My Very First Blog

My Very First Composition

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:18:00 +0000

I'm supposed to post Part 2 of 2012 Feng Shui According To Joey Yap, but I have not finished writing the post yet, so let me entertain you with this post instead : )

One evening, I was at my piano and suddenly out or nowhere, a tune came into my mind. I played it out and then realized I had just composed a short song! I decided I had better record my own composition before I forgot how it sounded like. You know, without writing the music notes down (which is a tedious job!) that melody can be gone forever!

I am thankful I have my iPhone by my side all the time - it's a lifesaver! The recording function of the iPhone is really pretty good so I quickly whipped out the iPhone, clicked on the recording app and recorded my own playing.

I wonder if musicians do the same whenever they are hit by a sudden inspiration - a sudden tune that appears in their heads - that they know will be a good potential to be the next major hit on the charts?

Although this was not really my first composition (I had composed a few songs before this), it was my first RECORDED own composition. I do not even have a title for it! Care to suggest a title? : )

Since it was played spontaneously on the piano with no retakes, and no hi-tech gadgets to cover the mistakes, please excuse my occasional slips and also the not-so-acceptable direction the way the melody went! LOL! I may write down the music notes when I am free but I think I will be too lazy to do so. I wonder if there is any software that I can use that can automatically write out the score for me? Hmmm....

Don't be surprised if you hear people talking or whispering in this recording. You did not imagine it! Haha! During my playing, I was interrupted by two naughty kids but thankfully, I was able to play the whole song without any major disturbances! So please excuse all the unwanted noises, but then again, I thought they blended in with the music quite well. LOL!

Well, hope you like this composition of mine. Don't forget to suggest a title for this song. ENJOY!!

If you can not see this chirbit, listen to it here http://chirb.it/mzn2LN

This work and recording is copyrighted.

Feng Shui 2012 According To Joey Yap (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:20:00 +0000

This year, I went to Joey Yap's Feng Shui & Astrology Seminar in KL Convention Centre twice. That's right.

The first was on Saturday, 14th January, which was the Cantonese version and the second was the following day on the 15th, which was the English version. It was my first time attending Joey Yap's Cantonese seminar and I have to say it was more fun than his English seminar!

My ticket for the Cantonese seminar

My ticket for the English seminar

Perhaps it was his chemistry with TV and radio personality Angel Wong (more popularly known as Chui Ling) that made it more entertaining and fun. She was there on stage the whole time and her funny banters with Joey Yap kept me and the audiences in stitches.

Angel Wong & Joey Yap (photo courtesy of Joey's Facebook album)

In contrast, Joey's English seminar was not as fun, although still enjoyable. He conducted the seminar by himself with no one to help make it more lively. Having said that, Joey still managed to entertain us with his jokes and wit. If I had not attended the Cantonese version, I would not have made this comparison and would still very much enjoy his English seminar.

I actually arrived a little late for the English seminar on that Sunday and it was full house! Look at this picture of the Plenary Hall where the seminar was being held.

Photo of Plenary Hall courtesy of Joey's Facebook album

The Cantonese seminar was not as full but I have a feeling it's going to get more and more popular in future. Joey Yap was excellent in his command of the Cantonese dialect and he was able to spew forth many Chinese proverbs during his talk, some of which were really funny.

I found it quite difficult to take down notes during his Cantonese seminar as I was not able to write in Mandarin and had to translate what he said from Cantonese to English. So perhaps it was a good thing I attended his English seminar as well. LOL!

Seminar booklet

Joey Yap started the seminar with a brief review of the predictions he made last year. I actually could not remember what he said as I did not note them down during his Cantonese seminar and I was late for the English seminar so I missed that part!

However, I remember he mentioned about the Five Yellow being in the East last year. (Read my post on his 2011 feng shui talk HERE). Five Yellow, if you do not know, is the most dreaded star in Flying Star feng shui. And the East is China, but the East of China is Japan. That probably explains the horrible tsunami in Japan last year.

Joey Yap taught us to read the Bazi Chart and the Flying Star Chart. Like any feng shui practitioner, he also based his predictions for the year 2012 by analyzing the Bazi Chart and also the Flying Star Chart. We were also asked to print out our own personal Bazi Chart so that we may refer to it during the seminar.

Look at the 2012 Bazi Chart below.

Image from the seminar's booklet

As you can see, there are water and wood elements in the chart. Joey Yap said this indicates flood. Where will the flood happen?

Joey Yap analyzed the Flying Star Chart next for the answer. Look at the 2012 Flying Star Chart below (the square in the middle of the circular compass)

Image from the seminar's booklet

As you can see, the Five Yellow (number 5) is located at the SouthEast this year. So, it is safe to say that the flood will occur in SouthEast countries which are countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia.

However, since Malaysia is a Rooster (independence year 1957 is a Rooster year) and Singapore is a Snake (independence year 1965 is a Snake year), these two countries would not be badly affected by the floods. Sorry, I have forgotten the reason why. Anyone knows? Please enlighten me - thank you!

As such, the flooding would most likely be devastating to Indonesia or Thailand (and possibly Philippines?)

Looking at the Flying Star Chart again, you can see that number 8 is in the West this year. Star 8 is a wealth star, so any country in this sector would benefit from it. On the world map, we all know that USA is in the West, therefore Joey Yap concluded that the economy in the USA should be quite OK this year, and most likely be better than last year. Americans can heave a sigh of relief!

Joey Yap also taught us to superimpose the compass onto the map of Malaysia. By doing so, you will find that Kuala Lumpur is located at the western sector, therefore KL will enjoy good feng shui in 2012. Similarly, you can zoom in (using Google Map) and see which town or city in Malaysia is located in the West sector. At the seminar, he pointed out that Subang, Shah Alam and Klang are all good places in 2012. Possibly good places to buy house or do business? Of course to think long term, you will have to analyse the Flying Star Chart for the years ahead, not just 2012.

You can do the same for any country in the world, so if you are not living in Malaysia, try it out on your own country.

Image from the seminar's booklet

Joey also mentioned that number 9 (located at NorthEast) is a good sector for investment. He didn't go into details, but you can sort of figure out yourself which location or housing area is your best bet for investment purposes! Besides in the Dragon year, property prices will drop a little, so perhaps it's a good time to buy. From what I know, Ampang is at the NorthEast. Hmmm...

Looking at the Flying Star Chart again, you can see number 6 in the middle. 6 represents heaven, space, or sky. And since this is a Water Dragon year, and we know water flows downwards, Joey Yap concluded that something will fall from the sky! Could it be asteroids? Meteorites? Or a dysfunctional satellite?

I know I am just giving a very simple analysis. It's a brief summary of what Joey Yap said. In actual fact, the analysis was more complex than this! It's definitely not just based on the number 6 and Water Dragon! I definitely still have a lot to learn!

Now I have forgotten how Joey analyzed this, but he mentioned that there would probably be earthquake in Taiwan and Indonesia this year. So be warned!

In my next post, I shall delve into more predictions for the year 2012 by Joey Yap, his interesting thoughts about the Mayan calendar and Doomsday, plus some predictions based on your own personal Bazi Chart so make sure you have it ready! You can download your personal Bazi Chart HERE.

Also not forgetting the important dates and times to activate the good stars and avoid the bad ones!

To be continued ....

Steamboat Potluck Party 2012

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:21:00 +0000

Last night, I went to my friend's house for her annual steamboat potluck party. I had been going to her potluck party every year since 2009. I blogged about it last year and also in 2010 and 2009.

This year, it coincided with the Chinese New Year so we had yee sang as well. Since it's a potluck party, I decided to contribute the yee sang with 2 other friends. We bought it from Sri Siam Restaurant in SS2.

OK, the yee sang did not exactly look appetizing but after we tossed and mixed all the ingredients, it looked yummy and delicious! This is my bowl of yee sang!

Unlike the normal steamboat where you dip the raw meat and vegetables into the boiling pot and take them out with chopsticks or ladles, my friend had ingeniously used skewers instead. This way is more hygienic and easier for us too!

Meat balls all neatly prepared by the host. We just need to dip them into the boiling pot.

More raw stuffs to be put into the steamboat.

There were prawns too but I forgot to take photos of them!

These are cooked meat balls ready to be eaten with some chili sauce.

A friend brought fried squids.

Another brought roast chicken.

The host also prepared for us a big plate of edamame beans - my favorite! I think I ate way too many edamame beans last night!

For desserts, we had konyaku jelly. Yum!

And we also had cakes bought from Australia Cake House in Sea Park, PJ if not mistaken. The chocolate cake was so delicious! (although the photo does not look it!)

I totally enjoyed myself at the potluck party. I will definitely go again next year if I'm invited again!

Important : Due to my post "2012 Feng Shui According To Joey Yap" being delayed, I need to inform those of you who practise feng shui that today, 6th Feb 2012 at 11.30am, it is highly recommended that you activate your NorthEast-1 sector of your home to attract wealth (except if you have rabbit in your Bazi Chart).

FIRST COMMENTER

Tossing Yee Sang At Pasta Zanmai

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:43:00 +0000

A week before Chinese New Year, my family and I went to Pasta Zanmai at Tropicana City Mall for dinner. We did not know they have yee sang, so when we learnt about it, we immediately ordered their Prosperity Yee Sang.

