life's a commotion!

Tiësto - BLUE

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 07:21:00 +0000

Hey! I'm back listening to Tiësto! After all these years, he never let's you down with the awesome tunes. Initially, I would say that I couldn't care less about the lyrics but to be honest, you can't deny the fact that you will sing along to it because it's THAT CATCHY!!! Been listening to "Blue by Tiësto" on repeat and I'm really enjoying it ...at least for now!

Tiësto - BLUE ( feat. Stevie Appleton) LYRICS

Feeling blue without you

Give me one more chance,

give me one more dance

I'm feeling blue without you

Tell me who am I to hold you down

Just feeling blue without you

Give me one more chance,

give me one more dance

I'm feeling blue without you

Tell me who am I to hold you down

I dream that you won't forget me

That's all I really ask of ya

I'd love to talk if you'd let me

I'll take you back to the start with me

I keep on dreaming, I don't know why

I can't seem to let it go

But I keep on tripping on what we had

It's hard not to let you know

We built our love on foundations

We built a house on the hill, yeah
Our little rock of salvation
Oh, my love's there still
Cause I keep on dreaming, I don't know why
I can't seem to let it go
But I keep on tripping on what we had
It's hard not to let you know

I'm feeling blue without you
Give me one more chance, give me one more dance
I'm feeling blue without you
Tell me who am I to hold you down

I'm feeling blue, yeah
Oh, give me one more chance, give me one more dance
I'm blue without you
Tell me who am I to hold you down
Just feeling blue without you

Finally, I'm talking about the PANDEMIC.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:07:00 +0000

Finally, talking about the pandemic. Theses words : COVID-19, pandemic, quarantine, self-isolation, etc ; I just don't like to hear them. The only thing relatable to those words are anxiety, deaths, losts, sadness and lots of negativity and I'm not going to lie, I HATED it.

I was keeping up with the news since December and as soon as the country imposes quarantine - MCO (movement control order), everybody was reacting like a bunch of doomsday preppers with a do this or die kind of mode. Things changed quickly overnight that the first two weeks of MCO was pretty hard on everyone.

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

There were also lots of rumors going around on close people that we know who are positive with the virus and the fact that there is no specific medication for it, we feared for the worst for these people. It wasn't helping that most of us, ended up bombarding our brains with constant death toll rates of the virus and it was depressing to be that way. By the end of the second week of MCO, most of us agree that maybe we should just limit the amount of time we spend reading the news because it does no good to your overall being but create more chaos and anxiety.

Fast forward today, almost three months since the quarantine, things are getting more relaxed. Infection rate is decreasing in the country and so it the death rate. Things seemed to be getting better and we are hopeful that the virus will die out on its own way before any vaccine will be produced. 2020 has been a very challenging year for all of us and I still feel sorry for people that I know that I am not able to extend much help to them in their time of needs and I can just hope that we can somehow make it through things and for sure things will get better with time.

This pretty much summarize my thoughts for this year up until now! Hurray!

Day 1 of My 10 - Day Sugar Detox Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 15:02:00 +0000

Today is Day 1 of my 10 - Day Sugar Detox Challenge. The whole challenge is going to last until next Sunday. For this Sugar Detox days, I need to lay off sugar in all forms - white sugar, brown sugar, syrup, bread - yes, there's sugar in bread and if I read it correctly, sugar is translated as carbohydrate at the nutrition section , flour - it's categorized under processed food, cookies, ice creams, biscuits, juices, junks - instant noodles, nuggets, burgers, ketchup, mayo and to further push on things, I'm including dairy free diet too.

All in all, I'm left with either black/green tea minus the milk and sugar for breakfast. I may need to sip down on my favorite Vietnam drip coffee one of these days sans sugar and milk of course. I can also have eggs for breakfast and lots of veggies along with fresh fruits. No fruit juices in the box allowed and not even my probiotic drink Yakult. Yakult is laden with sugar in order to provide food for the bacteria so yeah, no Yakult at least for the next 9 days.

So far as of Day 1, I am doing fine without the sugar. The only sugar I'm getting is probably from my rice - carbs turning into glucose; I believe that's how the process goes and I'm also getting some sugar from fruits. I had some salmon for breakfast earlier today and I thought it tasted somewhat sweet. Hmm...Other than that, to avoid sugar cravings, I guess the green tea is helping a lot. And did you know that black or green tea sans sugar and milk, can help to reduce cavity. It's best to drink it after meals so that the bad bacteria won't be having a ball eating away on the sugars lingering around the teeth. And of course, sugar is the number one cause for cavity and bad teeth.

You may be wondering, why am I doing a sugar detox? The reason is simple. Sugar has been wrecking havoc on my system. Hence, the most I can do to care for my own body that God has given me is to slowly start eliminating junk from coming inside the body. Also, I've been reading a lot of articles and watching videos from Dr. Mark Hyman who is the one who introduced the 10 - Day Sugar Detox Diet. I have learned that having sugar cravings is an addiction and being a sugar addict is far worse than a cocaine addict. Sugar has also been described by Dr. Hyman as a 'recreational drug' while others claimed sugar as white poison and henceforth.

With the rise of obesity, diabetic, cancer, cardiovascular diseases pretty much worldwide, I guess it is time we become more responsible in taking the time to find out on what exactly we are eating on our plate. We have the choice to make a change for ourselves and at the end of the day, you are what you eat. So let's start eating the right way peeps.

Something For The Playlist : Armin van Buuren feat Trevor Guthrie - This is What it Feels like

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 14:09:00 +0000

Of late, I hardly really listen to any songs. I don't do radios anymore - at least not the local ones because the musics are just bad. Bad lyrics = bad mood. However, once in a blue moon, when I do come around listening to something, this is what I like to listen to.

Enjoy!

This Is What It Feels Like - Armin van Buuren feat Trevor Guthrie

Migrated from self hosting to Blogspot

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 09:52:00 +0000

I've finally decided to migrate out from self hosting and own domain back to Blogspot. I'm thinking for a the long run, this is a much easier option to maintain. Migrating was not that difficult. I just needed to back up some old files, export, convert to Blogger and import to Blogger. The only thing that needs a bit of tweaking is of course the theme and making changes to the images files.

But before the migration, I didn't get to do the page redirect thing from the old self hosted domain : yaszamzah.com to this one. Hence, I'm losing all the daily traffic count and of course Page Rank. But I think with a bit of work here and there, I'll be able to gain back some traffic.

So yeah, I've migrated and there's a lot of work to do here. Need to look up for some proper theme and probably in the future I can figure out the kind of domain name that I may want to purchase and host it right here in Blogger instead of a self hosting one. We'll see about that. Until more changes to come...

