Gong Xi Fatt Chai 恭喜发财 Xin Nian Kuai Le 新年快乐

It's the first day of Chinese New Year. Let me wish everyone here a Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year . Oh ya.. learn this from my friend "恭喜发财 ，紅包拿來,  不给红包，不准进来". So ...ahem ahem... just joking

Anyway, how was your reunion dinner? Okay? This year Ah Kong and Ah Mah(Grandparents) came to town instead of we "balik kampung"(go back home town) and they stayed for reunion dinner.

This year, Tesco was selling frozen abalone very cheap. Mamarazzi also grabbed a few but how to cook ah? No idea but after asking a few some Youtube video... okay la. Can cook la.

Last week Papa was asking wanna cook what for reunion dinner ah? Mamarazzi was saying dunno.. no plan yet. Ah Ma said cincai eat la. Eat pizza also can la.

Then... then... then... the influence of Facebook again. So many picture of poon choi dish  pop up. Seem like this year "heng"(trendy/popular) having "Poon Choi"a.k.a. Treasure Pot. Poon Choi is basically a collection  of good food served in a big claypot.

We had had Pooon Choi at restaurants before and tasted good though it was quite pricey. But to cook Poon Choy...how ah? How to cook?

Mamarazzi being Mamarazzi... of course pakai hentam (simply wack) again la. Just sumbat(stuffed) everything into the pot and boil... errr...sorry no claypot... normal pot also can la. Don't know how to make the broth/gravy ...so just used back the water from boiling abalone, dried oyster and scallop as soup/gravy base la.  Added into the pot are..cabbage, yacon, broccoli, super shy prawns, dried oyster, stuffed mushroom, abalone , roast pork...alamak...not enough space for roast pork... okay just do magic la.

Magic show... roast pork becomes a separate dish by itself. Add some fried chicken. 

Some "treasure bags" aka fried wantan and Fried enoki mushroom wrapped in wantan skin. Papa added some century eggs.

Super-duper sweet lotus root soup. Added into the soup was peanuts, dried oyster, scallop, yacon , goji, red dates and "phoenix claw"(chicken feet la).

Another magic dish. Not enough space to stuff into the Poon Choi Pot. The extra sweet pea and broccoli becomes another dish after she added some enoki mushroom a stir fried again. Kinda over cooked but can la....

What's the moral of the story? You'll need a bigger pot to cook Poon Choi. *LOL* Overall, Poon Choi was not that hard to make . It looked good and tasted good. Plus it's quite economical as compared to cooking all the dishes individually. Doesn't waste food too, as you can estimate how many pieces of goodies to put in for each person who is eating.

Blurp..... super-duper full dinner. Wash it down with an Ice-cream and also play some Pop Pop at the car porch. Yea.... now can't play fire works anymore.

Papa asked Mamarazzi to prepared some ang pau. ... I also wanna "help" la. Received a few angpau via Ah Mah's courier service. Thank you very much.

Ahem... guess what.... despite the heavy dinner, I was hungry again an hour later. Went and cook Yee Mee to eat and added TWO eggs into the noodle. Mamarazzi said she thought this is the year of Pig. Not the year of snake...how come the eggs in the fridge gone missing so fast ah???

Tonight, had another heavy dinner...but that's another story...maybe. ....

Meantime, goodnight and sweet dreams.

January 2019 Wrap Up

Hello again everybody. Yea.. we have gone missing again since mid December 2018. 

Nothing much to report for December 2018. Mamarazzi was not in the mood to do anything. Not even to put up Christmas tree, She keep saying tired, So we hang out at home. And on Christmas Day we hang out at shopping mall. Yes... I have grow much taller, right? Yea... Mamarazzi said so too. Will be taller than her soon.

But she did helped me to bake a batch of cookies for Christmas Party held at my tuition centre. The cookies were very yummy. I get to decorate some of them... errr... those ugly ones she let me eat and I use the leftover icing to decorate as I wish.

In January, a fresh school terms starts. Busy busy busy. Again have to wake up early to go to school.

Mamarazzi was busy with her Big Bad Wolf Books hoard. She got her mojo to read again and looking for KL Noir series ever since. She saw in  Facebook that a lady found KL Noir books at a clearance sale in Evolve Mall. The lady said have to hunt for it as the books were jumbled up.

One evening after we had dinner, Mamarazzi asked Papa to drop us at that mall for 30 minutes.  Mamarazzi asked my help to find KL Noir books for her. Hey! what do you know. I found them within 5 minutes. Got myself a comic about  our Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir too.

