My Kind of Place

Wasn’t planning on blogging today (because I only blog when I’m bored and I have no time to be bored considering I have a Statistics paper tomorrow nuuuu) but something just hit me in the head just now and I didn’t want to forget my (wonderful) idea so it’s best I write it down.

Being the nerd that I am, studying takes up a huge amount of my time. You know those statistics that you read on tumblr quotes and what not? Like ‘the average human being spends 3 years of his lifetime sitting on a toilet bowl peeing’. Yes I made that up, but hey! You never know. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is if there was a statistic of my life, I think the amount of studying I do will constitute a huge chunk of my lifetime.

Recently I have found it increasingly hard to study at home, what with all the distractions around – my computer (exactly what I’m doing now), my television, my bed, my imaginary dog… DISTRACTIONS. So I started finding places to study. During my SPM days I used to visit the public library a lot. But it soon got so boring and the quietness was quite claustrophobic. Also, there was another problem. The food at the library cafe SUCKED. It was edible yes, but that was about it. #firstworldpains wuwu

Since then I moved on to places like Starbucks, Coffee Bean and other coffee houses with a nice, cosy atmosphere. This was much better compared to the library. But it gets too noisy during lunch hours and instead of absorbing the notes in your textbook, you start absorbing other people’s conversations. #truestory (I once spent a good 30 minutes trying to figure out who ‘Sophia’ is and why two ladies were gossiping about her, to no avail) Also, places like Starbucks (despite the fact that I love it so much) are CRAZY SIAO expensive if you go everyday and stay there from morning to night.

Like, can you imagine ah?

Morning – Bagel, one latte = RM20

Lunch – Some pastry = RM 8

Dinner – Shepherd’s Pie =RM8

That’s RM36 X 5 (if you go 5 days in a week la, for example) = RM180

And this is assuming I drink only ONE drink and be cheap and ask for water refills continuously. #lifeofthecheap&fabulous

So I was thinking, what kind of place would I like to study at? And the dreamer in me started mentally painting out my ideal cafe.

Good music is a must, and when i say good I don’t mean radio good. I think a mixture of Romantic & 20th century era instrumentals, some smooth jazz and some classic Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel-ish vibe would seal the deal.

Next, I’d like a place that serves decent main meals and snacks to chomp on as well. At a decent price (DO YOU HEAR ME STARBUCKS? I dowan to pay RM8 for microwaved pastry that tastes less than mediocre!!) I want actual cooked dishes that fills the tummy, and snacks that can become my guilty pleasure while I work on that math question that refuses to be solved. Read: french fries, potato chips, ice cream. An assorted array of drinks, not only coffee. Perhaps a daily menu that changes would be good.

Of course, the decoration in my ideal cafe would be quite minimalist yet cosy. I’d have bookshelves everywhere filled with all sorts of reading material. I’d have warm yet bright lighting, so I can work properly without squinting. Must have wifi also lah because kids these days cannot live without their iMacs, iPhones, iPads, iDunnoWhatElse. I’d have a corner that allows sunlight to reach inside as well! I envision bean bags and short coffee tables (sitting on a hard chair for hours can be painful) with a few proper tables also, for the more studious.

I certainly hope my cafe will have 2 levels. The lower level being where the cake display, bar, cashier and kitchen is. Also, downstairs will be for customers who are going to engage in chatter i.e. casual meetings, discussions. Upstairs is where all the people who want to study in peace go to. There’s no strict rule that you cannot talk, but I’d like to instil a cafe culture where noise is kept to the minimum upstairs. You can come alone, or in pairs, or in a group, but we shall all chat in low tones and work silently :) Of course, you can still enjoy the wafts of grinded coffee/baked pastry aroma that travels upstairs from the kitchen.

This, guys and girls, is my ideal place to sit down and study for long hours. :) This is also one of those things that is a dream, and will probably stay like that forever too. I LOVE the idea of running my own cafe, but I cannot see myself having the guts to do it anytime in the future. I’ll probably be a business consultant in one of those corporate giants, working 9-5, getting stuck in a jam  and coming home ragged and tired. Only to repeat the entire cycle again the next day :p

Testing Out Maxim!