Great Tips For Visiting Universal Studio Singapore (USS) & LUGE SKYLINE Sentosa Island on Christmas Eve

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Feb 2014 21:21:00 +0000

This post is not going to have any pictures of the rotating globe which is significant to Universal Studios around the world. You ain't going to see any selfie pictures with any mascot and pretty much there ain't going to be no pictures in this post! However, I'm going to share with you some really GREAT TIPS to make the most out of your USS Singapore trip. I'm going to list them out so that it's easier to read and stuff. Here goes:

1. Try to visit USS Singapore on Christmas Eve because the theme park is open from 10 am until 10pm. In short, you get to play all rides and possibly with no waiting time longer than 5-10 minutes for 12 freaking hours! There's no need for that Express Pass because there's literally like NO queue!

2. There was a Maybankcard discount if you buy online (for year end promotion starting in Nov - Dec) but I found a couple of awesome agents who offered great deals at a super cheap price - even after currency exchange. So that's a bargain.

3. Most people are not aware of this : You can ENTER and RE-ENTER USS multiple times throughout the day. Upon exiting, just inform the USS guys that you would like to re-enter later on and they'll stamp you an invisible stamp on your hand. The next time you want to re-enter, simply show your ticket and they'll scan with a blue light for your stamp on the hand. You get what I mean. The whole purpose of going out of USS is to get cheaper meals outside (within the Sentosa Island vicinity) and also possibly explore around the island too!

4. For food on the budget, don't bother eating inside of USS. Instead, simply get out of USS and just on the right of the USS entrance, you'll see the Malaysian Food Street. The price is cheaper and you can have good meals. For Halal customers, there is one halal stall selling nasi lemak with chicken and roti canai. Since we had a $10 meal voucher and we already splurged a little at the Oasis Spice Cafe (Halal) which is located at USS Ancient Egypt, so we had snacks instead at Malaysian street : cendol and a kopi o beng (iced coffee) for like $5 total!

An average meal inside USS cafes or restaurant is like SGD10 minimum. The delicious North Indian meal I had at Oasis Spice Cafe with a mineral water and dessert cost me around $16. Meals at Malaysian Street Food for the halal Nasi Lemak with chicken is around $6. Other options around Sentosa Island which is within walking distance from USS entrance, you can go to McD or KFC (both are Halal) for prices ranging from $3-$10.

5. Initially, I was pretty disappointed that Battlestar Galactica roller coaster ride was not in service (this trip was made on 24 Dec 2013) because it's like the main highlight of Universal Studio Singapore but then again, I was thankful the ride was out. Right after Ancient Egypt ride, I got really dizzy and couldn't walk straight for a little while. Plus the weather was unusually hot and I started getting a headache from right after lunch until the evening. If I would have gone up Battlestar Galactice, I will absolutely puke along the way and it'll be a bad day.

6. I wasn't in the mood for taking photos with any mascots because it's like so kiddy stuffs, haha, and I'm just not interested in such things, so we decided to have 3 rounds of SKYLINE LUGE Sentosa for $20 . A single trip of the luge is only $12. To get to Skyline Luge, we took the Sentosa Express train and exit at Beach Station. All transportation in Sentosa Island is free so do make the most out of it.

7. We were tempted with iFly Singapore - an indoor skydiving at Beach Station but you have to spend a little more time there for training and then the skydive. Probably, we can give it a shot for next time. It's like once in a lifetime kind of thing, so yeah, this is a KIV for future trips.

8. By the time we were done with the Luge, it was almost 6 pm and we rushed back to re-enter USS for the Christmas street celebration. There were fake snow coming down from the sky and it was actually some soap bubbles and some of them got into my mouth and that was gross! Haha. It was really nothing like Christmas because we were really sticky and hot and there were too many people on the street taking selfies and we joined the selfie bandwagon too just for the heck of it. :)

9. For the rest of the evening, we continued on with other rides and shows that we missed. We finally finished up the USS tour around 9pm with our last ride on a junior roller coaster of Far Far Away. I must say, it was pretty scary to ride a roller coaster in the dark with your bag wedged in between your legs and you had to sit on the most front. It was a nice jolt of adrenaline to end the night in USS.

10. We ended the night with a quick dinner at McD (check map for location) because we were getting cranky, hungry and the halal nasi lemak just only finished. The McD dinner pretty much broke my NO McD pledge for almost a year. I was McD free for about a year until the one I had at Sentosa. For some reason, the burger actually tasted better than the McD I used to have in Malaysia. For that reason alone, I guess it wasn't a bad choice to have that burger anyway. That will be the last McD for me too, insya Allah.

In order to enjoy rides without spending queuing time for more than 10- 20 minutes, you should be able to do this :

Arrive early at the entrance just after 9 am. In between that you can take photos of that globe and look around for maps. By 9.30 am, you can start queuing at the Universal Studio Singapore entrance. At 10 am, the park is open and we rushed (like a typical Singaporean..hehe) to be the first to ride TRANSFORMERS: The Ride. We waited for like 10 minutes or so, it wasn't that long and Transformers was so much fun! If not for my headache, I would have done it again during that night because there was no queue at all.

Right after finishing Transformers, we didn't linger around that long at the gift shop and continued on our next ride: REVENGE OF THE MUMMY at the Ancient Egypt. We spotted the same guys who were queuing with us at the entrance and the Transformers and they were rushing the rides like us too. Some people are just crazy...we were too! Haha. Thanks to them they directed us towards available empty lockers for our bags and after another 10 minutes queue we got onto the ride. Upon exiting, we saw our faces on the screen, it was HILARIOUS. All of us got our eyes closed and mouth opened. Needless to say, nobody wanted to buy 'ugly' shots like that. Haha.

By the time we were done with these 2 rides, it was 11 am. Since we had a 6.30 am breakfast, so we had an early lunch which was a perfect timing because the restaurants are just opened and pretty much empty. How great is that! Still no queue.

After lunch we went for the our 3rd ride : Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure along with our bags. For some unknown reason, we didn't have to queue long again. For the bag situation, you can bring them along but they will advise that you will get wet. However the trick to not get soaking wet is to bring from home a raincoat/poncho or since the queue is not long at all, we could have just used the free 30 minutes locker at Ancient Egypt, but we didn't. The locker at Jurassic Park is not free and a poncho cost like $4 which can buy you an ala carte McD Double Cheese Burger inclusive of tax. Haha. So my awesome partner already eyed which side of the boat ride is going to make a person soaking wet, so we sat on the opposite side hoping that we didn't get drenched since she didn't have any poncho on. True enough, we only had our lower part of the trousers slightly wet and maybe one foot got a little wet too. That's all. It's not that much fun if you don't want to get wet but you still want to ride this rapid adventure because you are suppose to get wet. That's where the fun is. Haha. But we still had fun anyway by trying to duck our way, putting our feet up from the water. That for us is pretty much the 'adventure' element in this ride. Hehe.

