Penang, Malaysia's food haven - Day 1

After our wedding, guess what was the first thing we wanted to do?? 

EAT!! 

Omg... I thought we would go somewhere gooey-ly romantic or laid back but then hubby chose food over all the others. No wonder they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach! 

This is actually my second time to Penang and honestly I was more keen to hop on the next plane to Japan for honeymoon but since it isn't spring yet then Penang it is!

Hubby decided that since it is such a rare occasion, we should spare no empty spaces in our tummy and fill it to the brim with yummy food! The first thing we did after checking into our hotel  ... (isn't the view nice?) 

... is go grab lunch! Since we were staying in Cititel that day, we decided to start lunch with Nasi Kandar at Line Clear Restaurant listed in the tourist-must-try leaflet. Before we depart, we asked the receptionist how to go the restaurant and she gave us direction and estimated our walk to be about 10 minutes. But when we found out the road that she mentioned hardly 5 minutes into our walk, we went into an Indian cinema to confirm our direction. The cashier there was very friendly and since there was no customer that time, she walked out of the counter to give us direction so we thought there was still a distance to travel. But when she came out, she very calmly pointed to a small signboard hidden between the alley opposite the cinema, i.e. Line Clear. Turns out we were just steps away from the 'restaurant'!! *paiseh* It wasn't really a restaurant but an alley converted to accommodate a counter, sinks, stove (also got!!), cabinets, tables and chairs. And just our luck, as we were eating lunch, some tv crew came along and started videoing us!! If you happened to see the footage, we are the ones bowing our head eating our nasi kandar with spoons and forks while others use their hand!! 

Afterwards, we hopped on a free CAT (Central Area Transit) to First Avenue to browse and check out the place. We noted a lot of reflexology shop and don't know why we didn't go and try it out (because the next day when we went to Queen's bay, hubby suddenly wanted to go reflexology and there was only one and we had to wait 30 minutes in queue).   

This is our afternoon snack~! This isn't Penang specialty by the way but I wanted something small for us to nibble as we walk so this had to be the most convenient snack. 

But the potato balls were quite starchy and after having one, honestly do not feel like eating anymore even though it is only mildly sweet and still hot. 

Perhaps I was too busy looking for the next food stall to attack that I didn't notice the beauty of this island. During my first visit, I honestly did not harbor much love for this place. The street side hawker and the old buildings weren't my sort of things. 

But this time, I come to appreciate the rustic feel of the building and the humble quality of penang folks. Even this kind of trishaws are getting rare. 

So cute, right? 

Apparently, the tourism industry in Penang knows what they have can be one of their main attraction, look at how they incorporate their cultures and heritage into a tourist spot! :)

Eastern and Oriental Hotel 

I actually wanted to go for buffet dinner at Eastern and Oriental Hotel's Sarke cafe under the recommendation of a friend but then we were stuffed with potato balls. So, we walked off and waited till our friends finished work to bring us for more food~! wheee.... 

For dinner, we went to a food court/outlet at New lane very close to our hotel! They have so many stalls of good food, I think I could tear in happiness! The Char kueh tiaw may not be the best according to the tourist leaflet but I think it was good enough! The prawns were big, the taugeh were those short and fat kind ( I heard my sister say that it is call Ipoh taugeh and it is slightly juicier than the normal taugeh, that much is true!) and the clams were fresh!! Yummy! I honestly wish I could stomach in another order of this! 

Oyster Omelette or a.k.a OOOOOOOOOOO jien! (Long O because the oysters are so fresh!!) 

Chee Cheung fun! 

By the time we reach hotel, we were stuffed to the brim with food so imagine our surprise and delight at receiving complimentary fruits from the hotel! Omg, it is as if we are compensating for all the exercises and diets we go through before our wedding~! 

And this is just a day out of our three days there... 

Will blog about the rest soon~! 

The worst scare of 2012...

And it is not Halloween yet...

Before this, I mentioned briefly about my very irritable tummy. I think it is more temperamental than me, picking up its campaign against food and what not even when I am hungry. So, I decided to go have it checked out with a trusted-sort-of-family-doctor when I get back to Malaysia. 

But as I was busy running around for my wedding preparation, I didn't have the time to go queue up at the clinic. And one day, I happened to come across this (I don't want to tell you what store for fear of repercussion but this much I will say) store promoting healthy organic product. Initially I just wanted to get more info about their bread which contains no preservatives and sugar but at the same time being organic but this salesperson had a chat with me. One thing turned to the other, she told me that they had a machine to test my overall well being. I asked her whether she needs my blood sample, as I am very hesitant to allow people outside the professional and licensed medical institution take my blood for testing and she assured me none was needed. And it costed about RM35 and if I wanted a print of the report, it would cost another additional RM10. Probably my alarm should have rang when I said I don't want a print of the result unless there was absolutely something wrong with me, and she said there will always be one thing or another amiss. 