Yes, our family (or specifically my brother) welcomed a new addition to our humble home not too long ago. Say hi to Maxim, our DSLR! :D

Haha funny how I used my bb camera to take a picture of a much more professional and handsome looking camera. Anyway, Maxim is a Canon EOS 600D (honestly though, I know nothing about cameras) and the reason we got him is so that my brother can produce more professional filming projects and all the thingamajiggies he does. That being said, I think I should learn to use the camera as well so I can document more shot-worthy moments in life :p

So anyway, on the very day we got Maxim, we happened to be in KL so we thought, why not test-try the camera? So, here’s some random pictures just to fill up some space :P

Hokkien Mee, which is culture for perhaps all Malaysian Chinese people. Although personally, I don’t particularly like the taste of the yellow mee in this dish. It has what we call ‘Guan Sui Mei’ or this lingering taste of boric acid that doesn’t go away and my, it’s disgusting. I don’t avoid this dish like a plague or anything, I’d just prefer something else any time! (I do like the fried lard pieces in it though :3)

Yes, I’d totally go for something like this over Hokkien Mee! Cantonese Fried Noodles (Wat Tan Hor) is usually on the menu together with hokkien mee most of the time. This restaurant I went to serves it with beef pieces together with ginger and spring onion (姜葱牛河) and it was mad delicious!

Old school menu and signboard! Yes, the place we went to is called Restoran Sang Kee, somewhere inside a dilapidated shack (no, seriously) opposite Chin Woo Stadium and somewhere around the Methodist Boys School KL. My dad, an alumnus of MBS was feeling rather nostalgic after dinner and decided to take us on a tour of his old school -.-

If you ever go there though, don’t order the fried rice because it’s a major letdown. Usually chefs who can cook good Cantonese Fried Noodles should be able to cook a good plate of fried rice, but evidently this wasn’t the case :(

Anyway, life update as of 11th January:

First up, exams have officially started for me. I’m taking 11 papers this term, and so far I’ve finished 2. Those two were practical papers, so they’re not too difficult yet but I don’t want to be overconfident. I have about a week more to study for the upcoming 9 papers, so I’m going back to Starbucks again tomorrow! A conversation with Ian went something like this the other day:

Me: I must produce good exam results, because I’m A-sian, not B-sian! (Geddit? :B)

Ian: No, you’re not A-sian. You’re an A*sian.

Me: ._. 

Wish me luck for the coming papers! imma ace you papers!!

Second thing, I’ve just been rejected by Cambridge not too long ago. And yes it’s terribly disheartening but I’ve come to realise it’s not the end of the world nor is Cambridge my entire world. In fact, I think I’ve passed my mourning period! (cos I’m capable of making jokes about my rejection and laughing when a friend made a meme out of my rejection) So, life goes on and hopefully, I’ll get into the other universities I’ve applied to *crosses fingers* I , however, have had the pleasure of being friends with someone who did get accepted to Cambridge! :D so this is a shoutout to Fong Kah Jo (although he will never read this) for being the short clever non-nerd who is currently looking forward to meeting hot intelligent girls in Cambridge. :p

Bye Cambridge, I guess we were never meant to be. *weeps sorrowfully*

Alright, this is a post meant for closure. Hahaha someone told me I’ll get back up stronger from downfalls. I think I most certainly will :p goodbye!

A Japanese Poem

テスティング、テスティング。

はい、私はカルメンです。はじめまして。

きょは　たいへん　あついです。

日本語は大変むずかしです。

さよなら、来週　わたしは　試験を　します。

わたしは　たいへん　疲れました。

LOL have fun google translating this. I tried. Results were hilarious.

