For those who are curious about what I asked in the previous Marmite post here:

I ABSOLUTELY HATED IT!!!

It has got to be one of the worst tasting crap I've ever tasted. It's salty and it leaves that lingering weird taste in your mouth. God knows how many times have I spat (and I seldom spit) and gargled my mouth with Listerine. I'm sorry to all you Marmite fans out there but It was really that AWFUL!

Though, I've heard people saying that, only those who grew up with Marmite will know how to savor and love it. Well, I guess it's true then. My mommy never fed me with single drop of Marmite in my entire life. That, was my first and last time and boy, what a shocker it was!

I paid RM15.99 to have myself traumatized

At one point of my life, I felt so left out with all the big hooha going on how great sandwiches, porridges or soup would taste like with the presence of either Bovril or Marmite. Not wanting to feel left out anymore, I went downstairs to the grocery store at my apartment, and searched for a bottle of Marmite.

Now, as I approached the aisle where a line of yellow caps of Marmite resides, I thought to myself gleefullly, "Ahhh, so this huge-ass jar of Marmite is gonna jazz up the taste of my sandwiches, porridge and even soup. I can creative cook!"  You know, just like the wonders you can do with a bottle of Lea Perrins Worcestershire sauce.

So, I brought my happily purchased bottle and lay it on the table. "Let's try with bread first. Topped with some fresh-sliced tomatoes and lettuces. Fast and easy." Mind is thinking, "Good gawd, this has got to be the fastest dinner I've ever conjured before!"

As I turned open the yellow cap and marvelled at the smoothness of the top of the yummy looking 'jelly', I took a whiff of it.

"Ohhhhh kayyyy, it smells a little funny. Certainly wasn't the best smelling thing in the world. But all is good, all is good." I assured myself. I mean, come on, durians smell funny but gawd I love my durians just like how I love my Boy! Heh!  (Shhh, don't tell him I compared him with a durian, ya)

So I happily spread my bread with that jelly-looking gunk of Marmite. I added a huge dollop of it. Need lots of it because it is probably as good as Goober's Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly and when I have my Goober's Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly on my bread, it's A LOT.

And so, I took my first bite. Chewed a little.

OH. MY. GOD.

What do you think? Did I 'Love It or Hate It'? What say you?

AS A RESULT OF OVERDOING THIS:

Pic: Girl chasing Nemos drawn using Paint

Girl is BURNT!

(pic removed coz...)
Pic: Backview body taken by Boy. Frontview cannot show la of course :P

So ok, I said before that I wanted to get a good tan. But I guess I now love snorkeling much much more than playing dead under the sun  Hence, the picture above. The fair area of my back was simply because it was not exposed to the sun much. (So was the butt) We rented a boat and went snorkeling in about 4 islands. Namely, Redang of course, Long Beach, Turtle Bay and the rest which I can't remember the names.

I love being under the water. Silence surrounds you. The only sound you can hear is your constant rhythmic breathing and splashing of water as you wade with your arms and legs. And the view below? BREATHTAKING. I've never seen such beautiful corals in my life before.

And Nemo, gosh, they are so cute! One of the guys dived in further below and caught a Nemo in his hands and brought it to me. It was so cute I almost risk swallowing water as I was almost bursting out in laughter! Well of course, there were other fishes as well. Schools of fishes of many gorgeous colors swimming around you and sea cucumbers were all over the seabed. We even brought bread from the hotel and fed the fishes who literally were just nibbling the bread out of our hands!

I wish I have pictures of them to show. But sadly, we didn't have a waterproof camera but we WILL have one by the time we go on another beach trip!  These are some of the pics that I've got. Didn't have time to snap pictures. More on Gary's video camera which I will get from him later. 

And lastly enlarged versions of...

My body hurts like hell now. Ouch!

Cooked a last minute dinner for us. DT wanted to eat at home and I panicked for awhile. We didn't do any grocery! So I looked through the kitchen cabinets and fridge and these were what I found:

• 1 packet of minced pork
• 2 pieces of deboned chicken breast
• Half a packet of tagliatelle pasta (one of my favorite pastas, looked like fettucine but are packed in cute balls)
• 1 carrot, 1 potato, 2 tomatoes (extras from last week's ABC soup)
• Onions, garlic, etc

Tagliatelle (pasta) topped with hot sauce of teriyaki-marinated minced meat and chicken fillet

The funny thing is, the more I DO NOT follow the recipes, the more compliments on the taste of food I get from DT. Like this dish, he loved the sauce that was cooked from the minced meat and cubed chicken breast, both marinated with Teriyaki sauce + pepper + a little oyster sauce. 2 min before turning off the fire, just drop 1 teaspoon of thick soy sauce. I just dumped anything I could get my hands on from the kitchen! Talking about easy to please! Heh!