The weather was really hot and don't bother to get on that dry pod thing because like everything else in USS, it will cost you money. You'll be walking in the hot sun like all the time and without you even know it, you will be dry. My jeans got dried pretty quickly.

Next was the Waterworld Show. This is a must watch show. Again, if you don't want to get wet, please proceed to the most top seating, thank you very much. :)

We completed other rides like Accelerator - Teacups, Madagascar : Crate Adventure Ride, Shrek 4D Adventure, Light! Camera! Action! and Enchanted Airways during the night with not much queue again. There are a couple more rides that we missed which was mainly the 'kiddy' rides ones and I think we didn't missed much at all.

For your bags:

You can bring them around to most rides even for Transformers. The only time you need to put them in the locker is for the Revenge Of the Mummy Ride. The locker here is FREE for the first 30 minutes and you can put them in again if you want to play the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure ride. All in all, there is no pay to put your stuffs in the locker and one locker can fit around 2 average size bag pack if you squeeze them. ;)

For musolla :

There is one behind the lockers of Revenge of The Mummy. It's right next to the closed Battlestar ride. The musolla is clean with attached wudhu area and also with solat timetable. It's pretty proper. To enjoy your solat without the crowd is of course to solat on time. Be there for Zuhr right around 1 ish pm and the musolla will not be full of people, insya Allah. I suppose there is another musolla next to the Guest Serive for Annual Pass ticketing. I didn't get to check that one out.

For cheap USS ticket from an authorized dealer (online payment and ticket will be emailed to you):

Email to sis : lan_ieza@yahoo.com
The offer for Christmas eve last year was only RM 145 for adult. The online ticket from Resort World after the Maybank discount was about RM 160+ (exchange rate in Dec 2013 1SGD = MYR 2.60)

Travel Photo : What A Landscape! - Mount Bromo, Indonesia

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 14:20:00 +0000

I'm sharing a super old travel photo taken from a trip to Bromo, Indonesia.

What A Landscape - the area comprises of volcanic ashes, dusty and we left Mount Bromo with grey, powdery shoes and socks. The view is totally out of this world.

A busy day at Mount Bromo with tourists and the local trying to make some ends meet

Something Intense For The Tummy : 10 Minutes AB Workout

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 29 May 2013 14:29:00 +0000

This is really something very important for the tummy! I really need to keep up with this because I've put on a little bit of weight. It's either I've put on some weight or that scale is playing tricks on me. If this workout doesn't work, at least, I'm really happy to look forward for Ramadan (insya Allah coming in 1 month plus) because it's the fasting month and hopefully, I can tone down that tummy fat by then. :)

Let's do this people!

Oh, it's actually a 10 minute, intense AB workout which is a must do for people above 25 year old because that's the time where you body metabolism is getting lower and all your fat will start 'growing' into the tummy area.

Truthfully, it's tough and I think I'll be needing a proper mat for this. But hey, I think I'm seeing a bit of a flat tummy right now - yea, right! Of course not, not yet :).

*Note: Thanks to PositiveMed.com for sharing this AB routine.

I Love Hummus!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:33:00 +0000

Hummus with crushed basil eaten with spelt crackers

I think I had my first ever hummus like two years ago and it was delicious, an excellent lunch snack and I think it's healthy too! I don't think there is anything unhealthy when you are eating too much chickpeas and olive oil - which essentially is what hummus is all about.

To cut the long story short, since having tasted hummus for the first time, I started learning, tasting and discovering more on Mediterranean/Arabic dishes. Since then, I've made couscous, lamb mandi and a few attempts of hummus without the tahini or tahina. I have yet to make my own tahini, although I've stocked up on the sesame seeds ages ago. Probably I just need to get some chick peas to get me started with the tahini paste.

My version of the hummus : coarsely ground because that's the way I like it!

Hummus is real easy to make. All you need to have is some boiled chickpeas ( I don't really like can chickpeas), tahini ( can do without), garlic ( optional if you love the garlicy taste, I just avoid it because I don't want to have bad breath), good extra virgin olive oil, salt, paparika(optional). With all these ingredients, simply blend them in a food processor or a blender until it is smooth and silky. I made the one above a bit chunky because that's how I like eating my beans or nuts - haha. You know like chunky peanut butter, so yeah, it's the same way with hummus.

If you grow up eating boiled chickpeas with salt like I do, probably you should give hummus a try. In fact, even if you've never had hummus in your life, you really should give it a try. It's delicious and there are so many other hummus recipes out there. There are easy to make, fast and didn't I just say that hummus is so delicious!

I Have A Dream : To Live in A Tiny Home

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:35:00 +0000

If you haven't known already, of course you don't - I have the craziest dream to one day live in a tiny home or a container home - basically, anything small, minimal but functional, efficient, energy savings and ultimately self-sufficient - with built in solar energy to power the home and treated water from the underground. I think the whole idea seemed so possible to achieve when the family bought a container cabin and we literally lived in there once in a while. The tiny home living experience got even better when I stayed in Holiday Parks around New Zealand and we stayed in a self-contained cabin : totally equipped with running water, portable heater, kitchen, dining/living area, bathroom and the beds!

I simply love the idea that we don't have to have much 'stuffs' to be happy with our life and to appreciate the little things that we have around us. Thus, living in a tiny home seemed like an ideal way to live, at least for me that is. Perhaps, I wasn't one of those kids who dreamed, when I grow up that I wanted to have a huge house to live in. Despite saying that, while growing up I've had the privileged to live in different houses and some are really big ones. While it's great to have space for yourself living with few other people in a home, however, the daunting fact on the amount of cleaning you have to deal with is not a good thing for a cleaning freak like me. I think I have a small case of OCD going on where I literally have to constantly wash my hands, wiping, washing, scrubbing, collecting stuffs which drives me insane but I just can't help from not doing them.

Hence, I believe it make more sense for someone like me to have little stuffs to deal, so there will be less mess to clean up and living in a tiny home seemed like the perfect thing to do. I really hope, soon enough in my lifetime I will finally achieve this dream of mine. If you think it's not possible to live in a tiny home, well think again because a lot of people are actually living in them especially those in big, metropolitan cities in the world.

I'm going to stop here by sharing the kind of favourite YouTube videos that I enjoy watching from time to time and one of them is this Tumbleweed Tiny Homes:

Save The Turtles - WWF Malaysia!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:17:00 +0000

Hey! What do I have in the post yesterday?

