In Motion

Last week was a testament to how God provides ever so graciously. At first, I was worried because I had nothing on my schedule and JW had to start working overtime to prepare for his defense. Read: Boring week with no one to talk to and nothing to do except read. But praise be to God, my schedule filled up spontaneously - toy shopping with SoY, shopping with friends, shopping with JW, dinner out with JW and EF. I also made dumplings (gyoza or potstickers) for the first time ever with a few Chinese friends. At the end of last week, I was so happy tired. "Happy tired" can be likened to the state after exercising where you're sore all over but feeling good about it. It's not an official adjective (yet) but it's my favourite state of being. =P This week is another one of those without JW (he will be present physically but absent mentally) as he preps for his defense next Wednesday.  However, I now have a few more goals - compiling my own cookbook (which really mea...

My family (as in the Yap family) has never been big on celebrations. We don't make a big fuss out of birthdays, what more festivals like Chinese New Year. Being 80% introverts (dad's really the only true extrovert), we've always been happy to celebrate it on a tiny scale  meaning we buy the tidbits for our own consumption . =P We didn't get new clothes during Chinese New Year either, mainly because shopping during that period was a nightmare. Just to clarify, even the slightest congestion is a nightmare by our standards, and that's why we hardly ever go to malls on weekends. In addition to that, mum's philosophy was "Why limit yourself to new clothes now when we can buy them all year round?" I must say I agree with that philosophy wholeheartedly. =P Giv en how  blasé we were about CNY in Malaysia , being here in the States where CNY isn't a holiday isn't a huge deal to me. I do miss the tidbits, though, and the family. Rene's back home...

As 2015 gradually comes to a close, I figured I should write a post about this remarkable past year and the ways that I have changed since coming over to the States. I'm writing this in advance because come January 31st, I'll be in Gatlinburg with the husband counting down to the New Year. Exciting! =D As I type these words, Jasmine is quietly snoozing on top of a comforter in her dog bed on the futon in a heated apartment with Christmas music playing in the background. American dogs, pffft, so spoiled. =P For the first time in my life, I am fully responsible for the life of another creature. I loved Lara as well, but mum was really the one who took care of everything from her food to her vet bills. With Jasmine, her quality of life depends solely on me (and JW, of course, but if things get tough, he always says she's my dog =P). That's a whole different level of love and commitment. We also don't have a backyard for her to romp about in, so I need to walk her da...

I had an amazing weekend with Jia Wern. Technically speaking, all my weekends are amazing because I get to spend a lot of time with him. But last weekend felt magical. I know it sounds corny, but you know how it feels like when you just have a lot of fun spending quality time together? The beautiful surroundings helped, too. ;) This post will be about our weekend because it was sooo awesome. =D On Saturday, we went to Northgate Mall and had a lot of fun shopping/window shopping. It's always fun to find pretty things at great bargains, so much so that we spent a good two hours there mostly in the same shop. Jia Wern claims that he had fun, too, but I bet I had more fun than he did since I'm...a girl. We're talking costume jewelry so yeah. =P This whole thing for only 5 dollars! Even after conversion, it's cheaper than  Malaysian prices. =P After that, we went to explore a grocery shop, which happened to be on Ninth Street. The grocery shop wasn't THAT exc...

Everyone knows that not everything on the Internet is true.   But it's not just the Internet. Even scientific studies and research have been proven wrong/inconclusive through further research featuring more precise instruments, different population samples, or through dispelling certain biases that the previous researchers had. Oftentimes, these new revelations don't even happen until decades later, and THEN someone comes along and goes, "That's a myth, don't you go believing it because there's been a new study that proves yadi yada." So today's bone to pick is, how can we ever KNOW anything for sure? Even if we quote studies and statistics from a current journal, there might very well be another study in progress that disproves whatever we want to quote to support our beliefs and philosophies. This just ends up making us look silly, especially if we were in the process of vehemently defending something we fiercely believe in. For example, whet...

It's been a somewhat crazy day, starting from church in the morning, Uncle Baru's place for lunch, home for an hour-long chat with the boyfriend, Nish's place for post-lunch, and finally the airport for Rachelle. At 3pm, I headed home to crash until 6pm, and had dinner at Fook Xing after with the family. Dad called to order the food in the car at 6.30, said we'd be there by 7, and at 6.45 the person who took the order called back to ask if we were there already because the food was ready to be served. Good thing we were already looking for a parking space at that time! From left : Signature Tofu (top), Midin belacan (bottom), Szechuan soup (middle), Mani chai with egg (top right), Sweet and sour pork (bottom left). And vinegar in a bowl but that's not important. *For whoever's interested, Fook Xing is located at some obscure building in Jalan Sekama just opposite the famous kolo mee stall. Anyway, we decided to make this year's Christmas a little...

Do you know how terrible it is to crave some food item, knowing full well that you can't have it in the immediate future? I do. It's particularly annoying/depressing/frustrating when I'm supposed to be concentrating on my studies because it's exam season, and the only available food is cafe food. To make things worse, my roommate shares my longings and we usually end up discussing our sad, sad life instead, intensifying our depression. *sigh* It's also odd that I feel these cravings unusually strongly when I'm prepping for exams. Perhaps it's my brain protesting all that mental labour. Hmm. That, was just the long-winded introduction to how I have been indulging myself in good-sized portions of good food back home in Kuching. Had to justify my gluttony, hence the pitiful tale wrought with emotion. =P I think my tummy is bulging a little more than usual, but I'll probably lose all that fat when I get back to Nilai and have nothing but cucumbers and s...