Just Stop

This is exactly how I felt like today...

And I will explain why..

So on Tuesday, my bosses were asking me what I want, what I really really want... And nobody mentioned numbers, so I told Belgian Chocolates that is was very hard for me to think it through if I do not even know how much they wanted to pay me to stay. "Yeah I know" that was his response. So I waited..

Every few hours, he would send funny emails persuading me to stay. As an example, we started off with some emails, purely work. Then we got side tracked and started talking about silly things like my workmates choice of jewellery.

Then he went "And btw who am I gonna talk fashion with...???"

I replied "Tahiti party boy (the newest member in our team who is French speaking and they get along very well)" Then I added "Problem solved".

He responded "Salary raise, next client or even Lux based project you work on, problem solved you stay"

Hahahahaha nice try indeed!

That was on Tuesday. He rings me late in the evening asking me to wait. He is making phone calls all around, trying to get the counter offer through to me with real numbers.

So I wait.

On Wednesday, still no news except that some bosses agree and want me to stay. I said to him "I really cannot wait anymore, don't waste your time, serious, I am ready to move forward now with the other company"

He is persuasive and insists I give him another day. I said I was going to hand in my physical contracts first thing Thursday morning. He has until Thursday morning to give me a number!

On Thursday morning itself, the phone rings and he informs me that he has the 'go' from two bosses in Lux. Then he said he's contacted our Australian head of HR, who is actually Canadian, and is already making her journey back to Canada for Christmas. She still replies on her Blackberry while in transit. Right... still no numbers. And its already 10am.

He asks me to give him until end of the day because of the time differences between everyone. I told him he was twisting my arm, and he said "I would never do that! I won't twist one arm, I twist both arms!"

At around 11am, the Canadian email came through, next step was the approval of her boss, who is the global head of the HR in the Asia Pac region, and he is French but sits in Singapore...

Far out man.

Finally at lunch time, he gives me a number. He says it is a significant jump in bands, etc etc. Sad to say, it was still below the amount that I was currently being offered in the new company.

Hence the picture of the raccoon above sums up how I have been feeling all week. Resignation on Monday, took them four days to decide whether or not its worth to keep me, and then to disappoint me with that crap!

Counter Offer

I woke up this morning and whipped up my resignation letter in less than five minutes. I got Little Miss-Whats-For-Lunch to send me her previous one, she resigned in July. I changed the dates and the names and I thought I would feel a bit sad, but I felt fine.

Two people knew I was going to break the news today, Little Miss-Whats-For-Lunch and Sydney Boy. Little Miss-Whats-ForLunch said she wished she was a fly on the wall (when I was going to have this conversation with Belgian Chocolates). I told Sydney Boy what she said, and he replied "We all want to be a fly on the wall!!!!! Can you call him via conference call and we will all dial in?" We all cracked up laughing, I swear.

As Belgian Chocolates is currently in KL, I waited until the team finished our daily catch up with him, then I requested for him to stay on the line, as I wanted to speak to him alone. The other three guys in my team were giving me funny faces, and Belgian Chocolates even said "Oh no, is it something bad?" in front of the team, I assured them "NOOOO!!" hehehe

Immediately as the team left the room, I was straight to the point "I'm handing in my resignation effective today, my last day will be on January 7th". My boss did not believe a word I said, and he thought I was joking. Seriously, why would I want to fool around with something like this?

The next hour was quite difficult. Tears were rolling down my cheeks, and he was so sad. He said he felt betrayed. The problem with him is that he cannot separate the two worlds - work and personal. He said he was going to give me a promotion, blah blah blah. I assured him that he was not the reason I am leaving, but it was more the role. I am ready for a new challenge, learn new things, be part of a new business, etc. I even assured him I was not going to be very far away, just two floors below. Haha (you would think I would get another job far far away from 101 Collins?!)

Finally we hung up, and in less than 10 minutes, I was off to lunch with Little Miss-Whats-For-Lunch. As we sat down, she immediately received an email from Belgian Chocolates, and he was telling her how upset he was.

He did not ring me for the rest of the day. Instead he spent his time talking to Little Miss-Whats-For-Lunch and another team mate.