The salmon yee sang, which costs RM23.80, is meant for 2 - 4 people. There were 6 of us, so it was hardly enough but we decided not to order 2 plates as we felt the money was better spent on other dishes.

These were the dishes we ate ....

Pasta with Unagi - my favourite!

Short-neck clam and Japanese Mushroom Cream Sauce Pasta - my mom's favourite!

Hot Pot Seafood Pasta

Crabmeat Tortilla Roll topped with Spicy Mayonnaise

Crabmeat and Avocado Sesame Sauce Pasta

Garlic Rice topped with Roasted Eel and Omelette

We shared all the dishes so I was able to try all of them. They were all delicious! I have been to Pasta Zanmai a few times already, and so far, I have always enjoyed their food. In contrast, I tried its sister restaurant, Sushi Zanmai but found the food there just average! So I really do not understand why there are always longer queues at Sushi Zanmai compared to Pasta Zanmai!

But, really I should not be complaining. The less queues at Pasta Zanmai the better for me! Haha!! So who wants to join me for lunch or dinner at Pasta Zanmai?

2012 Chinese New Year Decorations (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:51:00 +0000

Continued from Part 1

Since this is the Year of the Dragon, most shopping malls in Klang Valley used dragons as the theme for their Chinese New Year decorations.

Pavilion KL has the most awesome dragon of them all, in my opinion, but I think Sunway Pyramid is not too bad either.

However, I have to say it's not the dragon that I was most impressed with. Rather, it's the surrounding ambience that attracted me.

I like the red Chinese gazebo! But then, I always like Chinese gazebos! Just like the pagodas, I think they are one of the most beautiful structures ever invented!

Can you see the waterfall flowing down the green mountains? I thought they were pretty cool!

Both the gazebo and the mountain with the waterfalls made the whole scenery as if taken from a China landscape complete with a roaming dragon!

There were many people busy taking photos at the 'lake' surrounding the 'mountains'.

If Pavilion KL impresses with its huge majestic dragon, I think Sunway Pyramid deserves much praise for its overall ambience.

The dragon chasing after the pearl?

Outside Sunway Pyramid, there were many lighted decorations and they were beautiful against the night sky. This is the decoration at the small roundabout just outside Redbox Karaoke.

Further away, near Sunway Resort Hotel, there were many lighted decorations too.

Two dragons chasing after a golden pearl.

Hanging lighted decorations and lanterns made the whole place rather festive!

This year, I did not bother to take photos of Chinese New Year decorations in 1Utama, Curve and Suria KLCC as I really think they sucks! I was passing through Starhill the other day and just took a few shots there.

The hanging lanterns at Starhill were quite beautiful against the backdrop of the mall. But that's about it.

Since I was in the vicinity, I also took a picture of the red fiery dragons at the lobby of Westin KL.

Do you like the dragons?

Well, that wraps up my posts on 2012 Chinese New Year decorations. It's too bad I did not have the time to visit Berjaya Times Square to take a photo of the biggest blossom tree replica in Malaysia!

If this year you can find dragons everywhere, I wonder if the malls will be full of slithering reptiles in 2013 - the Year of the Snake!

FIRST COMMENTER

2012 Chinese New Year Decorations (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:42:00 +0000

During the Chinese New Year, I went to Pavilion KL and was stunned to see this!

What was this long slithering thing hovering above everyone?

It was really long, majestic and simply HUGE!

No prize for guessing but yes, it's a dragon! Unless you are living outside Malaysia, you would most likely already knew about this majestic dragon.

2012 is the year of the Water Dragon. And so the theme for Chinese New Year decorations in most shopping malls this year was dragon!

I must say among all the shopping malls, Pavilion has the most awesome dragon ever!

Unlike Western dragons which are mostly depicted as villainous and evil, Chinese dragons are revered and respected. The Chinese considers the dragon as a sign of strength and authority.

The Chinese dragon also likes to chase after the flaming pearl, although I am not really sure why. Anyone in the know please enlighten me. Thanks!

I like this photo below as it looks as if the dragon is really flying around inside the Pavilion Shopping Mall!

For those who don't fancy the dragon, at least there are still the United Buddy Bears outside the Mall for your entertainment.

If you have not visited Pavilion recently, it may be worthwhile to make a visit as you can get to see both the awesome dragon and the United Buddy Bears!

I also saw another interesting attraction outside the Royal Selangor flagship store in Pavilion. On its wall were 9 golden dragons! This is one of them.

The dragons seemed to be roaming in and out of the store through the wall. Royal Selangor is currently organizing a contest to guess the combined length of the 9 dragons. Check it out HERE. But hurry! The contest ends on 6th February 2012.

The main entrance into Pavilion was beautiful with red lanterns and trees. The reddish decorations sure made me feel auspicious!

I thought Pavilion did well this year on their Chinese New Year decorations!

I did not have the time to visit many shopping malls, but among those that I visited, I was really disappointed with 1Utama and Curve. So disappointed that I did not even bother to take any photos! Oh well, I hope they would come out with something better next year!

The Chinese New Year decoration in MidValley Megamall is usually pretty good every year. This year however, I was not that impressed. Perhaps there was no dragon? Haha!

Brightly-lighted, paper-cut lanterns were hung all over the mall.

I thought they looked a bit 'wooden' to me.

Of course, the intricate cut patterns on the red paper were something to be admired, but overall, the lanterns did not make me go "Wow!"

Or maybe I was just missing the dragon. This is the Year of the Dragon - where is the Dragon?! Oh well, perhaps MidValley wanted to do something different, since every other mall was doing the dragon theme.

Luckily, I actually caught sight of a dragon at one of the stalls there. Isn't this one fierce looking dragon?

In my next post, I will share with you some photos I took of the Chinese New Year decorations at Sunway Pyramid and Starhill, so stay tuned : )

A Yummy Pre-CNY Dinner At Kuan Yin Vegetarian

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:25:00 +0000

Last year, I went to Kuan Yin Vegetarian Restaurant in Section 17, Petaling Jaya with my family to lou sang during Chinese New Year. Read it HERE. This year, we went there again, but it was before the Chinese New Year.

Most Chinese restaurants sell yee sang way before the New Year, and this vegetarian restaurant is no different. We started out with yee sang. I have always liked the yee sang here.

Next we had ku lou yuk (sweet and sour fragrant meat) which is my favourite dish there! Of course, it's not real meat since this is a vegetarian restaurant.

Crunchy 'fake meat' in sweet and sour tomato-based sauce and bits of pineapples are really heavenly! I know I have said before that I do not like to eat vegetables pretending to be meat, but this is an exception.

This one is my brother's favourite. It's called fatt put (yam basket). All those mixture of nuts and vegetables in the yam basket sure looks appetizing!

This is a new dish recommended by the restaurant boss. I have forgotten what it's called but it's basically tofu in herbal sauce. It was delicious! Slather the herbal sauce all over your rice and you can't go wrong!

I love to eat petai beans and so we called a petai dish. What do you call petai in English? Stinking beans? Bitter beans? Whatever you called it, this dish was yummy! I wish I can eat this everyday!

Lastly we had this - are they called long beans? I love this dish too!

I really have no complaints about the food here. Even though I don't fancy vegetarian restaurants, I have to say I don't mind eating at Kuan Yin Vegetarian Restaurant!

OK, now I am craving for the ku lou yuk and the petai beans! Must plan another dinner at this restaurant! : )

My Horrible CNY Dinner At Ritz-Carlton KL

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:31:00 +0000

During the first day of Chinese New Year, my family and I went to Ritz-Carlton KL for their RM50++ per pax Chinese New Year Feast.

I thought I had gotten myself a good deal as the price was very reasonable for a 8-course Chinese New Year dinner which include salmon yee sang.

It turned out to be a nightmare.

The dinner was held at Banquet Hall, Level 3 of Ritz-Carlton. We arrived at 7pm and was shown to our table. There were already the yee sang ingredients all laid out on a plate on our table. We noticed many people at the other tables had not started their dinner yet although we could see their tables also had the yee sang ingredients all laid out.

After waiting for some time, we enquired if we could start our dinner. The lady in charge told us that we could start with the yee sang and once we finished with it, they would bring out the next dish.

Now their so-called Prosperity Yee Sang is supposed to come with raw salmon slices. I knew this because I was briefed about the menu before I made my reservations the week before. In fact, I was given the option to choose from 3 set menus and I chose Set B. But somehow, I have forgotten all about the salmon and so we started to lou sang. (toss and mix the yee sang)

The yee sang was actually quite good, but nothing remarkable.

Guess what? After we finished eating the yee sang, the waiter came to our table with a plate of raw salmon slices. They were of course meant for the yee sang! I really could not believe it! I asked the waiter how were we supposed to eat the salmon without the yee sang? His reply was that they did not have the sauce ready.

I could not comprehend what freaking sauce he meant. I guess it was the lime juice for the salmon? But really, what kind of a bloody crap is this?! I may have made a blunder by forgetting the salmon, but the least they could have done was to stop us from eating the yee sang if they knew the salmon was not ready!

Another point is, we booked for the dinner to start at 7pm. If you can't find the "sauce" for the salmon by 7.30pm, that's just plain stupid!