It's a WWF - Save the Turtles magnet!

WWF - Save The Turtle!

Fast facts on 'em turtles :

"Only 1 out of 10,000 hatchlings survives to adulthood which means that fewer turtles are living long enough to reproduce." - WWF Malaysia .

Then again, why would we want to bother so much about turtles anyway?

"Green turtles constant grazing help to increase the health and growth rate of the sea grass beds which are essential in supporting other marine species." - WWF Malaysia.

If I understood the letter correctly, the sea grass beds provides food and habitat for fishes, shrimps, crabs, seahorses and many more tiny living creatures underwater.

Hence, if you take you want to be a part of the people who help to make a change in this world, I highly recommend you to help out with this cause. For more info you can visit WWF Malaysia website: http://www.wwf.org.my/

Personally, I feel that the more that I learn to 'give', it seemed that my life is more meaningful and worthy. There is that unexplained 'satisfaction' and 'happiness' that you gain by just giving which is true to the saying ," The more you give, the more you will get back. " I always believe in that and for that with God's willing, I will continue 'giving' , Insya Allah.

It's all about the Weather, Wordpress functions and Blogging!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 20:31:00 +0000

Is anybody home? :)

Is anybody home? Can you tell that this is an antique, super old skool kind of door handle? Only weirdos like let's say an 'interior designer' will snap such pictures.

I haven't updated anything on this blog for the longest time and I guess I shall need a bit of 'standard' blogging to get things started. Let's talk about the weather shall we!

The weather right now in Malaysia is super, super hot! The temperature is around the standard 31 - 33 C but the humidity level is most of the time high which is around 70++ %. That's crazily humid and stuffy air and it is definitely a good time to have the indoor AC ON like all time.

If you've been keeping up with the world's news, we all know that it is suppose to be Spring time already by now which isn't really happening. Instead, it's a snowy Spring time and I guess we have to wait out for a couple more weeks for Spring to finally really come.

So what else is new???

I've just realized there is a 'Distraction Free Writing Mode' in Wordpress! Haha. As you can guess, I've only just started using it for this post. I knew I've seen the square with four arrows icon since forever and I've only started to be inquisitive about it only today. Great! I'm hoping to churn out some more 'exciting' blog posts to keep going at this blog writing thingy. It's been fun writing some posts and keep on getting comments even years after posting them up. For all you readers and commenters, I thank you for reading and exchanging thoughts along the way!

For more posts to come. Until then, toodles!

Photo Of The Day : Flat White Coffee

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:05:00 +0000

The best thing to wake up to in the morning - a nice hot cup of Flat White!

The typical selection of coffee you'll get to choose in the cafes around NZ and I believe also in Australia.

Maybe that's not a best looking picture to represent a Flat White but the taste is simply amazing and gives you a quick run to the toilet right after :). A Flat White if you must know is a combination of espresso and milk - usually it's called a latte.

This is a super quick post and have a great day ahead peeps!

PBIM 2012 Prep Updates and Adidas Adipure Motion Quick Review!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 01:19:00 +0000

Penang Bridge Internation Marathon 2012 - 10km run prep updates

So yeah the most anticipated Penang Bridge Run (PBIM 2012) ever ( at least for me) is going to happen in 2 days time. My prep so far has been absolutely crappy. Yay!

Asides from hiking (twice) and maybe about 2 jogging/walking activities and let's not forget to mention the frigging unintended 6 hours hiking trip (20km return trip) up a hill some weekends ago, so that's pretty much my prep for my 10km run this coming Sunday. I could come up with thousands of excuses to not going all out for this run unlike how I prep myself for the 10km SCKLM 2011 or was it 2010? I can't even remember when was the last time I actually really ran. :)

Penang Bridge International Marathon Singlet Women 2012

The best part about joining Penang Bridge Marathon for this year is because it is the final year everyone gets to run on this 'old' bridge as they are going to change the marathon to the newer bridge for next year. I used to just lived like almost literally right across the bridge for a couple of years and yeah it was part of the 'dream' to run the bridge some day. Hence, that some day is going to happen pretty soon and I am simply excited for just registering and I already got my race pack and all. So this is something big alright. To top it up again, it's all happening in November - like my favourite month of the year. Yeah, it's going to be so much fun running with 2 other friends who have done not much of a training what so ever, so we are just going to enjoy maybe doing some fast walk together. :)

Adidas Adipure Motion Women - Quick Review

Adidas Adipure Motion Women Shoe

Oh, I also got myself a new running shoe - Adidas Adipure Motion, specifically for this marathon or was it because I was just being tempted with shopping for the sake of using a 50% discount voucher ( final price down to MYR300 instead of MYR399 ) that my friend got and at that time it made perfect sense to get a shoe that you will not really run much on it. A quick review on this Adidas Adipure Motion, the one I got is of course the purple color women shoe. Truthfully, it was a bit of a pain on my toes (both feet and later on only on the left foot, I think) for the first few weeks wearing the shoes. So the reviews are true when they say you will need a bit of a longer time to get used to wearing this Adipure Motion mainly because the front of the shoe keeps on pulling on the big toe and that can be painful at least for me although it wasn't even an issue for my friend who got herself the same shoes too. Then again, it will all depends on each individuals.

After weeks of getting used to wearing things simply just got better with the feet. No more issues on big toes getting pull up because maybe the shoes has stretched up a little bit following the shape of my feet. This Adipure Motios is really great, comfy and very light just wearing it without the socks on. I even tried running once without the socks, although the feeling was great but after about 4km my smaller foot, the left one started to rub a bit too frequently with the shoe and I ended up with a tiny blister. Otherwise, I think it's a really cool and great running shoe.

I'm going to end off here before I'm going through more of a running prep rant rather than updates. Off to bed now and maybe I can dream about some last minute training to get me through the 10km. All the best to me and I hope we will have great fun, nice weather, safe run and travel.

Photo Travel : Lake Tekapo, South Island, New Zealand

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 01:57:00 +0000

Lake Tekapo, South Island , New Zealand - Simply Amazing! Need I say more?

Lake Tekapo, South Island - New Zealand

Driving all the way from Christchurch, you will pass across Lake Tekapo if you are heading towards Mount Cook. In my lifetime, I have never seen anything this amazingly beautiful and it was one of those many 'Nat Geo' moments that one can expect to encounter if you are going on a road trip around New Zealand.

In The Spirit Of Giving : Let's Support The Islamic Relief Organization

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 21:15:00 +0000

Oh my! I just checked the Archives link and I've realized I didn't write anything for July. Woops...time surely flies...