Next week is Chinese New Year. Mamarazzi did not have mood to prepare CNY goodies this year till very late. A few friends enquired whether she will be selling but she decline.Super-duper hot weather.

Only last week did she started to have "wind" to make CNY goodies. Started with Nian Gao(Chinese sticky Glutinous Rice Cake) and followed by fry Chinese Arrowhead Chips. Eight hours of straight frying yield two containers of the chips. Distributed most to friends already. Left only the yellow container. And by end of last week, only half the yellow container is left.

 Went and bought another 9.5kg of Chinese Arrowhead to make chips.

Monday, her "tornado" came. Made Pineapple tarts. Yea... due to influence from FB again.

Gosh ...what would this world be without FB?

She saw in FB , friends making cute little piggy shaped pineapple tarts. She also wanna try her hand on some la, Wah... not easy to shape the tarts leh. The dough was so soft and hard to handle. 

In the end, she only managed to make 1 tray of piglets pineapple tarts.

The rest, she just roll into balls and poke a clove into it to make it look like mini oranges. 

At the same time she was multitasking too. Made final batch of Nian Gao. Not so nice looking this time as the fire too big. It overflowed but no leak. 

Yesterday she fried the 9,5kg of Chinese Arrowhead. Took her another 8 hours to complete. She also made final batch of pineapple tarts. 

I came home from school and polished off one layer of the tarts. Oh boy... it was very delicious. I wanted to eat second layer of pineapple tarts but she don't let. Wait for today. 

Oh ya... did I tell you she also "Made" " pig trotter"? It's a joke which means  feet or leg that is swollen till look like a pig trotter. Ya, it's the end result of her two days of baking and frying marathon. 

Hey, no worries. After a night rest, her feet are okay already. The swelling subsided.

okay... here to wish you a Happy Chinese New Year (just in case Mamarazzi lazy to blog ) and a Happy February.

Travel Until You Find Your Destination In Life

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Travel is by far one of the most incredible things that you can do in your life. It's something that gives

you the opportunity to explore and move around endlessly until you find what you're looking for. Most

of the time, no one really knows what that is until they've found it, which is already an experience

within itself. If you still haven't gone off on your adventure yet, it's worth asking yourself why. Is it

because you feel as though you have too many responsibilities to take care of, like your job, or your

family, or your social commitments? Well, whatever the reason may be, have you ever thought that it

may be your comfort excuse? Something that you use in order to get out of things that you're

nervous about. You see, the initial idea of travelling can be extremely daunting, and this is perfectly

normal to see it this way. You're essentially going somewhere that you've never been to before, while

the people are speaking a language around you that you don't understand, as well as new cultures and delicacies you don't know anything about. Because of all of this, it can have you feeling vulnerable, but you need to realise that vulnerability isn't a bad thing. You can learn and discover so much about yourself just from letting go and allowing yourself to flow with the waves. One thing that will be beneficial to you, is knowing that there really is no right time to do anything in life. You, in fact, make the time right.

There are so many different roads that you can take in order to get to one destination, but there are
also many different destinations to reach too. Every different stage of your life is another chapter to
complete, and what better way to explore those by being in a new environment every time?

Your surroundings play a huge part in your overall well being. The outside world effects you in so
many ways that you wouldn't even realise. For example, if you are used to living in a city, you will be
used to industrial life, places full of artichect, traffic, and a general rush of life. So to go from this setting
to a place where trees have never been greener, the air has never smelt fresher, and the mother
nature has been untouched - this a shock to the system in all the right ways. This is also why people
swear that travel helps your mental health, because it takes you out of your rut - literally and
metaphorically.

So here's all you need to know about travelling until you find just what you're looking for, and more.

Don't carry too much.

When on your travels, you will be very tempted to pack as many things as you can, as it's very easy
to find another reason or scenarios where you'll need to bring another pair of shoes. But you'll soon
learn that with travelling, less is certainly more. If you want to be able to move from place to place
without all the unnecessary baggage, then carry light. Having said that, there will be times where you
see something that you can't ignore and you must buy it, no matter how random it may be. When
moments like this arise, you shouldn't feel as though you can't have what you want, but if you're
worried about trying to transport it wherever you go, then ship it! If you want to purchase souvenirs
along the way, then don't let anything stop you. Once you reach a storage limit, simply have your
things posted to your friends or family back in your hometown that can hold onto everything while
keeping it safe for the time being.

Know when to pause.

