American Food Post #2: The Good Stuff!

Of course American food isn't limited only to pizza and burgers. I've been eating a lot more yoghurt for one, because they have a large variety of greek yoghurt with all sorts of good stuff. And frozen yoghurt, oh so good. 

So much better than Tutti Frutti, and so much cheaper, even after the exchange rate. Yum!

This Mixim yoghurt really cheered me up a whole lot, though. It was on sale for like $1 or something so I bought a couple and mmmm I am surprised. Being used to the whole Malaysian standard of "discounted food" I wasn't expecting anything good (I was expecting it to be terrible, at least) but I am surprised.

The kid in me had so much fun mixing the raspberry jam with the surprisingly flavorful chocolate bits. It's safe to say that this will be one of the more well-stocked desserts I'll have lying around. ˚₊*(ˊॢo̶̶̷̤◡ुo̴̶̷̤ˋॢ)*₊˚⁎

Then today I popped by 7-11 to see if they had anything for sale. I came across this wonderful creation called the Oreo ice-cream...

And it was so good. It wasn't too sweet, wasn't too overwhelming, and it was just soft enough to chew but didn't melt. In a nutshell: Amazing.

The cookie coating was firm didn't crumble much, the soft ice-cream on the inside was chewy. How is it possible??

Even though it's a little on the pricey side, I don't think I'll be able to resist an Oreo bar after a nice filling bagel...

It's a good thing my new place has a weighing scale... Really have to keep the pounds off this Asian frame! (●´⌓`●)

Morning Sun

I am unsure whether or not this is due to jet lag, but regardless it is very strange that I wake up at 7 everyday now. Sleep at 9 (I managed to stay up to 9 without a nap yesterday) and wake up at 7 calls for a 10-hour-sleep... At least I'm sure people will tell me it's a healthy change and what not.

Mornings here are so very beautiful- actually, mornings back home are too. That golden hour at 10 when the sun is warm and shines with a golden tint... I sort of miss mornings back home. Then again if I were home I wouldn't see much of it.

My room with a view.

I used to (try) to sleep before midnight (and failing, usually) and wake up to my 9 o'clock alarm... then snooze it to wake up at 10. Haha! It sure is a great change for me to have sleeping patterns like this... I don't think I've ever slept so early, except possibly primary school.

I'm not complaining! We all know the benefits of sleeping early, so hello good skin and healthy bowel movements! Also, I get to use the bathroom while everyone else is still sleeping! I just hope I can keep this up even when I have classes.

Glad to report that I have been super responsible for myself this week... Tidying up, making my bed, cooking and cleaning, vacuuming... I think I can handle this staying by myself thing... Yeah. I'll make it through! :)

Pepperoni pretzels, mmmhph, so so good!

How does the same thing taste so much better here??

DARK CHOCOLATE CHEERIOS NOT EVEN KIDDING

Home made mushroom omelette tortillas! + bacon bits! :D

5 More Days

Here's to a great journey ahead with

new space

new room

new thoughts

new friends

new food

new air

new experiences

But never forgetting the

ones that stay back

places I've been

food I've tasted

pink bedroom

grey car

Malaysian air

.
.
.
.
.

5 more days until the bluebird flies away but she will always, always come home

JAPAN!

This week I'll be flying off to the Land of the Rising Sun with my TAS friends, and I am so excited!

I've never been overseas without adult supervision before so this is a new first, a step out into the world of journeys and adventure! All the new things that can happen!

I have yet to pack, but I have my whole wardrobe planned out in my head already... Well, at least that would make packing easier wouldn't it! Haha!

To be honest though, I'm more excited to meet another culture. To see how other people do things and go about their daily life. The way they dress, talk, commute. The Japanese are well known to be neat, polite and efficient. I'd love to understand how such a culture thrives in contrast to Malaysia.

We're going to be walking around a lot though, and currently the most (vain) problem on my mind is 'What shoes to bring?????' hahahaha!

Of course we're only going for a week or so, but still I'm sure it's going to be awesome! :D

Just a few more hours and we'll be breathing Japan air! :DDD

Valentines' Day and White Day

So~ White Day has just passed us by, and it dawned on me that I should probably blog about all the amazing things le petit ami has done for me. That would take at least a couple of lengthy blog posts however, so I'll just write about the significance of Valentine's Day and White Day instead.

I finally got to cook for him after a long hiatus. Also because I've been craving for fried eggplant, so I decided to give it a shot and try my hand at it.

I'm not tooting my own horn here but it turned out pretty awesome. xD

The onion cutting ninja at work.

Look at that!

Making curry~ It turned out too thin, as usual... @@

A relatively healthy... vegetarian meal, ohohoho!

Because of course we were saving ourselves for dinner, since le petit ami had already planned a pretty extravagant Valentine's dinner at La Risata! (The food explanation is copied from the menu given. I pretty much have no idea what it means, but it sounds terribly fancy and I'm compelled to type it.)