I’m in a Boyfriend Shirt

An ex-boyfriend of mine believes that girls should never put on make up. In fact, every time I apply make up in his presence, he’ll say out loud in a disapproving tone, ‘Girls don’t look pretty in make up lah. Natural beauty best.’ And even when he doesn’t say anything about me, he would insinuate this point with other examples. The ironic thing is this person is obsessed with Korean popstars, all who look like this:

tell me which one of them doesn’t have make up on. Now there’s no denying that they are extremely gorgeous looking girls (the shallow attention seeking side of me wouldn’t mind looking the slightest bit like any of them) but their faces are covered in make up and he still thinks of them as goddesses. -.- If said ex boyfriend ever stumbles upon this, he’ll probably say that his goddesses look equally good, if not better, sans make-up. Maybe, maybe not. But that’s not my point.

Whenever the ex used to hint that I look horrible in make up, my self esteem took a plunge for the worse. I’m a teenage girl and this is the phase where we all start experimenting with ways to make ourselves look better. (Who dowan to look better lah?) I see all my friends slowly putting on eyeliner, blusher, lipstick one by one, and all of them to me look prettier after berdandan-ing. So I didn’t understand why even with the slightest bit of eyeliner on, I’d receive annoying I-think-you-look-horrible vibes from him.

I thought he was being terribly hypocritical and insensitive (actually I still think so), but the relationship has ended and his views no longer concern me. (THANK GOD) What I’ve learnt though, is that I shouldn’t let anyone define beauty for myself. Women generally put on make up to look better and feel better about themselves, so as long as I think I look good, that’s all that matters. *cue I am Beautiful, no matter what they say..

I’ve always wanted to talk about this but like I said, I’m the laziest person on the face of this planet, so no can do. LOL And also because said ex-boyfriend is on an insensitive rampage again today (about things I view MUCH more seriously and has nothing to do with cosmestics) I feel like being a mean person. Yes, sometimes I don’t want to be the better person, so eat that. :)

And since I’m already halfway blogging, might as well continue talking about boring stuff la so you can switch off your computer and go to sleep kthxgoodnitebye. Recently I’ve been going to Starbucks almost every day, it’s almost as if I’m addicted to the place. I even got myself a Starbucks card (eh everyone should go get one, trust me you’ll feel more privileged one!) and get this, I don’t even drink coffee. Yes I hate drinking coffee and I don’t consume one ounce of it unless I have to stay up late and need that caffeine boost. So, what do I drink in Starbucks? Ok Starbucks 101 guide for non-coffee lovers:

Green Tea latte K lah I think everyone knows what a green tea latte is, but it’s still a great cuppa! I’m getting bored of it though, because I drink it so much.

Black Tea Latte One of the more underrated drinks in Starbucks. Plain ole cuppa’ Morning Breakfast teabag with milk and froth, but it makes a fantastic study drink. Tried one for the first time today :)

Hot Chocolate You can choose from their Signature, Caramel or Hazelnut. I’ve tried the Signature and Hazelnut, and both are good, although they taste very similiar and the Signature is cheaper. #kiamsiap The drink is very very rich though, so perhaps avoid ordering on a full stomach.

Tazo Tea This is an imported bottled flavoured tea drink. (Omg I just used like 3 adjectives in the last sentence) Choose from Brambleberry, Mango, Peach (& other flavours if there are but I forgot) with a cup of ice. RM11+ for a bottle, but so darn good.

And of course there’s the frappucinos but I’m not a big fan of ice blended stuff. I think Starbucks should hire me as a promoter, because I’m the best person for the job #shameless. Kidding. Or not. ;) But yes, I mad LOVE studying there because the staff is friendly, the ambience is nice, the music is good and not the trashy kind you hear on radio everyday. My mother says she cannot afford my expensive atas needs anymore, so I’ll be willing to let anyone in on the best Starbucks outlet in exchange for a free drink! :p no seriously, my favourite Starbucks is the best ever. Already like my second home.

And of course, pictures (because everyone just likes to scroll down and see pictures I KNOW YOU ALL SO WELL).