Next, we had the Braised Assorted Seafood with Sweet Corn. If you think they came out with a big bowl of soup with a ladle for us to fill our cups, then you are sadly mistaken. The waiter brought out a cup for each of us and let me tell you, the cup was not even more than half filled!

If you are thinking of second helpings, you can just forget it! And by the way, my mom told me she could make a much nicer and delicious corn soup at home!

After the soup, we had to wait for some time before they come out with the next dish. I wondered why we had to wait that long. Luckily, we were not really that hungry or else I think we would have gone berserk!

They however, made up the long wait by coming out with the next 4 dishes all at one go.

The Baked Cod Fish with Honey Glaze was good!

The fish was good by itself, but dipping it into the green sauce (a mixture of wasabi and mayonnaise?) was yummy! I thought they had redeemed themselves, but I was wrong.

The Braised Seasonal Vegetables with Dried Shrimps and Bai Ling Mushroom was pretty average. I just felt the portion was a little too small for all six of us.

If you look at the picture above, you can see that each of us could only eat perhaps 2 pieces of broccolis and 2 slices of the Bai Ling mushrooms. This is almost like fine dining if you ask me!

This plate of Roasted Chicken and Stir-Fried Chicken in Kam Heong Style looked awesomely horrible in presentation. I know I should not be complaining about presentation at such a price, but it didn't look appetizing at all!

I did not like this dish. Maybe the roasted chicken and the pine nuts were supposed to give it a unique taste, but I found it rather bland. Besides, just look at the tiny portion size! Are we doing fine dining here or what?!

The Fried Rice with Dried Scallop and Yam Wrapped in Lotus Leaf was quite good however. I enjoyed eating it. Now if only every dish was as nice as this one!

What happened next was .... nothing. Yes, absolutely nothing. We waited, and waited, and waited. Gone to the toilet and back and still nothing. We only have 2 dishes left from the 8-course menu, but they appeared to be NOT forthcoming.

I could see that an old man sitting opposite our table was getting angry. Like us, he and his family were also waiting forever for the desserts.

Then the waiter came and gave us a bowl of chips. What the heck?! I was pretty sure it was meant to stop us from getting angry while we waited it out.

After the whole bowl of chips was finished, we were given another bowl. No kidding. I think we waited more than half an hour for the freaking desserts! What the hell were they doing in the kitchen? What kind of service was this?! No chips, no matter how good, was going to make up for wasting my precious time!

Finally, it came. The last 2 dishes were Deep-Fried Nian Gao with Yam and Sweetened Red Bean Cream with Lotus Seed. I did not take picture of the red bean soup because there was really no need to - it was pretty average. And the bowl was barely half full.

But I was stunned to see that we were given only 5 pieces of fried nian gao for the 6 of us. Do they have a problem with simple mathematics?

After we pointed this out to the waiter, who was obviously unaware of it (or could not count - take your pick!), we were given the correct number of nian gao. The nian gao was actually not bad, but by then, I had already lost my mood for eating.

What a horrible, horrible Chinese New Year dinner at Ritz-Carlton! Even though we paid only RM58 nett per person for this 8-course dinner, the portion size was too small! It's absolutely NOT good value for your money. In fact, I felt as if I have been cheated!

To make it worse, it was managed very badly with completely no sense of timing. Making people wait for their food is one of the worst things you can do for your business. And making people wait half an hour for their desserts is simply unacceptable!

I wish I can ask for my money back cos that's what I feel like doing. If Ritz-Carlton is ever going to organize a similar Chinese New Year Feast next year, you can be sure I won't be going!

10 Ways To Get More Ang Pows This Chinese New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:02:00 +0000

Happy Chinese New Year of The Dragon, everyone! It's that time of the year again to ..... yes, collect ang pows! Lots and lots of them! Haha!

In case you are not from this part of the world and do not know what an ang pow is, read HERE.

My Chinese New Year Card

Last week, I repaired my car for a whopping RM1,300. It burnt a big hole in my pocket! So my Chinese New Year resolution is to earn back that RM1,300 via ang pow collection! Looks like it's gonna be a tough act, but I will do my best!

So if you are aiming to collect lots of ang pows this Chinese New Year (and you only have 15 days to do so!), here are 10 ways to do it. Oh, by the way, if you are married, you can stop reading here! LOL! Then again, if you are married with children, this guide might still help you tip the scale, so keep reading!

1. Be nice to married couples. Look for good things to praise, but don't overly do it!

2. Socialize! Know more people, especially those that are already married!

3. Avoid singles gatherings! Please don't waste your time! Remember you only have 15 days. The money is with the married people.

4. Invest in mandarin oranges. Bring some when you go on house visits. Don't expect angpows for nothing!

5. Network! Network! Network! Ask your friends to introduce you to their friends and their friends' friends. Oh, don't forget their relatives too.

6. Nothing beats preparedness and planning. Write down a full list of potential angpow givers, even those you think are unlikely to give you any ang pows. You never know that your ang pows may come from the most unlikeliest person!

7. Dare to ask! Ask and you shall receive (your ang pows)! Be a little thick-face this Chinese New Year.

8. It's a numbers game. The more people you approach, the more ang pows you will receive. If you don't receive ang pow from someone, don't sweat. Just say, NEXT!

9. Visualization helps. Start visualizing that you are receiving ang pows from many people you meet!

10. Bring along very young children with you. The children must be young enough to NOT know that they are entitled to the ang pows. Haha!!

There you have it, my 10 ways to get more ang pows this Chinese New Year of the Dragon! GOOD LUCK!! : )

Random Notes 25

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:55:00 +0000

1. It's time for Random Notes again! I can't wait for the Chinese New Year holidays to come. I don't really feel the Chinese New Year mood this time, but I don't really care as long as I get to enjoy my holidays! How about you?

2. I finally tasted tarap! During my trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah 3 years ago, I had searched for this elusive fruit without success. Read about it HERE. Thanks to Caroline who brought it back all the way from her hometown in Kota Kinabalu, I finally had the chance to taste it.

This is how the tarap fruit looks like. It was very smelly! And just like durians, you are not allowed to bring the tarap fruit on board the plane!

After opening up the fruit, this is how it looks like inside. Does it remind you of cempedak?

Unfortunately, the fruit was too ripe! The flesh has already turned yellow! It didn't taste good to me. I believe that if the fruit was not that ripe, it would have tasted awesome. But probably not as awesome as durians.

3. I am not a big fan of gardening, but I do like plants and flowers. Recently, I discovered this plant called bunga burung (literally bird flower). Don't you think the flowers look like little birds?

Now, maybe some of you are laughing at me for not knowing about the existence of this plant, but as I said earlier, I am not into gardening and I hardly go around shopping for plants.

Anyway, I now have two of these bunga burung plants in my garden. I hope the real birds that fly into my garden won't get confused with these "fake" birds! LOL!

4. Last November, my friend invited me to Bagel 'n' Coffee Station at Hartamas Shopping Centre for lunch. It was my first time eating a bagel, I kid you not!

If you are like me and have no freaking idea what a bagel is, well, it is actually a type of bread that is shaped like a ring or donut. The texture of a bagel is more chewy and hard compared to a donut, and of course, the ingredients and cooking method are completely different!

I ordered their famous Classic New York Lox Bagel which is really salmon bagel stuffed with cream cheese and vegetables. The combination of the salmon, cream cheese and vegetables were almost heavenly! Yum!!

If you ever drop by Hartamas Shopping Centre, do give this bagel outlet a try!

5. By now, I'm pretty sure you have heard of Chatime, which is synonymous with long queues! That's why I seldom go Chatime since I hate queues! Although I must say, I'll gladly queue up for a bowl of Snowflake! Haha!

Do you know Chatime is pronounced as Cha-Time (as in 'cha' for tea in Chinese) and NOT Chat-Time as some people called it? The owner should have spelt it as 'ChaTime' and not 'Chatime' to avoid the confusion, but then again, it's probably done on purpose since it's good to chat while drinking cha right?

6. Once in a while, I'll go fully vegetarian for just one meal like this lunch I had yesterday. I have to say I quite enjoy eating just vegetables with rice.

But when I say 'vegetarian', I mean real vegetables and NOT vegetables that are made to look like fish, beef or pork! I don't like fake meat - give me real meat anytime!

7. I seldom eat McDonald's but once in a blue moon, I would drop by their Drive Thru as it was very convenient. I did this some time last year and bought myself 20 pieces of Chicken McBites.

I don't know about you, but I did not really like these tiny 'popcorn' chicken. I preferred Chicken McNuggets much more. So yes, that's the last I heard of Chicken McBites!

8. Let me ask you a question. How do you normally put your toilet paper roll? Like this with the toilet paper almost touching the wall?

Or like this, in which the toilet paper is further away from the wall?

I am all for the latter. Have been doing that all my life. Don't ask me why. How about you? Please leave a comment below so that I can find out if the majority prefer the former or the latter - thank you!

9. Have you tried the chee cheong fun at Otak Otak Place? I thought it was quite good, smooth and tasty!

Now I am feeling hungry and craving for the chee cheong fun! Drool....