No matter wherever you go, remember that you can stop whenever and wherever you wish. There are
no rules as to how long you're on the move for, it just depends what you fall in love with. You may be
travelling around Asia and make a stop in Singapore, and immediately know where you need to be so
you look at an HDB for rent. Finding a place to rent gives you the chance to slow things down and
really enjoy where you are and the lifestyle that surrounds you, learning as much as you can. You can
settle down for a few months, or maybe even a year. Learn the language, the culture, and build more
around you as your chapter goes on. As mentioned earlier, life seems to be so fast-paced nowadays
that it's essential to take time out to pause and appreciate all the wonderful things out there.

Be a social butterfly.

You will come across so many different people when you travel, and that's one of the reasons it's such
a beautiful thing to do. As a human, we long to make connections, that's something that we require in
order to survive and be happy. Travelling allows you to meet people you may have never come across
in your ordinary life. You get to meet locals that take pleasure from teaching you new things and
showing you all the hidden gems that their country has to offer. And you will also meet other
like-minded travellers that are out there on their own adventure and answering questions about
themselves. You can share stories and learn about their own reasons as to why they're doing this,
giving you a little inspiration, and possibly even inspiring others yourself. And who knows, you may
end up making some friends for life.

Now you see what things to think about and what benefits that they offer you, there is no time like the
present. Life is full of so much wonder and fascination, and yet it is cruelly fast and over before you
know it, so don't let time consume you and take control over the things that you want to see and do in
your life. There is a lot that we can't control, and that can be very scary and frustrating at times, but
rather than spend your life stressing about these things, focus on what you do have a say over, like
what choices and decisions you make in your life. Every little choice adds up and puts you on a new
road, and where you go is entirely up to you.

It's always a good idea to speak to your family and friends and let them know your plans. They will be
able to give you their opinion and support. You have to be prepared for some people to be against
getting up and leaving the country, as they will have their own fears and insecurities about things,
which is of course understandable. But at the end of the day, if this is something that you want to do,
then you need to do it. This is your life, and so you're in charge of the happiness you allow yourself to
have. Some people may not understand certain choices and decisions that you make as a result, but
some will. Some, if not all will be excited and joyful of the idea that you're doing something you've
always wanted to do, and are beginning the rest of your life the way you want to. Just be sure to take
plenty of photos and videos to send back to them so they can all be jealous of your amazing travels
around this oh so beautiful world.

The Internet is a Life Essential

We are now living in the modern age of technology and technology now practically now runs the world. There is technology all around us and we are practically using technology in every thing that we do. And every single day we are advancing forward with the technology that we have and our researchers, technologists and innovators are finding ways to advance our technology. As per technology's usual agenda, it's ultimate goal is always to make our lives easier, faster and quicker - and one of the most useful products of technology is the internet. The internet has enabled us to connect to anyone with around the world instantly and conveniently. The internet has also paved avenues for other technologies to advance. Thus the internet is actually now an essential to live a life that is up to the times. 

Currently, you can't live a life that is maximized and as fast as the world is revolving. The internet has enabled us to live life faster and to make our tasks easier, and it has uncountable applications in our lives now. 

The Internet is essential for maximizing the use of our smartphones 

We are now living in a time where we all have our smartphones in our hands or in our pockets - it's because our smartphone is the quickest way to connect us to the internet. And our smartphones are the most useful and it is also the most equipped with the most softwares and applications that can help us get our lives be lived easier. 

Our smartphones and tablets like the ones in optimum.com are equipped with a lot of applications and softwares that are up to the times - however, a lot of these applications require a reliable connection to the internet. 

The combination of the internet and the smartphone is a very powerful weapon and tool in this day and age, and these are some of the applications and their nature that you can utilize: 

1. Social Media - Social media is one of the quickest ways to be connect with the world and its current events. It is also one of the quickest and easiest ways to stay informed and aware about what's happening in this world. Also, social media is also the best platform to express your thoughts and feelings to the world, and it is also the one of the quickest ways to share art and business. Social media has been one of the best platforms for communication and connecting with people with anyone in the world. 
2. Video Calls are also enabled with the use of the internet - and it is critical and very useful for people who have relatives and friends that are abroad or out in a very far location - this can help people feel like that they are in the presence of their loved ones. 
3. Education - the internet has been a big help to students and researchers any where around the world. The internet has made it easier to research and search for knowledge that will take you hours to search for in a library. With one click on the search engine, you open up a whole wide world of information that can be utilized in any research. Also, the Ivy League schools have now released their manuscripts and academic research materials to the online world and it can be easily accessed now by anyone - and this makes the internet an essential for educational progress and the internet makes of a tool that is efficient and effective for any student that connects to it. 
4. Online Workplaces – The internet has also enabled us to work in online workplaces or online platforms. And the convenience and productivity that these online workplaces bring improves the lives of anyone who hops onto it. The availability of online workplaces has various advantages to whoever who uses it. For students, they can utilize online workplaces to be able to work with their classmates or groupmates at the comfort of their own homes, and they can now say goodbye to the days where they have to physically meet up to do their assignments. And as per employees, they can now utilize online workplaces to actually acquire and work from employers who are in the same online workplace. 

