Heartbreaking ...

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Sunday night. Caught the late headlines : A tragic sight. School dragon boat capsized off shore of Penang. A teacher and a youth drowned. Four other youths aged 16 to 17 still missing.


Couldn't sleep. Praying for the victims' and the missing youths' families.
Swallowed some cough mixture that eventually put me to sleep.


I was deeply saddened to awake to the news on my facebook feed that all of the missing four boys didn't make it.


For a mother like me who has kid the same age as the five youths who perished in the tragedy, it is indeed very, very hard to endure.


Flipping thro' the papers, seeing the trauma of the victims' parents (I dare not watch any of those youtube clips uploaded by journalists), I felt so cold and helpless.


Obviously, a lot of things have gone wrong that had led to this. So many questions, so many doubts. An inquiry must be conducted and relevant authorities must provide explanation. But for now, what we can do is to offer support to the families.


My heart goes out to the families and give them strength to move on.


For the six beautiful souls that have gone to heaven, RIP.

Taipei - Preview

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Gosh! Haven't logged in to my own blog for weeks! Finally get to update and share my recent trip to Taipei, Taiwan.

Not a good time to visit Taiwan at this time of the year. It is winter and it rained most of the days we were there. Even if it did not rain, it was cloudy and hence photos turned out dull and blur. The 'out-of-focus' was due to having to struggle holding a camera on one hand and controlling a swaying umbrella on the other. I gave up in the end and left most photograph-taking to my daughter and son. Well, I was the one holding the umbrella!

Just a sneak preview, coz have yet to upload all the pics.

This was taken from the cabin/capsule of the Ferris Wheel in Miramar Entertainment Park. Note the raindrops, it was drizzling the moment we touched down Taipei. Miserable weather, but it was a nice trip overall.

Not At All Inspired

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Yes, I know, I haven't been updating my blog as often as I used to. Not that I was superly busy or bogged down with work, I was just ... er ... darn lazy. Or should I re-phrase it to 'I was not at all inspired lately or I experienced brain freeze.'

Glance around my living room, it certainly needs some sorting out to be carried out. I need a new settee, a glass cabinet to house my son's trophies and medals, some new curtains, perhaps. I just couldn't drag my feet to go to the furniture mall.

The year end school holiday will be starting next week, I have not booked nor planned for a vacation, be it locally or overseas. Even though I have booked the air tickets to Taipei for this coming January, I have yet to plan for the trip, i.e. excursions and hotel accommodation etc. Not to mention to register my kids for holiday programmes.

Both my daughter's and my notebook have passed its useful life. I have yet to carry out any research on the various choices available in the market. Bearing in mind that to benefit from the tax exemption, I have to basically 'move fast'.

My mobile phones have also passed its age. I am eyeing the iPhone and the Blackberry. Wonder when I will physically go to purchase them, ..umm, before they eventually phased out, I guess.

I have been cooking and baking quite a lot, but reluctant to take out my DSLR to capture what I have cooked/baked. Even I have managed to take some pics using my point-and-shoot camera, I was lazy to transfer them to my notebook. Excuse being, my notebook is seriously exhausted, might as well wait until I have got my new notebook. Another Catch 22 situation!

It has been months I haven't been to the malls to do retail therapy. Gosh, This cannot be me!!!

Almost everyday, I have something to do or somewhere to go. I spent a lot of time sending/fetching the kids to and from school/activities. All these errands do suck up my energy and time.

All in all, I am just ... NOT INSPIRED. No mood to do anything.

This is what we had for dinner last night. Simple chicken curry with rice. Ha, I did throw in some nachos to fill the plate.

You see what I mean? Absolutely pathetic!

Mastering The Art of Being

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Feeling stress lately.

I feel as time goes by, I become more vulnerable to the effects of emotional and physical stress.

So as not to let the stress build up, I am taking a short break, in between work and other commitments.

Am practising deep breathing method. A long, slow breath energizes the body and mind, improves focus, and help eliminate toxins.

It cools my nasal passages, clear my mind, leaving me feeling positively ... Zen.

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.