10. I was at Sunway Pyramid last December when I got lost and bumped into a dessert place called Justberrys. I was lucky as I have heard of this place before but never knew where it was exactly. I ordered one of their most popular dessert, the Durian Snow.

It was so delicious with real durian flesh, bits of pomelo and durian ice cream! I love it! However, I am wondering why the shop is called Justberrys when they are not really selling berries dessert!

11. Hmmm, it's funny that 7 out of the 10 random notes above are about food! What does that really say about me? LOL!

12. This is the year of the Water Dragon! Last year was the Metal Rabbit Year and I displayed rabbits in my home. See my rabbits HERE. Should I display dragons this year like the one below?

I spotted this dragon at the KL Convention Centre last Sunday. I thought it actually looked more like a dog to me. What do you think?

13. One of my new year resolutions for 2012 is to sleep early that is, latest by 1am. It is already nearing the end of January and I have yet to achieve it. Oh well, there are still more than 300 days to go. Haha!!

FIRST COMMENTER

Feng Shui 2012 According To Lillian Too (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:35:00 +0000

Continued from Part 2

Lillian Too is really into spiritual feng shui this year with her feng shui cures that come with mantras. She swears by all her feng shui products, claiming that they were properly researched and designed.

During her Feng Shui Extravaganza that was held on January 1st, 2012 in KL, she told us how her amulets and feng shui cures protected a couple from the devastating tsunami in Japan last March. According to her, during the tsunami, the sea swept away everything around the Japanese couple's home, but incredibly left their home untouched.

I bought a few of her feng shui products too. One of them is the Arenshui Wu Lou. Made of porcelain with wood symbol, it is a taoist remedy against the Illness Star that will fly into the North sector of all houses this year.

Do you know how to read the Chinese character on both sides of this wu lou?

Before you place this wu lou in the North sector of your home, you need to put in rock or sea salt and some metal coins inside. The salt is supposed to absorb the bad qi that comes with the Illness Star.

By the way, the salt and the coins (Chinese coins with square holes in the middle) are provided together with this wu lou.

Some people may think that placing objects like the one above will not cure the affliction. Lillian herself could not provide a satisfactory answer as to how such a remedy will work, but insisted that they do somehow work. But she said that you must have a positive mind and be confident about the feng shui cures that you place in your homes. In other words, the secret may lie in the power of the mind, in which doctors and scientists have yet to really understand.

Lillian Too also seems to be a big fan of Steve Jobs and Apple. She praised his invention of the iPhone and iPad, which of course helped made her online feng shui courses available to more people worldwide. Since Steve was clever and rich, Lillian suggested that we print out his photo (like the one above), frame it and hang it on the West sector of the house!

Why in the West? Because that's the wealth sector for 2012! Take a look at the Flying Star Chart for 2012 (which I have shown in Part 2).

Image courtesy of wofs.com

Can you see number 8 in the West? 8 is a Wealth star and if you wish to attract wealth, you will do well by activating this sector.

Now if you were to superimpose this Flying Star Chart onto the World Map, you will see that the number 8 resides in USA this year. What does this mean? It simply means that although USA had been suffering from financial problems last year, it would not get worse this year, and in fact may actually get better.

According to Lillian's analysis, economic recovery will start in the USA with the stock market starting to rise in March. She mentioned something about the rise of the Phoenix (is this related to the presence of Rooster in the Bazi Chart?) which could be interpreted as the Eagle symbol of the USA.

Looks like US' economy will be making a turnaround! China had better not try to fight USA this year!

Of course, what she predicted runs against what most financial analysts had forecasted. So whom do you trust more - the financial analysts or Lillian Too? Or to be more exact, do you trust the modern day financial analysts or the ancient Chinese metaphysics? I will go with the Chinese metaphysics anytime! So let us see how it turns out, shall we?

Now let's look at the Flying Star Chart above again. The dreaded No. 5 Star (known as 5 Yellow) is at the SouthEast sector. If USA is in the West, which part of the world is in the SouthEast? Why, SouthEast Asia of course! And if you read my previous post, you will know that this area is also afflicted by The Grand Duke - a double whammy!

Lillian did not mention what bad things will befall SouthEast Asian countries and which country will be greatly afflicted, but I believe there would be natural disasters like earthquake, flooding and volcano eruptions. Since Malaysia is free from volcano eruptions and earthquake, perhaps we will suffer from flooding and landslides?

For those who aim to achieve success in career or politics, Lillian recommended her Victory Warrior Flag. Notice the Victory Star No 1 in the South sector of the Flying Star Chart above? Display this flag in the South sector of your home to ensure that you beat your competitor this year. Lillian joked that Barisan Nasional should invest in this flag if they want to win the election!

During Lillian Too's Extravaganza in KL, I saw many people taking pictures of this banner. Why were they doing that?

This is a banner showing auspicious mountain paintings that were being sold by Lillian Too's World Of Feng Shui. You can display these paintings on the wall behind you to bring you good support from boss, career success and wealth.

But I guess instead of buying the paintings, many people that day just took photos of these paintings, went back and printed them out and displayed them in their homes or offices?

Well, that sure saved them a lot of money but I am not too sure if it will work. No harm trying right?

Although Lillian did not mention about the best days to start work after Chinese New Year, I would like share with my readers this information taken from the materials I received at the Extravaganza. So here goes ...

BEST DAYS TO START WORK
25th Jan 2012 (3rd day of CNY) - except Rabbit
27th Jan 2012 (5th day of CNY) - except Snake
29th Jan 2012 (7th day of CNY) - except Sheep
31st Jan 2012 (9th day of CNY) - except Rooster

BEST DAYS TO TRAVEL
26th Jan 2012 (4th day of CNY) - except Dragon
27th Jan 2012 (5th day of CNY) - except Snake
29th Jan 2012 (7th day of CNY) - except Sheep
30th Jan 2012 (8th day of CNY) - except Monkey

Coming Soon : Feng Shui 2012 According To Joey Yap

Feng Shui 2012 According To Lillian Too (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:50:00 +0000

Continued from Part 1

Interested to know how does 2012, which is the Year Of The Water Dragon fare? Let's take a look at the Bazi Chart (Pat Chee in Cantonese) for 2012.

Image courtesy of Feng Shui World magazine (Jan & Feb 2012 issue)

For the uninitiated, a Bazi Chart is made up of 4 pillars (from left to right : Hour, Day, Month, Year) which contain 8 characters. The top row is known as Heavenly Stems, and the second row is Earthly Branches. Below these two rows are what we called Hidden Stems (not shown in above chart).

In Chinese metaphysics, the world is made up of five elements namely, Earth, Metal, Water, Wood and Fire. You must understand the relationships between all the five elements before you can truly read the Bazi Chart. For Cycle Of Elements 101, please read HERE.

From the Bazi Chart above, 3 of the pillars are clashing (or destructive) - Metal destroys Wood in the Hour pillar, Wood destroys Earth in the Day pillar and Earth destroys Water in the Year pillar. Only ONE pillar (the Month pillar) is productive - Water produces Wood.

This is much better than last year's Bazi Chart which saw all 4 pillars clashing! And they were serious clashes mainly between metal and wood! (Read HERE). As such, we can expect 2012 to be a better year. It definitely won't be a Doomsday year - that's quite certain, but some problems from last year would still continue in 2012.

Notice the Earth and Water clashing in the Year pillar? This indicates landslides and earthquakes. It also indicates problems related to the kidneys. Personally, I interpret these two elements as Water flooding Earth so to me, there will be lots of flooding in 2012. This surely won't be good news for Malaysians as we are prone to both floods and landslides!

The Metal and Wood clash in the Hour pillar indicates assassinations to older people, possibly elderly leaders. Lillian Too warned that everyone in a leadership position or in politics would be at risk and they should wear some kind of protection or protective amulets.

Metal destroying Wood also indicates arm conflicts, possibly towards end of the year. Lillian Too said end of the year, starting from October is a dangerous time. As to what dangerous means, she did not elaborate.

In fact, she mentioned that Spring and Summer are good times, but energies decline in Winter. So things don't seem to look very good towards end of the year.

For a Bazi Chart to be good so as to indicate a good year, it must have all five elements present. But if you look at the chart, you will notice one element - Fire - is missing. This suggests lack of intelligence and creativity to prevail in 2012.

Since fire is missing from the chart, Lillian Too suggested that we counter it by wearing more red colour (red indicates fire) clothes this year and switching on the lights and keeping our houses bright. Do not wear black, unless you match it with something bright and for the ladies, do not carry black wallets.

So yes, the best colour for 2012 is red. Red curtains and red cushions are good. Taking it one step further - why not paint your house and car red too? LOL!

Overall, this year's Chart is not that bad actually. There is Water producing Wood - this brings growth luck which may lead to real economic turnaround. However, business is very competitive and will need good strategies and proper planning. The stock market will rise in March (during Spring) and reaches its peak in the Summer months. Wood-based industries will thrive. However, the market will slow down towards the last quarter of the year. Lillian Too warned that you should be out of the market by October.

The presence of the 3 Celestial Guardians - Dragon, Tiger and Rooster (Phoenix) in the Chart brings strength and improvement. However to complete the 4 Celestial Guardians, Lillian Too advised everyone to get a tortoise, whether real live one that you place outside the house or the feng shui tortoise object that you place inside.