This is why the internet is such an essential tool in this day and age and why it is such a powerful tool that is of our advantage.

Big Bad Wolf Books Sale Kuala Lumpur 2018 2nd Trip

We have been hunting with the Wolf for a decade now. Previous was just a regular customer and in the recent years, we were fortunate to get preview passes. 

Mamarazzi still remember what Mr Wolf said in the early years. He said , many customers that come for the first trip will definitely return again for a second or third hunt. 

Yup.. based on our experience, one trip is never enough as Mr Wolf and his crews would replenish the floor with new titles frequently. No tables are left empty. 

We went for our second hunt last Thursday. Why Thursday? Coz it's exactly 1 week after the Preview Day. The venue would be flooded with new titles again . Books that are different from the Preview Days.  

True enough. Gosh... wish Mamarazzi had allocated more hours there. Four hours are not enough to go through all the sections. Only managed to browse Fiction and some parts of children books. 

This round, Mamarazzi zoom for her books while I am left hunting on my own. 

I found the Minecraft book that I wanted, 

And more Minecraft books

And Mr Wolf had saved 4 Minecraft books for me after an S.O.S from Mamarazzi. I have been searching for the Red Diamond book for a long time. Thank you Mr Wolf and Marcus.

On Preview Day Mamarazzi bought some Chinese comic books for me. I found that I like them very much. So I went and pick up some more. Came home, Mamarazzi asked why I only took five. I said expensive ah...but she said it's dirt cheap at RM1.50 each. Should have taken more.

After reading about LAST CALL TABLE from KLBAC FB, Mamarazzi zoomed to the table. Sure enough. There are plenty of good books from RM3 to RM8.

She found these book at the LAST CALL TABLE . RM8 each only. 

RM6 magazine also found there. Too bad no more Nat Geo.

Instead , she bought this for me. This type of magazine usually is very expensive.

Then she went hunting at the fiction section. Found two more books for her reads.Yummy yummy.

While walking towards the children section, she spotted these at the BBW Members counter. 

Yes, BBW Members gets extra discount.  She took them for me while sending out Whatsapps to her gang. They wanted these books too but when Mamarazzi went back to the counter, the LEGO Official Annual 2018 fully sold off. Only left Ninjago.

Aisey! lesson learnt. Next time must grab a few sets first before WhatsApps friends. huh huh huh, 

From the children section, she found these for me. Yay! now i have the complete set of the Robots books.

From the children section, Mamarazzi found this book. She wanted it for herself

This is because not only the stories are good but the illustration was beautiful too. 

This round, we only managed to get two graphic novel. 

Helped friends to do some book hunting too. 

Well, after getting food for the brain...it's time for food for the body. I can eat the whole lot. Famished.

Harvested some mangoes yesterday. Mamarazzi is making mango pickles to eat while reading our BBWKL2018 haul. 

Hey! she finished 2 of the BBW books already. One of them is KL Nior White. She said it's very good. Very dark and dangerous. Definitely for those 18 years old and above. Hoping to get the other 3 books of this series.

Hmmmm... I wonder whether we shall go for the 3rd and final hunt on Monday. Yup... it's the last 3 days of the BBWKL2018 sale. Better head over too MIECC while you can.  Yesterday the Wolf announced that they have re-stocked.There will be a whole lot of delicious books waiting for your this weekend at MIECC.

Big Bad Wolf Books Sale 2018 on Preview Day

Thanks again to Mr Wolf for the preview passes so that me and my friends can go for the preview. I had a great time there.

This round, Mamarazzi assign me as the photographer as her phone had gone wonky(anyone wanna sponsor her a new phone? ). It tend to overheat whenever camera function is used or it suka-suka go on and off.

This year the Wolf brought home a whole load of Children books for the preview day. Mamarazzi had gone crazy looking at those books . Most are too young for me but luckily there is a friend who just had a newborn grandchild.