Ok, I was naivete but at the same time I was desperate for something. I hate that icky-yucky feel of discomfort I couldn't explain and I hate the feeling of bloating. I thought eating something natural, raw and organic would probably strengthen my immune system to stop being a princess. So, I went for the test. 

The test was pretty straightforward. Basically, you hold something of a rod that sends electric pulse or is it magnetic pulse through your body. You can't talk or move during the short procedure which afterwards generate a series of reading for bone density, bone growth, cardiovascular activity, skin moisture content, iron content, calcium content, etc etc... And lo and behold, my results for EVERY single reading was out of range. EVERY SINGLE ONE!! I asked her for a retest but then she insisted that one was enough. 

My face paled. Every single one, you kidding me? I think at that moment, I should have flipped the table on the machine and her and demanded for a refund. Barely a year ago, my blood test reported nothing of this sort. But she said that the range set by them was based on my age, my gender, my height and my weight. And I let myself get scared and upset with the readings that it yield. Probably I should consider it a miracle that with a reading like that, I am still alive and breathing every single day, wtf! (Actually it is a miracle but that's not my point!) But luckily I still had the sanity to postpone buying any of their stuff, and the fear settled in my belly for the night driving my appetite away. 

So the next day, finally driven by fear I decided to give time the backseat and go see my sorta-family-doctor. And I am so glad I went to find him. He tsk-tsked at my story and reminded me that there is no such wonderful test equipment at the moment that can test out all these things with a single touch. If there is, why in the world would there still be blood test and all the other expensive test machines in the hospital waiting for us? And if there is this wonderful test machine that can do that then it would be bloody expensive and why would they have it instead of the hospital? Makes no bloody sense, I know... right? I nodded to his explanation as he explained to me the irregularities of what was presented and finally presented me with gastric medicines for my tummy. Simple, easy and straightforward approach and end to my suffering. 

I wish I have a picture of the slip of paper of results that I stupidly paid RM10 for in the end, I must have left it in the rubbish bin before I packed my stuff back to Perth. The thing is that though my logic was functioning, when you feel something is wrong with you, your mind just raced to the worst case of scenario. I am so glad that I consulted with a trusted and qualified doctor before I invest my money into something that may not work. So I am taking this scare as a lesson to me and I am sharing it as a lesson to all of you. 

And since it is not getting any earlier, Happy Halloween 2012! Hope you have the best enjoyable scare out there! :) 

The DAY!!

Ok, this will be my last blog about the wedding. 

It seems like so much has happened and yet nothing have changed. I guess in a way, that much is a comfort. 

I think to tell the whole story of it, I shall have to start about 3 days before my actual wedding day. After a scare from some fortune teller, we managed to negotiate a peace treaty by having another ceremony 3 days before our actual wedding day. Additional ceremony means more work and more work means less sleep. At first, we negotiated a very small and private ceremony. I thought I could make do with my own make up and maybe a simple white dress and that will be it, so I wasn't too happy when I find myself scrambling to find a last minute make up artist and a white wedding gown. 

My before and after look before my actual wedding day

Granted that I wasn't able to test her make up, it was still alright but I still prefer the stylist that we invited from KL. Simply a blessing. 

On the actual day itself, woke up early to make up and dress up. Last minute also can tweet about it and check my phone... hehe... 

And then around 9ish, the groom and his gang came along. Luckily I have my stylist, Jossi with me or else I swear I wouldn't be able to sit still. I can hear people laughing and jostling around downstair but I cannot see a thing until one of my friend showed me a short video. 

You know it would be great fun when the dessert for the man looks something like this. And this is not even the hottest of 'em all. 

Guaranteed 'bagus'!

I wish I could give better details about what happened downstairs with the groom and his gang while I fidget upstairs but I am not sure, so if anyone else blogs about it, I would link it here. 

(O ya, forgot to mention. The actual photographer was found and assigned last minute. It almost gave me a heart attack. Thank God he is a funny and professional photographer!)

(So thankful I am for having him last minute that I won't mind him throwing my shoes up the jambu tree!) 

I am so thankful for my sisters as the trio busied themselves with controlling the crowd, managing the bridesmaids and cooking up hell on earth. (I heard it didn't turn out to be hell, it seems the groom and his gang could stomach much worst... damn!!) 

