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Style Profile: Me

2012-01-25T23:35:00.005+08:00

Wokay, so I haven't been featured on The Sartorialist or run a fashion blog, but I just love interviews because they summarise someone of interest in just a few words. I think it's also great for me to answer interview questions to learn more about myself - things that we never have time to sit down and discover.

I stole the questions from The Sartorialist *ahem*. Can general questions be copyrighted?

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First job?

I think it was at Coffee Bean Mid Valley during the semester break of my IT studies.

Current profession?

Graphic designer. I love the term, but I think it has such a dependent tone to it, unlike other creative titles like 'writer' or 'painter'. Still, I wouldn't want to be anything other than a graphic designer. I can't see myself being happy doing anything else. Except maybe a bookstore owner :s

Who has influenced your design style?

I'm so embarrassed to admit that I don't know many designers by their work, but by name and reputation. I see work as work and designers as people. I come across lots of studio work that I love and that inspire me. I really admire Bibliotheque in UK and Happycentro in Italy. And as for people, I really connected with Michael Bierut of Pentagram after reading an interview with him. That's how individual designers become my favourite people - by their characters rather than their work.

Who has influenced your fashion?

I like a more grown-up Alexa Chung style. I also love aristocratic English style - tweed, hunting attire, ruffles and sharp tailoring. Kirsten Dunst's style and a touch of the Olsen twins also inspire me.

How has your style evolved over the past 5 years?

I think I'm a bit more put-together and am able to tame the adventurous side better than in the past.

Athletics? Hobbies?

Ballet, because I like the discipline and beauty and strength involved. And because nobody knows how hard it really is. My hobbies are computer games and reading.

Never caught wearing?

A scrunchie.

What are your go-to wardrobe staples?

Shapeless but textured sweaters and dresses. This cotton black dress (above) seems to crop up a lot in my pictures.

Which shops could you spend the whole day in?

Bookshops and supermarkets. Vintage shops.

What do you wear when traveling?

The same as usual, but I tend to be a bit more experimental and regret it later.

Most visually inspiring place you’ve been?

Scotland - Edinburgh and the mountains. Probably Lapland once I have been there to see the northern lights.

Do you cherish any particular heirloom pieces?

Do I have any? It would have been cheongsams from my grandmother if we were the same shape and size.

Most memorable gift?

Maxi the mini, from my mother is one. Agatha, the golden goblin fairy, from my stepdad (or was it mum?) is another.

Most stylish movie?

Most recently, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. And next up, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I don't remember older movies very well.

How have you surprised yourself recently?

Maybe... by spending a big chunk of money on a piano for myself. I never spend big chunks of money.

What do you never consider an indulgence?

Buying design books, Agatha Christies and Neil Gaimans.

Most important style advice you’ve received?

Must be something from my sister, although I don't remember any at the top of my head now.

What do you feel most powerful wearing?

Thin, womanly heels in patent nude or leopard print.

Sartorial rule you never follow?

I don't know any sartorial rules. I just try not to look boring. Baby tee and jeans? I'd rather wear a clown suit out. Heh.

Home-cooked Greek food

2012-01-16T21:05:00.002+08:00

It's always great when friends or friends' parents are cooks and love cooking. This is what happened with Super Harry when we met up for drinks on Saturday. Got to talking about Greek restaurants and food, and next thing we know, he's on the phone with his dad asking if he wouldn't mind cooking for us the next night.

That is how Schrobbenmaster, Yelleh Belleh and I were treated to a wonderful home-cooked meal of Greek food :D

I have the worst knowledge in the world of Greek food - this is only the third time I'm having it (second time in Super Harry's house). And I'm pretty sure they sniggered politely when I asked if this was moussaka:

No, Super Harry says, it's lasagna, Greek-style.

I'm not a 'meat in slabs and chunks' fan, but the yellow dish in the centre there was super awesome. Pork and potatoes.

Then of course there was feta cheese and olives with homemade bread. There was some discussion as to whether this particular feta was made with only sheep's milk or half sheep and half goat. I found it a tad sour ("... maybe the milk isn't good anymore!" says Super Harry's dad *ahem, worried*), but I really liked the homemade bread.

Best part of any meal is the dessert, in my opinion. And desserts from Super Harry's mum NEVER fail. She's beginning to cement her reputation in my head that she is an infallible dessert maker. The white 'pau' looking ones are crumbly biscuity almondy cookies and the brown earthquake looking ones are crumbly soft fudgy chocolatey cookies. Heavenly food!

It was pretty amazing how at that one table, we had about four languages being spoken - Greek, Dutch, English and Malay. And a Greek news channel playing in the background. The world is indeed small and yet so big. Love it :)

Bruxelles 2012 - the arty city

2012-01-10T22:38:00.001+08:00

I just really like Brussels. I wouldn't live there and I wouldn't go there every weekend, but as a city, it's definitely a place I would recommend to people.

There are so many things to discover if you're into the arts and creative scene. I didn't make it into any cultural venue or museum this trip, but I saw a lot of shops, and boy were they nice shops.

Almost all bookshops had old, secondhand arty books, almost all comic stores had anything you would want to find. Almost all music shops were vintage and collector's, and the variety of everything a hipster would want is staggering.

I even bought two piano books, even though I don't have a piano. Yet.

After buying my piano books.

Art landscaping in front of the Royal Library.

Saved from financial ruin by all the books being in French.

Cappuccino with Belgian chocolate powder on top. Luxurious! But not that tasty, actually.

Grand Place.

Nativity scene under the thatched roof left over from Christmas.

This is a community service message: Don't buy waffles from this shop. They're mushy and don't represent the opinions of Belgian waffles nationwide.

I wanted to buy these cushion stools but there was no price attached. After browsing the shop and seeing the prices of salt and pepper shakers (averaging € 60/pair), I decided that my purse wouldn't like me very much if I bought them. Super cute though.

This shop is located in the gay quarter of Brussels and I'm absolutely convinced to be targeted only at gays. Because straight singles and couples in general just can't afford these things for their homes. Somehow, gays always have the best stuff in their homes, doncha think??

Nice girl with nice eyes makes nice earrings which Yelleh Belleh bought.

Yet another bookstore. I just can't get enough.

Super beautiful Christmas nature decorations. I wanted to decorate my place nature-style for Christmas 2011, but I just couldn't find enough. It doesn't seem very popular to have nature-style decor :s :s

Nice, bright mustard door in the middle of the ghetto.

Famous Marché aux Puces flea market, open daily from 6am to 2pm.

Yelleh Belleh bargaining with an Arabic Dude:

YB: How much is this?

AD: Ten euro.

YB: That's too expensive, can you make it cheaper?

AD: Uh. How much you want?

YB: Uh, seven euro?

AD: Uh... (calls over Arabic Dude 2 and discusses)... (turns back to YB)... eight euro.

YB: Uh, that's too expensive. Never mind, I don't want it.

(After standing still for 5 seconds)

AD: Five euro.

YB: Oh. Okay.

Yelleh Belleh's shoulder hurt from the heavy backpack.

View while I was waiting for her to finish putting muscle gel on.

Buying last minute beer at De Bier Tempel just off Grand Place. Tourist prices, so don't go there if you want to get Belgian beer at normal prices. We were just in a rush as we had a train to catch. After paying for the beer, we actually had 7 minutes to run to the train station, with our heavy backpacks and 6 bottles of beer in plastic bags. We arrived on the platform panting and cramping just as the train pulled in. Talk about cutting it close!

Good trip overall and nice to see Brussels again :)

Bruxelles 2012 - an extensive review of Max Hotel vs. Chic and Basic

2012-01-10T21:13:00.001+08:00

Happy new year boys and girls!

I have been so slack with posting and one of my new year's resolutions is, no, not to blog more regularly, but to only post what JUST happened, meaning I will stop back-blogging from now on. This is to help future me, when looking for old posts on certain dates.

So, my first trip of the year was on the first weekend of the year (pure coincidence), and it was to Brussels with Yelleh Belleh.

Did I mention that she's here for an internship at my office in Amsterdam? Yep.

So we took the train down to Brussels for a very affordable price of € 34,20 each return. And I found a hotel online called Max Hotel, which looked like the Chic and Basic I stayed at in Madrid. I really loved that hotel and was excited to have found a similar offering in Brussels.

Looks like the hotel review will come first. Here goes...

The Max Hotel people call it a new kind of concept of urban hotel for a reasonable price at a great location. This is very true, as it was on a main street parallel to the main shopping street of Brussels, and only a 10-minute walk (if you know your way) to Grand Place, the main square.

Because this hotel concept was so similar to Chic and Basic, I couldn't help constantly comparing the two.

First impressions
When you first enter the premises of Max Hotel, outside the main doors, you're faced with two machines to check in and out. I found this super cool, as all your booking details are in the database and all you have to do is enter your booking number and insert your card for confirmation.

At Chic and Basic, it's just like a normal hotel with a small check-in desk and a friendly Spanish dude to help you out. I think both ways suit me just fine. The human touch is pleasant and welcoming, but the machine method is just super cool. Unless something goes wrong and you're stuck outside the doors till the hotel guy sees you from the CCTV.