She had fun hunting baby books for her friend. Aiyo! price dirt cheap!. Wish could buy everything in the house.

Mamarazzi feels that the fiction section had shrink but... the quality of book seems to be better that previous years. There are more updated and popular books to be found. They even have a WHOLE table of Harry Potter related books! Not that am crazy about  HP but Mamarazzi is.

Also they have Rick Riordan series. This RR chap seems to be pretty popular these days. Everyone are talking about him.

Aiks... I thought Roald Dahl only writes children books? wow.. so many titles for adult books. Mamarazzi was really tempted to buy but the she already read some of the titles.

Chinese section had expand too. Well... not that am keen on that.  Lucky Mamarazzi is "banana" . Or else she would grab a whole loads of Chinese books for me.

Well, she did tried to grab some for me but it got banned by me. Only a few got my green light. Yea... I don't like to read Chinese but...

Bahasa Melayu/Malaysia section had expand too. Many good quality books can be found there. I went one round there but it's not my cup of Milo. But Mamarazzi eyes were pretty big looking at those books.

Wow... magazine like Dewan pelajar, Dewan Siswa, Dewan Masyarakat is only RM10 a bundle of 12. Yea.. it's last year issue but hentam la.

Her eyes grown even bigger when she saw this. Who still remembers Master Q? Ahem... who is this Lao Fu Tze... ? Hmmm generation gap..

She grabbed a few for herself  me. Okay la... since it's comic. I will try to read la.

After one round of browsing. Mamarzzi walk one more round just in case something escaped her attention. True enough! She saw some Jie Jie promotion something called Augmented Reality books. What is that? It seems that we need to download Hippo Magic free Apps to our phone or tablets . Then scan the front cover of the book. When we turn the pages, the characters will come alive.



Okay okay ... it's hard to explain...maybe this video we  made will explain it better. Yea... Mamarazzi bought one home. Said can give to friend's kid for pressie but before that we "open" it to test.
The good thing about this book  is that you can read it as it is(without using the apps) or you can use the apps for a better reading experience.

According to the Jie Jie there, they have seven books - Three Little Pigs, The Velveteen Rabbit, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, The Night Before Christmas, Let's Learn Counting 123 and Let's Learn Alphabet ABC.

Mamarazzi search their website... Yikes! Original price was USD9.99. And BBW price is only RM15. So cheap! Way to go Mr Wolf!

Guys! Faster go and grab them!

Walk some more and found plenty of this and those  metal containers books. Saw many people taking whole trolley full of those. Might be for gift or maybe reseller?

This set nearly escape her attention as it was place at the very end of the non-fiction area. It's a harmonica set with neat carrying box and instruction on how to play it. Price? RM10 only!

Get your ear plugs on. Here I am trying out the harmonica set. 

This round really shopped till I drop lo.  We got caught at the rush hour jam. The queue for payment was nearly till the entrance.

Initially, Mamarazzi thought it's system down. But surprisingly the queue was moving quite fast. Only queue for about half an hour despite the long line. The supervisors at the cashiers were very efficient too in controlling the crowd.

The careful cashier also helped a lot.  No mistakes on scanning twice or stuffs like that. Bravo!

Enjoying my new book while waiting for Papa to come and fetch us. 

Here are some of the books that Mamarazzi grabbed for me 

Nice buy.  Nat Geo for kid only RM8. 

And some Chinese comic  for me. 

A Maths set... 

Earlier on I ask Mr Wolf help to hunt down Minecraft books for this BBW and HE DID! I found this with the help of the staffs. Later on Mamarazzi saw people posting of other Minecraft books. She is asking Mr Wolf' help to keep a copy for me and he said will do. Yipee! Thank you Mr Wolf.

This round, Mamarazzi grabbed more books for herself. Her second childhood. Bought a box set of Paddington for herself. She have yet to unwrap the set yet. Said sayang wor.  But she have unwrapped her Winnie the Pooh book. She said smell so nice. But I said smell like IKEA. This year , most of the books in BBW have been shrink wrapped. Nice. Prevent damage to the books. Hopefully people will less likely to steal toys from the books la.

The Santa piano book was so cheap. RM10 only . She cant help herself . Close both eyes and buy la.

Her friend found KL Noir for her. What a good find it is.  Ahah... finally Harry Potter at an affordable price.

She managed to find some of out of print Dik Cerdas for herself. What a good buy. 

Okay... signing off for now. Don't forget to go to Big Bad Wolf Books Sale at MIECC ya... it's on now till the 17th of December. Its open 24hours non stop.