Finally at about 9pm, as I stepped out the shower, there were two missed calls from him. I called him back. He said that he just got off the phone with our bosses in Luxembourg, and they would like me to stay. I kept saying to him "Oh gawddd" and he said to me "Yes... Oh Tuhan!" (the few words he learnt from watching Malaysian telly). They said to him "Ask her what she wants, and we will be able to work something out". They said they will give me a promotion... There will be more money and a change of title, but essentially doing the same thing again. Do I want to stay? If I do, I reckon I would be shitting myself in a few months time..

What should I do?

Job Offer

So... as we are approaching Christmas... I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.

I have had a hectic couple of weeks so far. I find myself rushing for appointments and running errands, it is exhausting! But highlights include an awesome U2 concert, a holiday to Perth and a new job offer! Also, I have had both my camera's ruined by others. First, my very reliable Canon digital compact which Grumpy dipped into sea at Rottnest Island, WA. Second was my Canon SLR... which my dog pulled from the dining table and it came crashing down on the floor. OMG I am THIS close to strangling both of them!

The dog has been extremely upset with me since I returned from KL as I have changed his sleeping arrangements. I have stopped him from coming up to our bed since my hay fever this year has been really bad. I know he loves sleeping on a comfy (and expensive) Sealy Posturepedic, but I just cannot have the 'transporter of all germs' snoozing on our bed anymore. And so to retaliate, he has been up to no good when left alone at home.

I have heaps of pictures to share, I uploaded all of them in to my new 27 inch iMac, and it crashed on me two days ago. It was only a month old.... yes one month! WHAT on earth is going on here?!

The most significant event would be the job offer I will soon accept.. this is with an Australian company, which I used to work for a few years ago. I am happy that I finally got a job offer after many months of job hunting. It was not easy! The hardest part for me will be tomorrow....

That is when I will announce it to my boss, Belgian Chocolates. He is not here in person at the moment, as he was seconded to the KL office for two months. So I will have to do it over the phone, which... in my opinion, works to my advantage. Oh god I hope it does! You see, he is such an emotional person. He is, after all, European! There were pros and cons working with him. The best part is that he lets me be my own boss. I loved it! With my work, he lets me drive and run my own show most of the time. I know he trusts me, and he thinks very highly of me, so it will be sad for me to leave this job with a boss like him. But I am so ready for a new challenge! A new year, a new job, new environment, new people...!

Will write more tomorrow. Good night!

Someone Like You

I'm a hugeeeee Adele fan. I love her. I absolutely loved her first album, '19', and even used one of her songs 'Make You Feel My Love' in my wedding DVD. And now she has a new album, '21'.... (her age) and I can't wait to get this album!

The album only comes out in February next year, but there are 2 videos which are already available. I wanted to share with you this song called 'Someone Like You". Its amazing, I love it.. her voice is amazing..

Enjoy!

Exhausted

I am finally back home here in Melbourne. I arrived a week ago and since then I have been busy with many different things. First was trying to get up to speed with work. Then I was trying to catch up again with friends.. and also, my cousin from Malaysia came over to Melbourne for a holiday. My cousin stayed with us for a few nights, and we were busy organising dinners with the rest of the family here. I am slightly exhausted and have not really been feeling the best. I do not know what is wrong, but maybe I am just looking forward to some alone time.

On Saturday, one of our friends tied the knot at a beautiful reception place called the Ascot House. It was also the first wedding we have attended since our own. Despite the wet and cold weather, the wedding turned out quite lovely and I am very happy for the bride and groom.

Little Miss Bargain Hunter flew down to Melbourne for the wedding.

I did not end up going in to work today. Last night, just around dinner time, I had quite bad tummy cramps. I thought it would have gone away this morning, but it did not. Grumpy stayed home to "care" for me, while playing a new PS3 game that he bought. We went to see the doctor and I have to be a bit careful of what I eat the next couple of days. My mum insists I go on a detox program. Hmmm... what is a good one?

Second Time

I am currently in KL at the moment. I arrived about two weeks ago for work. We are at the second phase of our Australian project. Three more nights, and I fly back to Melbourne. I miss my hubby and my puppy so much.

On the other hand, its nice to see my parents again. They are thrilled to have me back home for the second time in such a short period of time. With this trip, I am much more familiar with my surroundings, the people and my work experiences.