The room
At Max Hotel, the room was much larger than Chic and Basic's. It was pretty much like a standard sized hotel room in a standard 3 or 4 star hotel. The bathroom was also very nice and reasonably sized. Chic and Basic's bathroom was nice and modern, but the weird thing was the sink being in the room itself. It looked weird, but it was nice for watching TV while brushing my teeth and washing my face :P

So first impression of the room at Max Hotel was good. Until I discovered there was no safe to keep our passports in. Something which Chic and Basic had. Okay, never mind, not such a huge inconvenience (although I really like having a safe in the room).

We gave our feet a rest (we had only checked in at 3pm, after walking for 4 hours in the city) for about 10 minutes, then freshened up and headed out again.

The amenities
All the amenities in these kinds of hotels are never located in your room. In Chic and Basic, it was in the lobby and in Max Hotel it was on the first floor in a sort of lounge area. The big difference and winning point for Chic and Basic is that they were all free - coffee, tea, chocolate powder, cinnamon powder, all kinds of powder for your drinks, biscuits, cookies, milk, boiling water... in Madrid, I would get ready in the morning (or evening) and head out, picking up a coffee and biscuit for the walk to Baker Jo's hotel up the road. At Max Hotel, you have to pay for everything. I was quite disappointed at this discovery.

Even more disappointing was that they don't provide little shampoo and shower gel bottles to guests. You actually have to buy those two at the vending machine on the first floor for € 1 each. I guess we should just be thankful that bath towels were provided *rolls eyes*. Oh, and there is no free WiFi either. You have to pay for that per 24 or 72 hours to use in your room. For us who were only staying less than a day, and out of the room most of the time, it wasn't worth it.

The night
While we were out, we smelt so many waffles around that we just had to find a good place to have one. Unfortunately, we chose the wrong shop. The waffles were mushy and way too sweet and dripping with too much chocolate sauce. Yelleh Belleh even stained my scarf that she was borrowing, with chocolate sauce :( I hope it comes off.

We'd also decided that we needed to have Belgian chips. So at 7pm, we bought a bag of chips to share. And that was our dinner for the day, as we weren't hungry anymore. Being Malaysian, we were worried that we'd get hungry later on in the hotel, so we thought of getting cup noodles for the room. "But," I wondered aloud, "Does the hotel have boiling water?". We figured that they had to provide hot water to make tea, but in the end, we couldn't find any good cup noodles, so we decided to be strong and go without food (because we didn't want anything else).

The next morning
We had bought a little shampoo bottle from the Max Hotel vending machine because the convenience stores were selling the full-sized bottles for way too much than was appropriate. So all prepared, I stepped into the shower, and got a pleasant surprise in the form of a rain shower. How luxurious!

So, we get a rain shower, but we don't get free shampoo and shower gel. I just find that too strange. Sure, most people don't like hotel shampoos and would rather use their own, but we're talking about a cheap and easy hotel here, where either half-on-a-budget travellers or one-night travellers stay. We people are not super fussy about shampoo, really. I'd rather have free amenities than a rain shower any day.

Okay then, on the other hand, say you are really fussy about your hair and body and don't care about them not providing shampoo and shower gel. I realised, while rubbing the € 1 shampoo into my hair, that the shower area is WAY too small for a rain shower fitting. The rain was just everywhere and was getting into my eyes, and there was nowhere to step away from it, except by going back out of the shower area. I had to switch from rain to normal shower head mode, which was attached to the wall at a lower level. That solved the problem, but it didn't take away the basic inappropriateness of having the rain shower.

In conclusion
It sounds like I have a lot of complaints about the Max Hotel, but in reality, I did like it. My conclusion is that it's convenient and affordable and very comfortable to stay in. I just find that some of the things they did were useless and would have been better replaced by other basic things. I don't need such a big room, or a rain shower. What I need in place of those things is a safe, free amenities and free WiFi. In that department, Chic and Basic really wins top place. I still love it loads and would look for a Chic and Basic wherever I go.

Christmas (early) in Kuala Lumpur

2011-12-12T23:40:00.003+08:00

Whenever I'm in England, I have to visit Marks & Spencer for their affordable and beautiful products. This autumn was no different. I picked up three biscuit tins and a couple of wool leggings.

The shortbread is already finished, courtesy of my co-workers. I'm not such a huge fan of shortbread myself, so I brought it to the office to share. I'm now using the tin for my cross stitch :)

The third biscuit tin is a revolving musical tin, really beautiful, and still unopened. Since it's a Christmas tin, I've decided only to open it for Christmas.

I was playing around with hand-drawn typography in the days leading up to my KL visit and intended to draw all my gift tags. But as usual, I forgot that I had even done this up till now when I'm uploading all my photos to the computer. Tsk.

So this year is the first year ever I'll be spending Christmas without my family. Sad, but it's a choice I made a long time ago. So we decided to open our gifts to each other early.

An early Christmas celebration at home.

Contrary to Yelleh Belleh's very natural shocked face, she actually already knew what she was getting for Christmas.

Schrobbenmaster getting socks.

Schrobbenmaster's new posh scarf.

Gift to Mumsy Bumsy from Yelleh Belleh and I. She loves reading biographies.

From Schrobbenmaster to Yelleh Belleh.

A beautifully packaged gift from Yelleh Belleh and I to Mumsy Bumsy.

As it turns out, I won't actually be without family this Christmas. Because Yelleh Belleh is coming over in a week! Yes, we managed to haggle an internship for her at our office, so she'll be here for the next two months. Awesome for me, not so awesome for Mumsy Bumsy :( But she'll survive and I'm sure she'll find a way to make the Christmas season jolly too.

Time to plan a nice, cosy Christmas at home. Tree first, decorations next and then recipes and games organisation after.

Pictures from Christmas markets and garden centres coming up!

The new kitchen and potato chicken

2011-12-12T18:24:00.001+08:00

Have I already mentioned that we changed our kitchen a couple months ago? Just before Mumsy Bumsy and my aunt came to visit.

Schrobbenmaster and I had gone to several kitchen places to request quotations and see what was on offer before we decided that a whole new kitchen was just too expensive. So we discussed and agreed on what the most important things to be changed were, which were the doors of the cupboards, the cooker hood and a new microwave and oven combi.

That didn't make it much cheaper but at least it was in the budget now.

We went back to the original manufacturer of our current kitchen and ordered the new doors etc. It's a huge improvement now, but we were annoyed by the guy who came to build it. Old-ish guy and very very sloppy. I truly believe he gave our wood floor several new scratches because of his sloppiness. Urgh, just thinking about him makes me annoyed now.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the work that was in progress.

Big improvement on the old doors, right?

When Mumsy Bumsy and my aunt came, I of course made them cook some of their delicious meals for us... hehe.

Mumsy Bumsy cooking my favourite dish of hers - potato chicken. Okay, so that's not what she's really cooking above (obviously), but basically I call the whole dinner "potato chicken", even if it includes pan-fried tofu and beans with sambal.

The reason there's all that junk food hanging out on the cooker hood is that relatives will be relatives and they always think you suffer and starve when they're not around. So Schrobbenmaster and I ended up with a fuller than full kitchen of snacks, biscuits, fruits... and lots and lots of eggs. About 30 of them?

The lucky invitees to the "potato chicken" dinner.

I have lined up some Christmas market posts for after this, so stay tuned :)

Christmas Shopping Day. Robinson's +1, Jusco -10.

2011-12-01T00:51:00.001+08:00

So today was our scheduled Christmas Shopping Day.

Schrobbenmaster couldn't come out with us yet again because he's still recovering from his flu. The poor guy is spending the last few days of his holiday in bed. Sigh.

Anyway, Yelleh Belleh and I headed to Robinson's in The Gardens for our shopping. We knew what Mumsy Bumsy had asked for so we headed straight to that department. Holy moley, that item is pricey! But we did receive an RM20 voucher to spend in the same department. What a good decision then, to get similar items from the same department for other people.

Talking about receiving vouchers as a reward for spending a certain amount of money...

One of the things that irritates me about Malaysia are the measly, pathetic excuses for rewards and rebates they have.

"Spend RM300 with your credit card and get an RM10 Coffee Bean voucher!"

Just tell me, won't you, what exactly you can buy with RM10 at Coffee Bean? A small cup of orange juice is what I think.

So if you spend RM900, you get an RM30 Coffee Bean voucher. OMG. You know what? Keep your lame vouchers. As much as I like free things and things that are value for money, this is just insulting.

Another one I saw a few years back:

"Buy 2 Absolut Vodkas and receive RM5 off!"

RM freaking FIVE.
Off bottles which cost RM200 each.

Keep your RM freaking five and leave me my dignity, thanks.

ANYWAY.

Yelleh Belleh and I managed to get everything we needed, and the two shop assistants at Robinson's were so helpful and patient with us. Robinson's really knows how to train their staff, I can say that for sure.

As opposed to Jusco.
Ugh.

We couldn't find some of the cheaper items in Robinson's so we knew Jusco would be a good bet. Sure enough, we found what we were looking for, but not without some heartache from lazy Jusco staff.