As night draws near, we took a nap (and I regretted it, should have done something else) before the dinner. As I soon learn, my list were slightly incomplete because I fell asleep the night before (at 3am, ok?) and didn't remember to complete it. So, once again... grateful to my sis who helped me manage and control the throng of crowd. If anyone is offended, my apologies. I didn't mean to offend, I just truly and wholly wanted to sleep, that's all.

But overall, I think it turned out OK!!

I realized that I have bunch of awesome friends who readily forgives the mishaps. Initially I have thought of staging my own version of runaway bride but I was glad I didn't, because then I won't have been the reason for all my friends to have a gathering in that place. 

The night really felt like a blur and even right now, I struggled to recall how many tables we toasted and how many courses we have in our dinner menu. 

My stylist for the day, Jossi. 

The ones I will recall ultimately are the ones who stick by me, even for the smallest task like finding the right dress (ok, that is not small... that is like a HUGE task!) or even the right make up. Those who came from far for me and who put on a smile through the chaos (ok la, not that bad la) and confusion, thank you! 

I do

13 years before I said I do, I met him for the first time. I have heard so much about him. I thought we would be best friend on sight but we didn't and I am not even sure why. He wore a black shirt that day. 

11 years before I said I do, I disliked him for his guts. I couldn't comprehend how he came to appear on every club activity and school activity when I was struggling just to stay in the school that I like. I couldn't understand why someone who can choose to be driven home chose instead to walk home alone. I thought this must surely be a weirdo. 

9 years before I said I do, I didn't understand what is this relationship that is developing between us. From being someone who perhaps only greet each other once in a blue moon to a big brotherly presence in my life, there is only one word 'confused' but it felt alright. I felt he was special but could not comprehend how much so. In our attempts to put to light what we feel, we say stupid things that only served to drown us in confusion. That is why it is so amazing how we finally put together the pieces...

8 years ago before I said I do. I never expected to fall in love again and again with the same amazing person, no... an amazing person who just keeps on getting better.

2 years ago, the moment before I said I do, I remembered the moon was beaming down on its reflection in the still lake. The moment when he stuttered a question, I didn't need to listen to the words or look at the ring to know that I do. When I said I do, I have finally understand him more as a friend than all those years I stood as spectator of his life. I came to appreciate and adore his independence and fell in love with his passion. In him, I reflected on my childishness and with him, we have grown much.

I wish to say that the day I said I do, I finally laid to rest my insecurities in our relationship but it isn't so. With our wedding guests as our witness, I finally realize that the strength to fight through all insecurities has been within us all this time. 

Defying gravity

One year ago, I went to a WICKED musical and blogged about it here. I really love the more adult twist to the story and particularly liked one of the song entitled 'Defying gravity'. I guess these two words resonate to some frequency in my heart, and I just wanna share it with all of you. 
A bit of background on WICKED!! If you read Wizard of Oz, you would have an idea of the background of this musical. Except in WICKED, the storyline revolves more around Elphaba (Wicked witch) instead of Dorothy and how she became known as the Wicked witch of the West. 
This song piece happened sometime after Elphaba (the wicked witch) decided not to join the Wizard of Oz and Glinda (the good witch) caught up with her. When I listened to the song, I felt very encouraged and motivated. Sometimes when you feel trapped at a crossroad and you feel pressured to take the road commonly traveled yet you dream of choosing the road less traveled, I hope this song gives you the strength to make the right decision for yourself.  
GLINDA(spoken) Elphie - why couldn't you have stayed calm foronce, instead of flying off the handle!(sung) I hope you're happy!I hope you're happy nowI hope you're happy how youHurt your cause foreverI hope you think you're clever!
ELPHABAI hope you're happyI hope you're happy, tooI hope you're proud how youWould grovel in submissionTo feed your own ambition
BOTHSo though I can't imagine howI hope you're happy right now
GLINDA(spoken) Elphie, listen to me. Just say you're sorry:(sung) You can still be with the WizardWhat you've worked and waited forYou can have all you ever wanted:
ELPHABA(spoken) I know:(sung) But I don't want it -No - I can't want itAnymore:
Something has changed within meSomething is not the sameI'm through with playing by the rulesOf someone else's gameToo late for second-guessingToo late to go back to sleepIt's time to trust my instinctsClose my eyes: and leap!
It's time to tryDefying gravityI think I'll tryDefying gravityAnd you can't pull me down!
GLINDACan't I make you understand?You're having delusions of grandeur:
ELPHABAI'm through accepting limits''cause someone says they're soSome things I cannot changeBut till I try, I'll never know!Too long I've been afraid ofLosing love I guess I've lostWell, if that's loveIt comes at much too high a cost!I'd sooner buyDefying gravityKiss me goodbyeI'm defying gravityAnd you can't pull me down:(spoken) Glinda - come with me. Think of what we coulddo: together.
(sung) UnlimitedTogether we're unlimitedTogether we'll be the greatest teamThere's ever beenGlinda -Dreams, the way we planned 'em
GLINDAIf we work in tandem:
BOTHThere's no fight we cannot winJust you and IDefying gravityWith you and IDefying gravity
ELPHABAThey'll never bring us down!(spoken) Well? Are you coming?
GLINDAI hope you're happyNow that you're choosing this
ELPHABA(spoken) You too(sung) I hope it brings you bliss
BOTHI really hope you get itAnd you don't live to regret itI hope you're happy in the endI hope you're happy, my friend:
ELPHABA So if you care to find meLook to the western sky!As someone told me lately:"Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly!"And if I'm flying soloAt least I'm flying freeTo those who'd ground meTake a message back from meTell them how I amDefying gravityI'm flying highDefying gravityAnd soon I'll match them in renownAnd nobody in all of OzNo Wizard that there is or wasIs ever gonna bring me down!

