Books/Novels 2019

Books/Novels that I have read in 2019..

1. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
2. One Day In December by Josie Silver 
3. After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
4. Pestilence (The Four Horsemen #1) by Laura Thalassa
5. Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness Series) by Tamora Pierce
6. In the Hand of the Goddess (Song of the Lioness Series) by Tamora Pierce
7. Cold hearted rake by Lisa Kleypas
8. Creature Comforts by Trisha Ashley
9. Billionaire Neighbor by Lulu Pratt
10. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, this book is very difficult to read, emotionally.

This year, Emmett has picked up a reading habits too. I've been trying to get him to read for a few years now.  Only this year he started, and I purchased more books for him than for myself this time around. I am glad he enjoyed reading as much as I as do.

Books/Novels that Emmett read in 2019..

1. Tales of the Fallen Beasts (Spirit Animals: Special Edition) by Billy Merrell, Brandon Mull, Emily Seife, and Nick Eliopulos
2. Star Wars: A New Hope Junior Novel By (author) by Brandon Mull, Nick Eliopulos, Gavin Brown, Billy Merrell
3. The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #1) 
4. The Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #2) 
5. The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #3) 
6. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)
7. The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2)
8. The Wearle (Erth Dragons, #1) by Chris d'Lacey

My choice for the best book 2019 is...

One Day In December by Josie Silver 

 

Emmett's choice for the best book 2019 is...

The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #1) 

iPhone 11 Pro

I didn't pre-book my phone before the release date.  So I had to wait for a few weeks to get the specs that I want. 

And end of last month it is finally here.

What I love about this phone, besides of cause the camera, is the phone to phone transfer function, it is so convenient.

Just place it side by side together, connect to a WIFI, and wolla! 

From 8 to 11

With minimum reconfiguration, everything looks exactly the same with my previous iPhone.

I love it.

Roti Katip Cheese

Saya suka sangat Roti Katip di De’Zafron Kopitiam ni.

Nampak simple kan? Dalam pinggan ini ada telur mata kerbau, 1 keping cheese, kuah kacang dhal, dan 3 keping roti bantal. 3 engkau, 3!  All for RM4.50.

Sebab dah beberapa kali makan, memang saya tau saya tak dapat habiskan 3 keping roti tu, so hari ni, saya cakap kat makcik tu..

Me:  Kamek mauk Roti Katip Cheese sigek, roti nya letak 2 jak auk, banyak gilak 3 keping, sik habis mek makan. Sambal pun iboh juak.
Makcik: Sik dapat, roti ya kamek orang dah hitung cukup-cukup jak.
Me: Sik boh jak ungkah. Bukan kamek mintak extra.
Makcik: Sik dapat, kelak tinggal 1 jak, ganjil sia.
Me: hmm auklah.

Bila makanan datang, memang ada 3 keping roti dengan sambal sekali.  Confirm la saya keluarkan 1 keping roti letak tepi, sebab sayang kan kuah tu, nanti diserap dalam roti extra tu pulak.

Bila bizz dah bagus, masa tu lah customer not always right.

Makcik tu sanggup membazirkan roti extra tu, bukan nya saya mintak kurangkan harga pun.

Takpe lah makcik, esok-esok saya datang lagi, iboh jerak.

In My Kitchen #51

Sup ayam + tempoyak + terung asam

At the corner - Fried Chicken

Sayur campur - carrot, mushroom, cabbagе.

Local organic muskmelon. Ordered it from FB at RM25 each.

Mango sticky rice.

Sidewalk Cafe, Kuching

Sidewalk, we are back after many years of absence.
None of my children remember this place, so it must have been more than 10 years since the last time we dine here.
Location is still the same, the ambiance is still very much the same as I remember it.

We had..
Lamb shank - RM35.80

Deep fried chicken chop - RM18.80

Seafood marinara - RM28.80

✅ seafood were fresh n done right

❎ would prefer a bit more sour taste in the sauce

❎ too garlicky

And garlic bread - RM5.80

Joker (2019)

I am having a mixed feelings.

Should I go watch Joker?

When I saw the trailer, it makes me feel like the movie is going to tell a story of how a person becomes a bad person.

I have watched The Dark Knight (2008) and I remember clearly how well Heath Ledger played his role as Joker in that movie.  And I read somewhere it says that he is into too deep with the character which leads him to his suicide.  Or is it in my dream?  Yes, that’s how bad my impression of Joker, it even gave me nightmares.

