thought of the day

'Love should be like breathing. It should be just a quality in you- wherever you are, with whomsoever you are, or even if you are alone, love goes on overflowing from you. It is not a question of being in love with someone- it is a question of being love.'

-Osho-     

Love, what is love? Love is the most beautiful thing in the world. Love is a feeling that one holds for anything possible in this world. Many people think that love is something that leads to heart breaks, sadness, pain...... But the truth is that, love is not merely loving a person or being in a relationship. Love brings much more depth than that. Love is a feeling of care and kindness to anything possible, or even anyone in this world. It could simply be your pet dog, your cousin, a little girl that you bumped into in the mall, your bottle, your bag...... it would take me ages if I were to list out everything. People may ask, how could you love your bottle? your pen? or just anything which has no feelings? Truth is that, as long as your mind and heart appreciates something, you'll love it. Let's take a pen for example. Pen allows me to write what's on my mind as well as to keep my ideas flowing. I love my pen for allowing me to complete my daily tasks easily without fail. I handle my pen with full of care and love because I don't want to lose or spoil it. Love brings peace and ties everyone together easily. Love brings happiness and warmth in people and brightens up the world just like how sunshine is so much valued after a heavy rain. Love is definitely a quality that everyone MUST possess as it not only benefits one but also everyone and everything around one.

short getaway with the family

Hey bloggies, sorry for not updating my blog for a while, I've been pretty busy recently. Here's some life updates for you guys! So, my elder brother finally came back to Malaysia and will be here for about four months. Besides, I've also completed my three months internship and college will be just around the corner for me!!

Due to my brother's return, my parents and relatives planned a short getaway to Penang Island, the food heaven. It has been a while since we last visited Penang Island already, and I was beyond excited to be able to leave some footsteps on the beautiful island.

DAY ONE:-
BATU FERRINGHI BEACH

can't compress my happiness when I finally laid footprints on the beautiful sand and get in contact 

with the vitamin SEA

STEAMBOAT DINNER

GOH HUAT SENG RESTAURANT

This restaurant serves their steamboat in the traditional way which uses charcoal instead of gas or electricity to cook up the food in a big pot of soup. I was not used to the strong charcoal smell and felt a little suffocated towards the end of the meal, thus, my aunt and I went off to get some fresh air. We settled down at a store beside the steamboat restaurant which sells desserts. Their desserts were made with authentic and natural ingredients which made reminds us of home very much, especially the blue tang yuan which was made out of a blue flower named 'Lan Hua' instead of using colourings. 

 tang yuan in ginger soup (top) and tang yuan in red beans soup (bottom)

DAY TWO:-

SRI WELD FOODCOURT

This is the market whereby the famous nasi lemak store is located at. It is not like any fancy and glamorous cafe which you often see in the big city, however, it is just a small store sitting at the front of the food court ran by a few Malays. The original nasi lemak sold was just a small packet, with rice, a quarter of hard boiled egg, a small piece of chicken and a heap of sambal. What makes the nasi lemak special is none other than their specially homemade sambal. The sambal is not sweet and spicy which you can get at any other stores, but it has a citrusy kick to it which stimulates our appetite and separates this nasi lemak from the others. I am really sorry I didn't get the chance to take a picture of the nasi lemak, I promise I'll improve on this in the future. Lastly, the price of the nasi lemak is reasonably cheap. So, do drop by and give it a try if you're anywhere nearby!

 we found a ginormous bunch of bananas 

LEBUH CHULIA, GEORGETOWN

1. Off shoulder bohemian top- H&M 

2. Sunglass- Cotton on

3. Bottom- Thailand

4. Sandals- Hush Puppies

5. Bag- Tokyo

 me with the grandpa

 the extraordinary musical band using instruments made of recyclable items such as old kettles, plastic containers, metal biscuit tins and many more

 meow

 bababababanana

LEBUH KENG KWEE

PENANG ROAD FAMOUS TEOCHEW CHENDUL

After walking for about an hour and a half searching for the unique street arts under the scorching hot sun, we were all dehydrated and exhausted. We decided to go for the famous teochew chendul which was around 5-10 minutes drive away from the street art area. Although the queue was pretty long, the owners were really professional and fast at the orders. In within a few minutes, I got to rejuvenate myself with a bowl of cooling chendul as they were famous for. What I enjoy most from the chendul is the strong taste and aroma of the gula melaka as well as the extraordinarily huge red kidney beans. It is definitely worth the try when you're in Penang. 