So, how does it makes you feel today? :)

The confession of a bridezilla

My gosh, I feel so relieved that I will only have one wedding throughout my entire life. 

It seems like my years of events management, conflict resolution and anger management has been put to THE test all in one bundle for one single event. 

Ok, not that bad la...

I guess every single girl have this image of the ideal wedding in their mind. (I wonder who planted it in our mind. Perhaps the works of the same bunch of people who had also cashed in on commercializing events like Christmas or Easter.) But now I know for fact that every single person have this image of the ideal wedding and they will ensure that you know about it one way or another.

So, wedding prep started off pretty easy, I think. I had the leisure of doing things slowly like choosing the musics, the wedding favors and thinking of who to invite to my wedding. I was getting the hang of calling companies up and getting quotation and thinking of where and what of the wedding.

I had this sweet idea of giving personalized fortune cookie within cute double-happiness boxes as wedding favors. I was so happy with it that I was feeling quite confident that everything would turn out fine.

I created an event in FB and waited as friends and family members leave messages on whether they would come or not. I thought whoever didn't reply my messages wouldn't actually bothered to come so I confidently reported the numbers and we confirmed the number of tables with the hotel.

I had the fright of my life when suddenly people who didn't confirm suddenly told me they were coming. Don't get me wrong, I am touched but I was a bit frantic at that point that my list was a bit messy. (Perhaps more annoyed is the fact that people who told me they were coming didn't bothered to and I see empty tables, it breaks my heart. Y u no say u no come? )

Then a fortnight into our wedding, a chinese fortune teller told us (based on a book) that our wedding date isn't auspicious and if we stick to that date, our marriage would break and/or my womb would grow spiderweb (if you get what I mean). I was upset and close to tears as I imagined the horrors and pain of changing plan at such a short period of time. At the same time, I was enraged as I couldn't for the life of me understand what did he based his readings on as he didn't even bothered to get our birth dates. Tell me, is that normal?!?

In the end, I managed to negotiate a separate and smaller event on another auspicious date so on our pre-determined wedding date, we could still have our wedding banquet and the game ceremony in the morning. Everyone was still shaky of the scare and tried to talk me out of the game ceremony and all that on our pre-determined-now-cursed date (technically, that day is my birthday too. So, wtf??ｏ( ><)o My birthday is cursed??), I was so upset that I made hubby promised that if one day my womb grow spiderweb he will still love me. Thank God, he said the right words. lol... Or I would have staged my own version of run away bride.

As the date has now been pulled forward, I had to speed up my preparation and what not. Step one on the list was cleaning out my old family house. It has been left unattended for quite some time and the dust layer was so amazing that I had skin eczema the first day I tried to clear my stuff away.

 I think the construction opposite my house didn't help too. It was so horrible I managed to hire a maid to clean it for one day and poor girl sneezed the first few hours, I felt so bad. Luckily for me too, my sisters came back few days afterwards and help cleaned it some more.