Imagine:
We want to find out if there is more stock of a certain item, so we approach the nearest shop assistant. He says (with a smile, at least) that he doesn't know that section, but the woman in charge should be "over there". Okay, after Robinson's, this service just doesn't cut it. Just look for the woman and bring us to her or vice versa lah. We had to wander off in the general direction of his pointing finger and hope to find that woman.

She turned out to be alright, quite enthusiastic but also unable to help with stock enquiries. So we gave up and chose another design instead.

The cashier was really the one who irritated me. She was talking to a customer in front of me, and after waiting behind him for a bit, I realised that she was actually really just talking to him and not serving him. He was just some other staff member who was discussing an item. I had already looked for the Closed Counter sign, but it wasn't anywhere to be seen, so was I to know that she wasn't serving him as a customer? Could she not see me standing behind him with my items to be purchased? It would have been easy to just point me round to the counter behind her who was really serving customers.

Inefficient, blinkered staff.

But the funniest (in a not-so-funny way) was when we went down the escalator and turned the corner to the next escalator, and nearly bumped into a short Malay shop assistant standing right at the edge of the escalator, staring into space. Yelleh Belleh gave her three huge: "EXCUSE ME"s. But the light never came into her eyes. Even when, going down, I turned back to look at her.

Ah, Jusco. Always good for low blood pressure.

Robinson's, you're the best.

Kuala Lumpur vs Rotterdam

2011-11-30T14:06:00.001+08:00

Since I'm leaving KL soon, back to work in NL, I've been thinking of the pros and cons, yet again, of both places. Have they changed from before? Maybe slightly. But it's always good to take stock of your feelings and impressions every once in a while to see how you truly feel about something.

Naturally, the winning statements mean that the other city has an absolute lack of those.

10 wins for Kuala Lumpur

My family
Malaysian food (my faves: roadside nasi lemak, wan tan mee, chicken rice, Hong Kong dim sum)
My dogs
Sunny, cheerful weather
Huge choice of restaurants and cafes
Huge and better choice of clothes and accessories
Opening times till 10pm, 7 days a week
Lots of product brands to choose from
Affordable English fashion and art magazines
Very well-designed restaurant and shop interiors

10 wins for Rotterdam

Fast internet
Online shopping
Bicycling
Pim
Trustworthy police
No sweating just from getting out of bed
Living in the city centre
Earning in euros
Shop assistants know their products
Everyone is more equal financially and there is less pretentiousness and superficiality

3 votes against Kuala Lumpur

Potholes
Overpriced items (ie. European prices at Malaysian salaries... wth?!)
Traffic jams and aggressive drivers

3 votes against Rotterdam

Cold and distant people
Super high tax
No drop-ins at the clinic when you're sick

Melting in KL, but not itching to be back in NL

2011-11-28T22:49:00.001+08:00

Wowowowow, it's been so hot here in Kuala Lumpur the past week!

My relatives (on my mother's side) were just over for a dinner gathering to see me before I head back to Rotterdam. It was nice and cosy, and the local food was good. I had fried meehoon and a packet of nasi lemak (and one more sitting right next to the MacBook ready to be sacrificed as supper).

Poor Schrobbenmaster has fallen sick, though. He's been having bad headaches the past few days, and woke up this morning with a really high temperature. We drove him to the clinic immediately and got him some meds. After a whole afternoon and evening of sleep, his temperature is back down and he feels almost normal. What a relief! The doctor had said that if the fever didn't subside within two days, he'd have to go back for tests to see if it's H1N1 *horror and gasp* because this influenza is returning to our lives via tourists from Bangkok and Singapore. Bangkok is just nothing but trouble! I pity the people who live there who have to go through such shit almost all year round.

Anyway, we return to NL in five days, which is all too short. I'll be really sad to go back and leave my family. It's been nice to be back in KL, although I've found some things to have gotten worse, for example, the condition of the roads and the price of things in Bangsar. Fortunately, there are still friendly people around to make things okay again.

And my dogs! How great to be back with them and being around animals who express what they feel and think. Haha. I do love having Pim around, but sometimes it just feels like I'm talking to a brick wall.

What's there to look forward to when I go back? Some Christmas dinners coming up and a New Year's party that we're hosting in our apartment. It should be good!

And hopefully news that friends or family from KL will be coming over to visit. That always makes my days much brighter in anticipation.

Back in Kuala Lumpur!

2011-11-22T18:28:00.001+08:00

I'm back in KL!

Okay, okay, I've been back for just over a week now, but I've been enjoying the offline-ness so much that I decided to embrace it and make it last for as long as possible.

So what made me decide to come back? I dunno, guess I saw this Macbook lying around so lonely and saying to me: "Don't you like me anymore?". Well, Macbook... I never even used you before, so how can I 'not like you anymore'?

Okaaaaaaaayyy..........

I'm staying in my sister's room for the stay. It used to be our old room when I was in my teens, then when my parents moved out, I made this place my 'bachelor pad' and this room was my office. I loved it loads. And now that I'm living in NL, my mum has moved back in with my sister.

Here's the view from the room.

It's really nice looking out at night when all the lights are turned on.

And this is the rest of the room and me.

My sister has this cool dressing "table" which is actually a tall chest of drawers. It looks kinda gothic with the ornate doll stuff and a dark grey skull.

Since arriving in KL, I haven't done anything noteworthy. I just wanted to chill out, shop and have coffee. I was at The Curve one afternoon and saw this beautiful long evening gown. I never wear evening gowns, but the price was so good and I never owned one before, so I thought it might be a good investment.

My mum bought it for me and soon after, I remembered that I have a wedding to attend in a few days' time where I could wear the dress to. So I was super excited. Of course, not being a good formalwear planner, I had brought nothing with me in terms of accessories or shoes. So I now have to buy everything to wear for this wedding. Luckily, cheap things can be found here if you know where to look.

I also bought a cute black wool hat in preparation for going back to NL's winter. I think I look a little Japanese in it, but that's not really a bad thing, is it?

Ta da for now... I'm off to have dinner at a mamak. One of the little pleasures in life that we take for granted :)

Mum and aunt's visit! First part, England and Wales. Yummy!

2011-11-04T03:35:00.000+08:00

Apologies for my prolonged absence. There's been waaaay too much going on, some good, some not so fun. I just checked and my last post was September 22nd, which was the day the NS Try Out Festival started. I can't believe I even had time to post that! Sometimes I amaze myself. The festival was the not-so-fun part, seeing that I worked almost 24/7 and almost every second of that was high pressure.

But anyway, the fun part was when my mum and aunt visited for two weeks at the end of October!

My mum has posted some photos on Facebook, but I'll post a small selection of the shots I like the most, to accompany my post.

Day 1 (October 19)

They arrived extremely early at Schiphol and I excitedly waited at the Arrivals area for them to come out. There were loads of people there, surprisingly, and I kept an eye out for people who looked Malaysian, but it turns out that there were almost no locals travelling on that flight.

The night before they arrived, I'd slept quite late, getting their airbeds ready and cleaning up the house. Schrobbenmaster and I had gone to IKEA to get some new bed linen and I was excited about making the office look cosy and comfortable enough to sleep in.

Turns out that this is an impossible task. At least the airbeds seemed comfortable enough.

After freshening up, we headed to... where else? Bagels and Beans, of course!

I really love that place. Even though I don't like bagels.

I think after that we just took a walk around the city because my aunt had never been here before. She kept asking if she had to take her bulky bright pink coat that she'd borrowed from my cousin because she didn't think it would be cold enough. Well, my mum and I kept asking her to bring it because you never know with the weather here.

I think I cooked that first night. I had planned to eat home every night to create a cosier atmosphere and save money for shopping (since our kitchen now is so beautiful!), but in the end, we only ate home three times the whole trip. Anyway, my first cooked meal was a success and everyone slept nicely without any bad toilet visits.

Day 2

We girls were flying out to Manchester that evening, so we couldn't go too far. It was a choice between Dordrecht and Utrecht, and Utrecht won in the end.

On the way there, I started telling my mum about Kasteel de Haar, which is a castle just outside Utrecht city centre, and we spontaneously decided to turn off the highway to look at it. It was beautiful, but you could only go in with a tour guide, and guess what? The tour is only in Dutch. The tourist-friendly Netherlands strikes again! Luckily they had audioguides, which were good, but obviously not as extensive as the Dutch guide, so my mum and aunt ended up just wandering around aimlessly while the guide droned on to his Dutch visitors. These kinds of things always annoy me because it's so difficult for international tourists to see so many things in this country and to really enjoy travelling around here.

After the castle, we went into Utrecht. There wasn't much to do or see there, besides it being another city, because neither Schrobbenmaster nor I know the city very well. We just wandered around and looked at the Dom, the only impressive thing we could think of, and then went in search of the hardest place to find in NL - a good dinner place with variety.

I hate eating out in an unknown city because it's so hard to find a place that's good and with a variety of choice. Basically 70% of all restaurants in NL share the same menu. How boring is that?

So, in the end, we had Dutch food, because there was nothing else that didn't look dodgy or overpriced. It turned out to be a good choice of restaurant because the waitress we had was really good and efficient and the food tasted good.