Super romantic setting! (I couldn't resist burning some of the petals on the table... I see fire and I want to burn things, sorry. xD)

A shot of something that made my whole body heat up into warm fuzzy chocolately feelings.

Cappasana e Fragole

Pan seared scallop on strawberry carpaccio and almond flakes topped with deep fried bresaola beef julienne

Paccheri Rippieni di Anatra

Pipe shaped dry pasta stuffed with chocolate flavored duck ragout on green peas cream

Okay, a little something about this dish. I was at first skeptical of it, because really, duck and chocolate? But I was floored, because it really tasted like duck and chocolate and it was good. I was so confused but yet delighted so I think it deserves a special mention. The cream went really well with the pasta and the stuffing, but imho they should've offered a main course (see below) that wasn't so thick and filling because this did a really good job of cream, meat, carbs and thick sauce already.

Guancia Brasata

Red wine braised beef cheek with oven baked pumpkin and potato cake

Like I said, a mouth full of carbs. Makes me full just looking at it.

Salmone con Risotto ai Funghi

Butter fried salmon steak served with mushroom "chiodini" risotto with spring garlic butter and sautéed beetroot

Millefoglie di Banana

Layers of thin chocolate and banana mousse on Berries Coulis

Okay so technically there was only one raspberry and one blueberry but oh well. The mousse surprised me, because it's banana flavored but yet it was strangely appealing. Three wasn't enough. xD

We took at short detour back to Lake Gardens, the place we spent the beginning of our relationship to have a proper sit down and talk about everything under the sun moon. I'm really grateful we did, because we cleared away uncertainty and doubt and made way for trust and love. :)

And now onto White Day~! White Day is one month after Valentine's day (March 14th) and is generally considered an "epilogue" of sorts of V day. Since I forgot White Day last year (though it's totally the guy's responsibility to celebrate! Hahaha!) I got le petit ami chocolates, because #typical and #generic.

He surprised me more than what the chocolate was worth though, in a way. Even though I knew he had won Avril Lavigne's concert tickets from RedFM's Instagram contest, it was only one ticket... By sheer luck and generosity on RedFM's part they gifted us two instead, so... FREE CONCERT!

We had by far the worst KFC ever (it came in a big truck... guys never buy food from trucks.) and I accidentally hit a lady with our complimentary glow sticks and despite the eager crowd that rushed to the barricades and blocked everyone else's view, I enjoyed every minute immensely with this adorable baka! ♥︎

Too bad we weren't really prepared for the concert... Otherwise we'd have lightsabers ready! Whoop! xD

In a way I'm thankful I've never been the butthurt type to hate on these couple-days when I was still single (ohohoho) so I can say without being hypocritical that sometimes being stupidly in love on special days really is just so much fun! xD

I can't stress how awesome being in love with your best friend is. :') Good times are to be had, always!

Mind Palaces and Appreciating Things

February has come and is nearly gone, and yet I have barely written anything worth mentioning at all.

It has recently come to my attention, however, that I have gradually stopped reaffirming my thankful and appreciative habits, so here's kicking myself into the zone to love life and live life.

• my family is 300% amazing
• this includes my extended family
• of which my grandmother peaks at a 765% amazing rate
• le petit ami ♥︎
• all the pretty cute things I own
• all the useless but adorable impulse buys
• the ability to even afford such things
• friends who buy me things
• friends who buy me food
• friends
• the House of Vorosmarthy
• the TAS famiry
• 异类
• the amazing childhood friends that never lost touch
• the amazing not-quite-childhood friends that sorta lost touch but still stalk constantly
• learning about love
• learning the meaning of love
• learning how to love
• learning how to in general be a better person
• I have the privilege to study and learn
• even more so the opportunity to do it at my own pace
• to find my own interests and develop them
• the ability to write and communicate through words
• which I do so on a laptop
• a very good laptop
• my favorite one
• unlimited internet access
• torrents
• movies
• snacks
• good food
• more food
• best food
• all kinds of food
• desserts
• yum

The list will go on forever, because there is always something to smile over. Things that remind me of good times, of good people, of good effort.

I might write about them, but they're short (but of course that does not necessarily mean it's bad) and the train of thought loses itself quickly in my mind palace.

I'll have to organize my mind palace...

Popin' Cookin' Sushi Candy Set~!

I love doing craft things, and I love food. I also love my sister, so obviously it works together.

A few weeks back she brought back Japan's popular Popin' Cookin' self-make candy series, where you are given sachets of powder and everything needed to make miniature food that looks exactly like the real thing. It's amazing. Also I don't dare to eat it.

It has Japanese words! Hence, imported! *wild applause*

Apparently the Japanese are nuts about packaging everything.

These are your materials!

So the point is to transform everything you see in those small packets of powder and make it into candy in the shape of sushi. MAGIC.

The good thing about the Japanese is that they're really detailed, and literally you need nothing else. Just water, and even then they have this small space in the middle to hold JUST enough water for everything, it's amazing. Everything fits exactly right, right down to the amount of power to even how many drops of water you need.