I don't really have much to write about at the moment...maybe I do...like a lot of it, it's just that putting them all down seemed a bit of an effort. ;)

Anyways, since this month is the holy month of Ramadhan and it is one of the best time for us to give as much as we could to charity, I have a little request for everyone who is reading this post (if you don't mind) to take a little bit of your time to watch this short video (7:30 minutes) by the Islamic Relief Worldwide organization.

About Islamic Relief Worldwide

Islamic Relief raises funds and awareness to help poor communities around. This youtube channel is a way of increasing awareness and understanding about our work and the people we are dedicated to helping. Support us by promoting us on your social networks, or by donating online at our website. For more info see www.islamic-relief.com
*taken verbatim from Islamic Relief Worldwide YouTube Channel

Hence, for anyone who is always or have been looking for ways to give to those who are in need, do grab on this chance to do just that by visiting the Islamic Relief links above.

Alternatively, for people residing in Malaysia, you can do your bits by supporting the Ramadan Relief fund by visiting this link here: Islamic Relief Malaysia - Make A Donation! or you can visit their FB page for more info of the works they are currently doing : https://www.facebook.com/IslamicReliefMalaysia

" 8. And they feed for the love of God, the indigent (poor), the orphan and the captive, 9.(Saying), "We feed you for the sake of God alone : no reward do we desire from you, nor thanks. 10. We only fear a Day of distressful Wrath from the side of our Lord." - Al Quran, Surah 76 - Al Insan (verse 8-10)

Penang Bridge International Marathon 18 Nov 2012 (PBIM) - Coming Soon!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 16:53:00 +0000

Penang Bridge International Marathon (PBIM) on 18 November 2012 - here I come, Insya Allah :)

Finally, I had paid and registered for yet another 10km event this time around for PBIM which is going to be held on November 18, 2012. For the time being, I am really excited that I actually made the attempt to at least register for this event because only God knows how long I've been saying to myself that I should run at PBIM.And I'm doubly happy because I managed to encourage a few of my friends to join the 10km event as well. So double yay to that!

It's still a long way to go for the event day and I'm thinking to only start with proper training right after Ramadhan which will be somewhere in September. My last 10km run at SCKLM 2011, I "ran" the 10.6km course in 1:25:45 which was a fairly okay timing for someone who only trained for a month before the event and only ran 10km once before the big day.

My net time

When I did the 10k, I was doing a mix of jogging, fast walk, big step fast walk and a final sprint towards the finishing line. So that was my definition of a 'run'.

However, this time around I'm targeting to finish in about an hour or less. So my plan is to train a 5 km course for the first month, set a good timing for that around 30 minutes and continue the next month, gradually increasing the km until I reach the 10km mark with a good timing. With that said, I may need to get a proper running shoes since the one I'm using is a trail running shoe which is more suitable for trekking or off-roads. I'm really excited to get back my running stamina and simply enjoy running.

Oh the best part about running in PBIM is that we get to run on Penang's Bridge! Like isn't that a load of fun. For anyone who is interested to join up the event you can choose from these different categories : Fun Run, 10KM, Half Marathon, Full Marathon. I did the registration and payment via online and do visit www.penangmarathon.gov.my, click here for more information and to sign up for the event. The last day for registration will be on the 15 October 2012 with a late registration fee which is going to cost you more than if you do it now. Hurry up, do sign up and Penang Bridge Marathon here we go!

Photo Travel : Feijoa Fruit From New Zealand

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 02:23:00 +0000

Feijoa Fruit

I had my first ever taste of this fruit - the Feijoa during my previous trip to New Zealand. It was also the first time I have ever heard of such a fruit. Apparently, if I can remember this correctly, Feijoa tree is a pretty common garden plant for people living in the North Island of New Zealand ( I think :)).

We received a bag full of feijoas from some friends right out from their backyard and of course they do sell them at the supermarket as well. As for the taste of it, I think it is a bit like the kiwi fruit but with a different texture and a slightly more tangy, sour taste. Some feijoas can be really sweet too and I think I would prefer the sweeter feijoas version a lot more.

In New Zealand, when you buy kiwi fruits, it will come in a pack with a special spoon which makes it easy for you to cut the fruit in half and scoop the juicy kiwis with the tiny spoon. Similarly, that is the way you cut and eat your feijoas too.

Kiwi and the spoon

For more about Feijoa, read more here from Wiki.

*Note : In Malaysia, I've seen Feijoa fruit being sold at Cold Storage for a crazy price tag. If you are curious to what Feijoa tastes like, probably you should try to get it. Even if you are a Kiwi living in KL and is missing home badly, probably you should buy it too. :)

The Hike to Ijen Crater, East Java – Indonesia (Part II)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 May 2012 08:18:00 +0000

After a long day on the road and finally settled for the night at Catimor Homestay, on the next day, we finally began with the hike at 6.04 am which was as bright as 7ish am in Malaysia time. The track was in fact way better than the bumpy, crazy road we took last night. Haha. Signs of volcanic soil was pretty evident around the area as the soil was black and I assumed it got to be very fertile indeed.

Black volcanic soil and the beginning of the steep hike

After a short while of walking on a fairly flat land, the 45 degree angle trekking began for the next 2 km onwards. As long as you keep on a slow but steady pace, you will get there in no time at all.

The baskets of sulphurs carried by the miners

The steep trekking would not be as difficult as you might think as you will be entertained or rather distracted with some baskets of sulphurs the miners had left along the path and also the WC (water closet) signboards can be found pretty easily too. When there is an urge for nature calls, be happy enough to make use of the 100% environmental friendly toilet (WC) which in another word – peepee by the bushes :)

WC - the bush toilet

After some photo snaps, persistent walking and breaks along the way, we made it to the Pos Penimbangan ( the sulphur weighing area) in about 53 minutes. We had a short break for more tummy fillers on chocolates, apples and water and of course an opportunity to snap more photos.

Post Timbang Candi Ngrimbi - sulphur weighing post/ canteen for mining workers

Sulphur carvings souvenirs selling at the weighing post

A short while later, off we went for another 1km trekking towards the Ijen crater. The track was rather flat at most times and it was easier to walk rather than the previous 2 km track. As for photo shooting, this is the time to start utilising your cameras as there are certainly a lot of beautiful shots you can come out with around this area.

The landscape changes at this point

We certainly took our time on the photo session and a group of us got to the crater last. There was simply no rush really as I felt that you need to take the time to be in the moment and appreciate everything while you were there.