I have the same accommodation arrangements as my previous trip. Staying at the hotel on weekdays, and then back with my parents on the weekend. I was even getting used to being spoiled (served) by the hotel staff, which is terrible, isn't it? I wake up each day at 6.30am, go downstairs for breakfast... I sit down at the table and they automatically bring me my usual cup of tea and whip up a delicious omelette each morning for me. When I finish work, I get picked up, I arrive at the hotel, they serve me drinks and nibbles... go back to the room, get fresh fruit delivered, plate of cookies, bottled water, room service, massive bed... okay I should stop. I am not a princess!

Tomorrow is my last day of work here in the KL office. It is actually Diwali.. and a public holiday in Malaysia. Happy Diwali!!!! I have a team of 6 Indians this time round, out of 13 people! One guy might argue that he isn't Indian, but Singh... *rolls eyes* Am I being ignorant by saying its all the same? hehe.. Imagine trying to remember 13 new names all at one go? And 6 of them with unique (and long) names? Its hard, trust me!

However, it is still business as usual, and we must go in to work regardless.

While business trips are interesting and challenging, both personally and professionally, as it takes you out of your comfort zone, the daily routine, etc... I must say that I find these business trips quite exhausting. I am feeling a bit lazy since I completed my part of the job on Tuesday. The three extra days here (yesterday, today and tomorrow) are for me to ensure that everyone is fine and to support the new Business Experts from Melbourne.

Okay, I am going to call it a night. Last working day here in KL.... hmmmm.. did I mention that my boss is thinking of sending me here again next year? >.<

KL work trip (Part 2)

This time round, I am so glad I made the effort to meet up with some old friends.

I met up with one of my closest friends in secondary school, Little Miss Kampung. She spent a few years of her life growing up in America and (I think) she completed Form 3,4 and 5 in Malaysia. She is such a funny character. She never wore a headscarf in school, but it was a decision she made in the recent years. Despite that, she is still the same person to me, and we spent hours talking about all those years we spent chatting our secondary school life away and getting caught by our teachers. We had dinner at Alamanda shopping centre. We ate at this steamboat restaurant, and I never thought I would say this, but it was quite good! Malay steamboat!

I also met up with some other friends from secondary school for dinner. We talked a lot about love, life and family. With one of the girls... when we were 14 years old, she lived in a small house in Subang, with her mum, dad, grandmother, aunt and three younger sisters. 14 years later, she still lives in the same house, with her mum, dad, grandmother, aunt and three younger sisters! OMG That is amazing!

Here is the new team which I had the pleasure to train in the KL office. Before I left from Melbourne, I looked at the name list and yeah.. whatever. It was only when they were all seated before me, I realised that we hired 9 girls and only 1 guy. In this picture, there are two BE's from the Melbourne office, both staying in KL until January 2011.

It was an interesting mix of people. Two were existing employees from other departments, two were fresh grads (one from Monash uni, another one studied in Canada for 5 years), the others were experienced, majority from our main Cyberjaya competitor, HSBC. One girl worked in Dublin for about 6 years, another one studied in Dublin Business School for a few years as well.

The girl hidden at the back, I have been telling my mum and friends that I have a real princess working in my team! Haha, okay she is not really a princess, but she is from the Kelantan (one of the Malaysian states) royal family, who was forced to marry a guy 11 years her senior, at the tender age of 19. Her husband was also from the royal family too. She gave birth to a son a year later, and then shortly after that, her husband passed away (due to cancer). OMG. My face changed and I said "Sorry to hear about that". She told me she is fine, because she did not really love him and that her little boy is now 5 years of age.

Along with the two BE's from Melbourne, we took the free shuttle from Shangri-la Putrajaya to Shangri-la KL one night. From Shangri-la KL on Jalan Sultan Ismail, we walked all the way to Jalan Alor. I was the self-appointed tour guide, and I have never been to Jalan Alor before in my life. LOL we got lost, of course... walking... but we finally made it there, after stopping random strangers numerous times, asking for directions.

We tried lok lok.

Of course I let my Aussie colleagues taste a durian! I paid Rm20 for this baby durian, which came with 4 little pieces. My parents never fail to remind me that I got cheated. Robbed blind by this durian man! FAIL!

Regardless of the expensive durian, I enjoyed my Jalan Alor experience very much! It was great!

One my last day in KL office, I was planning on taking the team out to lunch, and treat them to a nice meal. Instead, they tricked me and brought me downstairs to the cafeteria, where they were waiting for me with heaps of yummy food such as satay, noodles, cookies, fruits and even a delicious cake!