And this, I don't really know what to call this. It consists of the extras from last week's soup. A carrot, potato, 2 tomatoes, big onions, garlic, oyster sauce and minced meat. All stir-fried together. Yum ~

Simple and fast. And now, excuse me while I go do the dishes. Apparently, The Breakup didn't help much, the boy still never volunteers!

Boy: Always tummy problem. I think your tummy has worms. So we need alcohol to kill them.
Girl: *yippee!*

DT had an invitation for a wine appreciation dinner. So, off we went to kill worms.

Date: 25 August 2006
Venue: Restaurant 18-20th Centuries, TTDI
Theme: Wine Appreciation Dinner
Style: Fine dining
Photos: Taken from my phone, so they are a bit quality-challenged

Free flow of red and white wine - some most are quite yucky. I'm not really a wine drinker but I must say the welcoming white wine, Le Mire was yummy. So I stuck with this the whole night.

1st course: Pan Seared Scallop on steamed daikon radish
Verdict: Excellant! Loved it, loved it, loved it.
Wine: Rossestate Riesling - ewwww, tasted like kerosene I swear!

2nd course: Grilled Stuffed Tenderloin of Chicken with hongkong kailan on shitake reduction
Verdict: Yum! But I thought the chicken could use a bit more spice, a bit bland to me
Wine: Some red wine which I hated as well. Went on slurping my Le Mire. Heh!

3rd course: Slow Braised Lamb Shank with red curry braised vegetables & wild rice
Verdict: OMG, absolute heaven! I loved it! The lamb melts in your mouth and the rice was beriani-ish but better.
Wine: Another red wine which I hated too.

4th course: Moist Chocolate Cake with warm chocolate sauce
Verdict: Can literally die from blissfulness-overdosed! It came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream by the side. I took a picture of it but don't know why, I can't seem to find it.

End of meal: Bazilo Coffee or Jasmine Tea
Verdict: DT and I both wanted none, but just plain water to wash it all off.

Then, we realised there were journalists from The Star covering the event too. One of them came to take a picture of us and interviewed us a bit and hehe, you might just see us in the papers next week

And me is no more going to the loo after each meal. Dr Tay gives GOOD advice

No dreams last night. You know why?

Because I didn't sleep at all. AT ALL. And why so?

Because my yesterday's lunch decided to make a pact with whatever bacterias that were in my stomach, which THEY then thought it would be majorly fun to super-process themselves to give me a nightmare from 1.30am - 7++am.

Total loo trips made = 5 times
WORST times = the 1st two trips. I teared because it was so painful

And I've always thought I have emetophobia. But according to wikipedia:

Emetophobic Habits

Avoiding sick people not true

Avoiding overeating not true

Compulsive hand-washing definitely not true

Compulsive expiration date checking not true

Avoiding long car trips or long means of transportation also has to be close to a bathroom totally not true

Cannot fall asleep unless hungry not true

Become very nervous when going to public places (mall, movies, etc.) in fear of seeing someone vomit or vomiting themselves are you kidding me? One Utama is like my second home! 

None of the habits stated are true for me. I am only afraid to vomit. VERY afraid, that's all. So what am I?

I remember my dreams pretty well these days.

Last night, I particularly remembered this segment of my many mini-dreams. My mom brought this little girl to our house, about 8 yrs old I'd say, into her care for a few days.

This girl was EVIL. She tried to kill me! I knew something was not right with her when my family was around. To me, she was rather strange.

Then one day, my whole family went out and I was alone sleeping in my room. I went, "Oh shit, the door's not locked! I better get up and go lock it." I got up quietly, walking slowly towards my door and pressed on the knob to  have it locked. And I remembered I even closed my windows.

Then, as I was lying on my bed, I heard the windows slowly opened, making a slow creaking sound. I panicked. I got up and saw HER face staring into my room. Smiling.

She was going to pour it in. A bottle of what I could only decipher at that moment as kerosene. I screamed.

Then, I got up. Heart beating as though I just did a 100m sprint.

Evil girl kinda looked like Emily.

Star article:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/8/22/nation/15207018&sec=nation

Starpoll: Malaysia wants the Jimmy Choos to come home

Come home - that is message the Government wants to send out to those who have ventured abroad and made names for themselves internationally in designing, modelling, singing and acting.

Because it's stupid. They are not offering enough to attract them back.

And it's not only about the salary my dears. The totality of the whole industry matters as well. Let's just look at the fashion scene. Ling Tan, for example, a Malaysian-born and established model in US now. Do you honestly think she would come back? Fashion scene is much more diversed there, opportunities are abundant. And you want to compare that to Malaysia's fashion scene? If Amber Chia were given a chance to go over, I bet she would grab it and STAY put there. I know I would.