Bad habits

"...Breaking bad habits is like breaking up with a slutty girlfriend; you'll be bored and lonely at first but you'll cherish the long-term benefits. These bad habits are unfortunately always a consequence of deeper problems; they are just a way of venting accumulated unhappiness or stress..."

"...While they usually serve an immediate purpose, they bring their load of troubles that will burden you in the end. If you're tired of these dreadful quirks and want to lead a new life, you'll need to break these habits..."

Over the last 25 years, I've accumulated an assortment of bad habits. There are some which are not as destructive as others... but some, let's just say that it's severe. It's making me turn into someone that I'm not happy to be, as well as making me a less happy person.

It's time to try and start breaking these bad habits but it ain't going to be easy... after all, if it is... it wouldn't be classified as bad habits...

I'm usually quite strong willed and stubborn (if I weren't I wouldn't be labelled as hostile and defensive...) but somehow I only manage to apply it to certain aspects of my life... I need to start from the root of the problem... After all, bad habits are only a symptom, so I need to fix the problem at the source such that there won't be any need to continue doing it.

I really want to make a change this time. True, it'll be difficult and I really hope that I don't wiltered in the heat of the moment... Wish me luck! And hopefully, sooner or later... you'll see the new, happier and better me! :)

My belated birthday cake...

Yes, I know my birthday was long long time ago, but... my lil' sis promised to bake me a birthday cake when I visit her in Germany and true to her words, she baked me this white chocolate brownie green tea cheesecake...

Sounds interesting and delicious? hehe... I don't like chocolates with the exception of white chocolate and I'm really into green tea nowadays (little secret: I take green tea bags from the meeting room downstairs by slipping them in my note book so that I can have my daily dose of green tea in the office :P)

Preparing the green tea (macha) cheesecake, making the white chocolate brownie, then adding them both together and finally making beautiful swirls so that it looks nice... hehehe... yeah, I told her that I want a cake that is both good looking and good to eat...

Then, pop it into the oven to bake... mind you, I didn't realise how much professional baking stuff that she has... stuff like proper baking paper, baking tin, all those cake decoration stuff and moulds!

And finally, the end product... my cute little birthday cake with decorations... hehehe... I insisted she put an "S" there so that it's my cake... :P

Thank you, Yuni for the efforts, I feel so loved :) You're the best!

Hardbread Land aka Germany

Went over to Hardbread Land aka Germany to visit my younger sister Yuni... haven't seen her new place yet... and I must say, I'm impress... it's a lot better than the places that I've lived in while I was in uni! Bleh...

Hehehe... my sister's room... looks like a page from the Ikea catalogue... wish I can change all the furniture in my flat to new Ikea stuff! :P

I was working really hard prior to this trip as I had quite a few deadlines... in fact, I was working all the way to Gatwick airport, while waiting for my flight and while I was on the flight itself!!! Poor me... but I'm so lucky because.... when I arrived in Germany, I was welcomed by these wonderful treats...

Yuni baked these cute and delicious little cheesecakes just for me! Aaawwww... so sweet :)

And her housemate made these yummy carrot cupcakes for me!

Wow... I felt so honoured... hehehe

Since I haven't been to Dusseldorf yet, we decided to make a trip there as it's only an hour train ride from Yuni's place in Dueren... Before we started the day, my Mimi insisted that we have something German... so, we had lunch at a local restaurant...

We had goulash with macaroni (although in the menu it says noodle! heck... they can't even differentiate between macaroni and noodles...) and German sausages with sauerkraut (those pickled cabbage which I don't really like)

And of course, we went shopping... (how can any trip not include shopping??) hehehe..

The supposedly designer street in Dusseldorf... where you can find all the luxurious designer brands such as Prada, LV, Gucci etc... you name it they have it!

And not forgetting, our main objectives of the day was to get this LV bag for my elder sister... according to her, the LV bag that she wanted is cheaper here in Germany and if you get the tax refund, you can save a few hundred ringgit wor...

So, here we are... in the LV shop... my first time shopping for designer goods! Feel like those "tai-tai" man... but embarrassed as well, because everyone in the shop was already carrying LV bags and yours truly here was carrying her RM40 bag... Ooops...

This is the bag that she wanted... er, to be honest, I don't think it's that nice lor... plus the shape looks a bit funny and the handle is too short so you can't carry the bag on your shoulder... god knows why she wanted this particular model!