This is 'rice'. Considering how it is just water + powder, after mixing it 

for a minute or so, it becomes fluffy and airy. IT'S MAGIC.

Powder for the "tamago".

After following instructions and mixing everything, this is what you get.

That's also how you make the fish roe to top off the sushi... just drop 

a certain solution into another solution and it will instantly become 

the texture of fish roe. It really is magic.

The rice placed on "plates" that's on the packaging itself...

Making sushi! (Look at that roe!)

Final product~

All in all it was a really fun experience! We didn't dare eat it because it even smelled super sweet and it literally is just sugar powder + water, so we didn't quite bother.

It did subtly show us the amount of detail the Japanese put into their work, as well as how innovative they are. Instructions guiding you through the whole thing were done on the packaging itself, eliminating need for an extra piece of instruction leaflet. And even though we didn't understand Japanese, the diagrams were clear enough to guide us through the whole thing, and it was pretty straightforward as well!

OneRepublic Concert @ Sunway Lagoon, 2013.

So... finally. After discovering OneRepublic four years ago and falling deeply in love ever since, I finally get to see them live.

My heart, it quivers.

I love le petit ami for getting VIP tickets for us~! Really dear, it was so much better to see them up close and personal!!!

Too much feels, I started crying the moment Ryan Tedder started to sing Light It Up... The music sent shivers down my spine and prickled my skin. The feeling was amazing... The absolute delight at finally getting to see them perform live.

Many times I was just absolutely lost in the music and the atmosphere... These were the songs that I've made to be a part of myself, that I've lived and breathed and sang to and cried to and fell asleep to. These were the songs that bring themselves forward whenever there is an appropriate situation, the songs that comforted me and the songs that gave me hope and let me live again.

The band was wonderful... It was all my favorite songs, all our songs, the songs that saved my life... No band is quite as integrated into my life and such a deep, critical part of me as OneRepublic is.

Something in their songs speak to me, being just the right amount of tender and wonderful. (Of course, Brent Kutzle's cello-playing skills are simply irresistable.) It's honest and longing and love and wishing and things we've missed and things we've gone through all in one. To experience it live, with Ryan Tedder's amazing energy, just reinforces it all.

Even better than that?

I had a lovely, perfect man holding me through it all. :) I love you, hatsukoi~ ^^

Golden Palm Tree Resort Weekend Trip!

Finally we had our long awaited weekend at the Golden Palm Tree Resort! Their villas were much more relaxing than I expected, and I absolutely loved their interior designing. Matching white with wooden furniture made the whole place look so breezy and refreshing!

The balcony was rather spacious, leading to a view of the other braches of villas and a nice wide view of the sea and the beach some distance away. The sea wasn't at all deep- we could see translucent, odd fish swimming below out villas; in fact the next day when it was low-tide the water was all drained away, leaving the brown firm mud-bed out to the sun. Surprisingly there was no muddy smell of swamp.

The balcony had a set of rattan table and chairs that was great for 

stoning at night listening to sea breeze.

You could see the sea from your shower stall- if you 

don't mind the fish looking at you while you bathe!

The resort had bicycles that guests could freely use- though it was incredibly hard to be able to get any since many people tend to keep those bikes in their villas, though you weren't supposed to. My cousins had a great time riding them in circles whenever they managed to find an unoccupied one. It's a brilliant idea, if people had the decency to leave those bikes back at the bicycle racks for other people to use and not hoard it for themselves...!!!

After checking out the villa, we went out to the extreme park where they offered paintball, all-terrain vehicle rides, archery and of course, the go-kart.

Obviously, I finished last, because I'm a safe driver like that.

It was relatively fun, (if you're not the one paying for it lol) and then after that we went for a dip in the pool back at the resort.

The pool opened up to an unobstructed view of the sea, so it was as though you could fool yourself into thinking you're in the sea, which is actually really cool.

We chilled for a bit then went out for dinner. We were lucky to find a Chinese restaurant, the seafood was really good!

After dinner we went back to the resort where they had a live band playing at the poolside. Music was playing, and the stars were out. The sea breeze was cooling and the night was spent relaxing.

We woke up in time to make the buffet breakfast, which is typical hotel food. Lunch outside after we checked out, however, made up for the lack of good food. I have a biased view that small towns always have better food, and I was not disappointed. Pretty much had the best curry laksa with its own taste, paired with gloriously refreshing longan drink.

My uncle looking gorgeous in a sun hat.

I finally got my red dragon fruit drink after so long of wanting it! It's locally produced, and they don't skimp on real fruit. I recommend to shake the bottle before drinking otherwise by the time you get to the bottom all you get is pulp, not juice.

We dropped by the beach first, because what's the point of going so far to the sea without having fun on a beach? It was low tide when we got there, so we walked quite a distance into the seabed. We chased the little red crabs scuttling about- they were about the equivalent of the ants of the land, I suppose. There were swarms of them, a shimmering carpet of red on the sea bed.

It felt good to just spend the weekend totally relaxed! Can't wait to come back here again!

Roasted coffee fruits!