Besides the Bazi Chart, it is also useful to look at the Flying Star Chart for 2012.

Image courtesy of wofs.com

For the uninitiated, Flying Stars are 9 numbers placed on a Lo Shu square. Each of the numbers (or stars) represents different things and they rotate and change location every year. This is the reason why feng shui is never static. An area which is good feng shui this year can turn bad next year. And for this reason, we must always check our feng shui every year.

The unlucky stars are 5 (Five Yellow), 2 (Illness Star), 3 (Quarrelsome Star) and 7 (Robbery Star). These stars need to be subdued.

The good, auspicious stars are 8 (Wealth Star), 6 (Heavenly Star), 1 (Victory Star) and 4 (Romance and Scholastic Star). These stars need to be activated and enhanced.

By using a compass and standing in the middle of your house, you will be able to determine which room or location in your house is being afflicted by the stars. So, if your bedroom is located in the Southeast sector, then you will be badly afflicted by the dreaded 5 Yellow this year.

The 5 Yellow is the most dangerous of all the 4 unlucky stars. It brings serious misfortune including loss of wealth, illness and even death. Keep this Southeast sector as quiet as possible, with no renovation, digging, knocking or cutting to prevent triggering the star.

To explain each star and its effects, and how to subdue or enhance them, would make this post too long. As such, it's better for you to get more detailed information HERE. Be sure to read it!

I would also like to mention 2 very important afflictions which change location every year. Firstly is the Grand Duke Jupiter or Tai Sui. It is absolutely vital you do not face the Grand Duke Jupiter. This year, he is located in the SouthEast, or to be more exact, SouthEast-1.

Don't know where is SouthEast-1? Look at the diagram below. Can you see SE1?

Compass image courtesy of 101 Fengshui Remedies

For your information, each of the 8 directions of the compass is further divided into 3 sectors. So for the North, you have North-1, North-2 and North-3. Likewise for SouthEast direction, you have SouthEast-1, SouthEast-2 and SouthEast-3.

For guidelines on how to get your compass direction right, read HERE.

Since the Grand Duke Jupiter is in SouthEast-1, do not sit facing this direction, especially when you work or when you are negotiating a deal. Also, do not renovate or disturb the SouthEast sector as it is both the Grand Duke Jupiter and the 5 Yellow sector this year - a double whammy! If there is only ONE important message you want to take away from this post, THIS IS IT!!! Don't say I did not warn you!

From the compass diagram above, you can also see that those born in the year of the Dog are directly in conflict with the Grand Duke. As such, they should carry the Grand Duke talisman or amulet for protection.

The second affliction I would like to mention is the 3 Killings. It is important NOT to sit with the 3 Killings behind you or you will suffer from 3 types of misfortune - loss of wealth, loss of loved ones and loss of good name. This year, the 3 Killings is located in the South.

Facing the 3 Killing head on is good. This means sit facing South is good this year. Alternatively, you might want to place the 3 Celestial Protectors in the South sector of your house. Also avoid renovating and digging in the South.

For those of you who are interested to know how your animal sign fare in 2012, I think I would just let Lillian Too help you out, complete with the remedies that you should have. Read her guide HERE.

However, I still find it too generalized, so it's better to get her book Fortune & Feng Shui 2012 for your animal sign. It is much more detailed and I find it quite useful as it gives you guidance for every single month of the year! It also separates the luck of the same animal sign born in different years. This is important because a Monkey born in the year 1980 for example, does not have the same luck as another Monkey born in the year 1992!

By the way, of all the animal signs, the Rooster will be having it really good this year. And Lillian Too is a Rooster herself!

Of course not all Roosters will enjoy an excellent year because it still depends on the individual's Bazi Chart. So, the best and most accurate reading of your luck is still to get your personal Bazi Chart interpreted by an experienced Bazi consultant. To get your personal Bazi Chart, click HERE.

In Part 3, I will share with you more tips and predictions from Lillian Too, including the best days to start work after Chinese New Year and how to stay safe in 2012.

To be continued ....

FIRST COMMENTER

Feng Shui 2012 According To Lillian Too (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:07:00 +0000

On the first day of the new year, I had to wake up early in the morning while most people were still asleep after celebrating the countdown the night before. And the reason for waking up early? To attend the Lillian Too's Feng Shui Extravaganza 2012 at Plenary Hall, KL Convention Centre.

I am still wondering why Lillian Too organized this event on 1st January - perhaps it's a good date for her?

As expected, the hall was not completely filled up. Even last year's attendance was much better. I guess a lot of people would rather spend the first day of the new year shopping or relaxing at home than sitting through a whole day talk about feng shui!

But NOT if you are a die hard fan of feng shui....or Lillian Too! As for me, I am not really a die hard fan of both, but seeing how accurate most of Lillian's predictions were last year, I did not mind going again this year! Besides, I had wanted to buy some feng shui paraphernalia which were selling at discounted price on that day.

So before I talk about the outlook for 2012, let's look at some of the predictions by Lillian Too which came true last year. Of course, Lillian is no fortune teller. Her predictions are simply based on her analysis of last year's Bazi Chart and possibly to some extent the Flying Star Chart.

Last year, Lillian predicted natural disasters to be on the rise with earthquakes, volcano eruptions, forest fires, typhoon and flooding. She also predicted quarrels and violence to erupt in certain parts of the world.

I also remember her warning about a high profile assassination and at that time, she suggested it could be US President Obama's life that would be in danger. And those who play the stock market would remember well her warning to get out of the market starting from August 2011. Read more of what she predicted HERE.

These were some major events that happened in 2011....

Feb 4th - Violence erupts in Egypt

Feb 21st - Earthquake in New Zealand

Mar 11th - Most devastating tsunami in Japan

Apr 29th - One of the worst tornadoes across eight states in USA

May 1st - Osama bin Laden assassinated

May 7th - Flood in Mississippi

June 6th - Volcano eruption in Chile

June 12th - Wallow fire in Arizona - largest and most destructive fire in Arizona's history

June 20th - Deadly floods in eastern China

July 22nd - Uprising in Syria

Aug 3rd - Worst drought in Africa

Aug 6th - Violent riots in Britain

Aug 18th - US debt crisis peaked. US debt = $2.4 Trillion!

Sept 6th - Biggest fire in Texas' history

Sept 9th - Violence in Cairo

Sept 17th - Occupy Wall Street

Oct 19th - Economic crisis in Europe

Oct 23rd - Earthquake in Turkey

Nov 5th - Greatest flood in Thailand's history

As you can see from the events that happened last year, Lillian Too was mostly spot-on with her predictions. From the natural disasters to violence and riots, from high profile assassination to stock market fall, she had got it almost correct.

It would of course be impossible for her to pinpoint which leader got killed although she just missed by one alphabet. She predicted Obama, but it turned out to be Osama. Haha!

The forest fires incidents were not really surprising seeing that there were 'hidden fire' in 2 of the 4 pillars in last year's Bazi Chart. The direct clashes of all the 4 pillars in last year's Chart also gave clear indication of a year filled with violence and conflicts. I find the accuracy of the Bazi Chart to be somewhat scary!

While 2011, the year of the Metal Rabbit, was generally not a good year, what does 2012, the year of the Water Dragon holds for us? One thing's sure - it won't be the year when the world ends! Lillian Too said she did not see any sign that the world is about to end soon. Instead she termed this year to be a transformative year. What does that mean, exactly?

To find out, stay tuned for Part 2 where I shall cover the general outlook for 2012, what the Bazi Chart for 2012 shows, the lucky and unlucky sectors and directions, and most importantly, how to stay safe in 2012!

To be continued ....

Angry Birds Theme Song

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:39:00 +0000

I love playing Angry Birds on my iPhone! I am not really into games, but I have to say that I am quite obsessed with Angry Birds!

Maybe it's because I find those Angry Birds so cute and adorable! Haha! Even the green little piggies are cute too!

In fact, I even got myself an Angry Bird plushie - the red one - all the way from Hong Kong. That was early last year when the plushies were not widely available in Malaysia yet. Now you can see them everywhere!

Last December, during the Secret Santa gathering with my fellow bloggers, I received the green piggie from my Secret Santa Caroline! I was really happy with this Christmas gift as I could then place the little piggie next to my red Angry Bird! Haha!

Now all I need are a few more birds, a few more green pigs and a slingshot - and I am all ready to play Angry Birds in the real world! LOL!

Besides the game, I also enjoy listening to the Angry Birds theme song as it's very cute and playful! One afternoon, I discovered the music score online and quickly downloaded it! This is how the score looks like.

I went straight to my piano and played the theme song. Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult. Here's the result. I hope you like it! : )

If you can not see this chirbit, listen to it here http://chirb.it/CFg9NG

Joey Yap's Feng Shui And Astrology Seminar 2012

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:46:00 +0000

New Year Day came and went. With 2011 gone forever, it's time to look forward and embrace 2012.

Wouldn't it be nice if you can get a glimpse of what this year has to offer? No, I am not talking about consulting a fortune teller or some mystics. I'm not into fortune telling anyway.

If you have been following my blog for some time, you would know that I'm interested in feng shui and Chinese metaphysics.