The following day, we went to Cologne instead... since I've been to Cologne the last time I visited Yuni, we went shopping instead of sight-seeing... yes yes yes, I know I know... it's just my excuse for shopping... but I found so many bargain items that I was one happy girl at the end of the trip! :)

Can you see the sausages hanging behind? Yeah, they have sausages and potatoes stalls everywhere... this one is in the train station... but it's literally everywhere... stalls by the side of the road, between shops, around the corner...

And because my Mimi wanted to have the famous German pork knuckles, we went hunting for German restaurants again... I think my sis and her friends must had a hard time trying not to say anything about having German food! (They don't like anything to do with Germany and associate them as hardbread...)

So here we are... (clockwise) pan fried potatoes with bacon and eggs, pork knuckle, escalope with herb sauce and German-style rump steak.

See what I mean about potatoes.. every dish is served with potatoes... I was stuffed!

Night fall at the main high street at Cologne

At the end of the weekend, I'm glad that I made the time for this trip... it may be short, but it was sweet... and it gave me an opportunity to spend quality time with both my Mimi and Yuni. :)

Mimi's and Yuni's visit

The last time Mimi and Yuni came to visit me was Christmas in 2005... this time round, Mimi said that she wanted to come earlier to avoid the cold... but unfortunately for her... the weather in London was still quite cold!

That aside, I hope she had a more enjoyable time this year as I have my own flat now, so she doesn't have to stay in the room all day! Though I felt a bit guilty that I had to work late most of the time when she was around! (Sorry Mimi...)

But I've still managed to bring them for KTV on a Friday night and we had loads of fun singing at the top of our lungs... hehehe... and we also went shopping and had loads of good food!

Yuni and her favourite Har Mee and teh tarik at C&R Chinatown.. every time she comes to London, she wants to have it!

And since all 3 of us love Japanese food, thought we'll go and feast with sushi at Ten Ten Tei... just love the fresh salmon with wasabi!

I also brought them to Yautcha, this posh Chinese-dim-sum-French-patisserie-fusion-restaurant... Guess on most occasions the Chinese and French don't mix well... but I guess this one does since it's so packed and you've gotta make reservations in advance even when its prices are not cheap!

Some of the dim sum that we have...

Mine you, the fried carrot cake is really good... and even the siu mai was so juicy and tender with fresh scallops... yum yum... and the shanghai dumplings was just perfect with its soup inside...

Here, they serve tea per pot and you can't refill water like in the normal Chinese restaurant... heheh.. so cannot be kiam sap and share tea.... :P

Their wonderful selection of pastries and cakes... sweet tooth anyone?

Both Mimi and Yuni wanted to take pictures around London... but with the gray weather... and rain... this is what you get...

Outside Piccadilly Circus

And oooh... by chance, we found out that TPT in Chinatown serves really good Crab Porridge...

The porridge comes in a super large bowl for just a mere £13 leh.. and the crabs in there are really huge... because they fry the crabs first... it was really tasty...

Apart from eating out and shopping a lot... it was really wonderful to have my Mimi around... when I come home from work... I have dinner ready and someone to chat while having dinner... then can watch movie with her... or go groceries shopping with her...

And I even get all the nutritious stuff like Bird's Nest and Ginseng soup!!! My my... she's really spoiling me :)

Not to mention, she also helps me to do a whole lot of stuff at home like ironing (which I absolutely hate)...

Including fixing the hot and cold water tap in my kitchen... which completely amazes all my friends...

Only a mother can come up with all these superb ideas...

And only my Mimi will always take care of me regardless of how old I am...

The best mother in the whole wide world!

I miss my Mimi already...

Unanswered questions

Why do we sometimes walk down a path that we know is not the right path?

Why do we sometimes make decisions that we know we may one day regret?

Why do we sometimes try to talk ourselves into believing in something that we don't believe in?

Why do we sometimes keep on repeating the same mistakes that we swear we'll never repeat?

Why do we sometimes not stick to the decisions that we vowed to stand by?

Why do we sometimes choose not to see the truth?

Why do we sometimes look back when we should have walked on?

Why do we sometimes forget what we want in life and become disillusioned?

Why do we sometimes fail to see that we're just BIG fools?


I guess it's because we're human beings, and sometimes... we have to learn it the HARD way.

Winter's looming around the corner...

I'm getting the winter blues... even though it's only autumn...

The weather is not helping in anyway either... it feels like we're in winter already...

I need some sun and something to look forward to when the days get shorter and colder...