The second thing on my list would be the traditional decors! I had such a hard time making peace with purchasing stuff I didn't like for a one time event that I can't throw away or reuse afterwards. For example, according to tradition, the bride has to bring chicken into the groom's house during the wedding day. The tradition has now changed to allow us to bring the chicken statue instead. Honestly, I don't see any improvement at all about this. Imagine paying RM160+ for statue of chicken that cannot be eaten (I think live chicken cheaper some more!)  and according to the shopkeeper I cannot throw away and I cannot let anyone reuse it (consumerism at its best). In order to make me listen, she had thrown in the scare of spiderweb-laden-womb for safety measure. (Me shaking my fist at her (＃｀д´)ﾉ )

The other thing that a bride needs to bring over is a set of new toiletries, which includes the face towels, towel set, face basin and the omg-so-ugly urinal pot. I'd hate to interject at this point that I live elsewhere and I would never (in any right mind) bring these things to my place and paying RM300+ for set of reddish colour toiletries is probably big sign someone is ripping me off. When the shop assistant pulled out the baby bathtub, I was at my limit and while no one else was looking, I rudely waved her away.

It is totally against my principle to buy stuff I know I would never use, even the thought of letting other people use or giving it away was quickly hushed by elders that I felt like a sucker consumer being sucked into mindless tradition. I believe that in olden days people are poorer and not everyone would be able to afford new set of toiletries for each newly weds, right? It would have probably been borrowed or passed down, right? So tell me, can anyone even traced the belief that you can't pass on or borrow these stuff?? I totally believe these are mainly stuff the shopkeeper made up to ensure continuous business.

Then the wedding dress hunt! Everyone assured me that it would be easy for me to find the right dress that I actually confidently pushed it to a month before my wedding. Since I took a bridal package from a bridal studio as well, the owner told me not to choose the dress too early because he would have a new batch of wedding dress by a few months time. So I was disappointed to find not only limited wedding dress but also dresses that were obviously worn old.

I think I might have tried on 20-25 gowns before we finally decided on a white gown and a dinner gown. We eventually hunted outside of the bridal studio we had a contract with and had to pay extra. Luckily my sisters were closed by, because I would totally have decided to wear the ugly dresses and just forget this day ever existed. Luckily, they also allowed us to take pic of the gown so we could have more time festering on which gown looked better. But it is really a strenuous time if you leave it to the last month especially when everything else is also threatening to change.

Preparation was hell I have to admit and there were nights I couldn't get enough sleep and I grew restless, cranky and lost my appetite. It didn't help that everyone was pouring in and pushing their opinion over, I want to thank you all for trying to help. I can now say that I see that elders want us to follow certain traditions because they want the best for us ( and not have spider-web womb, wtf!). I hope you know that I may not agree, but I do it for your peace of mind. And I can also comprehend that something uttered were mainly because they wanted me to have a memorable wedding... and I know you all love me and me you too. So thank you.  

Pre-wedding preparation ( losing weight )

Yeay! I have successfully completed my wedding, so I have to give myself a pat on the back for everything. But prior to the day itself, there is just so many many things and details to fine tune, I thought this day would never come. So these series of posts would be a summary of what happened. 

Months before my wedding, I tried (like every bride before me) to lose my weight. And I remembered that my friend ever mentioned that I would look my best at 50kg for my current height and all that so this would be my best chance to test it out. But I didn't want to just lose weight and inevitably my figure so I did some research (namely typing incessantly into Google) and found out about Figurobics!

Figurobics is basically a combination of exercises that targets the key area that most girls want to lose weight on but at same time strengthening your other muscles. For example, burning fats from the thighs and abdomen while strengthening the chest muscle to prevent saggy and loose... wtf!! lol... It is founded by Jung dayeon (click on the hyperlink for more bio on her and her awesome pics at age 45!!) . I basically am a cheapskate when it comes to this because I know I paid for gym membership countless times before and then watch as it expires. And then I bought like stuff that are suppose to help me lose weight and then I forget about it till it expires so for the first few months I did everything the au natural method. 

I googled jung dayeon and her exercises online and actually found her few exercises on youtube!! Cool... So I danced to that few days a week and boy did I sweat!! I actually felt the muscle soreness even though one series of exercise only lasted max 30+ minutes. I was convinced with her technique that I eventually bought one of her book on stretching. Highly recommended!! 

But two months before my wedding, the results were still a bit slow so I decided to combine with yoga and pilates. So I signed up with a nearby fitness group and joined their workout. I woke up real early for some of the classes. Those exercises were awesome!! 

Hehe... I am so dedicated. I'd like to think. :P

Well, the combination of that and perhaps my intolerant stomach, I finally hit my target weight!! (Nights I spent crying in bed because I felt so bloated and nausea from food intolerance that I didn't want to eat yet I am hungry. It was horrible!!) 

Yeay~!

But then days later my hubby came back, and within a short period of 4 days, I had gained 4kg!! (Way more than I initially weight). 

So, basically... 

I finally hit 50kg...

and it's gone~!

O well....