By analyzing this year's Bazi, you will be able to sort of predict what the year has in store for you and your loved ones. Something like a weather forecast, if you will.

Of course, I am no expert in feng shui although I love learning about it. That's why I'm recommending these upcoming Feng Shui and Astrology seminars by feng shui master Joey Yap.

For full details of the seminars, please click HERE.

If you don't already know, Joey Yap is a best-selling author of over 65 books dealing with feng shui, Bazi, Chinese astrology and face reading. His well-structured courses on Chinese Metaphysics are taught worldwide.

I attended his seminar in KL last year and had an interesting time learning a little about face reading! By mastering the art of face reading, you can actually discover the personality traits of others! How cool is that?

By the way, you may want to read my posts on his seminar last year HERE and HERE.

To prepare us for the coming Year of The Water Dragon (which begins on Feb 4th, 2012), Joey Yap would be conducting a full day seminar in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur (English and Cantonese), Penang and Kota Kinabalu. Don't miss it!

Click HERE for the full dates and venues.

NOTE : To know what Joey Yap said at this seminar, read HERE.

2011 Christmas Decorations (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:27:00 +0000

Continued from Part 1

The year 2011 is coming to an end soon. It may have already ended by the time you read this post. Seeing that the festive Christmas season is no longer around, I have to quickly wrap up my two-parter 2011 Christmas Decorations posts.

After visiting 1Utama, Sunway Pyramid and The Curve in Part 1, let us now go to some shopping malls in KL. First off, Pavilion KL.

I was not really impressed with the Christmas decorations at Pavilion as they were almost similar to the year before. Luckily, there were the United Buddy Bears to make it a whole lot more interesting!

I was drawn more to the bears than to the Christmas decorations! Haha!

These United Buddy Bears outside the Pavilion, were colourful and simply interesting! Read more about them HERE.

This is how the Christmas decorations inside Pavilion mall looks like.

It comes complete with a giant cake, a carousel and some reindeers.

Welcome to Christmas Wonderland at Pavilion KL!

I did not take pictures of the reindeers as they were recycled from previous years.

I like the carousel. If there's no one around, I might just try sitting on it!

Do you like the Christmas decorations here?

Not far from Pavilion is another mall called Berjaya Time Square. I did not intend to go there actually but somehow, I did.

That's Santa Claus and his reindeer. But look at the reindeer! Haha!

He sure did not look too happy! Perhaps he's grumbling about work! LOL!

There were other cute characters like this one.

And this.

And of course, there's a Snowman! What's Christmas without one?

I also caught sight of the Gingerbread Man!

Did you notice the plane on top of the Christmas tree?

I am not sure I like the Christmas decorations at Berjaya Times Square. However, all those cute characters sure saved it from being boring!

I am really quite disappointed with the Christmas decorations at Bangsar Shopping Centre this time.

Angry Bird?

What animal is this? Squirrel?

The decorations were really bad compared to last year and the year before.

I hope they will do a better job next Christmas!

If you like mazes, then you would probably like the Christmas decorations at MidValley Megamall.

The theme this time is "An A-maze-ing Christmas" which explains the mazes!

It was really quite nice although I prefer the mazes to be more complicated so that I could lose myself in it! Haha!!

There were simply too many people around for me to take decent pictures so I just tried my best.

Two lions are guarding the entrance gate to the maze but I managed to capture only one since people were blocking the other.

So what do you think of the Christmas decorations at MidValley Megamall?

OK, here's another picture - I know, too many already! LOL!

I found a beautiful Christmas tree outside Menara Hap Seng at the corner junction of Jalan P Ramlee and Jalan Sultan Ismail in KL. Have you seen this Christmas tree before?

Here, the Christmas tree can be seen with one of the Petronas Twin Towers in the background.

The same Christmas tree with KL Tower in the distance.

So that wraps up my post on Christmas Decorations 2011! By the way, 2012 is here already! HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! May your year be filled with abundance of wealth, good health, joy and happiness!

2011 Christmas Decorations (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:02:00 +0000

Merry Christmas everyone! I know I am a little late here but better late than never haha!

Even though Christmas Day is over, I am still feeling the Christmassy mood - in fact, it's still Christmas to me all this week till the end of the year!

I have been going around shopping malls lately to take photos of Christmas decorations. Personally, I found the decors this year not as interesting as last year. You may want to read my post on last year's Christmas decorations at shopping malls around PJ and KL HERE.

This is the Christmas decoration at 1Utama.

It's a Winter Waterland theme this year complete with fishes, clams and seaweed.

Are these actually girls dressed in clams? I thought they look a bit weird.

I don't know about you, but I don't see the connection between underwater theme and Christmas. Where are the Christmas trees?

Although they have been quite creative to come out with such beautiful designs using simple materials, I am afraid the decors are just beautiful and nothing else. Nothing that gives me the Christmassy feeling, if you know what I mean.

Clam girls are hung from the ceiling all over the place, not just at The Oval section. I don't really fancy them.

I do think last year's decoration was much, much better. See last year's photos HERE.

As usual, I was not particularly impressed with the Christmas decorations at Sunway Pyramid.

But I think this year is still slightly better than last year.

Perhaps there's a snowman and a couple of reindeers this year. Haha!

I actually like the Snowman!

The backdrop fits quite nicely with this Snowman. Or is it the other way round?

Oh, there is a bird flying up on the trees too! Or at least, appears to be flying.

But I thought the stage was a little bland.

So is this a reindeer?

This reindeer looks cute!

I walked out of Sunway Pyramid towards Sunway Resort Hotel and saw these beautiful decorations above my head along the road. I think they put up the same old decorations here every year.

More Christmas decorations lighted up the night opposite Sunway Resort.

I thought the reflection on the water made it look quite beautiful!

In front of the hotel were two elephants guarding the entrance. Not bad!

Beautiful snowflakes hanging from the ceiling along this walkway near the hotel.

The Christmas decorations at The Curve this year was quite good.

I think the Christmas trees made all the difference! They make me feel so Christmassy!

Even though there's a nice castle with pink rooftops, and there are hanging snowflakes, I still felt something's missing.

Perhaps too few Christmas trees? I am not sure.

I like the view of the Christmas trees and the castle from here. Nice.

Coming up in Part 2 - Christmas decorations in KL, namely at Pavilion, Bangsar Shopping Centre, Berjaya Times Square and MidValley Megamall.

I Finally Met The United Buddy Bears! (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 06:45:00 +0000

Continued from Part 1

In Part 1, I asked you, my dear readers to guess the countries that the 6 United Buddy Bears represent. Many of you came up with partially correct answers and some of you managed to answer all correctly.

The correct answer is as follows...

Bear#1 - Argentina

Bear#2 - Congo Republic

Bear#3 - Denmark

Bear#4 - Spain

Bear#5 - Malaysia

Bear#6 - Philippines

However, the first person who replied with an all-correct answer is SK. Congratulations! You've won yourself an Xmas Compilation CD!

Thanks to all of you who had taken the effort to participate. I hope you had some fun figuring out the answers! Did any of you went all the way to Pavilion KL to find the answers or did you just googled them up? : )

By the way, do you like the Buddy Bear that represents Malaysia? It was painted by our very own local artist A. Rahim Muda or more popularly known as Imuda.

The United Buddy Bears are actually an international art exhibition that started in Berlin way back in 2002. Since then, it had toured round the world and had reached Malaysia in December 2011. The more than 140 life-sized fibreglass bears would be on display outside Pavilion KL until 15th February, 2012.

The United Buddy Bears were created to promote peace and understanding among all nations regardless of race, culture and religion.

Since the first exhibition in Berlin, more than 25 million visitors had been able to admire the United Buddy Bears.

Each bear represents a nation recognized by the United Nations. The bears stand for the people of different countries and cultures but not for their political systems.

I had a fun time admiring the bears and taking photos of them. Although none of them was as cute as a panda bear, they were just so colourful and interesting to look at!

Some of the paintings on the bears are like works of art! Look at this one from Congo Democratic Republic.

Can you see the face drawn on the body of the bear? Here's the image of the face magnified.

This bear that represents El Salvador is another good example of amazing art.

The beautifully painted face of half man and half tiger is simply awesome!

This bear that represents Ukraine is no less amazing.

I love the beautiful paintings on it!

When I was at Pavilion, I saw many people crowding around a particular bear. I went over to see what was so special about it. This bear that attracted the crowd represents France.

What really attracted the crowds was the intricate carvings! Can you see the Eiffel Tower of Paris?

My favourite bear has got to be this one that represents Czech Republic! Notice it is carrying two small animals on its hands.

On the bear's right hand is a miniature bear!

And on its left hand is a ....... I'm not sure what this animal is. What do you think it is?

No prize for guessing which country the bear below represents.

Yes, the country which have the Statue of Liberty - United States of America!

Oh, I also bumped into Albert Einstein! I mean a bear that has an Eisntein image on it. What has Eisntein got to do with the Buddy Bears?

Well, there's a famous Einstein quote inscribed on the body of the bear. It reads "Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding". How apt.

Look at the cute expression on this bear's face.

If not mistaken, there were altogether 143 United Buddy Bears on display. Initially, I wanted to take pictures of each of the 143 bears but I guess I gave up in the end. There were just too many of them!