Big picture of me first because I like it. :p

Chemistry notes!

Hahaha my dad is so cute. He saw this Angry Bird plush toy in my car, so when he won these bedroom slippers from his company’s annual dinner lucky draw he gave them to me! :)

Never even made concrete plans with these kawans but still bumped into them at my fav Starbucks outlet!

Embarassing things I do to de-stress from all the pre-exam stress. HEHE CAN GUESS WHAT IS THIS AH? I’m never telling. :p

My daily life in my second home !

K la tired already. Tomorrow I’m trying out a new Starbucks place that Baby Po said is pretty decent and quiet-looking (hopefully). Nighters! :)

p.s. sigh I missed a class party because of a family dinner. Now I’m hearing all these juicy stories about my classmates berbonding and getting wasted and I wasn’t there to join in the fun T_T

Cold December!

Growing up, I remember December as the month of happiness – school holidays, trips, Christmas… I remember looking forward to December all the time. In fact, just this time last year I was busy packing my bags for a trip to Hong Kong with my lovely girls.

Looking at this photo just makes me want to BAWL MY EYES OUT T____T

So, as I was saying, December was ever pleasant for as far as I can remember. Until this year arrived, that is. So instead of traveling or shopping or bimbo talking, no I’m expected to stay indoors at all times because of the heavy snowstorm that might cause an avalanche.

No I am joking. About the snowstorm. We live in Malaysia, so no snowstorms. No snow at all actually.

We do however, have COLLEGE. And EXAMINATIONS. Don’t get me started on much I hate A-Levels and what it’s doing to me right now. I am a self-professed nerd – I study hard to get good grades, please my parents and get whisked off to university. TRUE BLUE ASIAN. But I am also the laziest person I have ever known. :(  So I detest studying, simply because it requires a terribly huge amount of effort. Haih life would be so much easier if I grew up in a kampung and grew paddy. I would experience life simple pleasures (like playing with kerbau’s and dragonflies wtf) and probably wouldn’t even know what A-Levels mean.

So, December 2011 is all about studying Physics, Chemistry, Math and the cycle repeats itself x10000 times. I’m also missing out on Chinese New Year next year, if you think my life is miserable enough.

Anyway, these few days I put myself on holiday lololol. Yesterday was Christmas, so like the good girl I am, I went to church service in the morning, ate lunch with the family and went to sleep in the afternoon! For those of you who don’t know, my favourite hobby is sleeping. We can have a sleeping contest together and I can bet two packets of KitKat I will win. Today is my baby Po’s belated birthday celebration, since she was in Penang on the actual date of her birthday -.-

My baby Po’s boyfriend asked us to hide at TGIF @ The Curve while he brought her there. And while she didn’t give the :O :O :O expression, I’d still like to think she was pleasantly surprised. :) Happy Birthday baby Po <3 I hope we go to university and graduate and work and grow old, all the while remaining best hippo girlfriends! And of course, like the young bratty buay paiseh teenage girls we are, we hogged the Christmas decoration area at The Curve, probably annoying everyone else there with the nauseating amount of pictures we took.

 

eeAnd if you’re wondering, all the pics are taken with Chen’s iPhone 4S. I WANT T_____T I love my Blackberry a lot (A LOT, considering where it came from) but the iPhone takes so pretty pictures. Omg I’m so materialistic I’m ashamed. Haih ok la basically I blogged just to keep my poor blog alive and maintain whatever readership I still have.

Back to books! Love, your resident nerd!

 

 

Album Artwork

Time really flies, irrespective of whether you’re having fun or not. It is now November of the year 2011, a time where some countries start experiencing winter, but us near-Equator dwellers won’t see much difference in temperature. Weather here in Malaysia is just humid and rainy constantly, a sort of very concentrated wetness that just sticks to your skin whenever you’re outdoors.