Ijen Crater - the Lake view on the right side

Finally, we arrived at the top of Ijen crater. There weren't really a lot of people around and the sulphuric lake was not totally visible due to the clouds which was alright for us because we were hanging around there for quite sometime waiting for the clouds to make way for more views of the amazingly beautiful lake.It was in fact probably one of the best days to be up up there since the wind was blowing further away from us. Hence we were free from having strong smelling sulphur odour sticking to our clothes and the only time I had actually sensed a bit of sulphur lingering in the air was only for a short few seconds when the wind blow during our short hike up. In short, we were a lucky bunch and thank God for that.

Truthfully, I thought I could just hang around up there a whole lot more and that was why the three of us got left behind snapping more photos of Ijen crater and its surrounding. I would say I could never get enough of the whole view and the fact that it was the second volcanic mountain we had climbed in two days time, the feeling was just incredible. It is hard for me to put down words on how things are like and this is exactly the kind of thing you need to experience for yourself to truly appreciate the nature of the environment.

Sulphur with the constant smoke gushing out of it

If you look closely, you will see outline of the lake at the far left of the picture. On better days, the lake will be in high visibility at this point

After what I felt like a short while up there at the peak of Mount Ijen, we finally made our way down. The last 2 km descend could be hard for you knees and the trick is the hike down on a zig-zag, make small quick steps and take a lot of rests so that you don't strain your knees too much which I needed to be careful about.

Thankfully, we all made it down safe after 3 hours 46 minutes at 9.51 am totally in good shape but obviously famished yet again. Next, right after a quick toilet run and warming down ( I had my warmed up in the hotel room actually hehe), we were served with the Indonesian speciality menu which was yet another Indo Mee and more tea for our second breakfast of the day.

All in all, I would say the track up Ijen crater was reasonably easy as long as you are slighty fit and it was safe but still do be aware of any volcanic eruption news or warnings just to be on the safe side. For our trip, we had a guide with us who was actually the same girl we had guiding us throughout the trip and us being Malaysians and she an Indonesian, I think all of us enjoyed each others company. Hence on that note, it was a good trip after all.

We bumped with another group of Chinese Malaysians from KL too during the hike down and yeah, it was good to see some familiar faces there. :) The next burning question is would we travel all the way the crazy road to make it down to Ijen Crater again next time? As for this moment now, I will have to pass on that idea but then again, who knows I may make a comeback if the timing is right and the company is good. :)

Trip to Ijen Crater, East Java – Indonesia (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 May 2012 07:08:00 +0000

The road trip to Catimor Homestay, Jember

Travel time on the road from Madakaripura Waterfall to Catimor Homestay which is located at the coffee plantation took about 9 hours ( I think so ).

We were back on the road again after the waterfall at about 1ish pm and we headed straight towards Ijen.

We had lunch at a restaurant along the way at about 3-4pm and by then we were famished. Some of us had Nasi Ayam Penyet, one person had Cat Fish Rice while myself and another friend got ourselves Nasi Bebek – which was a 'not so smart' choice. Hehe. But then again, we were super hungry and you just have to chow it down man!

Nasi bebek, Indonesia

Maybe somewhere around 6pm in pitch black we began to travel through the rough, gravel road which seemed to be out of nowhere. We were heading straight to the coffee estate and surprisingly in the dark, there were big lorries passing through the road, one stray dog and even people with overloaded motorcycles commuting on that very same road. Did I mention it was pitch black and it felt almost like we were in a jungle somewhere?

Arrived at the Rest House somewhere around 9ish pm, we got our keys to our rooms, shortly after we feasted on a lot of things on the dinner table.

After dinner, I showered while my roommate collapsed on the bed out of exhaustion. She had a hard time with all the crazy, rocky motions in the car (motion sickness) and she hardly had anything for dinner. While being me, I just can't really sleep and started repacking my bag, drying up the wet clothes from the waterfall and doing other nonsense instead. I slept for maybe 2 hours or so and woke up just before the alarm rang at 4am. Great!

Breakfast was a choice of black coffee ( not Luwak Coffee though) or tea, one hard boiled egg and a bread sandwich of butter and chocolate rice – which was not technically everyone's favourite but we (some of us) chowed it down anyway. My roomate got with her a Maggie Cup – Chicken flavour and I ate a bit of that too. :)

Next, we checked out of the hotel, loaded bags into the car and after a short drive through the coffee plantation and one guard post later (which the driver 'gave' some money and one hard boiled egg. There were probably about 5 to 6 guard posts that we passed through since last night and imagine the amount of 'token' the driver had paid which was of course billed on us. Simply unbelieveable!

Arrived at the entrance of the park – Taman Wisata Alam Kawah Ijen. The registration counter was closed and the crater is supposed to be closed anyway – at least it was closed for the suplhur miners. As long as we, visitors do not get down to the crater, we 'should' be fine and safe.

Next, the beginning of the hike up towards Ijen Crater which will continue in the next post.

Photo Travel : Madakaripura Waterfall, Probolinggo, Jawa Timur, Indonesia

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:37:00 +0000

Madakaripura Waterfall in Probolinggo, Jawa Timur ( East Java) has to be one of the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen up until now. For those who make a visit up to Mount Bromo, I would really recommend for you to add a visit down to Madakaripura Waterfall in your next itinerary.

[caption id="attachment_2896" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Madakaripura Waterfall - view from afar"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2899" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Madakaripura water pouring heavily"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2901" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Super murky water and the camera lens got a bit of water on it. Murky water = leave ASAP because water level is rising and that's dangerous!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2902" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="It's getting cloudy, murky water, heavy water flows - few more last snaps to go and leave quickly people!"][/caption]

Madakaripura Waterfall - it is simply beautiful. I know the camera work here isn't really fabulous but we are really thankful for the waterproof digital camera that Miss M brought along with her other camera. All in all, it was a great short trip to the waterfall. Maybe in total we spent about 15 minutes max around the waterfall and since the weather wasn't looking good, the water getting totally murky and the amount of water falling from above was immense, it was a good call that we didn't spend a lot of time around the waterfall and thankfully we all got back to the car safe and well.

*** Note:

- If the water level would have been on a safe level, the water at surrounding the waterfall will be in a hue of green-ish blue in colour. Even though we brought along a so called guide, he didn't mention a single word about getting out of there quickly what more briefing on the track. Hence, do come with some basic river or water level knowledge along with you.

- The walk towards the waterfall is fairly easy. It takes probably about 30 minutes or so ( wasn't really timing the walk) to get to the waterfall. However, do be aware of local men who would be asking to guide you (with a fee of course) or some men who seemed to be really nice to help you along the way (wading through the streams) because in return they will be asking for some money. In our case, our tour operator had already assigned a person to guide us which in my opinion was totally unnecessary.