Such a lovely gesture from them. I felt bad because they paid for everything with their own money... oh dear. However, it made my entire KL trip feel like such a positive experience.

I thought that the lunch was more than enough, and then later, they presented me with a basket of fresh flowers and a framed picture to bring back to the Melbourne office. Speechless!

Finally, before checking out from the hotel, I was able to snap a photo of our 'Bas Pekerja'. It really did feel like one! Each morning, all of us staying at the hotel, would hop on the van. The driver would then drop us off, one by one, at the different offices in Cyberjaya. IBM, DHL, HP, Shell, BMW, HSBC, etc. At the end of the day, the van will pick us up again and take us back to the hotel. So much better than taking a crappy disgusting taxi.

Okay, bedtime. Good night!

Life as a panda

I thought I would share with you this video. It is absolutely hilarious!!

Aren't we all this Panda at some point of our lives?

KL work trip (part 1)

Upon my arrival in the airport in KL, I was so excited. It was the first time ever there was a limousine service waiting in the airport for me... organised by work. I secretly had my camera in hand, waiting to take a picture of the Indian man holding a sign with my name on it. When I stepped out the gates, much to my disappointment, my name was no where to be seen. Bastards. I knew this was going to happen. I made a phone call to the limousine company, and 20 minutes later, a guy approached me "Excuse me miss, are you Miss Ng?" ABOUT TIME! Anyway, the important thing was that at least a car turned up, and the driver carried all my bags and brought me back to my house in Subang Jaya. My parents were extremely happy to see me.

My 2nd day in KL, I meet up with my friends Mr Happy and his fiance. Both from Melbourne as well. Haha. It was a coincidence that they were in KL (on holidays) the same time as myself. I see them nearly every weekend in Melbourne! We went to Petaling Street in search of authentic chinese food! I love Petaling Street at night, the vibrant colours, the crowd, the heat, the desperate traders...

I cannot say that the food was all that great. It was quite overpriced and the taste was pretty average. But I still enjoyed the entire experience... I was such a tourist!

The Air Mata Kucing drink was an exception. It was very nice!

I told my friends I was not planning on going home until I took a picture with the Chinatown arch. They did not even know if it exists, but I was convinced we have it in Malaysia. There is one in Melbourne, one in Sydney, I have seen one in London. Surely we have one in Malaysia! And voila! We found it!

It was also Moon Cake festival, hence all the colourful lanterns.

After our Petaling Street night out, I went home, took a shower and was ready to go to bed. Then it dawned on me. SHIT I HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW.

During the weekdays for two weeks, I stayed at the Shangri-la hotel in Putrajaya. Here are some pictures of the hotel. It was a nice hotel, staff was friendly and the room was very comfortable.

A walk-in

The bathroom opens up, overlooking the bed.

I loved the bathroom. It was huge. Could easily fit a family of six. LOL

It was a very quiet hotel. Majority of hotel guests were people on business trips. Hardly anyone goes out to the hotel restaurants for dinner, opting for room service instead.

Its bedtime for me now. Will blog more tomorrow. Nite!

Home country

It has quite crazy over the past few weeks. I celebrated my birthday about four weeks ago! Yay Happy Birthday to me! Being 28 years old... is only 2 more years to reaching the big 3-0. Oh jeyyyysusss... I must admit my birthday celebration this year was pretty awesome. Will post up some pictures later.

After my birthday was over, Grumpy and I took on a little mini project at our home. We changed the carpets in our living room to floating timber, much to my dog's dismay. Pictures to follow soon. We are very pleased with the results.

And then, it was the week leading up to my trip back to KL for work. I had a very busy week at work, with more than a dozen meeting invites to attend, and heaps of preparation to do. We were briefed over and over.. and as I am the first person to kick start this project, meeting the new recruits we hired in KL for the first time, there were very high levels of expectation of me. So much pressure!

And... then I finally made it to KL. So here I am! Back in my home country for work.

