Like Spring Winded Too Tightly

My work has been piling up for the past couple of months. My expansion of responsibilities seems to be never ending. I used to spend time at the gym after work. But that was already passed. I can't afford to go to gym nowadays. Leaving home at 7am every morning and reaching home at 8pm every evening had left me three hours to spend at home with my wife. Minus the time for shower, clean-up, and preparation for the next day, quality time with wife was narrowed down to about one hour.

I'd been wondering, is this healthy?

My wife will give birth to our first baby in a month. By then, I'll have to allocate time to our prince. I'd failed to be a good husband by not spending enough time with my wife, will i be a good father then?

Should I change my job? If so, it's only to prove that I've got poor time management and that I'm not fit enough to take such small challenge. Should I resign from my post and be an ordinary staff? If so, it's seems to be rather difficult as many would disagree. Hmmm........ I guess seeking God's guidance is the only way for now God had been so gracious to me, allowed me to experience various ups and downs just to strengthen me. I believes that another wave is coming....

Like a spring winded too tightly, if the tension and pressure were not to be remedied, I might break.

"Knock, and the door will be open unto you. Seek, and you'll find." That's God's promise. I shall be strong. :-D

P/s: No I'm not sad nor disheartened. I'm still strong. Don't speculate ya :-D.

What Plant is This??

Two weeks ago, my neighbour Uncle Lee gave me this pot of 'medicinal' plant.


Knowing that I'm interested with medicinal plants, he told me that this plant is good to treat cancer. I got excited so I asked him more questions, like, "which part of the plant is good for cancer treatment?", " what's the name of the plant?", "They boil it or eat it raw?" and more.. Too bad, he can answer none of the above.

So kawan-kawan, sila tunjuk ajar. What plant is this??

Three Nieces

By now I'm sure most of you readers who frequent my blog would know that I used to spend time with my 3 nieces. I got more nieces actually, but they're too far away: Three in Singapore, two in Labuan and one in Kuching. Hmm..... boys are rare in my family.

We had dinner together recently, minus their parents :-P

The youngest, Miss R. Used to be very quiet but getting more and more out spoken ever since she started going to child care centre.

The second sister, Miss H. Used to be very chicky and hyperactive but getting more and more 'decent' now a day :-D

And the eldest, Miss A. Used to be an ugly duckling (just joking, hehehe) but getting prettier and prettier now.

The youngest and the eldest got some similarities. Just look at this pic. U can spot them day-dreaming almost everyday, everywhere. Hahahaha..

When talked about our baby, we asked them whether they want a baby boy or a baby girl. They answered 'GIRRRLLL' in unison and i gave them a raise-one-eye-brow look sort of like telling them "Are u kidding? i had enough with u girls, i need a break" hahahaha.... just kidding.

Will take them to a nice dinner and a movie next week. Yah, I love them very much.

Kura Restaurant @ One World Hotel

Our friend Honey Larling invited us to a Japanese restaurant for dinner recently. Nah, it's too expensive for her to belanja us, we go Dutch :-D

Kura Restaurant is located within the One World Hotel next to One Utama shopping Complex. For Japanese food lover, this is a must-try restaurant for you! I was told that almost all of their food are imported directly from Japan, and their executive chef is also 'imported' from Japan.

I would like to high light a few 'Must-try' dishes:
1. Yam balls in special miso sauce, garnished with thinly shredded fish. The yam balls were soft and yummy.

2. Fried prawn sushi with avocado slices as topping, and garnished with ebiko (my favourite). It's so fragrant and creamy that you would definitely tempted to go for second helping!

3. They claimed that the garlic rice is their hot seller. Indeed it was very true, the fried rice was so fragrant and surprisingly non-greasy.

4. Their ice-cream!!! The display of this dessert was so captivating. We spent 5 minutes just gazing at the beautiful arrangement and 'sayang' to dig in. hehehe..

The strawberry ice-cream was definitely one if it's kind! the whole strawberry was frozen. Once we take a bite... behold.....

The stawberries were stuffed with smooth, creamy and delicious ice-cream!!! It was so delicious!! very, very delicious!!

Thanks to Honey Larling for introducing us to this place. We had a great time and enjoyed the food very much.