- Do come prepared to be extremely drenched and there will be locals trying to rent to you umbrellas. So yeah, you can come equipped with a raincoat, proper sandals, umbrella and a waterproof casing for your camera or a waterproof camera. Water is also essential and make sure you pack that in your bag.

- Safety first and it was certainly one of those ' heaven on Earth' moment as you reach the waterfall.

10 Things You Need to Know about Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia | Mt.Bromo, Jawa Timur

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:48:00 +0000

10 Things You Need to Know about Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia are :

[caption id="attachment_2859" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Mountain on the left with a bit of smoke at the top is Mt. Bromo. Picture is captured from Mount. Penanjakan."][/caption]

1. To tell you the truth, none of us knew about Mount Bromo until we were told about it while going for our maiden hiking expedition at Mount Kinabalu, Sabah. A fellow hiker, Akmar introduced to us to this absolutely beautiful and picturesque view of a volcanic mountain called Bromo or Mount Bromo straight out from her iPhone. We wow-ed over Mt.Bromo right at that instance and we told ourselves, we really need to go there and we finally made it there after 2 years which was on April 30th, 2012.

2. To get to Mount Bromo, you need to fly into Surabaya, East Java (Jawa Timur), Indonesia and take a couple of hours of car ride to Probolinggo province ( I think) and then exchange into a jeep to get you higher up the rough road condition up the mountain. When I say "rough road condition", brace yourself for a super bumpy, almost roller coaster-like jeep ride. It was awful and if you needed to pee, forget about it. You will almost certainly pee in your pants with all those crazy bumps and bounces.

3. Akmar did mentioned that you can hike Mount Bromo by going on a horse ride and that's exactly what we did. It cost us about IDR 90,000 (approx. MYR30 or USD10) for both ways going up and down the volcanic mountain. I can't remember the exact duration we were on the back of the horse but it felt really long maybe about 15 minutes one way. Since it was our first time riding a horse, it was the most awesome thing anyone could have ever done in their life. At that moment, it wasn't really about the fact that we were literally hiking an active volcanic mountain, but we were more excited with the whole idea of going horse back riding.

[caption id="attachment_2861" align="aligncenter" width="1600" caption="Mt Bromo horses with their guides and the jeeps"][/caption]

The horse riding episode is certainly something one should look forward to doing at Mt. Bromo and no worries for first timers, the horse is guided with his owner and just make sure you sit up straight, go along with the rhythm of the horse, hold on the rope tight and simply enjoy the ride and view!

4. Make sure before you get on the horse ride or if you can't care for horse adventure and splurging money are not in your agenda, just be sure to clear your bladder before you begin your hike. There is a toilet right at the parking area with a typical standard fee of Indonesian toilet run - IDR2000. Bring your own TP or wet wipes if washing with water isn't your thing and the toilet is in okay standard.

5. The weather at Mount Bromo is just nice but it can be very dusty to go all the way up the mountain. It only get worse when you will be hiking right next to people on horses because there is only one track to go up and down. Your best choice of clothing is to wear a long sleeve shirt and pants, sunglasses ( to keep the dust out of your eyes) and a bandana ( to function as a mask) or get yourself a proper mask to cover your nose. Do not be surprised when you blow your nose right after this hike, you'll be seeing black dusty ashes coming out from your nose. So do make sure, you remember to clean up the nose right after. Haha.

[caption id="attachment_2863" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Mount Bromo and it's very much alive smokey crater."][/caption]

6. The horse ride will only take you to about 3/4 of the way up. The rest of the way, you will need to take the dusty ashen stairs which was fairly okay, not difficult to climb. You will have the view of the Bromo Crater right at the top and be careful right up there. There is no divider to protect you from falling down into the crater so don't get all too excited with the camera works and do watch your steps.

7. I would say, all around 360 degrees view from the top of Mount Bromo was absolutely amazing. The place is totally barren and almost desert-looking with grey ashes covering pretty much everything.

[caption id="attachment_2862" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Mt. Bromo view from the top facing away from the crater. If you look closely on the front of the picture, you'll see the trail of people climbing the stairs."][/caption]

*picture by Miss M

8. You can avoid the stairs when you are descending down from the mountain by going all adventurous, trailing down the mountain and kick more dusts all over you just like this guy in the picture below :

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Mt Bromo"][/caption]

* It's no doubt risky and whatever you do, safety first!

9. You will be bombarded with the many local folks who will come up to your face with bunch of Bromo tshirts for sale. You can however, choose to say no and walk away as quickly as possible or ended up buying a bunch of tees which will be way too small for your size. The last I checked, L size is equivalent to the standard S size. So make sure you check the size out first before buying.

10. Despite the cost for the horse ride was just IDR 90K, I'm pretty sure you will want to give the guides an extra tip for all their hard work or probably just something extra for the horses too. Their job is really tough and going through that kind of working condition everyday, climbing up and down the mountain multiple times a day while breathing black volcanic ashes day in and out is really one heck of a job to do.

[caption id="attachment_2860" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Mt Bromo"][/caption]

All in all, if you are looking for a chance of a lifetime to experience stepping foot on one of the most beautiful and scenic volcanic mountain ( in my rating that is), Mount Bromo located just a couple of hours away from Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia is the place you certainly need to go.

*Note: Surabaya is just a couple of hours away from Bali. I personally think adding Bali as your next travel destination after visiting Surabaya by travelling via land using train, ferry and van is totally going to be one heck of a road trip and you should seriously consider doing just that.

Stuffs You Need To Know at Indonesia Immigration

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:43:00 +0000

Just earlier this month, I had my very first visit to Indonesia and of course, being totally foreign to it ( not really actually because being Malaysian, we are some what used to Indonesian), I was really looking forward to begin my short adventure in Indonesia.

Our very first encounter with anything Indonesian began right at the door of our airplane. Since it was a flight going into Indonesia, for all the obvious reasons, all the flight attendants were clearly Indonesians. There was a bit of a loud conversations going on in Indonesian right at the entrance of the airplane where there was a bit of a mixed up about where to store the baby's stroller in the aircraft. At that point, I realized that Indonesian speaks super fast and I wonder if the stewardess was being loud or angry or everyone in Indonesia just talks that way, which I doubt it is. That short drama done with, we found our seats and the plane took off.

Since we were travelling on a budget, most of us didn't check in our bags and that saved me about RM40 for the total ticket price. But actually, that is not even an issue that I'm trying to bring up here. The next thing we knew, we were queuing on the Foreigner lane at the immigration. I read some travel tips on some websites which mentioned that for smooth process at the immigration, try to look for immigration officers that doesn't look like he's going to eat you (which can be tough to come by if you are going into Germany), he or she looks nice and friendly or if you can catch him/her flashing a smile to that person at the counter, then probably that is the lane you should be queuing up to.