After our early dinner, Schrobbenmaster dropped us off at Schiphol, where we took the Easyjet to Manchester, and where Stella, my mum's friend, picked us up. I've known Stella since I was probably around ten years old and I used to play with her kids, who are my age, regularly. During my annual trips to England over the past seven years, I used to visit her and I enjoy spending time at her place in Chester. Such a lovely and beautiful town!

After some lovely hot tea with raspberry viennese biscuits (my favourite thing about visiting Stella) and cosy chit chat, we headed to bed.

Day 3

First on the agenda was a visit to Chester town. We had lunch at a nice Italian place and we were served by a cute waiter with a most posh accent. I think that was the best part about him, hehe. It was like talking to someone from Downton Abbey in real life.

Of course, we had to visit Marks & Spencer. Also one of my favourite things to do in England. They have such beautiful things at such affordable prices. We ended up buying loads of biscuits in tins because they were so beautiful. As I write now, I've already finished the Scottish shortbread that came in a Scottish patterned tin with a little dog, house and tree on the front. I'm not a huge fan of shortbread, so I actually brought it to the office, where everyone loved it and had 'biscuit time' in the morning just because it was there.

Chester was an old Roman town and you can see the Roman wall encircling it still. While we walked through some garden paths, there was a guy dressed in a Roman outfit, explaining Roman baths to a bunch of 8-year old school kids, all dressed in Roman rubber armour (haha). He was explaining how the men and the women had separate baths, but sometimes they would have to share the bath (here the kids went "Eeeeww!")... but at different times. Hehe.

Onwards around the garden and we encountered some squirrels, who were running around and actually came up to us to see if we had food for them. After waiting a few seconds, they decided we weren't worth waiting for and ran away, so my mum, who's not the quickest photo snapper by far, only managed to get this, the very best of the fifty pictures she took. Still nice though.

We walked back to Stella's place after and had tea and chit chat and lazed about the morning room/conservatory/breakfast area, which turned into a lovely ritual for the next few days.

Day 4

Stella drove us to Chirk Castle in Wales. It was supposed to be a cold day, but it turned out to be amazingly sunny and cheerful. So we spent the first part of the visit in the amazing gardens. I don't know, all that sun and all that beauty just kinda made me turn a little mad...

We are talking about my mother, the fastest snapper in the world, here, so can you imagine how many times I had to jump? I think my aunt and Stella were already finishing their visit of the castle interior by this time.

There is actually another heavy iron head cap that goes under that heavy iron armor head shield. And the chain mail on my shoulders, which didn't feel so heavy when being worn, was actually pretty darn heavy if you hold it with just your hand. Quite amazing how much weight your body can hold without you realising.

After the castle, we walked around nearby Llangollen city and then drove around Horseshoe Pass, with amazing valley views. I love Wales for its green hills and valleys!

Then back to Stella's again for tea, biscuits and chit chat...

Day 5

On Sunday, we headed to the big city of Liverpool. It reminded me very much of Rotterdam, with its industrial history, its boats, its old buildings interspersed with modern architecture. I do like it very much, actually, even though most people look down on it because it doesn't look old or classic. I think that's the appeal it has for me. That you can actually see its history so clearly. Instead of, say, London, where almost everywhere has the same kind of architecture. London is beautiful to look at, but it doesn't tell its story as well as cities like Liverpool and Rotterdam do.

As usual, the first thing we do when we arrive somewhere is to sit down for a coffee and cake/biscuit. I love this kind of life. But thankfully, it's not every day, or I'd be as fat as a pig.

Then some shopping (so cheap!!) and an art museum.

Back to Stella's again for tea, biscuits, chit chat and a lovely dinner.

And of course, being Sunday... we watched Downton Abbey!!! I FINALLY had women to watch it with, and with whom I could talk about how we loved the dresses and the accents and how terrible this person is and how brave this other person is. Ah, joy.

Day 6

We had a flight back to NL that evening, so we didn't head far from Chester. Went to a little place with 5 shops, where my mum had been a few years ago, and where she wanted to buy more fairy pictures. We had a lovely lunch and I enjoyed the little shops we saw. I even bought a cross stitch coaster set. I want to make the home feel more cosy and warm, and I thought this would be really useful. Of course, when I came back and showed my cross stitch project to Schrobbenmaster, he snickered and laughed at me for being such a granny. Well, I only have one life and if I don't spend it doing things I like just because of peer pressure, what's the point, right? :P

Well, my mum said: This is a really nice idea to do cross stitch, but make sure you finish it this time!!!

Because I always start on cross stitch projects and never finish them. Most notably a Welcome picture I had nearly finished and then stopped. Ahem. That was fifteen years ago?

I had such a lovely time in England and hope to go back again next year when the weather improves. It'll be my goal to save money for shopping there. Much bigger variety of pretty things compared to NL.

Well, it's been a terribly long post, but I hope I haven't rambled on too much or too incoherently. Next up will be our adventures back in NL!

PHOTOS: Churros, cathedrals and guys with red pants in Madrid

2011-09-22T01:09:00.002+08:00

These are the last batch of Madrid photos - *collective sounds of disappointment from the crowd* - but not to fret, I have lots of other photos lined up for the coming weeks, if I've not had a major work-related meltdown by that time.

So let's enjoy the sun once more...

Just some pretty pictures of Spanish architecture.

On the second (and final) night I was there, we went back to Chueca, to the same street we ate at the night before and tried a different restaurant. It was way more expensive, with almost fine dining type meals but in a cosy atmosphere. They didn't have what I wanted, so the waiter recommended a weird-sounding dish. Turned out to be half-boiled eggs with croutons and truffles. It was really delicious!

I told Baker Jo I couldn't leave without having 1. tapas, 2. churros, 3. sangria.

So on Sunday morning, we went to the bakery opposite her hotel again and had churros with the thickest chocolate ever (frachely, you will be speechless with delight) for only € 3,50. The churros was light and not at all oily like you get in other countries, and the chocolate was so thick that we had to leave half of our cups full :( Take that, WIP. Hey Mumsy Bumsy, I hope they make their chocolate sauce thick by the time I get back to KL.

Then we went to do some cultural sightseeing. Heading towards the church at the bottom of the street there.

One of the most.beautiful.churches.ever.

I can hardly agree with protestants with their "we should be humble and we don't need distractions like beautiful paintings and sculptures to worship God" when I see places like this. I think beauty and majesty like this makes me feel even more religious and in awe of man's humble efforts to portray the heavens. It makes me feel that if I'm calling this beautiful, the real thing is going to be beyond anything we can ever imagine.

The grandeur of the whole space makes me feel more honoured to be in there and to know that I'm welcome at any time.

I feel so tiny and humble under those huge sculptures of the saints.

Perfect place for meditation and prayer. All around the circular hall there are around 8 of these little chapels surrounding the main congregational area.

And on to more friendly and down-to-earth places. I found this kinda cute, I don't know about you.

Wanted a photo of something saying 'Madrid'.

I like what the guy with the red pants was wearing. The whole outfit looked super cool. And this angle doesn't do anything for his butt, but I'm pretty sure he looked alright in real life.

Look. Then look again.

Okay I'm off to the Spar supermarket now. I haven't mentioned that the Spar bakery is actually surprisingly good! I've tried their chocolate cake, cookies and plain rolls and croissants and they're all so nice. Give it a try if you feel curious!

PHOTOS: A bit of culture in Madrid at the Reina Sofia and the Prado.

2011-09-18T18:16:00.001+08:00

Okay, guys and gals, after such a gloomy day yesterday, it's time to fly back to sunny Madrid...

Did I already mention that I stayed at the Chic & Basic Atocha? It was Baker Jo's recommendation, since she was staying up the road (and up a hill, but I know I've already said that). I checked out their website and they were having a deal, where a double bed is cheaper than a single bed. Awesome!!!

I really like this hotel. It was very basic, but very nice. Correction, it was a very basic hotel, so it was definitely much better than a hostel or any so-called 'hotel' you can get in Central Paris. I really feel quite fond of it and my room. I would go back to stay there in a flash!

The reception guys were very nice (I saw two during my stay there) and the room was really cosy and modern. It might have been a little tight for two people to stay, but for me, it was PERFECT. I can't stop gushing about this room. The bathroom was a really nice size, with a big shower and enough room to walk in. The sink was outside the bathroom, in the room, which was a little strange at first impression, but it didn't affect anything. It was even actually nice to brush my teeth and wash my face in the room instead of in a small bathroom. It just feels... cosier.

The amenities like coffee/tea and biscuits are all free in the lobby, and it was great to be able to make my own coffee with chocolate powder and a dash of cinnamon to go, and grab a couple of biscuits from the jar then walk up the hill with them. So convenient! Even Baker Jo grabbed an apple while she visited.

Sorry, no photos of my room. This is the lobby and the lift is at the end of the brick wall and to the right.

The blessed coffee and tea machine with all the powders you can add to your beverage.

One of the walls had an interesting illustration.

Our first museum visit was to the Reina Sofia, the modern art museum. Just a short 7-minute walk from my hotel.

The Reina Sofia is a converted hospital.

Caught this scene as I was walking down the corridor.

We only had time (and energy) for one big exhibition. I'm glad we saw this one. It was quite amazing (and shows how bonkers this woman is).