I used to complain in high school that the year passes at a snail like pace, but it is an entirely different story this year. As I sit in front of my computer typing this, I’m also asking myself ‘Carmen, where did your entire year go?’ A question to myself which I have no answer to. I don’t know why is it already November! I can recall very well all the events that happened, the things I did, the people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, but why do all these things seem like they happened so long ago?

Alright, proper life update. November/December is also the month of mock exams, a sort of prequel to the real thing in January. To be specific, on Chinese freaking New Year. (rant rant rant rant rant). To be honest, your resident nerd has not been studying as hard as she should be. I’ve heard all sorts of horror stories about people not meeting their requirements for universities, and I cannot let that be me. So fine, SLNB (Studying Like Nobody’s Business) will begin.

Tomorrow :p (What? It’s 11.34pm already!)

On a totally random and unrelated note, I just updated my iTunes and cleared a lot of old junk from my hard disk. So I’m starting anew! (With iTunes I mean :p) I went on an album downloading spree in the afternoon, so I’m going to give all of you a dose of my taste in music. Presenting my iTunes display :)

Hehe take a look and see whether you recognise any of the album artwork! If you do, then you just might be listening to some pretty decent music too! ;) Some people say that the music that you listen to can reveal your personality. I think there’s a certain truth to it. I listen to quite a lot of  indie/folk/alternative rock, with the occasionally fancy for pop tunes that don’t go too mainstream. I also like knowing the latest chart-toppers and all, but I’d rather listen to them on the radio. Katy Perry’s The One That Got Away is my current favourite mainstream song. So when it comes to my personality, I guess it means I can make the effort to socialise but really, I like my space and solitude and am probably more reserved than what people usually think. What about you? How does your iTunes look like? :p

An Education

I have a myriad of thoughts right now, and this is an attempt to blurt them out as coherently as I possibly can .

Just last week, I attended a charity dinner organised by SASA, the scholarship body of my college (of which I am part of, albeit a rather passive member). The aim of the charity dinner in essence was to raise funds for underprivileged children. I think the dinner was the kind of success most people expected it to be, but I do admit perhaps it would have been more fun if I had been more participatory. But enough about SASA or the dinner; that’s not why I’m here.

I had a heated conversation with my parents today on the way to the cinema. It was regarding university applications, and for most of the conversation it was about how I’m restricting my higher education options. Thankfully, all tension was dismissed by the time Ben Stiller came on screen. Though, this discussion (or should I say, scolding from one party?) prompted me into deep thought. Not all children have the opportunity to receive the best education.

The picture above is one of myself, Hui Li and the kids I have been tutoring at a children’s home (one of the homes SASA is donating to). The girl to the far right is Sanggri – the sweet girl I’m personally in charge of. She’s ten years old, in Primary 4 right now. She’s not the brightest kid in the home, but she’s a fighter. She tries to memorize her multiplication table even though it seems like the most impossible of tasks. She loves spelling even though she gets half her words wrong every time. She concentrates with all her willpower even when she still has a look that says ‘nope, I don’t have a clue about what you just said.’

But the emphasis here is that Sanggri tried. In fact, so many children all around Malaysia try. Like Sanggri, they all try to adapt to change. They all try to learn, try to accept new things. And all of them have been trying for a good 8 years. It isn’t only the children who try. Our country as we all know it, has a declining workforce in education year by year, but teaching still has to go on. And whatever teachers we have left, they have been trying to teach Math and Science in English for the past 8 years. Official statistics (if we choose to give these numbers the benefit of the doubt, of course) say that PPSMI has not been effective. I want to present my views as objectively as possible, although you and I both know that you will be reading a very emotional piece of writing.

So, what is the problem?

The Malaysian government is adamant on abolishing PPSMI (Teaching of Math and Science in English) since its implementation in 2003. Words from the Education Minister himself:

“Results of studies showed that less than 5% from the total classes in 7,495 primary schools fully used English for Maths and Science. While in secondary school, less than 9% out of 2,192 schools used English fully,” he said, adding that this meant the majority of schools continued to teach the subjects in BM.

