you".

2) Her loved one gives her presents.

3) She goes shopping.

4) Her juniors hug or kiss her.

5) She has savings in the bank.

6) Someone says “You are so young and beautiful”.

7) Someone says ” You have a good husband or boyfriend”.

8) She adds new decorative items into her house.

9) Someone says ” You kid(s) is lovely or intelligent”.

10) She sees flowers.

Needless to say, I, as a woman will be much happier if I get a chance to be put up in six star Presidential Suite, chauffeured driven in luxurious car, wear designer clothes, carry a Hermes Birkin, slip on a Jimmy Choo and live in a bungalow with beautiful garden and big swimming pool.

Of course, I can live without all these luxuries. But, who doesn’t like to be pampered like a princess?

Electrical Power Cables vs. Fettucini

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My work these two weeks involve the reviewing of a counter-claim against an unscrupulous contractor, in relation to the supply and installation of electrical services to a shopping podium and tower blocks. For days, I have been straining my eyes reading sheets after sheets of schematic drawings, wiring diagrams, shop drawings, site photographs, etc.

Now that whenever I close my eyes, I can still see tangles of cables running endlessly in the air, be it Polyvinyl Chloride Insulated Cables, Steel Wire Armoured Cables, Mineral Insulated Cables, Impregnated Paper Insulated Cables or Fire Rated cables. I can see nothing else!! They even came into my dreams, turning ALIVE and started creeping in all directions! When I opened my kitchen cabinet in search of ingredients for dinner, I saw cables and cables! Oops, hang on, those are not cables, but fettucini, spaghetti and angel hair. WTH. I remember reading from somewhere that the most practical technique to overcome a phobia is to relax, calm down and gradually FACE the object/situation.

Well, that's is just what I am going to do. I am going to cook this cable-like thingy for dinner and gobble it all down.

Voila! See what I've churned out - Egg Fettucini and Chicken in Carbonara Sauce

Carbonara, an awesome, traditional Italian sauce that majority of you will not say 'No' to it, right? This is a simple dish to make but tremendously sinful, considering the amount of cream added.


Well, the more sinful it is, the more I love it.

Only If ...

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有意

【烈火雄心3】電視劇插曲

主唱：鄭嘉穎、胡杏兒
作曲：周永恆
填詞：陳詩慧
編曲：Johnny Yim
監製：鄧智偉

歌詞

男：尚未學會怎麼開口示愛　並沒自信恍惚早知大概
女：等　無論被誰愛　面對你感覺　我也知道你是我心愛

＊男：樹下是我翻開手中日記　落葉密佈草地心想著你
女：等　從來沒離棄　就當我希冀　也許總有暗號要推理

合：我們原來心裡也在意　既無台詞只怪我大意
男：若然是愛我可以
女：盡情地表示
合：沒情話再試一次　就吐盡我　自己心事

合：既然從來主角也熱熾　既然從來心裡也在意
男：若期待與我相處
女：盡情地表示

合：若然是對我關注　如你在意　是否真事

Snowflake

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Snowflake.

The Taiwanese Dessert Secrets.

Ever been? It's located opposite Asia Cafe in SS15 Subang Jaya.

Ice Monster @ Sunway Pyramid, Mill Wheel Pao Bing @ Metro Prima Kepong, Charmy Snow Ice @ 100 Yen Shops and Snowflake. Which is better? I guess it's what you prefer of the texture and flavour.


This Snowflake dessert house 雪花栈 is owned by a Taiwanese couple, specializes in natural and authentic Taiwanese desserts.


The deco is humbly simple with giant colourful illustrative boards. The self-service counter is right at the end of the shop. There are 3 types of different series to choose from, grass jelly, soya and shaved ice. You can pick your favourite base and then choose your toppings which vary from red beans, grass jelly, peanuts, taro balls, sweet potatoes balls, pearl sago, etc, etc.

Once you have placed your order, you will be given a beeping UFO, which is a special device that will flash and vibrate once the food you ordered is ready for collection. Darn high-tech gadget.

The serving is really huge and is definitely worth the money. All desserts cost less than RM5 except the bestseller which costs RM5.50

Of the three series, I luv the shaved ice topped with taro and sweet potato balls. It is divine...

Even the guys gave the thumbs up.