I would really like this in my home please.

Those things on the right really give me the shivers. Ew.

Ms Kusama apparently had an obsession for infinity and space. She created this room of mirrors and lights especially for this exhibition. I also want this in my home please. Btw, it reminds me of the corridor between Starhill and J.W. Marriott in KL.

I like how people left me alone to take my photos in solitude.

Where's Wally #2.

The newly-built extension of the Reina Sofia. On the rooftop.

This is supposed to be some famous sculpture. I think it's really ugly.

INCEPTION.

I love the mirror effect that's so clear.

After the realisation that I wouldn't have time to go to the Prado with them the next evening because I would be flying back to Amsterdam, we hurried to the Prado museum with only half an hour left to spare. So I quickly selected what I had to see and we went in search of the rooms.

When I took the last two photos, we were in search of Las Meninas by Diego Velásquez. I hadn't actually heard of it before (shame on me), but the guidebook said that this is one of the great works that really give the Prado museum its distinction in the world.

So we were walking down this corridor hurriedly, looking for the right hall, when my eye was suddenly caught by the most amazing sight I'd ever seen. I called to the other two and told them that I just had to check it out quickly before continuing our search.

Lo and behold...

I had never seen anything that caught my eye so much as this. This is Las Meninas. And none of the photos of this painting come close to doing it any justice.

When my eye fell on this masterpiece while walking in the corridor, all I saw was this huge dark patch on the wall at the far end, with a bright, shining piece in the centre. This was obviously the star of the hall. I repeat, I had never seen anything so amazing as this in my life. I have seen the Mona Lisa, Night Watch, many Caravaggios and many Renaissance masterpieces, but this takes the cake. I'd thought that I'd become numb to seeing great works and nothing would impress me anymore except if I'd read the background and the stories about the paintings. But this one... I could just stare at it for hours without having to read anything about it and still be in love.

I'm aware that everyone has his own taste, so maybe this won't affect you like it did me, but I'm glad that I saw this painting once in my lifetime, telling me that great works are still able to impress me with the quality of the work alone. I never knew that this was on my list of things to do before I die, but I think that my life is a whole lot more fulfilled after seeing Las Meninas.

Housewarming party invite drawing

2011-09-18T01:10:00.000+08:00

I'm just gonna quickly post this up on my blog to free one spot on my desktop ;) My desktop is a big mess this week (it normally is as pristine as a minimalistic home) because of my insane work. Had to copy and create folders on the fly and have not had time to organise anything anywhere except on my desktop.

This is the invite I sent to people for our housewarming party. Photos of that coming up btw, although I think most of you will have seen it already on Facebook. I will just select a few of my favourite ones to put here, I guess.

Heading out soon for dinner at a nice-looking restaurant across the bridge on the Kop van Zuid. Looking forward to it!

Mostly about Asian food. And a bit of misery.

2011-09-15T01:03:00.000+08:00

Let's just pretend that I didn't promise to post photos 'tomorrow', or maybe we can pretend that 'tomorrow' is today.

I need to take a break from work. I've been working since 9.30am this morning (it's 6.30pm now), and for the past two days, I've been working until 10.30pm at the office. There's just too much to finish before the festival starts, and I keep getting people asking for their items "now", "now" and "now". It's amazing I haven't collapsed yet, but I'm a strong gal, I am.

The upside to working so late in the office is that I get to order food delivered to the office. I go to Just Eat, which has a list of restaurants that deliver to the area. It's really convenient, and the list of restaurants that deliver to my office is waaaaay better than the list to my own home.

So on Monday, I decided I was really into Chinese food. Since Schrobbenmaster was eating with me, I kinda went a little wild with the dishes. I ordered spring rolls, char siew, pork fritters, foo yong hai and ma po tofu. Every time I type the names of those dishes, I have to remember not to spell it the Dutch way, the way I read it on all the menus.

Needless to say, it was yummy. And I have leftovers (lots), which I will eat tonight.

Then on Tuesday, I didn't expect to work late, but unfortunately, I had to. I even had to miss my ballet class, so I thought, well, if I'm gonna have to miss my ballet, I'm gonna make it worth it by having a nice dinner at the office. So I ordered Japanese.

We only have a € 15 per person budget for food, so as you can imagine, I couldn't order much from a Japanese restaurant. It was enough for me, but not for Schrobbenmaster :( Anyway, the food was really good, and I wouldn't hesitate to order from that place again.

Amongst the tiring amount of work being lumped on me, I have something to be thankful for - that I haven't had to cook since last Wednesday! Last Wednesday, we worked late and I ordered Thai (green curry chicken for me!). Then I think Schrobbenmaster made his sweet chilli chicken for dinner on Thursday. I don't remember what happened on Friday, I think we ate out. On Saturday, Hanselem's parents made us a wonderful Chinese dinner at his place (yummmm!) and on Sunday, Schrobbenmaster's parents came to visit and his mum made a simple chicken dinner. Then of course, there was the Monday and Tuesday which I just wrote about.

I love it when I don't have to cook. I never had to cook in KL - only simple pasta or noodle dishes. I love comfort food and I can eat the same thing all the time if I had to. Plus, I also had the option of eating top notch food from any of Mumsy Bumsy's restaurants.

I was missing KL so much last night. I was telling a friend that I go to work by car, and that the journey takes an hour. And I said, "I can't believe I work so far from where I live". Then, "I can't believe I used to work where I lived!". And followed by, "I think my life has somewhat gotten worse since I moved here..."

Sure, I have a nice apartment and I earn in euros (blablabla... I also get taxed an insane percentage). But I used to eat first-rate food in any restaurant in KL, and also delicious cheap food on the streets. I used to work at home every day and had the freedom to do whatever I wanted, any time of the day... I used to have my own company and had a goal: to make the name of Goodputty known.

But all that personal career growth is stagnant now. No one I know has any projects for me and I have to work extra hard to start a network here. No one knows me and it's so much harder when you haven't lived in a certain place for several years. You only know basically a handful of people. More importantly, they don't know you. Why should they trust you with their brand or with their project?

I intended this to be a continuation of photos from Madrid, but I think I've written enough for one post. And hey, you can't blame me for feeling the odd moment of homesickness and feeling like I lost something of myself when moving here.

PHOTOS: Tapas and shopping in Madrid. What else?

2011-09-08T04:07:00.003+08:00

As promised, the next batch of photos from Madrid.

By the way, I just watched the new Jonathan Ross show (love his show!) and Sarah Jessica Parker seems like she would be a great girlfriend. I hope I can be like that to my girlfriends too :)

Anyway, let's fly back to Spain...

This, I believe, is called Plaza de la Puerta del Sol. It's kinda like Dam Square in Amsterdam. Just like Plaza Mayor was like Piazza San Marco in Venice. With the Madrid versions being a little less impressive. Don't get me wrong, I still like Madrid :) They're just not very impressive with their plazas.

Haven't I seen this storm trooper in Dam Square? On another street, I thought I saw the same Eastern European beggar lady from Amsterdam as well.

Street performer getting ready for her act.

Baker Jo cannot resist a Desigual store anywhere, especially in Spain. I must admit that this Desigual store looked amazing. The photo doesn't show it, but it really looked like a museum to cool things. I almost bought a bag there. I was carrying it all around, checking myself out in all the mirrors I passed, but thank goodness Baker Jo took so long to try things on that I felt so guilty I eventually put the bag back.

Then we looked for a place to have dinner in the Chueca area. It's supposed to be very trendy, but as we only started looking for dinner at 10pm (typical Spanish dinnertime), there were only a handful of restaurant/bars open. We passed by this really cosy-looking restaurant and I decided to hop in and grab a menu and to check the interior, which was behind the back wall.

I was rewarded with a quiet, but very nice eating area. So we decided to stop by and eat here, since we didn't know when else we would find another place.

But look at the menu! It's already obvious we found a good place ;) I say it's fairly safe to judge a restaurant by how its menu looks and by how its bread is made.

When we sat down, there were only two tables taken, but towards the middle of our meal, there were people even coming in and being disappointed by the lack of tables. These Spanish sure do eat late!

The paintings on the walls were all for sale, but I didn't see anything I fancied enough to hang on my own walls. Shame.

The waiter was really friendly and helpful... and quite good-looking, though nothing to shout home for.

I told myself I wouldn't take photos of food and allow people around to say "typical Asian!", but this was just too amusing. Witness the plate of a salad shared by 3 Asians. No one dares to touch the remainder in the middle. I secretly wanted to though, cuz it was really delicious.

After dinner, we retraced our steps back towards our hotels and passed by the Desigual store again, this time, lit at night with coloured lights in its windows. It changes colour every few seconds and is just so amazing to look at.

I adore big screens on buildings, and especially big screens on old buildings. Those two saying Beefeater and Callao are really screens to show movie trailers on.

And this cinema has STAINED GLASS WINDOWS. How beautiful is that? I suppose it was an old, abandoned church. Ah, the state of the world today.

The next day and back at Plaza Mayor. It's actually in the opposite direction of the big museums, but I guess we were really into shopping.

Impressive old architecture.

Back to check trendy Chueca and its shops out. Um, even if the guy who stumbled into my picture doesn't look all that trendy...