And we were honoured to be able to meet up with their Executive Chef Mr. Hideaki. A very down-to-earth and friendly Japanese chap.

The setting was very unique too. The manager of the restaurant Mr. Jack Lau was kind enough to show us around. Apparently, I was told that the counter was the favourite place for regulars and distinguished guests, as they were able to interact with the Chef while enjoying their food.

This room caught my attention. The floor was basically made of glass and we can see the lovely pebbles beneath them.

To our surprise, the price was very affordable!! Of course, with the 'help' of Honey Larling, the manager and the Chef charged cheap. That's because the manager is Honey Larling's brother. hehehehehe

But then, the price of the food were very reasonble. Was amazed to see dishes at the price of RM12, RM16 and so on in such unique restaurant. Where can u find such prices?? However, certain dishes are expensive simply because the materials were exotic. One point i got to high light: If you intend to fix your budget, say RM50 per person, you can always inform the manager before hand, telling him that you got 6 person dining with budget of RM50, and he and the executive chef will design a meal to suit to your budget. You don't even have to look at the menu, just sit tight, and enjoy the surprises.

You can always call the manager Mr. Jack Lau to make a booking. Go ahead, try this restaurant!

Raya @ Office

An Aidilfitri celebration was held at office last week. This annual event is the only time for the ladies to showcase their best Malays attire in office, and great food for the guys (ye ke?). While for me, the only day of the year that you can see me in Baju Melayu.

The day began with preparations by the Jamuan team.

Then kita semua makan dulu sebelum tetamu sampai. Some prefers to fill themselves with food to the brim.

While the guys playing with their toys.

And of course, it was these gediking girls that the guys were busying with their cameras.

Erm... more gediking girls. Penyeri majlis orang kata.

While others, concentrating of what they do best. Eat, and pose for the camera.

And the gossip girls got into their gossip mode.

Then the guests came. Salam-bersalaman with warm and radiant smile.

The guests enjoying their food. Lots up news were exchanged.



Lastly, the rare species of the office gathered for this memorable shot. Out of forty plus staff, these are all the guys we got.

This year, my Baju Melayu attire is complete. Got songkok. :-P

Selamat Hari Raya kawan-kawan.

Perut Membesar

With all the makan-makan events during raya holiday, one would definitely look at his/her own tummy at the end of the day and thought, "Gosh... it's getting bigger".

And what follows would be series of rather useless or unnecessary solutions:
1. Kena kurang makan lah (still, raya-ing from house to house and gulped in tons of lemang, rendang or even lontong).
2. Nak gi gym lah (still, takde masa, ada kawan jemput gi raya kat rumah).
3. Jaga diet lah, kurangkan yang berlemak (as if u can resist those wonderful greasy and fattening cookings).

For your info, I lost 2 kg over the month of Ramadhan. Kalo Josh kata diet masa bulan puasa, dietlah maksudnya. But then, my wife was the other way round. She gulped in tons of food. In the end she gained weight and her waist increased double to her previous measurement. See, i can't beat the size of my wife's belly.

But the thing is, I'm sooooooooo happy she'd gained weight. And I'm sooooooooooooo happy to see her getting bigger :-D

She's 7 months pregnant. Yah, I did something to her. hahahahaha. Our baby is normal and growing healthily albeit the worries and sleepless nights in the beginning. Reaching and beyond 40s, our age is no longer young. The chances of having abnormalities is high. But God is graceful, our baby is gaining weight according to the normal curve. Frequent checkups confirming that the baby is healthy.

I'll be officially a daddy by the end of the year, if everything goes smoothly. We want to give thanks to our fellow Christian brothers and sisters for their constant supports and prayers. Most of all, We give all the thanks and praises to our God.

I'm a happy man. Grinning with radiant smile.

Raya Breakaway

Last week's raya holiday had gave my wife and I a chance to have a much needed breakaway to a cool and quiet place in Malaysia: The Fraser's Hill. To avoid the noisy crowd, we'd chosen this exclusive place: The Ye Olde Smokehouse.



The weather was beautiful. The air was fresh and cool. The colonial structures of the smokehouse had elevated our mood to relax. Upon arrival, we were served with the best scone and afternoon tea we'd ever had.