He said studies through observing class proceedings, experiences of teachers and the practices in classrooms as well as interviews with the students revealed that students found it hard to understand Mathematics and Science in English.

“Students took a long time to understand maths and science because they did not understand English. This forced the teachers to teach in BM so that they can understand the two subjects. This problem did not just happen in rural areas but in the cities as well.

“If we continue PPSMI, a large portion of students would not be able to grasp the subjects well and would be left out,” he said.

Alright, I think that summarises the biggest qualms our government faces.

The latest update I’ve received regarding PPSMI is that schools are allowed to choose their medium of instruction in Science and Math until 2021, before PPSMI is phased out and teaching in Bahasa Malaysia is continued. I think the largest and most dangerous problem about the whole PPSMI issue isn’t the fact that BM cannot do the job as well as English can, or that our English standard will deteriorate without PPSMI (not saying these aren’t problems though). The biggest problem here is indecisiveness, which will eventually lead to a lot of problems.

You see, the very reason PPSMI was implemented in the first place was to improve the technical skills and abilities of Malaysian students, so that they can have an edge when they compete internationally. Another thing people should understand is the fact that change doesn’t come immediately. Results take effort, and most importantly, time to surface. Just because PPSMI in the past 8 years hasn’t reached expectations doesn’t justify the need to abolish it. Consider this – 8 years into the switch to BM once again, and if statistics still show the lack of improvement, do we switch to English again? Wouldn’t this be a cycle that just goes round and round?

This doesn’t only affect students, but the teaching force as well. 8 years of teaching science and math in English, and all of a sudden requiring teachers to be retrained in a different language is quite a waste of investment all these years, no? It’s not all about the money either. With the change in languages, obviously teachers can never be experts at the language in which they teach science or math. Question for you – would it be better for a teacher to be able to teach Biology through English extremely well (considering she’s already been teaching in English for the past 8 years) or to teach it in BM, which she has taught before a long time ago, but has forgotten a lot of explanations and concepts in BM and has to refresh her own memory again? It’s indecisiveness that causes these troubles.

I’d like to address another issue altogether as well. Many people think that PPSMI was implemented to improve the usage of English, but that isn’t even the main aim of the policy. PPSMI just helps the transition from high school to say, higher education like foundation or A-Levels, or into the workforce become easier. Because generally, we know that these days, a lot of scientific knowledge and technicalities aren’t delivered in our national language. The standard of English language in schools itself is a whole different issue. We should not be relying on PPSMI to improve our children’s English in the first place, but rather drill the students to master the language. I understand rural children may not have the facilities or expertise for them to gauge the language as proficiently as we have the chance to, but lowering the standard of the English language isn’t going to help either. The way I see it, making our English paper terribly easy (heard on the radio that primary school kids in Singapore can finish our SPM paper) only widens the gap between the urban and rural kids. Put it this way – the city kids find the paper way too easy, but rural kids find it difficult. Our aim shouldn’t be trying to help these kids PASS, but instead raise their standard in English. The only way I see that being done is more English classes, stricter implementation and a revised syllabus.

The last thing I want to talk about is something that got me all fumed up when I first read about it. Actually, I still find it pretty ludicrous now. PPSMI is to be replaced with something called MBMMBI (Memartabatkan Bahasa Melayu, Memperkukuh Bahasa Inggeris), or in English translation Upholding Bahasa Malaysia and Strengthening the English Language. This, to me, is total bullshit on several grounds. First, people need to understand that language subjects and technical subjects are two different things. Whether we use Malay or English to teach science and math, its merely the medium of instruction and not exactly the teaching of the language. To really uphold the Malay language, the government should be promoting the language in language class and not in science and math. And considering the fact that we have to pass the Malay language paper to pass the whole SPM examination, as well as History, Moral, Accounting, Economics, and so many other papers still being taught in Malay, how are we NOT already upholding the Malay language? I am not against using the Malay language, I just find it ridiculous for the government to suggest that we’re not upholding the Malay language by proposing MBMMBI.