I randomly picked a woman officer behind the counter probably because it was the only two lanes available anyway and you have to pick one. While at the queue, I saw some people putting their four fingers on the fingerprints detector while others didn't do that which was something odd and new to me. Probably I haven't travelled that much to places in South East Asia that the idea of having your all five fingers on both hands saved in another country's immigration database is something that I got me saying in my mind, " Man, these people are serious dude!".

Then it comes to my turn. Apparently, for anyone who is a first time visitor into Indonesia, it is mandatory to do all the five fingers on both hands fingerprints detection inclusive of a face image too. There is an instruction card placed just above the fingerprints detector machine but the immigration lady was obviously hustling everybody and there's no way for you to read the instructions properly at the counter.

First, you will be asked to put your 4 fingers of your right hand minus the thumb at the detector which I dutifully did. Of course my hands decided to slip out of the detector and the next second, the lady was repeating in an irritate voice for me to put my hands back again. Next was the 4 fingers of your left hand minus the thumb and then, both thumbs together ( I think or was it separately, I can't remember) and finally look at the tiny camera at the counter. And then I thought I was done but no.

Our first destination was addressed at this place called Malang which you had to fill up on the form. Confidently, seeing that I'm a Malaysian, the immigration lady spoke Indonesian to me. Thankfully, I understood her questions and told her that we are staying overnight at Malang because we will be at Bromo tomorrow morning. She also asked if the next person behind me is my friend and of course it wasn't. My friends were lining up just behind that woman and of course I was too eager to get through the immigration that I had walked away and only realized that probably I should mentioned that the other two behind the line, we are travelling together. Anyway, all of us got through fine at the immigration, grab our bags and off we go looking for the rest of the gang who had flown in on an earlier flight.

This post could go on again about the how you will be literally shoved a bunch of telephone sim cards at your face right at the entrance of the airport. Just a reminder for you, these people are pretty persistent about selling their stuffs and yes, they will want to hang around you even you have clearly said, you didn't want a sim card. So the best options is to simply ignore them until they flee for their next victims (oops, customers).

So there you go, if this is your first time visiting Indonesia, do expect those fingerprints and face detection right at the immigration counter. Just in case you do not speak Malay or Indonesian and didn't have the time to read the instructions for the fingerprints detection, I hope this post will help.

How to Look Good In A Passport Photo

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:09:00 +0000

How to look good in a passport photo eh?

The answer to that is a 50-50 chance that you'll turn out good or bad. If you are having a bad hair day and you still decided to snap the photo anyway, the chance is of course you'll have the worse photo ever and maybe you need to have a retake. Ouch, what a waste.

I've found a couple of tips over the internet certainly useful in order for you to get the best photo for your passport.
Here are the few things that I could remember and I think will work:

1. If you haven't had a haircut for months, go do that and make sure your hair stylist do a really good job and march to the photo studio right after your done with the hair.

2. Make sure you communicate with your photographer. Some of them are more keen to snap a picture of you, crop, print, ask for your money right away. Good photo studios will snap a couple of pictures with the camera, show you the pictures and you can decide to choose (or they will suggest) on the best pictures. After that, they will take the time to crop and probably do a little editing (just for brightness and probably contrast of the picture) and then they will print. If ended up with a lousy photographer, I doubt you can hope much on getting a well decent looking picture.

3. If you think you don't need a haircut because you still look okay and you have no bad hair day whatsoever, then do make time to spruce yourself a little bit just before you head to the photo studio. Going straight to the photo studio right after you were running out errands under the hot sun, looking all oily and sweaty, is not really a good idea.

4. Last but not least, this is something I'd like to add up myself. Go to the photo studio with a good spirit. Haha. With a good, happy and positive mindset, you'll have a good time and hopefully the photographer will capture the best photos for you and everyone shall be happy.

If all things fail and you think you have a lousy photo for the passport, don't hesitate to retake those photos again. You don't want to get stuck with the same not so nice photo on your passport for years to come. Happy taking photos and hope it'll turn out great or at least looking decently nice for you.

100% Beef Burger Tortilla Wrap Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:43:00 +0000

[caption id="attachment_2833" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Ready to eat tortilla wrap cheese burger"][/caption]

I made this super yummy and healthy ( I think) 100% Beef Burger wrapped with tortilla a couple of weeks back. The size of the burger may look small but it is full enough for my stomach.

Making the 100% Beef Patty

To make this burger patty is super easy.All you need is a food processor in the kitchen and let it grind down to a mince and season the minced beef with some mix herbs, salt and pepper. Make and shape the meat into a round patty and let is sit for a bit in the fridge. If you want a cheesy burger, make a tiny hole in the middle of the patty and squeeze through whatever cheese you have on the fridge ( I used cheddar cheese) inside the patty. This will make a nice melted cheesy burger that comes oozing out from the middle of the patty.

If you don't have a food processor you can get some minced meat from the supermarket and hopefully they are 100% meat. Most burger patties are made with a combination of 80% meat and 20% fat and with the fat comes flavour. However, if you can have 100% beef, why not go for it right?

How to cook your burger? Steam it!

Get a non-stick pan or a grill pan or any kind of stainless steel pan will also do. Heat up the pan and oil the pan a little bit. Cook the beef patty over the hot oil and pan, let it brown a little bit. Since the patty is going to be rather chubby, you need to properly cook the insides, hence you'll need to cover the pan with a lid. Let the patty steam for a couple of minutes and turn sides and remember to steam with a lid again. Both sides looking nice and brown, smelling delicious and it's done!

Wrapping the burger with Tortilla and vegs

[caption id="attachment_2831" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Tortilla wrap with 100 percent beef burger onion rigs and vegs"][/caption]

Heat up your tortilla over the pan and when it's done, toss the cooked patty in the middle of the round tortilla. Toss a bit of vegs or salad of choice and since I love everything hot and spicy, I pour a good portion of Extra Hot Nandos Peri Peri sauce over the burger and mix with another sweet and hot sauce (Lingam's sauce - only found in Malaysia, I think) and fold the sides of the tortilla to the middle and it's ready to eat!

[caption id="attachment_2832" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Top view of the 100 percent cheese beef burger tortilla wrap with oozing melted cheese coming out from the patty"][/caption]

Oh, I also sliced a whole onion into thin slices and separate them into individual rings, toss them over some flour and fry. You'll get yourself some really crunchy and sweet onion rigs. Put it as toppings for your burger patty and Enjoy!

This is a super easy recipe, fast to make and as always I only spend max of 30 minutes in the kitchen to whip up an awesome dish. Happy cooking and eating everyone!