Many visitors (not in-house guests) travelled to this place just to enjoy their famous afternoon tea and home-made freshly baked scone.

Not only that the exterior (and the garden) was beautiful, their in-door decor was also captivating. The old English style decor had made the place cosy and relaxing.

Lots of sofa for the guests to relax, either to just sip some coffee or just to enjoy reading books at your leasure.


We stayed in a suite. The Room was huge, furnished with canopy bed, two single sofas, a fire place, a basket of fresh fruits, and a writing table. Of course, the attached bathroom was equipped with hot water supply and a bath tub.


The view from our room's window was spectacular!


Though it was a short two days one night stay, this trip was good enough to energize us. The quiet and peaceful moment we'd had was worth all the money spent.

I'll definitely be back here again whenever I need to be energized.

Sekinchan Trip

Making use of the last Raya holiday, my wife and I had decided to bring my mother-in-law to Sekinchan to meet up with her younger sister. MIL is recovery well after her operation on her left hip. Since knowing that a few of our friends were also interested to join us, we called them up and went there with three cars.


Actually, there's a long story behind the meeting up of my MIL and her younger sister. They were adopted by two different families and were brought up separately. After years of searching, they were manage to be united only last year. Since then, we tried our best to keep in touch and let them meet up as frequent as we can.

Though visiting the relatives was our main objective, a trip to Sekinchan won't be complete without trying their fresh, cheap and delicious seafood (that's the exact reason our friends got interested to join us). Here're some highlights of the food:
Steam hot-and-sour fish with charcoal. The unique feature of this dish was the heating method. Unlike many restaurants using dry fuel now a day, they used charcoal. That had added aroma to the dish!!

The spicy mantis prawn with petal. YUMMY!!!! The prawn was lightly battered, fried to golden brown and stir friend again with thai sause and petal. VERY APPETIZING!

This one was the children's favourite: Mantis prawn with salted egg yolk. The prawn was very crispy and the aroma of the salted egg was just inviting! The children (of my friends) had their great time.


Sekinchan is uniquely known for it's dual-core activities: Paddy planting and fisheries. The sight of the green paddy field was awesome. In about three months, the field will turn to golden brown, ready for harvest. Perhaps I should come here again.


We thought of going to the wharf to purchase some freshly caught seafood, but was told that the fishermen were having their raya holiday too. Most of the fishermen are Chinese but they celebrate the festive season together with their muslim counterparts.


The trip was fun and the food was so nice and cheap there!!

Footnote: I was down with sinus in the afternoon of the trip, thanks to some incense and joss tick burning... spoilt my mood. Aiyooo.....

Expensive Supplement

My sinus problem got worse two months ago and the ENT specialist said i might have to go through an operation to remove some tissue. That simple procedure would cost me a fortune, RM8,000 to be exact.

Since many friends and relative keep on advising me to take Cordyceps sinensis (which I try not to because of it's shocking price), I thought I might as well spent some money on this instead of spending it on an operation.

Its name in Chinese 'dong chong xia cao' (冬虫夏草) means "winter worm, summer grass". For the western world, they're known as Caterpillar Fungus.

Basically, it's the root of a kind of shrub, where the caterpillar burrow inside the root and feeds on it. The Cordyceps or the fungus attacked on the caterpillar and mummified the caterpillar within the root.

The 'dong chong xia cao' are rather small in size, ranging from 1 to 2 cm normally. But behold, that little box my wife bought costed us RM800! aiyoooooo..... very the expensive one.

My wife would boil them with some ginseng and serve them as a cup of drink, very expensive cup of drink! Ever since i started taking this supplement, the frequency of the occurrence of my sinus problem seems to drop. A good sign.

For those that are no familiar with the Cordyceps sinensis, you can read more here.

Hypertension!!

Eversince I was given a new position two months ago, my daily routine changed tremendously.

meeting, meeting, meeting,
discussions, discussions, discussions,
monitoring, monitoring, monitorin,
supervising, supervising, supervising,
meeting, meeting, meeting,

erm.. still meeting, meeting, meeting.

Oh God, grant me wisdom and strength.