I end this post with a sigh of mixed emotions. I’m extremely relieved that both myself and my brother have had the opportunity of learning science and mathematics in English (I honestly think learning Chemistry and Physics in A-Levels would be a daunting task if I had learnt these subjects in Malay back in high school). Education in Malaysia is getting increasingly politicised (any Malaysian would understand this well enough), which shouldn’t be the case at all, because the major stakeholders happen to be the children. It’s like parents in a family constantly arguing everyday, which in turn scars the children for life. Good results never come without effort, and to give up on a plan so easily only shows our lack of will to achieve something better. I can only hope for the best for children like Sanggri.

Mum’s 49!

So yesterday, my mother of 18 years turned 49. (Yay now you all know how old she was when I was conceived :p) Thank God my Cambridge interview and test was before the 31st of October (her birthday), so I wouldn’t be spending the day mugging and preparing instead of celebrating her birthday nicely. The Cambridge process deserves a post on its own (mainly because it was so rigorous and frustrating and depressing) , perhaps sometime soon :) Anyways…

A very happy mother Chua

Birthday dinner was at Elcerdo, Changkat Bukit Bintang. Elcerdo actually means the pig in Spanish, so no prizes for guessing what their specialty is. Food and beverage were typical Spanish fare – suckling piglet, Iberico pork ribs (omnomnomnom!), paella, cold cut ham. I was going to take pictures of the food but my stomach took over my brain. But really, do try the ribs if you ever go there. Maximum love <3 And the service was really amazing! I think a lot of people like to celebrate birthdays at El Cerdo because the restaurant staff will make a big hoo-ha about it, sing a birthday song and give you free shots! (pictured above)

Family Portrait!

El Cerdo’s tradition – slicing the piglet with a plate and breaking it!

Brother was so enthusiastic about the whole slice-pig-and-break-plate thing! Basically, to show off the pig’s tenderness and its crispy skin, you can use a ceramic plate to slice through it. Breaking the plate afterwards just symbolises throwing away bad luck. Pretty coolio stuff! I personally LOVE the piglet because its skin melted in my mouth, and the meat was just so tender. But I’ve had mixed reviews from other friends, like Jo who prefers the traditional Chinese suckling pig we get to eat during CNY or weddings.

Still, I think the restaurant breaks about a 100 plates a day. :O

Mother Chua and yours truly

My mum is quite a woman. Actually, quite the typical Asian mother lah. She used the rotan (cane) on brother and I when we were younger, expects a string of A’s in our report cards, nags at us all the time etc. I think all mums get on our nerves sometimes, myself included, but I guess it’s always for our own good. She may have her flaws, but I still think she’s awesome as a mother. She’s also a very good cook! By my standards, at least.

My mother is also the most kiam siap (stingy) person on the planet, but I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I’ve been taught to never simply spend on unnecessary things in life MY ENTIRE LIFE. This explains why we’re probably going to eat plain white rice for the coming month after the RM600 dinner.

Happy 49th Birthday Mummy! Love you!

Oh, details of the restaurant:

Elcerdo

43 Changkat Bukit Bintang
50200 Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur Wilayah Persekutuan
03-2145-0511

Hours: Mon-Fri, Sun 12pm–12am; Sat 6:30pm–12am

Setting Things Straight

Some issues need to be addressed before I continue writing.

1. This is the 4th or 5th attempt at reviving my blog, with all previous attempts proven to be futile. If this succeeds, give me a well-deserved pat on the back. If it does not, too bad.

2. I am a very average blogger. I will try to blog about everything interesting that happens in my life (believe me, there aren’t many) or perhaps other people’s life. If you like what I write, give me a well-deserved pat on the back. If you do not, too bad.

3. There are two things I am sensitive about: My weight and my intellectual capacity (the irony, considering the name of this blog). You and I can live harmoniously if you do not taunt me with these two sensitive issues. :) I really do not bite unless you provoke.

Alright, with everything clarified, let’s get started shall we? :)