Such a quiet street, but lined with amazing shops of all kinds.

Like this one, which, as its description on the window states, sells loads of cool stuff. This is where I bought my prized rabbit shadow thing. Those who came for my housewarming party will know what I mean. At least those who took the time to be shown around by me :P The guy manning the shop (in there with the green shirt on the right) was also really, really nice, even though he didn't speak much English.

I actually found that all the Madrid-ians I met were super friendly and helpful, guys and girls alike, even though we were speaking three different languages - including sign language - at the same time. That's really what makes me love Madrid.

Loving this bottle! Not a new concept, but always nice to see :)

Why am I wearing socks, you say? It's because I've been trained by living in this darned unpredictable country of The Netherlands to always be prepared for cold weather. I should have known that Spain would be awesomely stable and sunny.

Popped into another shop with a lovely interior.

It's so much like the Bangsar boutiques that I miss and love back home.

Bought two dresses here. Even though I didn't need them. And because of that, I forbade myself to buy a really special eel skin coin/card pouch in the next shop. I kinda regret not getting it actually.

A classic that Yelleh Belleh and I like to perform occasionally. Where's Wally?

I now leave you with a promise of more pictures tomorrow...

PHOTOS: Madrid for the weekend, anyone?

2011-09-07T04:57:00.000+08:00

I'm thrown a little of my groove right now because Blogger has changed its interface and I feel a little lost. I wonder if they added any emoticons while they were at it...

No, I guess not.

Anyway, two weekends ago, I flew alone to Madrid to meet up with Baker Jo who was there on holiday. For those not in the know, we used to work together at The Edge Publications in Kuala Lumpur.

I was pretty excited because I'd never been to Spain and I'd always heard how nice it is there. I was also looking forward to seeing an old friend.

(Besides the new Blogger interface, I'm also a little distracted by the friggin heavy rain beating down on my ceiling to floor windows at the moment. It's insane! Like I'm back in Malaysia during monsoon season.)

Here are some photos of Madrid. I don't think I'm in the right state of mind to write anyway. By the way, do you realise that the older you get, the more stupid language mistakes you make? For example, I just wrote 'state of mine' instead of 'mind'. And yesterday I wrote 'me two' instead of 'too'. I was also chatting on MSN today with Timstone and Nic, and kept typing Nic as 'Nice' and his girlfriend Jois as 'Joins'.

Okay, I'll stop rambling now. On with the piccies!

Yes, I know it's kinda tacky to take photos from the plane, but I was quite surprised by how brown Spain looks. It reminds me of Mexico (from movies and TV shows). Guess that's why the Spanish took to Mexico so much.

I checked in to my hotel on Calle de Atocha, just 15 minutes walk from the main Atocha train station. Okay, it was a bit more like 25 minutes for me because I walked in the wrong direction for a bit. I should have known that if I think I have to turn right, I probably have to turn left.

After checking in, I walked up the hill - yes, up a pretty steep hill - to get to Baker Jo's hotel, around 10 minutes away. After exchanging lots of news with each other, we walked opposite to grab some snacks from the pastry shop. I love that pastry shop.

I think most people would be sickened by what I bought. But hey, if they make it, it means people eat it, right? It was called a Trufa, and it was basically chocolate cake with chocolate cream and chocolate sprinkles. I love how they wrapped it!

Then Baker Jo and Cousin Kev (Jo's cousin, not mine!) played tour guide and brought me to Plaza Mayor up the street. They'd already been in Madrid for 3 days before I got there, so they knew the place fairly well. Nice and sunny!

Plaza Mayor overkill.

Baker Jo can't resist any yarn shop ;)

The drawings on the walls here remind me of Brussels.

Finally, a scene that doesn't remind me of anywhere else in Europe.

I think I was a tad disappointed with Madrid because it looked just like Paris, Brussels and probably a lot of main cities in Europe. The buildings looked the same and the streets looked the same. However, the people are completely different from anywhere else in Europe. I think that's usually the main difference between cities. The Madrid-ians are lovely! So friendly, so warm and so helpful.

Pretty street signs. Only in the centre though :)

Had to catch the nun in passing. I love catching these little incongruent street scenes.

Really nice shop interior. It actually reminds me of tourist cheese shops in Amsterdam. Except bigger.

Cerveza means beer. I also like snapping Spanish signs and recording how different countries design for their public.

Another one of my street snapshots.

And a really pretty shop board with an elaborate border.

Tomorrow, more photos!

A brilliant day out in Rotterdam - watch out for super long post, but lots of photos below :D

2011-08-21T01:39:00.001+08:00

During summer, we have a different schedule for Dutch classes, and sometimes the teachers like bringing us out on field trips, which is awesome, so we don't have to sit in class for 4 hours doing the same things.

Last week, we were told that we would be doing the Fire Boundary Walk (Dutch site) around Rotterdam this week. I was quite excited about it, because I'd seen the walk before, and I even brought the map back to KL to show my dad something historical about the city.

And then I remembered that roads in the city centre would be closed the whole weekend for the Bavaria City Race. And I know this because they sent a letter to us to instruct us to move our cars away from those spots. Ah, the joys of living in the city centre can come back and bite us on the ass.

So, being the considerate person I am *ahem*, I informed the teacher about this, and that there might be difficulties in going for the walk. As a result, the walk was postponed to the week after. Which is the week I've planned to go to Spain!! Aahhhh.... :(

I ended up moaning to myself, telling karma that it had better be good to me in return for me being considerate and ending up missing this walk and having to have a lesson in the classroom instead. Hehe.

And karma did return the favour. In leaps and bounds!

This morning, as I arrived at the school for the lesson, I saw everyone milling around outside. How exciting! I love when something out of the ordinary happens.

I parked my bike and a classmate saw me carrying my huge dictionary with me, pointed at it and giggled. Because apparently we were locked out of the school and couldn't have the lesson. Instead, we would walk to a nearby park/playground and have an outdoor lesson. Well, I say lesson, but it turned out to be games instead. Not that I minded. Except for the fact that I spilt Chocomel all over my pants. Sigh.

It was one of the teachers' birthday, and he brought us cake and drinks. Me, being the clumsy, excitable person I am (really, you'd think I'd be more graceful after so many years of doing ballet), totally got excited about something someone said, knocked the paper cup I was holding, and promptly spilt the Chocomel all over my knees and my dictionaries. I can only be thankful that I was sitting next to two girls who, naturally, had tissues and water with them. Ah, girls :)

Anyway, it was a nice and different sort of lesson - weather was great, people I was sitting with were great and the park was great.

Karma wasn't done with me yet, though. After the lesson was over, a few of us wanted to go for a chat and drinks, and we decided to try the newly-opened NAI (Nederlands Architectuurinstituut) cafe.

I love it.

It reminds me so much of bars in KL, with the relaxed and modern al fresco seating!

That's Ihor from Ukraine. Behind him is a huge NAI logo painted on the side of the building. I love the building. I can imagine the kind of pressure on the shoulders of the architect who was commissioned the building that would be the Dutch Architecture Institute ;)

That's Diederik, who was suffering under the heat of the sun. He's not Dutch, I tell you. They normally love sitting out there till they melt like the butter on a poffertje. I normally dislike sitting in the sun, but I really like the fresh air that comes with it. Give and take, I guess.

Slovalenka enjoying the sun.

Ihor still explaining how the height of the Erasmus MC is being increased level by level.

The whole terrace. Doesn't it look like a kind of WIP or 789? Ah, the special treatment I used to get. Hehe.

A strange, but somehow captivating sculpture rising out of the water. I think the yellow pointer thingy looks like a Google Maps pin. I think I'm becoming too technologically-aware. I think I might have liked it more if my first impression of it would be to say that it reminds me of a butterfly discovering a candle flame and being so mesmerised by it that it stayed there day and night till the candle burned out and the butterfly turned yellow in memory of the flame.

Well, Diederik couldn't take the mighty sun anymore, so we moved inside and occupied the long sofa with beautiful cushion covers.

And then we ordered lunch. Mine was a BLT soup (yeah, I've never heard of it either). It was okay. Nothing to shout home about.

After this really lovely outing - I also visited the NAI bookshop, which was sooooo nice - I headed across the Erasmusbrug with Schrobbenmaster to look for a shop for lamps.

In the end, the shop didn't sell lamps, but we stumbled upon some sort of market/festival thing - again. I think I've earned the title of Queen of Stumbleupons :P

It was more of a kid's thing, but the stalls were quite interesting. Even saw an illustrator I've seen at the Swan Market and the design centre. I bought drawings from her before and she remembered us. What a nice girl :) She was there with her mother (I think). So sweet!

It's a really nice-looking neighbourhood. Very family-ish and peaceful. Nothing really for tourists, but it's nice to see a part of Rotterdam that looks more homey, designy and freshly cleaned up.

There was some sort of mashup between hip hop and flamenco from the guys and girls in black and red over there. Uh... I didn't really think they were very good, but everyone else was good-naturedly cheering for them. I actually felt a little sorry for them that they had to watch this substandard Latin-style dancing, when on the poorest streets in Spain or Latin America, you would be able to find really spirited and expressive dancing. But... yeah. That's a whole different story there.