How was it been so far? Its okay. Can't say its fantabulous, but its okay. Work is quite tiring. My mission this time is training 10 new starters about the main application system used in our department, and how we use it in Australia. I talk a lot about the Aussie business, Aussie blah blah blah blah blah but I am at heart a Malaysian :)

The KL office is growing at a very fast pace. The office is so sophisticated and my favourite part is the kitchen, as it comes with free drinks. Heaps of soft drinks. Hot drinks come from a machine, each floor has a few machines, fridges stacked with all kinds of drinks. Its great! I told Grumpy that there were no real tea bags or coffee in sight, no real sugar, nothing. It all comes from a machine! Voila!

I had the opportunity to meet a lot of senior people in the company, which does not mean much to me at all. However, I met one senior boss, head of something in the entire Asia Pacific region, and he is OMG-SO-GOOD-LOOKING! How can such a senior executive be that cute?! Plus, he's French, which makes it all so sexy. LOL Why is it that all the French people that I work with in Australia are unattractive? Maybe except for one, but he's left...

So during the weekdays (like today) I stay in the hotel. There is free shuttle to our office from our hotel. Then on the weekends, I go back and stay with my parents. Its nice to be with my family. I spent time with my grandfather (who is not well), my aunties, uncles, cousins, friends, in-laws etc.

Despite my busy trip, I do admit, I miss home.. I miss Melbourne! :(

I miss my hubbykins, I miss my puppy, I miss home! Is it weird? I'm back home yet I miss my other home! Why is this always the case? When I'm in Melbourne, I moan about how boring life is and how much I want to do something a wee bit more exciting. And when I actually get the opportunity, I can't wait to go back to my normal life with routine etc...

Mt Buller Snow Trip

Oh dear I have been having way too much shitburgers lately. Everyday I find myself surrounded by idiots. On the phone, on email, in the train, at a restaurant, you name it. No its not that time of the month. Its just... *sigh* shitburgers!

Anyway, to cheer myself up, I will blog about my recent trip to the snow with friends!

We planned this trip a few weeks ago. One of the our friends, his parents has a time share arrangement for accommodation at Mansfield. Mansfield is about 1.5 hours from Mt Buller. So we booked two villa units for a very reasonable price between the 8 of us. The week leading up to the trip, I was busy during my lunch break looking for things to buy for the trip. I ended up with a new pair of ski pants (hell yeah!), new beanie, new goggles, new snow boots, new ski socks, and... yeah that should be it.

Most of us finished work earlier than normal on Friday afternoon. We left Melbourne at approximately 7pm. The drive was quite pleasant, but of course, with daylight saving, it was dark. We arrived at our villa unit around 10pm. We settled in quickly, the place was quite old but very clean, cosy and most importantly, warm! We agreed to wake up at around 5-ish in the morning the next day, for a 6am start. While majority of us did not think it was realistic, let me tell you, we did it! Well, not exactly at 6am, but we were ready to go at 6.30am the next morning. Not bad for a group of 8, don't you think?

Initially, we agreed to drive two cars up to Mt Buller from Mansfield. So we drove in to Mansfield town centre to hire wheel chains for both cars. Depending on the weather, cars are legally required to hire the wheel chains to drive on snow and icy roads. While filling out the paperwork, we find out that the wheel chains could not fit my car. Therefore, at 6.55am, everyone agreed to take the bus from the town centre to Mt Buller. Mind you, the bus was scheduled to depart at 7am. We ran for our lives to get on to the bus in time. If we missed it, we would have to wait an extra hour. Good news is that we made it on time. Phew!

Grumpy and myself in the bus. Bright and early.

The journey up to Mt Buller, we could already see snow. Everyone was so excited.

After over an hour, we arrived right at the top of the central area in Mt Buller. It was soooo cold. We zipped up our jackets, put on our scarves, beanies, googles, all good to go!

After about ten minutes of settling down in Mt buller, we organised our ski hire. This process took forever. Especially with a group of 8, we spent over an hour just sorting out our skis, boots, poles and snowboards. Some of us were getting impatient and very hot, staying indoors with 4 layers of clothes = so not cool :(

Anyway, finally when everyone finished sorting out their skis and snowboards, we joined the queue for the chair lifts.

I always say to him "Are you exciteeeeeddddd?" And he'll go.. "I'm alright..."

Everyone knows that the crowd in Mt Buller is the worst among the 3 most popular snow locations (Buller, Hotham and Falls Creek). Buller is the closest to Melbourne though.