AYER ITAM LAKSA

Later, we decided to visit the Kek Lok Si Temple and the Penang Hill after lunch. We stopped by at the Ayer Itam area for the well known Ayer Itam Laksa. The store just around the corner was compact and small and there were totally no seats available at all even though it was just 12 sharp in the afternoon. Great news is that their service provided is exceptional. We were allowed to find seats at other stores nearby and they will deliver our bowls of laksa for us. I sincerely apologise once again as I did not get a picture of the famous laksa. One thing which sets the Ayer Itam Laksa apart from the others is that they added sugar into the laksa which successfully enhances and elevates the bowl of laksa into a whole new level. Just a tip if you would like to give it a try, do visit the store earlier (best before lunch time). 

KEK LOK SI TEMPLE

the new Guan Yin statue that is still in the building process

PENANG HILL

the view of the Penang Island

PERUT RUMAH NYONYA CUISINE

This is another awesome restaurant that I greatly recommend everyone to visit. It is a very unique nyonya restaurant. Once you step into the building, you will find yourself in an authentic and traditional nyonya house. The decorations were on point with various antiques, plants and drawings hung creatively over the walls. The ambience in the restaurant was really warm and cosy, in fact, it felt like it was more of a home than a restaurant. The dishes here were also served in a very creative and beautiful way and I finally did justice for the food as I managed to take a few great shots of the food here. My relatives, family and I had a great and enjoyable time dining in this restaurant.

DAY 3:-

PULAU BALIK DURIAN FARM

Today, we met up with my grandma's cousin who have been staying in Penang since she was little. Her family brought us up to a durian farm located at Pulau Balik. It was a curvy and narrow mountain road up to Pulau Balik. I urge everyone to be extra careful if you are travelling up by car, after all, safety always comes first! After around 45 minutes of the mountain ride, we finally reached the durian farm. There were many farms located at the side of the road, thus it took us way longer to reach our final destination as some of the people were inconsiderate and parked their vehicles at the side of the road when it was already narrow. Besides being famous for the other things that Penang is famous for, Penang is also prominent for nutmeg. Nutmeg trees were widely planted around the durian farm and the owners also made juice out of the nutmegs which was much needed to help in digestion and remove the bad breath from the durians. 

DAY 4:- 
KUALA KANGSAR- GALERI SULTAN AZLAN SHAH

beautiful plants and trees planted around the museum

At the end of this post, I would like to say that this trip to Penang Island is one of the best trips that I have ever been to recently. Firstly, I bonded a lot with my relatives as well as my grandparents as they do not stay with me and we seldom get to meet up. Secondly, we stayed at Batu Ferringhi which means beach, beach, beach and beach!!! Being able to wake up to the sound of the soft waves cuddling the sand is no doubt the best thing that could happen to you upon rising. Thirdly, could we just take a moment and appreciate the foods in Penang? Oh my, THEY ARE FANTABULOUS!!! Lastly, there are endless possibilities for you to take a postcard perfect picture in Penang especially at the street arts. So what are you waiting for guys? Hurry up and grab your bag pack and off you go!!!

refreshed & rejuvenated

I had a day off from my busy working life due to a medical appointment in Subang Jaya, and of course, I am not going to let it go to waste without a nice meal with my mother. We decided to go to my favourite healthy organic restaurant, Medifoods. Just as I set foot into the restaurant, I was completely drawn by the environment of it. The owner of the restaurant must be a nature lover, as there were many green plants surrounding the place, giving customers solace in abundant greenery.

The one and only problem that I always face in this restaurant is none other than ordering my food. The menu is filled with a variety of creative dishes that look appealing and mouth-watering. This time I decided to settle myself on the mixed rice just to try out something new. 

 my big plate of rice with green veggies, veggie curry, hard boiled egg, and mung beans sprouts

yam cake and onde-onde (traditional kuih in Malaysia) for desserts

The rice is a combination of lentils and basmati rice, which elevates healthy meal to the next level. Also, all the ingredients used in Medifoods are organic!!! Even though the portion of the meal was way bigger than how I usually eat, I did not feel extra-bloated after the meal probably due of the freshness of the ingredients. 