Anyway, these are some of the bears I managed to capture in my camera. Hopefully, this post is not taking too long to load! Haha!

Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh

Barbados, Bosnia Herzegovina, Belarus

Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia

Bulgaria, Cuba, Cyprus

Canada, Brazil, Chile

Central African Republic, Vietnam, Cambodia

Germany, China, Uzbekistan

Qatar, Uruguay, Ethiopia

Finland, Georgia, Guatemala

Guinea, Croatia, Egypt

Haiti, Honduras, Hungary

India, Indonesia, Iran

Japan, Jordan, Italy

Kazakhstan, Israel, Ireland

Iraq, Kenya, Liberia

Kyrgyzstan, Korea Republic, Luxembourg

Mali, Korea Democratic People's Republic, Niger

Moldova, New Zealand, Myanmar

Mexico, Panama, United Arab Emirates

Thailand, Seychelles, Sierra Leone

Togo, Tanzania, Poland

Slovenia, Namibia, Slovakia

Singapore, South Africa, Turkey

Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Syria

United Kingdom, Tunisia, Sweden

So which is your favourite United Buddy Bear?

I Finally Met The United Buddy Bears! (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:45:00 +0000

Christmas is a season of giving and I'm giving away a Christmas present in this post, so keep reading!

After learning about the arrival of the United Buddy Bears at Pavilion KL early this month, I was looking forward to meet my fellow bears! You know I am a Panda bear by now, right? Haha!

The United Buddy Bears are a series of painted, life-size fibreglass bear sculptures originally developed in Berlin, Germany. They were created to promote a message of peace, international understanding and tolerance among nations, cultures and religions of this world. How cool is that?

Each bear represents one nation, and there are 143 of them! They stand hand in hand symbolising the future vision of a peaceful world.

If you are hardworking enough, you may want to go to Pavilion KL and snap the pictures of each and every bear! Wait....I actually did that. Well, almost. Haha!

Anyway, more about the United Buddy Bears in my next post - for now, let's figure out which country each of these 6 bears represent. The first person who gives an all-correct answer shall win my special Xmas gift, which is my very own compilation Xmas songs CD featuring singers Mariah Carey, Michael Buble, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, 98 degrees and many more!

Here are the rules...
1. This contest is open to readers from any parts of the world.
2. Leave your answers in the comments below. Answers via emails and other means are not acceptable.
3. Example of answer : Bear#1 - Australia, Bear#2 - Thailand, Bear #3 - China etc.
4. The first person to answer all correctly wins the prize. If no one gets all-correct answers, the first person who gets the most correct answers shall win.
5. This contest closes on 21st December 11.59pm sharp (Malaysian time ie. GMT+8)

OK, so are you ready? Welcome the 6 United Buddy Bears!!

Bear #1

Bear #2

Bear #3

Bear #4

Bear #5

Bear #6

To make it easier for you, I have narrowed down 18 countries for you to choose from. Each of the 6 bears is in this list of 18 countries. Good Luck!!

Countries : USA, Denmark, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Chile, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Philippines, Spain, Congo Republic, Germany, Barbados, Korea Republic, Finland.

Answers and the Winner will be announced in Part 2, so stay tuned! : )

My Shabu Shabu Dinner At Nagomi

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:28:00 +0000

I love shabu- shabu or steamboat! Especially on a cold and rainy night!

The weather had been just that recently, so it was not unusual that I ended up going for a few steamboat dinners these past two weeks. Of all the steamboat dinners I have been to, I think my favourite must be the Shabu-shabu Buffet at Nagomi Japanese Restaurant.

Located on the 1st floor of Menara Hap Seng at Jalan P. Ramlee KL, Nagomi is having a promotional price of their shabu-shabu buffet at only RM32.80++!

I actually loved Nagomi so much I went twice! The first time, it was my birthday dinner and my friend booked the restaurant at the last minute. So we ended up sitting at a table for two hidden at a far end corner.

It was OK cos we had lots or privacy. Haha!

The second time I went with two friends and we were given a table nearer to the buffet spread. Besides having easier access to the food, I discovered one major advantage sitting near the buffet spread and I'll tell you what it is later.

What makes Nagomi different from all the other steamboat restaurants? I must say it's their very fresh seafood! Yes, fresh seafood makes ALL the difference! I'm afraid that having eaten at Nagomi, I would find it hard to accept other lesser quality steamboat.

The first time I ate there, I was quite amazed to find endless supply of tiger prawns, crayfish (mini lobsters), flower crabs, salmon, scallops and oysters. Eat all these all you want at only RM32.80++? It was unbelievable!

I have to admit I have yet to eat such fresh lobsters and scallops in any KL restaurants at such an affordable price!! If you have, please let me know where!

However, during my second visit, some things changed and I would let you know what in a minute.

Scallops and fish slices

Crayfish (mini lobsters), tiger prawns and bamboo clams

Mussels, clams, and oysters

Scallops, flower crab, salmon and crayfish

There were many different types of sauces to dip your cooked seafood in. I could not remember their names, but after trying all of them, I settled for just one - the wafu sauce. It was yummy!!

So on my second visit, I took only my favourite wafu sauce! I thought of filling up a bowl with the sauce but then decided not to appear so greedy. Haha!

When I first ate at Nagomi, I was actually quite amazed that they were providing unlimited fresh salmon. As if unlimited lobsters and crabs were not enough! I remember telling my friend how on earth do they make money charging us at only RM32.80++ with all these expensive seafood?

And then, on my second visit, I discovered they did not have crabs and salmon! Nooooo!!!

Upon asking, we were told that salmon would be out only at 8pm. True enough, right on the dot at 8pm, a staff rang the bell announcing the servings of salmon. Then in true Malaysian style, everyone rushed to the counter to get their share of the salmon. Gosh! This almost reminded me of the uncivilized scrambling for chicken wings at Yuen Steamboat!

As I mentioned earlier, we were at an advantage sitting so near the buffet spread. Because of this, I was able to secure 4 plates of salmon! Haha!

The salmon was oh, so fresh and I immediately cooked them in the hotpot. By the way, it is all individual hotpot in Nagomi which is good as it is more hygienic and customizable. Besides, it's no fun cooking your salmon in a shared pot and finding out that someone else had eaten it! LOL!

My cooked salmon. Yum!

Besides seafood, Nagomi also serve thinly sliced meat. There were 4 choices to choose from - chicken, lamb, beef and duck. The first time I tried all, but on my second visit, I only went for the beef and duck.

Beef slices

Duck slices

Oh, did I mention that they also have sushi, vegetables, red bean soup, fruits and desserts too?

The sushi was not nice so I did not eat much. Anyway, you would not want to waste your stomach space for such things as sushi when there were abundance of seafood! Haha!

Fruits and desserts were rather limited. On my first visit, I did not know they have ice creams! I only discovered it during my second visit when I saw a staff manning an ice cream machine. Unfortunately, I was told the machine was down that evening! What a bummer!

Anyway, after the buffet, I and my friends went to Snowflake and I got myself a Japanese Combo II which was perfect after a hot steamboat meal!

The vegetables in Nagomi were very fresh but I noticed not many people eating them. This just shows how unhealthy most people's diets are with lots of meat and very little vegetables! If you go to Nagomi, make sure you eat their fresh vegetables too!

My hotpot containing tiger prawns, lobster and clams

I really enjoyed my steamboat buffet at Nagomi. I am not sure how much longer the price at RM32.80++ will remain but I may just go there again for the third time! Hopefully, the lobsters and scallops will not be missing like the crabs.

My 9-Hour Karaoke Marathon At Redbox

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 06:55:00 +0000

I love to sing although I am not a good singer. And I am pretty sure I am not alone. Luckily for all of us who like to sing but can't sing well, there are karaoke outlets to satisfy our cravings for belting out hit songs unabashedly.

I have not been going to karaoke for quite some time, so imagine my excitement when I heard that Redbox Karaoke offers a Dinner Buffet package that starts at 6pm and allows you to sing till 3am in the morning! That's a whopping 9 hours of singing!! The price was only RM48++ per person* so it was a good bargain.

So early this week, my two friends and I ended up at Redbox Gardens. We were there right on the dot at 6pm. After registering ourselves at the counter, we were led to our private room.

I like that the room was spacious and clean.

There were some pretty new songs for us to choose from, but I was disappointed that some songs that I wanted to sing were not available.

Songs like Paradise (Coldplay), Count On Me (Bruno Mars), Arms (Christina Perri), Someone Like You (Adele), I Wanna Go (Britney Spears), Summer Rain (Matthew Morrison) and Louder (Charice) were not available.

I was actually quite irritated when I found that they had the song My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson but without the lyrics!! How was I supposed to sing?

I was however quite happy they had songs like Fall For You (Secondhand Serenade), Wish You Were Here (Avril Lavigne), Pumped Up Kicks (Foster The People), Cheers Drink To That (Rihanna) and Right There (Nicole Scherzinger).

As expected from a karaoke outlet, the buffet food were nothing to shout about. Here are some of the food I ate.

Sushi, oyster, sausages, chicken meat ...

Butter prawn, vegetables and garlic rice...

I had to spit out the butter prawn after biting halfway as I found that it was not fresh at all!