The last time I skiied was 6 years ago. I can hardly remember how to ski from my previous experience. Two minutes after we hop off the chair lifts at the top, I find myself very afraid of the slopes. So I joined Dopey's other half to a complimentary two-hour ski lesson. I found the lesson very helpful. The ski instructor was extremely cute too. He had blue eyes. *faints*

Finally after the lesson and some lunch, I was ready to take on the slopes. While there was hardly any sun that Saturday, it was constantly snowing. Excellent for skiing. The snow was so nice and fluffy, it did not hurt much if you fell. The last thing you want is for it to be icy, because falling down would mean a lot of bruising!

Grumpy looks funny here. Hehehe don't you think it looks like I have my arms wrapped around some random stranger?

The last chair lift was at 5pm. We returned our skis and headed to a pub for some drinks. The bus took us home around 7.30pm. We were exhausted. Finally at 9pm, we started preparing dinner. Mr Happy organised steam boat and it was sooooo delicious. I guess after a long and tiring day, any hot food would have tasted better than usual!

I must say, my arms were extremely sore that night. From my wrist to my elbow. It was so sore that the pain was excruciating! Grumpy thinks I must have gripped the ski poles a bit too hard.

We ate dinner while watching the election. Everyone voiced out their political opinions. Among the 8 of us, only one person was an Australian citizen. So all I can say is none of their opinions mattered except for one! LOL

The next morning, I wake up and my arms so much better. Yay, I have my arms back! The sun was shining in Mansfield, here are some pictures.

View from our villa unit. So fresh and relaxing!

Our bedroom. There was an electric blanket to keep us nice and warm while asleep. I loved it!

The last day of our trip. We started the day with breakfast prepared by Dopey. We drove about 35kms from Mansfield to visit the Jamieson brewery.

We did beer tasting and shared some lunch. Then it was time to make our journey back to Melbourne. On the way home, we stopped by at De Bortoli vineyard and bought a few bottles of wine. Grumpy said he was stocking up for summer. Yes sure, spring comes first, my darling.

So there you go, I actually made it for a snow trip this winter after many years. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Everyone had a blast.

Cy-ber-jai-yahhhh

This week, I have been caught up with work. My boss Belgian Truffles is back in his home country Belgium, so I am enjoying some peace and quiet at work. He talks too much most of the time, and lately because of the various things that are going on in the office, I get so easily annoyed with him. This week is also Little Miss-Whats-for-Lunch's last week with the company. She resigned and scored herself a much better job with a consulting firm on St Kilda Road. I am sad, of course, sad to lose my close friend in the office. But on the other hand, I am happy that she has found something that is much more challenging and rewarding.

On Tuesday, our office announced the company's smart sourcing plans. And so, everyone had to view at least 20 slides of rubbish in a powerpoint presentation, before they arrived at the last few which said that 26 people in the Melbourne office will soon lose their jobs because their roles will be moved to KL. While I am not affected at the moment, my team is convinced that our roles will disappear too in the future.

Anyways, this week I have also received more emails from HR about my business trip back to KL in September. That makes things a bit more concrete now and so I guess this is something I look forward to. A free trip back home is an opportunity not to be missed! Our office is in Cyberjaya. Many Aussie colleagues have been asking me how to pronounce it.

Cy-ber-jai-yahhhhh

Yesterday, my cousin invited Dopey and myself to her baby boy's full moon. Her baby is absolutely gorgeous and such a good baby. While I do not get along with this cousin at all, I put all our differences aside and celebrated with the rest of the family, the birth of her healthy son. This baby is another half-ling, half Malaysian half Kiwi. We still cannot tell if he looks more chinese or more Caucasian..? Soooo cute! He was sound asleep in my arms, and everyone else's while we passed him around like a parcel! haha

Langues de Chat cookies

In the recent weeks, I find myself spending more and more time in the kitchen (on weekends), experimenting new recipes - both cooking and baking. I am popular at work for being lazy in the kitchen, due to the fact that I get my dinners delivered to the office. In actual fact, I do not mind cooking at all. Its just that I am quite slow in the kitchen, and if you asked me to cook you dinner on a weekday.... well, after finishing work late, hopping on the train, walking home from the station, then going to the gym.. after all of that, dinner would be ready only at 10pm.

I usually reserve a few hours on a Saturday or a Sunday, in the kitchen, making something new, something that I am craving for! :)

I also find it very therapeutic... spending this time in the kitchen by myself, trying out new things while listening to music on MTV.