I think a lot of Dutch people like to do these sort of dances just for the fun of it, and not necessarily to be the best at it. I don't agree with that concept, but I can understand that they find it fun and just want to experience it. My disagreement with that comes from the idea that if you want to learn something, you should put your whole heart into it and really want to do it well.

Saw this corner cafe which, I think, is a bookstore/cafe, or some literary cafe, and I am so gonna go back to try it!

One of the acts practising. See the little boy with the bike on the left? He is super cool. He has dreadlocky hair that's tied up into one big dreadlocky thing, which he tucked into his singlet, and it's so long that it poked back out from under the singlet. And it's held together by this steel plate at the tip of his dreadlock. I want a kid like that.

Cosy-looking old-style supermarket.

After having ice cream. I had to take a photo with the bench that matched my pants.

I've recently started watching old episodes of Super Trio Mega Show on YouTube and really enjoying them. Ah, YouTube :) I'm coming to you shortly.

Hope you guys enjoyed this super super long post.

Deli by the Euromast and The Day of Romantic Music at Het Park

2011-08-16T04:37:00.001+08:00

Note to the reader:
I wrote this yesterday, on Sunday, but halfway through, I had to turn the computer off because Schrobbenmaster was fixing the kitchen light. And I decided not to switch it on again after.

So here's the post meant for Sunday...

---

For the first time in a looooooong time, I actually got up at 1pm today.

On Friday night, I'd had a couple of friends over to see the new apartment - one of them actually lives a few floors below, and it's taken this long for him to come up. It's always like that, isn't it? The closer you are to something, the later you are.

Anyway, after some drinks, we headed out for some dancing and I slept only at 4.30am. I was hesitant about going out at first, because I had class at 9am on Saturday, but they seemed quite enthusiastic about it, and it's been a while, so I gave in to my naughty side.

Schrobbenmaster told me the next afternoon that he was impressed with my willpower at being able to stay awake all day, when I told him I wasn't going to take an afternoon nap. I guess if there's one thing I got, it's willpower *roaaarrr*.

Anyway, I woke up this afternoon and the sun was out and the day looked absolutely lovely! I wanted to do something different than going to the usual cafes, and remembered a cafe I'd seen in a magazine several weeks ago, by the Euromast. So we headed there.

It's called Deli, and it doesn't have a wide range of dishes, but what I tried was really delicious. The only resemblance to a main meal they have is their tarte flambée, which is made with around 10 different toppings. I chose the tomato, mozzarella and basil leaf. It was light and tasty! And I also had a butter and powdered sugar crêpe. Which was also delicious.

I really like their sugar packets! So perfect for the venue.

While we were there, we noticed many people heading to Het Park, which is the park below the Euromast. It's the main park in the centre of Rotterdam and it was apparently landscaped following the English style, and it's quite romantic in there with the water flowing through it and lots of lanes to walk along. The trees are bigger and wilder than the ones I walked through in the nature bit of Utrecht (where I canoed).

We went to check it out - Hanselem had joined us by now - and as we approached, we heard classical music being played. Calm, moody and expressive classical music, just the way I like it. It was the Troika Trio (I looked at the stage programme), which consists of the clarinet, the cello and a grand piano. It was so beautiful!

As we walked around the park, we noticed more stages with more small groups of classical musicians. I found out that I had stumbled, yet again, on another really cool festival, this time, The Day of Romantic Music (Dag van de romantische muziek). It's a free festival, held on the second Sunday of every August. They were really lucky that with all the rain and generally terrible weather this summer, this Sunday was nice.

Programme for the biggest stage at the main entrance.

Approaching another stage, this one next to the water. So beautiful :)

Didn't fancy this one so much though. They were playing really mainstream pieces that I can hear any time on Radio 4 being played much better.

Did I already mention that people dress up for this festival? There didn't seem to be a particular era in mind, but it was definitely of a more classy class than the Summer of Darkness. More lace, more white, more straw hats, more parasols. Very, very pretty! By the way, it's the two ladies way ahead with the parasols that I meant to take a photo of. This woman with a backache just happened to whiz past me at the wrong time. Tsk!

Distinctly not looking like they belong in the romantic era.

I really like the outfits of the group on the right. Classic and modern at the same time. Love the girl's boater hat and I love the guy's whole outfit.

I think it's kinda great how I also managed to get two men at the opposite extremes of height walking towards each other.

One of the last events was an opera masterclass. That dude on the stage in the diamond pattern jumper was the student - a very nice-sounding one, I might add - and the 'master' was a woman who spoke in half Dutch and English. I think she's American and she's his regular teacher. She was so expressive in the way she taught him and so typically dramatic. It was fun to watch!

Found a ladybug on my dynamo while cycling back.

Note my new sock obsession.

That's it for now, folks. I think with summer almost over, the chances of stumbling upon festivals like these will be few and far between :(

Shrimp pasta - best pasta I ever made

2011-08-12T02:56:00.000+08:00

So, several weeks ago, Doc Vicky asked if she could pretty please spend Friday evening with me because Super Harry would be having a night out with his gym buddies. Okay, she didn't sound that desperate :)

It was nice to have a girly night (not that we're both very girly anyway, but I think we tend to get overshadowed by our boyfriends since they are the ones who were buddies to start with). At first we were thinking of going to a restaurant for a nice dinner, but in the end, feeling broke, and me having stumbled upon one of my recipes that Schrobbenmaster never wanted to try, we decided to make shrimp pasta at home.

I rarely cook with 3 pans on the stove, but here you go. Being professional and all.

Albert Heijn had a discount for buying 2 packs of shrimp together, which I think was just fate telling us we'd chosen the right recipe.

Doc Vicky's dad owns a successful catering company and he himself is supposed to be an awesome chef (I'm waiting for an invitation to dinner). She said that he makes the most awesome shrimp pasta (which kinda made me feel a little nervous to be making it from a simple recipe online *ahem*), so she called him up for some tips. He didn't have time to write the whole recipe down, but he told her that adding cream and onions helps.

I have since made this dish twice, and each time I eat it, I'm appreciating the fresh tomato taste (okay, they're canned, but they're better than pasta sauce from a jar) of the sauce over buying ready-made pasta sauce in a jar.

After adding the cream, it has a much fuller and richer taste and it tastes so amazing!

Even Schrobbenmaster likes it, although he refuses to have shrimp and will make me make salmon separately for him. I hope he appreciates it.

Summer of Darkness in Utrecht

2011-08-10T05:06:00.000+08:00

What an apt festival to have this summer.

It's a yearly festival (I'm told) in summer, where goths and the like can come out and parade to their heart's content.

I had decided to go to Utrecht for some canoeing that weekend, without knowing about this festival, and when I was walking from the train station to the city centre, I saw this guy with a long cape flowing in the wind just turning the corner. And I was making an excited note to myself: "I must tell Diederik that I just saw a man wearing a cape!"

And of course, a few streets later, I saw many more men wearing capes and leather and chains and all that. And I knew there must be something up.

I suppose the highlight of the festival for me was hearing them play Conjure One's Oligarch on the speakers. It wasn't very loud, but it was nice enough to hear my favourite music being appreciated in public.

I also liked some of the clothes I saw. And the effort and the extent to which these people go to for their costumes is really inspiring. Some of them looked really nice. I don't know the concept of being a goth (and all their subgenres), but it seems that whichever era they're dressed up for, they always have to be the lowlifes, the rejects, the outcasts.

I took some pictures with Diederik's camera -

Diederik: I have a camera, do you want to use it?
Me: Yeah, sure... but why don't you take the photos?
Diederik: I'm kinda shy. I feel like I'm intruding on their privacy.
Me: (thinking that if they dress up like that in public, they would actually want people to admire their costumes)... Okay... and you're letting me do it because I'm smaller than them and they wouldn't beat me up, right?

Even the girls following the Lolita subgenre were giants. Yeah, they were helped by their 10-inch platforms, but still. It crossed my mind not for the first time that the clothes they imported from Japan (they had a fashion show) must have been the largest sizes made. Hehe. Not saying that people here are giants... just that they are so much bigger than the cute, Lolita-type Japanese girls.

Among the Lolitas (which were my personal favourite Goth subgenre), were also 19th-century people-from-the-streets costumes and futuristic alien neon cyber costumes. Those were VERY cool too.

Jack the Ripper would have so gone for her. The red lady. Not the normal-looking one eating.

See what I mean by giant Lolitas?

I took way more photos than this and also a couple of videos, but Diederik said they weren't good :( I'm glad I got a photo of my favourite Lolita and her costume though. The black and dark blue dress! On her dress is a city skyline illustration. I don't know if it was printed or embroidered (didn't get up that close!), but it looks so amazing! And her hair/wig and even her face was so perfect for it!

After the fashion show, it got a little boring, so we took a couple of bikes and biked 15-20 minutes out of the centre to Rijnstroom (I think) to canoe.

In the beginning, we both got rather wet from the oars, being inexperienced and all, but after 20 minutes, I think we really got the hang of it and even took turns (because he kept knocking my oar) paddling.

The scenery was really nice and it was really peaceful. Everyone who passed said Hi.