I have a bad feeling that this latest Joker movie is there to justify Joker’s behaviour. I just don’t want to feel bad at the end of the movie, and start forgiving him for the things that he had done.  I want a superhero movie, I want somebody from zero to hero type.  I don’t want a movie about bad guys. I don’t want a depressing movie.  I need a feel-good movie, why this year we are lacking of a good movie? Why!

If I ever going to watch this, I will update it here.
Maybe I will, been months since my last movie, there’s just nothing worth watching lately. Sad.

Ok, enough ranting.  Let me know if you have watched this. xoxo.

Emmett's 1st Holy Communion

4 years of Sunday school, and he finally had his 1st Holy Communion ceremony last week.

The sacrament of First Communion took place during the Friday Evening Mass.  Total of 52 children graduated on that day, 26 young girls and 26 young boys.

Congratulations son for another milestone in your journey.
Next step is the Holy Confirmation.

See Eugene's 1st Holy Communion 2016

Bangkok Trip 2019

We did not plan much for this trip.
Most important, we wanted to enjoy eat, shop, sleep, and repeat.

My initial plan was to shop for these items:

• sunglasses
• Leather bag
• Outdoor quick dry cloth
• Coin purse as souvenirs
• Cosmetics, especially beauty blender.
• And lots of new clothes

My must eat list, boat noodles, wanton mee, sticky rive mango.  Had it all!

After window shopping on the 1st day, I find that the international brands clothes are not that cheap, after conversions I think I can get a cheaper price in Malaysia.  Blame it on the weak Malaysia Ringgit.  When we were in Bangkok in 2006, the exchange rate was about 100baht equal to RM10, but now 100baht equal to RM14. So much different.

Despite the poor conversion rate, I managed to grab the items below.  I felt like I didn’t shop enough, regretting not buying more clothes, but then again, when I list it down, it looks like quite a long list.

sunglasses - 1
Leather beg - 1
Leather purse - 1
Coin purse and keychains for souvenirs
Skin care - beauty blender, eyebrow pencil, aloe vera gel
Shorts - 1
Top - 1
Dress - 1
Leather sandal -1
Leather belt - 2
Walking shoe - 1
Leather watch strap - 1
Leather cards holder - 1
Hair clip - 1
Cashmere shawl - 1

Most of my shopping was done in Tokyu Department Store, MBK.  I was quite disappointed to find that there’s none Japanese brand handbag in that store. Maybe it was hidden from my eyes 😂

My catch.  Mostly from Tokyu.

Thai brand bags.

Hair clips. Many of hair clips in Tokyu and iSetan are made in Japan.

Sunglasses.

iSetan, Central World.

Our major expenses:

Flights - RM870 per person
Accommodation - RM700 per night
Taxi Airport - hotel - 800baht
Taxi hotel to airport - 500baht

Breakfast at Pathumwan Princess Hotel, Bangkok

The breakfast spreads were good, but nothing much to shout about.  Ohh how I miss hotel breakfast in Japan.  There’s always something new and exciting to discover, here we goes about Japan again.

But hey, at less they served bacon! That’s a huge upgrade from we have in Malaysia.

Didn’t take much photos since mostly what we had are similar for the following days.

So, here goes..

On adult plate..

On kids plate..

Yes, they serve Thai curry, steam bun, fruits, and many more common breakfast menu.

RWMF2019 | MACKA B

Reggae genre holds a special place in my heart. The 1st music album that I ever bought was UB40. 

If I remember correctly, I was in Form 1 at that time. I find that the Reggae music is quite rare, you can hardly hear it playing on radio, that’s why I decided to buy the cassette. 

Mind you, it's not an easy decision, at that age, to choose between buying a cassette, good food, or new  clothe, tough decision you know :)

What we normally did last time was just buy a empty cassette and record the song from the radio. ohhh missing those days.

So when I found out that a Reggae band was going to perform at #RWMF2019, I make a note in my head that I must go and see their show.  For info, this is the 1st time a Reggae group performing in RWMF.

It was a great show on that day. Brings back my school time memories. Love it!

Thank you Macka B !

Pathumwan Princess Hotel, Bangkok

We had a great stay at this hotel during our trip to Bangkok earlier this month.

We wanted to stay somewhere really close to a mall, not just walking distance kind of close, but linked or connected is we were looking for.  We were aiming for either MBK or Central World.  Unfortunately, hotel in Central World was already fully booked.  For info we only bought our flight tickets and book our hotel 2 days before our travel day.