If I am not alone at home, Grumpy will normally help me in the kitchen, especially with the washing up. Everyone knows that Grumpy is a very good cook, but I am becoming a bit more experienced now. We work well together in the kitchen, I must admit. If he was cooking up a feast, I would be in between reading recipes out to him and holding on to measuring cups, etc.

Last Saturday afternoon, I made 'Langues de Chat'. A French style cookie, which means Cats Tongue. Its very easy to make. I found this recipe on my Epicurious app on the iPhone, but there are still some elements which I would like to modify to make this the most perfect tasting Langues de Chat cookies. Grumpy said it was delicious, which is a good start.

It is a very thin, crisp cookie. Once you start eating them, it is very hard to stop. The recipe said it makes 2 and a half dozen cookies. When Grumpy got home from golf, he would have been lucky if there were more than a dozen left. I ate them all. Before I even finished baking all the batches. LOL

Fun and games

Last week, I was so caught up with all sorts of things. The weekend was chock-a-block full of errands, I was up around 6.30am both on Saturday and Sunday, and this week again, work has been completely flat out.

In the recent weeks, I had two rounds of interview with an internationally reputable company for a role, which I have no clue why I even applied for it in the first place. Sometimes I find myself doing silly things, and the most silly of all, is letting my nerves get the better of me during the interview process. I found it so daunting, and of course when I am nervous, I speakreallyreallyfast. The third stage was a GMA test (psychometric) and a personality test. I think I failed this part, as they rang yesterday to say they were not going to proceed further with my application. I was extremely disappointed with myself, but of course it was a big learning curve for me.

Looking on the bright side, the role was not something I was very keen in pursuing. Put it this way, if they advertised it in my company, I would have disregarded it. The other point was that if I was successful (which I am not), I would have to divest all my investments in shares. Jules, you clearly do not have a million dollar portfolio here.. lol. However, that would have still resulted to some financial loss on my part as the current financial situation is bad bad bad. Did I mention that it was also applicable to my other half? Therefore Grumpy would not be allowed to own any form of investments in shares too, if I ended up in that company (which I will not).

While all of that was going on, there were many things happening at my own current work place too. For the first time, in my career, I had to sign a confidentiality agreement with my company. Over the next few months, there will be many changes in the office, and while I may have some knowledge of this, I am strictly not allowed to share it with anyone at all. Quite sad, really.

The flip side of this is that I will have some brief opportunities to travel overseas (short term) for work over the next few months which is always a bonus for me. So while I am keen to start a new challenge at a different work place, it is also very tempting for me to stay put and to support my boss over the next couple of months. So yeah.... fun and games!

This weekend, I look forward to staying home and chillaxing with my dog. Grumpy has requested that I 'sleep in', or at least try to get 12 hours of sleep!

Grandfather's 90th Birthday

This is long overdue, but I thought I would share with you a post about my recent trip back to KL in April. It was a last minute decision but I am so glad I made the effort to be home and spend time with my family. The main reason was to celebrate my grandfather's 90th birthday. My grandfather is an amazing person, I have a great deal of respect for him.

Unfortunately, Grumpy could not join me for this trip. But my brother and his better half made it.

All of my uncles and aunties made it, including all my cousins, the grandchildren. One cousin flew in with his wife and his very gorgeous baby boy from the UK, another cousin flew in from Hong Kong with his fiance and finally, one cousin flew in from Sarawak as he works in the oil rigs over there. All of us were looking forward to this birthday dinner which was held at Oriental Pavilion in Jaya 33, Petaling Jaya.

I made sure I had a nice cocktail dress, got my nails done - complete with nail art, I got my hair done (an amazing blow wave) at this hairdressers called 'Ah Mui's' (I kid you not) who is so famous in Damansara among the Malaysian elite - ladies like Datins to celebrities, to the rich and famous and to the more ordinary plain Janes like myself all go there to get a blow wave for a special events, parties, etc. I put on nice make up, fake lashes, bought a pair of gorgeous heels from Charles & Keith. After I got dolled up, I stepped out of my bedroom, Dopey looked at me and he said "OMG WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING? CLUBBING?!!" LOL

Here is a picture of all my grandfather's grandchildren. As you can see here, I was a bit overdressed for the occasion. My cousins must be thinking I am crazy but WTH, it is such an auspicious event for Granddad to celebrate his 90th, of course one must dress the part!