We eventually stopped and parked on the riverbank and took a walk to get some chocolate cake. Unfortunately, the cafe was already closed, but further up was a pancake house which sells every kind of pancake imaginable, apparently. We weren't that hungry so we skipped it, but we did find chocolate cake at the restaurant/cafe of the youth hostel next door. I say youth hostel, but it really is in one of those big country mansions, surrounded by greenery and of course, the river. So it's a really beautiful youth hostel. I would recommend it to anyone visiting Utrecht and who doesn't need to stay in the city centre and wouldn't mind biking.

After that little break, we canoed back, and it was much faster because we were now paddling downstream and we managed to make it back right on time so we didn't get fined, hehehe.

All in all, I would really recommend canoeing at Rijnstroom in Utrecht for the nature lover. It's only 15 minutes out of the city and is a really nice alternative activity to windmills, tulips and shopping.

Sitting is killing you!

2011-08-03T16:40:00.001+08:00

Yes, yes, I do have a post lined up, but let me just quickly insert this smashing infographic that should make all your lives better.

Via: Medical Billing And Coding

Do something with your life. And Skype-ing with Arran on Asha's birthday.

2011-07-25T05:35:00.000+08:00

I've decided.

I want to make a mark on this world.

Hearing so often now of people dying all over the world (think Oslo, Amy Winehouse and Bersih 2.0 for instance) makes me think about life and death. Most of the people who died in Oslo didn't get a chance to make much of mark on the world compared to Amy Winehouse, but I know that every single one of us has the ability to do so.

So while I'm still here, I'm going to make my life worth it. Someone saw fit for me to be in this world, and I'm going to make sure I'm not just this existence who lives, works and then dies with nothing to her name, but someone who made a positive difference in people's lives.

I can start by getting off my ass and doing some hard work ;)

---

Last Sunday, I Skyped with my dad and family back in KL. It was Asha's birthday that week, so my aunt and grandmother were over for dinner. I Skyped with them after their dinner and got the chance to celebrate my sister's birthday with the family. It was really nice :)

They placed Asha and the cake in front of the webcam and invited me to start singing first. I'm pretty sure there was some lagging in the sing-along, but it was nice to be part of it.

I made screenshots of the 'party', but they're on Schrobbenmaster's laptop and I'll add them later. I was using his laptop because I wanted to take my family on a tour of the new apartment. They seemed impressed and my aunt was just confused as to why we had to pay to change the kitchen cabinets. That confused me as well until she said, "Why doesn't your landlord pay for it??". My stepmum helped to straighten that little misunderstanding out.

Then I showed Pim to my aunt, and she says:

"Why did you get such an ordinary-looking cat? He looks like a cat you can get in Malaysia!"

So I had to explain how Pim entered our lives, not by choice, but through an unhappy situation :( ... I'm glad we have him though!

It was finally bedtime for the kids, so everyone said goodnight, but somehow left the Skype chat on. Only Yelleh Belleh and Arran were left at the computer, and the normally silent Arran, who only reacts when I stick my eye right into the webcam to make him laugh, suddenly started talking to me animatedly - about spoons.

"Che che... can you see my spoons?"
"Yes..."
"I have spoons."
"I can see..."
"I like shiny spoons."
"Me too."
"Do you have spoons?"
"Yes... and a fork."
(I showed him the fork I had used to eat a cake I happened to have in my fridge, which I pretended was Asha's birthday cake)
"I have... 1... 2... 3... 4... 5 spoons."
"Niiiiice."

And so forth.

I love speaking with children. They're so random and fun.

I can't imagine what Yelleh Belleh was doing the whole time next to Arran, but I can't imagine it was stimulating enough to keep her riveted to the chat :P In the end, I had to say Bye to Arran and his spoons because it was time to head to the final instalment of the Harry Potter series. Sad and sentimental :( But I enjoyed the show!

Who is the bestest market of them all?

2011-07-17T21:23:00.000+08:00

I just got back from a whirlwind visit to the Swan Market in North Rotterdam, my most favouritest market of all.

I'd been to it two months ago (they have it every 2 months) and really enjoyed it, buying 3 handdrawn postcards (which I seem to have misplaced...) and a cute green handbag with the € 10 cash that I had. This is why I love markets. Good stuff for low prices!!

It was a whirlwind visit today because I had to come back in time for my Skype date with the folks back home. I had only 30-40 minutes to look at everything and decide if I wanted/needed anything. In the end, I purchased a nice mint green blouse for € 5 from a very nice-looking girl who has a Facebook page that I intend to visit once I find the card she popped into my bag along with the blouse.

However, the weather has been really horrible and mood swingy the whole week. It rained all day Thursday, was incredibly beautiful on Friday and then rained all day yesterday again. And today it's off and on, like the sky can't decide what it wants to do. So while we were walking around the market, all of a sudden it started pouring and Schrobbenmaster and I ran under the tent of the stall I was touching clothes at. Which was the stall I bought my mint green blouse from :P

Anyway, since I didn't bring my camera today and I lost my photos from two months ago, I stole some photos from the Swan Market website... heehee. These are from the two previous markets.

I really like the way they displayed the oils for sale!

I like her yellow stuff!!

It's more crowded than this. This set of photos were taken at the end of winter, at their second edition, so I think they just needed more publicity.

The photo set below is from the first time I went.

I must say, these buddies are rather expensive for what they are...

Looks absolutely delicious!

So nice!

Single female's day out

2011-07-16T03:06:00.000+08:00

I love having days being on my own. I used to have loads of them in KL and for the most part, I wouldn't notice it, but just sometimes, I would realise and enjoy the independence and freedom I had as a young, active female in the big city.

I don't get it much these days, of course, but just occasionally, when Schrobbenmaster is out of town, I get the apartment to myself for 2 nights and I really do enjoy it (especially in summer).

My day started like this:

Woke up with Schrobbenmaster getting ready for work
Fought a battle with Pim, trying to give him his chill pill (it gets harder every day)
Said farewell to Schrobbenmaster and started my ritual of Gmail and Facebook
Showered and got ready to head out for some shopping
Checked Google Maps for the best way to head places

I first stopped by Witte de Withstraat to get a birthday present for Doc Vicky. Something we'd seen a few weeks before, which she was pretty fascinated by. Foot reflexology socks. She had apparently never heard of foot reflexology and how massaging certain points in your foot can affect different organs and parts of your body.

I didn't take a photo of the socks unfortunately, nor the excellent giftwrapping, but here's an excellent photo of it that I just found someone selling on eBay UK.

Anyway, after that stop, I biked to De Bijenkorf with my handy shopping list ready.

Hand towels x 3
Shower mat x 2
Long handle toilet brush
Pizza cutter

Okay, so the last one on the list doesn't fit in, but I only added that after ordering pizza to take away from Little Italy and the guy had again forgotten to cut my pizza into slices.

I ended up purchasing:

Hand towels x 3 (good job, JY!)
Shower mat x 1 (one less only because of the next purchase...)
Bathrobe x 1 (and...)
Glove towel x 1
Long handle toilet brush (good job, yet again, and on sale too!)

And I decided to skip the pizza cutter because I figured saving the € 5 on the pizza cutter would somehow make me feel less guilty about buying a few extra things that were not on the shopping list.

I read in Glamour today that shops and supermarkets hate people who bring shopping lists with them because they are less likely to buy random things that profit the shops. And I completely agree with that. Although I had bought some things not on my list, they were actually on my 'invisible list' (except for the glove towel, but that was only € 1,50), so all in all, I actually didn't overspend.

Contrary to what I did after De Bijenkorf without a shopping list. Which was to head to the supermarket around the corner from home and instead of getting only a face sponge (which they didn't have), I purchased a fruit milk drink (so thirsty lah), a carton of milk (on the fridge list) and a can of Pringles (damn!).

After dropping my purchases at home, I waited for the real estate agent to drop by to pick up a set of keys they had wrongly passed to us... yes, they passed us a set of house keys belonging to another address. Go figure. And for the guy who measured the windows for new curtains.

When they left, I headed out on my bike again to the cinema to catch the movie, Bridesmaids, with Doc Vicky. It's quite a weird show, I must say. Quite disgusting humour, but I think Kristen Wiig did a pretty good job in her role.

As usual, I felt lazy to cook for only myself tonight. Usually when Schrobbenmaster is away, I'll just have some leftovers or frozen pizza, which I never have on normal days. So off I went to the supermarket again.

And came out with:

Frozen pizza (of course)
Roomboter koekreepjes (some deliciously unhealthy full butter cakes that I've never had the pleasure of trying because supermarket visits have always been functional with Schrobbenmaster)
Bananas (trying to make up for the pizza)

I'm beginning to think that it's a bit sinful to have the supermarket so close by. And such a nice one as well.

The sun was still shining gloriously when I got back, so I opened my packet of butter cakes and snuggled in the big red chair by the window with my Stephen Fry book.

Pim decided to come and see what I was up to, and since I was already on the ground shooting the cakes with my camera...

Him in his full glory.

He had come to sit with me while I read, but I think I snapped one too many photos of him and he promptly left a few seconds after my last shot.

And now the sun is setting and I have to get on with my just-out-of-the-oven pizza!