Scallop, beef, vegetables ...

The scallop was actually not too bad.

Beef, fish, crab, prawns ....

The fish was OK but I'm afraid the rest were below average.

Vegetable salad with various dressings ....

There were also ice creams, fruits and freshly made temaki but I did not take any photos of them.

Oh well, I was there to sing first and to eat second, so I was not too particular about the food. Besides, I did not have any high expectation of the quality of the food there so it was OK.

Since it was my birthday month, I made full use of my birthday vouchers. I redeemed one voucher for a free bottle of sparkling juice.

Thank goodness for this sparkling juice! It helped soothe our throats singing non-stop for 9 hours! Well, not exactly 9 hours as we spent the first hour eating actually. Haha!

I also used another birthday voucher which is a Buy 1 Free 1 voucher. Since there were three of us, we only needed to pay for two people. That's a good deal especially when we could sing all the way until 3am, don't you agree?

*The price RM48++ is only for dinner buffet from 6pm - 10pm (Mon - Thurs only). You can stay on to sing till 3am but this offer together with the price is subject to change from 19th Dec 2011 onwards.

FIRST COMMENTER

The Case Of The Three Hookers

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 04:50:00 +0000

After the traumatic experience at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum that left me feeling depressed, it was a great relief to hear that our good friend and host would be bringing Jam, his friend and I to the karaoke that night!

So right after that enjoyable French dinner at Van's Restaurant, we went straight to a karaoke place. We were brought into a large room complete with nice sofas and of course a karaoke set. Sorry there are no photos as cameras were strictly forbidden. I thought it would be just like Redbox Karaoke in Malaysia and I was eager to choose the songs I wanted to sing.

To my utter surprise, a row of young and beautiful girls were lined up in front of us! Seemed like it was more than just a karaoke - it was more like a night club! The three of us had to pick one girl each. I picked one and she sat next to me the entire time.

We had some fun singing and dancing but I did not do anything more than that (if you don't count the touching and hugging) although we were allowed to do so. The girl could not really speak English and so we had some kind of communication breakdown. But in the end, I learnt a few Khmer words and phrases from her LOL!

When we returned to out hotel room later that night, the three of us decided to call for massage service in our room. We had massage almost every night since coming to Cambodia - the rates were so cheap! There was a notice inside our room which states the rate for massage service, which is USD5 per hour. We told the receptionist at the lobby about our request before going up to our room.

Fifteen minutes later, the door bell rang. Jam went to open the door and in came a short, plump lady. She gave a puzzled look when she saw the three of us in the room and then she giggled out loud. What the heck! Both Jam and I let our friend had her first LOL!

A few minutes later, another lady came in. She's pretty hot but I thought with her very heavy make-up, she looked more like a hooker than a masseuse! Anyway, I quickly secured her as my masseuse cos I did not want to risk putting up with another plump lady! Hahaha!

By this time, we were already wondering how come they did not all arrive at the same time! We were told that the third lady was on the way. She eventually came not long after.

What happened next was nothing short of a joke. It was the worst massage I had ever experienced in my life! The girl massaging me did not know how to use the proper pressure and massage techniques. I could hear Jam complaining and scolding his masseuse. Apparently, she did not know how to massage either.

It soon became obvious that the three ladies were not there to provide massage. They were prostitutes! No wonder that plump lady gave us a puzzled look and started to giggle when she first came into our room! Horrors!

Jam was angry and told them to leave. The girl who massaged me was not happy that I paid her USD5. She said she had to take a taxi to reach the hotel and USD5 was not enough. I told her that the rate was agreed beforehand but of course, she had expected me to tip her for the sex service which of course she did not provide because I did not want it!

Anyway, after some argument, I decided to pay her USD7 just to get rid of her. She left with a sour face. I guess it was our first time calling for massage in a hotel room and we did not realize this actually meant calling for prostitutes! How naive we were!

But that's not the end of it. After the girls left, we got a call from the receptionist at the lobby asking us if we were happy with the service. Apparently, he was trying to ask for tips! Jam's friend told him off angrily over the phone. We had wanted proper massage, not sex!

It was a horrible experience for us. What a night! But I have to honestly say I had no regrets. This incident had somehow made my trip that much more memorable and kept me in stitches even to this very day!

FIRST COMMENTER

A Surprise Birthday Dinner At Mezze

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:07:00 +0000

When Witch invited me to dinner on a Monday evening, I had suspected something was amiss. My suspicion was confirmed that evening - it was a birthday dinner for both me and Caroline.

Both Caroline and I share the same birth day and month, which is December 1st. But while it had been a complete surprise for Caroline, I was not that easily fooled! Which is quite a pity, cos surprises are always good, especially if it's a pleasant surprise.

We had dinner at this restaurant, bistro and bar called Mezze located in Medan Damansara, KL. It was our first time there, so I did not know what to expect.

These were the dishes we ordered. (Sorry for the low quality photos as I did not bring my camera along - I had to depend on my iPhone 3Gs).

Spaghetti Carbonara

This dish looked rather unique with the raw egg yolk served in a shell. The taste was not bad, but after mixing the egg yolk with the pasta, it was a bit too creamy for my liking.

Olio Bacon

This pasta with bits and pieces of bacon was delicious! I would definitely recommend this dish!

Funghi au Truffle Pizza

This pizza with thin and light crust was yummy. With mushrooms, tomatoes, oregano, rocket leaves, truffle oil and layers of cheese on top, it was really quite delicious!

Salmon Pizza

I love salmon so this pizza is a favourite of mine! Thin and crispy crust with slices of smoked salmon on top, it was love at first bite! I thought the rocket leaves somehow matched the salmon very well!

Chargrilled Spatchcock Chicken

I have only one complaint about this dish - the chicken was way too small! It was hardly enough for one person, what more for all of us! (there were six of us there). Other than the size, everything else about this spring chicken was delightful! The meat was tender and juicy - it must have been very well marinated. I wish I could have the whole chicken to myself!

I was craving for some desserts, but both Caroline and I knew that there would be a birthday cake for us. And true enough, we were presented with a Cherry Cheesecake bought from Caffe Cino, PJ Hilton.

I guess Witch was a bit disappointed that both Caroline and I did not at least pretend to be surprised haha! So after the birthday song was sung and we both blew the candles, the cake was cut and I got to taste a slice of my birthday cake! Thank you for the delicious cake!

Here's a group photo of us which I have taken from Caroline's blog, with my face blanked out as usual and the birthday girl sitting next to me.

Mezze was a good place to dine and we had a great time. The only issue we had with the place was the smoky environment. Obviously they did not have non-smokers in mind! That's a real pity because the food were really quite good!

Happy Birthday To Panda!

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:01:00 +0000

Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to Panda,
Happy Birthday to me!

Do you like my birthday card? It's from my insurance agent by the way. Who sends birthday card anymore, except insurance agents?

Even DIGI did not send me a birthday card. Instead, they sent me a Happy Birthday greeting via text messaging. The message reads like this : "To our valued customer, DIGI wishes you a Happy Birthday". How impersonal!

Now don't get me wrong. I do appreciate all those birthday wishes whether they were sent via slow mail, e-mail, sms, iMessage, Whatsapp, kik, Line, Twitter or Facebook. Thank you all for wishing me Happy Birthday! You know who you are!

By the way, in case you do not know, it's NOT my birthday today. That was on December 1st. I am only blogging about it now. LOL!

Oh, guess what? I even received a birthday card from a fellow panda in the form of WWF.

Nice and heartfelt. Thanks WWF!

Although many people sent me birthday wishes via text messaging or sms, I have to show you all a message I received from blogger SK. I am not sure if I should show it here since it's his personal message to me, but I think it should be OK, right SK?

Bambooshootilicious? Haha!! I could not help laughing out loud when I read that!

By the way, if you are not an iPhone user and you are wondering why there are both blue and green colour messages, well the blue ones are iMessages (which are sent online between two iPhone users) and the green one is a normal sms message.

Why was my last reply to SK not via iMessage but normal sms? Beats me!

One of the perks on my birthday month is getting the Birthday Vouchers from Redbox Karaoke. It's gonna be a karaoke month for me, that's for sure!

A "surprise" birthday dinner thrown by my blogger friends also awaited me, but let's leave that to another post, shall we?

All I Want For Christmas Is ....

noreply@blogger.com (foongpc) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:32:00 +0000

Tis the season to be jolly....Christmas season is here! Do you feel the festive spirit?

While shopping malls are in full swing with the Christmas decors, I can't help myself from humming a Christmas tune or two. I guess the yuletide spirit has gotten to me!

There is still one full month of Christmas mood to be enjoyed so I am going to enjoy it to the fullest! Now what do I want for Christmas? Let me see...

1. A Macbook Pro

2. A Steinway Grand Piano

3. An iPad 2

4. A full year's supply of Snowflake Taiwanese desserts

5. An all-expense paid trip to Switzerland

6. Winning the lottery

7. No house chores for a year

The list can go on and on....but all I want, all I really really want for Christmas is to be healthy and happy. Yes, that's all I want. How about you?

Let me end this post with the newly released music video of Mariah Carey and Justin Bieber singing Mariah's Christmas song of the decade - All I Want For Christmas Is You! Enjoy!