Medifoods also has its own organic shop beside the restaurant which allows customers to purchase healthy produce right after their meal. I really favour the concept of this restaurant as they come up with healthy recipes for dishes which are typically considered unhealthy and high in calories such as the Malaysian well-known dish, Nasi Lemak, pizza, and many more. Thus, customers can indulge in mouth-watering foods, without the need to worry about the negative impacts that might bring to their health after all. 

In a nutshell, Medifoods is definitely my favourite organic restaurant and place to go to whenever I have the urge to indulge in mouth-watering yet healthy food. Not forgetting about the organic shop next to the restaurant, I certainly enjoy shopping healthy products after my meal as it brings much convenience to the customers. Although the price of foods sold in Medifoods is pretty costly, the quality of the food are unquestionably high in quality.

stepping out of my comfort zone

Hello guys! In this post, I am going to write about my personal experience but before I begin, I would like to mention that this is not a post to brag about my achievements, but rather a post that I hope will be an inspiration and motivation to my readers. Since young, I was exposed to an active lifestyle by my parents. Every weekend, our family will have our weekly outing at the Taman Tun Dr. Ismail park. We normally jog, exercise, catch fish by the small river, play and sometimes we even have our lil' picnic there.

When I first started my primary school, I was introduced to an annual school event: Sports Day. I immediately fell in love with the running events when I saw my seniors training to run for their respective houses. Of course, I went for the tryouts for the running events for my house, since there were too many participants, the teacher in charge arranged us in a horizontal line and ALL of us ran together just to save time. If I have not mistaken, there should be at least 20 of us.  And, I failed. I was chosen instead as a representative for games during Sports Day. With my happy-go-lucky attitude, I thought to myself: it's okay, at least I am still a representative for games. The next year, again, I went for the tryouts, with the exact same situation. And, I failed AGAIN. This time, I almost couldn't make it as a representative for games because I did not know how to do rope skipping. Fortunate for me, I am a fast learner and could pick it up right after I was taught how to do it. On that year, I started questioning myself. What do I want exactly? How bad do I want to run for my house? Is it okay for me to continue failing and not do anything about it? Since then, I began to start jogging and sprinting every weekend with my brother. We always race again each other and sometimes joined by our younger cousin brother. In a blink of an eye, it's time for the tryouts for Sports Day again. This time, it was professionally done by the teacher-in-charge, probably because we were already nine so they took us more seriously? I wasn't sure but that's not important. The important thing was that I FINALLY made it into the team! I appeared as the top in my category and was chosen to do short distance running events for Sports Day!!! And that was the beginning of my running journey. Later, my team and I were chosen to represent the school for running events. We trained hard every morning and hard work did pay off. My team and I FINALLY won a bronze medal in the MSSD competition and did our school proud at our final year in primary school.

When I was in secondary school, I was introduced to yet another new event: Cross Country. I was never a long distance runner, in fact, the furthest I could go was just 1 or 2 km, nothing more than that. The first cross country experience was crazy. I almost passed out after running for 5km. I vowed to myself that the next year, I have to at least make it into top 20. I trained myself by jogging for at least twice a week at my residential area every evening. And I appeared as 15th placing, BUT I vomited when I was at my last 2 km towards the finishing point, how embarrassing was that haha. Then, I aimed to be at the top 10 for the following years and not to vomit during or after the run and I did it!!! My best record was 6th placing for my final year in my high school. However, my high school's cross country was only 5km. Since my uncle is actively involved in marathons, he encouraged me to participate in a 5km marathon held in Bukit Jalil. I was afraid at first because I have never participated in any marathons before but decided to go for it anyway as a challenge for myself. Later, I participated in a few other 11km marathons together with my uncle, brother and younger cousin brother. I successfully conquered each marathon although feeling worried and nervous in the beginning, but very proud and satisfied after all the marathons. Here are some of the photos that I still have with me throughout my running journey:-

 my teammates and I receiving our medals for our 4x100m relay event at our final year in primary school 

 my first ever marathon experience with my uncle, brother and younger cousin brother

the top 3 for 400m running event at my final year in high school 

 the school representatives celebrating our victory on the last day of MSSKL

my teammates and I received our bronze medal for 4x200m relay event in MSSKL at our final year in high school