But we are glad we chose this hotel.  Located right above MBK mall, making shopping so much easy.

Room is spacious, everything looks clean, view were great. Bathroom is big, full sized bathtub, separate wash closet. A huge different from what we had in Japan, I meant the bathroom.  Other than that, Japan trip still sit on top of our list for the best holiday destination so far.

Sorry, you will hear me comparing things with Japan now and then.  Can’t help it, since we have had our 3 consecutive trips to Japan for the pass years.

Wait until I go Europe than only you will see me comparing to Europe standards. hahaha, fingers crossed.

Ok, enough talking, here’s the picca of our room on the 17th floor..

The lobby

The corridor

Spacious room

Big Window

Spacious bathroom

Great view

Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) Carnival Sarawak 2019

Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) Carnival is an annual Carnival held at Kuching Waterfront.  This year it started from 14th until 20th August 2019.

I wanted to go from the beginning, end up only have time to visit it on the last day.  What I am interested in most is the local craft. Now it is becoming like trend where ladies have these weave handbags.  And I want one too. I am looking for a specific material which is the rattan.

So there I was on the last day of the carnival, browsing around.  The good thing about going on the last day is that you can get extra discount and the bad thing is you might only have the leftover designs. 

I ended up with these 3 items, small mat, basket and a handbag, all made of rattan.

These are my catch, macam sayang pulak nak pakai.

Judging Mind

We were having breakfast at our usual place this morning.  And as usual my husband and my sons are fully engrossed with their phones.  My eyes caught a sight of this lady, she is seating right opposite of me.  Her eyes and nose are red, clearly she has been crying.

Immediately my judging mind got activated.

I saw her eyes and nose are red.

My judging mind: she must be having a fight with her partner.  If she is not happy, she should get out of the relationship.  She is beautiful, looks younger than me, she is better off with someone else.

Then came a man seating in front of her.  I can only see his back.
My judging mind: This must be the boyfriend, you bettter treat her right, she is so beautiful, she can replace you anytime.

Then I saw the diamond on her ring finger.
My judging mind: so they are married. What has he done that make her looked so sad.

Then I saw tiny foot, a child is laying on the man’s laps.
My judging mind: what?! They have a child, the child is only like 2 or 3 months old. Maybe she is having a post natal depression? But no, it must be the husband, she did not even look up or talk to the husband the whole time. I hope everything will be fine, pity the child.

Yes, I am guilty as charged. Sometimes my mind likes to play Ally McBeal.  I know it’s bad to judge others, but that’s what happened when my mind is left unattended.  Maybe I should just look down on my phone more often.

All these conversations happened in my head while I was enjoying this bowl of Laksa  Sarawak.

Mordi & Grace

Date: 10th August 2019

Venue: Redeem, Bau

  

Congratulations cousin!

Self Make-up Class

A good friend of mine asking whether I want to join her for a self make-up class.  I am thinking, since 30 Jul 2019 is a public holiday, why not. Gaining a new knowledge is always a good thing, right?!

So there I was, attending my 1st makeup class yesterday.
If you think it's too late to learn makeup at a certain age, think again.  In our class yesterday, there was 2 ladies at the age of 60+ joining us, and we had such a fun day learning together.

I learned so much on that day, makeup is an art by itself, so many materials and equipment needed.  Not wonder they are called make up artist :)

Among the new things that I learn are: setting pray, face primer, eye primer, different types of concealer - green, purple, brown, cream, brush vs beautyblender.

My notes on that day..

Someday I wish to learn more on the tricks and shortcuts for great makeup.

As I learn, I discovered a few tips and tricks as below:

• Never use a dry sponge when applying foundation - soaking your Beautyblender completely in water activates the unique material. Then squeeze it to remove the excess water.  Press/tab the sponge into the skin rather than sweeping it across.  You can use the Beautyblender for concealer, cream contour, blush, and highlight too.

  

  Soft and fluffy BeautyBlender, highly recommended.

Ants

Our conversation early in the morning while driving him to school.

Emmett: Mom, can I keep ants as pet?
Mummy: Sure. We have plenty at home, you can keep those?
Emmett: Do you like ants?
Mummy: No, I don’t.
Emmett: But why? They are very hardworking.
Mummy: I know, they have good teamwork and very hardworking. But I don’t see any of it benefits us.
Emmett: I am sure they are useful in some way.  Emmm let me think. Ha! They help to move the dead cockroach.
Mummy: haha. You are right, they do have some benefit to us.

Emmett and his best friends.