*big smile*

Dopey, Dad, Mum and myself with my grandfather. Apart from his right eye, which he recently went for an eye operation, he still is in good form.

The entire family had such an enjoyable time together, we used to be very close when we were young, but of course, now that everyone is all grown up, living their own lives, we do not catch up as much as we would like to. The last time everyone was together like this, was more than ten years ago.

After dinner, some (not all) of us cousins planned an after party! I was expecting a nice lounge somewhere in the heart of KL, but everyone complained about traffic, avoiding the hustle and bustle of the city... we ended up at an outdoor Belgian pub nearby. Of course, all the people there were wearing shorts and a singlet... I stood out like a sore thumb.

This trip, going home without Grumpy, I guess my parents had sole custody of me. I did heaps of family stuff, which was nice... first, let me show you my cousin's baby boy, Baby E. He is half Irish half Malaysian Chinese.

He is such a bundle of joy! I wish I could see him more often! I wish I could see all the little tots in the family more often!

And next, let me show you my other cousin's baby toy poodle. My cousin has a pure breed male and female toy poodle, complete with the poodle clip. Each of them costs an arm and a leg, and they had a baby poodle recently. This little puppy is so adorable! Watch this video of the puppy climbing the stairs. He is so tiny and such a delight to watch!

I should really make an effort to go back to KL more often....

Winter Weekend

How was your weekend? Mine was filled with lots of food, and lots of food!

Saturday, Grumpy had the day off. We made plans to go to this restaurant called Pie In The Sky all the way up in Mount Dandenong. Our close friend Mr Happy is very fond of this place and raves about it all the time. They make Guinness Beef pie here.

This restaurant does not take bookings, so we were worried about getting a table. When we arrived, we were seated straight away, no dramas there. It was busy, but it was not too packed.

Grumpy still sleepy (even though I let him sleep in on his day off, while I was up early doing tai chi, yoga and pilates at Body Balance class).

I had the Tandoori chicken pie with chips and salad.

Grumpy had a the Guinness Beef Pie with mash, peas and gravy.

The pies were okay, but we had no idea why our dear friend spoke so fondly about this place. I told Grumpy that I preferred the Harry's pies I normally get in Sydney. It was double the price of a normal Harry's pie too. When we got back in to Melbourne, I told Dopey that the pies were pretty average to me, "I do not know why Mr Happy says that the pies here so good when they are not!" Dopey told me that Mr Happy probably liked the pie because he also liked the ambience and the whole idea of driving all the way to the mountains. So true. Dopey has been making a lot of sense lately. Maybe he does not deserve this award winning title of 'Dopey' anymore.

After we had lunch, we went by to Grumpy's cousin Little-Mrs-Fitness-First place because she made popiah. Yeap, home made popiah which tasted so deeeelish! We were already so full from the pies, and yet we could not resist eating the popiahs for afternoon tea. OMG.

The two little kids of Little-Mrs-Fitness-First, the little boy just melts my heart. He is such a handful, but I love him to bits because he says the sweetest things! And you can't say no to a smile like his.

We ended the night with dinner with friends. We could hardly eat anymore but we still went out for dinner to catch up with the usual group of people.

Today, Grumpy played golf all day. No one plays golf in winter (and in the rain) except for my husband. For dinner, I made Prawn Tacos, Pico de Gallo, beans and guacamole with nachos. It was very easy to make, tasty and healthy too!

Soft tacos.... yummmm... Grumpy is going through an 'avocado phase' at the moment. He loves anything avocado. So his favourite was the guacamole I made from scratch. He put guacamole in his tacos.

I love Mexican food! I can't wait to go to the US and eat all the Mexican in the world!

I also made fresh banana bread today. I will share it with my friends at work tomorrow. I have modified the ingredients from two separate recipes, and the taste is nice, maybe short of one banana... but it crumbles a bit, and that makes it a bit hard when you pop it in the toaster. I need to perfect my banana bread recipe!

P.S. Remember the frenemy I was talking about in my earlier post... she found another job in Boxhill, so she resigned from her current job in the city! YAY! Which means I do not have to meet her for lunch anymore! Whoop whoop! First thing that came to my mind when she told me the news... 'GOOD RIDDANCE'!