Recently, I was finally old enough to participate in the half marathon (21km), organised by Nike. I was very scared as I haven't been training for quite a while and 21km is totally no joke at all. I ran together with my younger cousin brother throughout the whole run. Since both of us were not in our top condition, we decided to go for a constant pace and aimed not to stop no matter how tired we get throughout the whole race. When I was at my 17th km, I had the thought of walking. Both of my legs were aching and sore from the run and the pain was pretty unbearable. My legs felt so weak. I thought to myself: Pain is temporary, success is forever. Are you really going to give up at your final 4km??? You've been working so hard for 17km, are you going to let your effort turn into waste? And then, I continued. I engaged myself by singing in my head and focusing on the beauty of Kuala Lumpur (capital city of Malaysia) instead of the pain from my legs. The organiser also put up many quotes by runners to motivate us along the run. I read every single one of them and was reminded of one quote that I really like 'She believed she could. So she did' And finally, I have completed my marathon without stopping or walking, with an average pace of 7'59" per km in 2 hours and 48 minutes. That is how powerful a person's mind is!!

After this run, I feel really great despite the terrible sore throughout my whole body. The satisfying feeling could last me a lifetime. I just realised how far I have come ever since I started my running journey when I was 9. From a person who cannot run long distance at all, to who I have become today. Of course, I am not a professional runner who wins medals and appear as the top in the marathons, nor am I an ironman or anyone great. The important thing is that I have participated, and I have grown so much in my running journey. Just as the saying goes, do not ever compare yourself to others, stay focused on your own journey and leave footprints behind. I strongly encourage each and everyone of you out there, to pick up a challenge in your life, go for it and you will definitely achieve a result that you've never expected in your life. Don't be afraid of how tough the challenge may seem to you, you just have to get out of your comfort zone, and give in your very best in it! If a challenge taken is not tough, it wouldn't be considered as a challenge anyways, right? According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, the definition of challenge is a task or situation that tests someone's abilities. Quoting Abraham Lincoln, 'And in the end it is not the years in your life that count, it's the life in  your years.' So dear readers, think about it deeply, make the best decision for yourself and live without regrets!

cheat day in malacca???

'Time to wake up, Girl' that was what I woke up to, early in the morning, at 4:30am on Saturday. You must be wondering: What? What are you doing at 4 in the morning? Well, my family and I headed back to Malacca for a Chinese Traditional Festival, Qing Ming which is celebrated annually in the month of April. We had to pick up my aunt and cousin, so we started our journey at 5 in the morning. We reached the graveyard at 7 in the morning and started sweeping and cleaning the tomb.

Just a brief introduction on the festival, during Qing Ming, the Chinese will visit the grave of their ancestors on this particular day to commemorate them. Weeds around the tomb are cleared away and fresh soil is added to show care for the dead. Later, favourite food and flowers of the deceased are prepared as offerings for them. Paper resembling money will also be burned in the hope that the deceased will not lack money. 

After everything was done, we went to this small town where the graveyard was located at, and had our breakfast at the morning markets. Although the place was pretty old and dirty, the scenery was beautiful as trees were grown everywhere. The sky was clear and blue on that particular morning, which ties up the whole scenery, making it picture postcard perfect. I had a bowl of soup noodles and a cup of hot americano. Despite the slightly uneven ground and slanted tables, I personally thought that it was one of the best breakfast experiences I have ever had. Later, my mom and I went and scope around the market place, hoping to find some traditional eats. We bought a few desserts which tasted pretty good and surprisingly very cheap compared to foods sold in the city. Due to the terribly hot weather in Malaysia recently, we decided to have a bowl of cendol to tone down the heat.

ABC on the left and cendol on the right

 the well known coconut milkshake in Klebang, Malacca

the crowd in the store of the coconut milkshake

This trip to Malacca was very fruitful as I have finally tasted the very well known coconut milkshake in Malacca. I was fortunate as there were not many people when we went for the milkshake as compared to other weekends. If you have not tried coconut milkshake, I recommend you to try it, as it tasted pretty unique and is made from 100% coconut. However, I don't think that I will crave for it because the queue for it is very long and is located pretty far from my place. 

family gathering

Greetings to my readers from Malaysia! I am so sorry for not updating my blog for such a long time. I will try to improve regarding this in the future! So, one of the fun facts about me is that my parents' birthdays are four days apart and they're of the same age!!! I find that cute, it's okay if you don't agree with me. So, as mentioned earlier, I have started my working life as an intern and a barista in Starbucks. I decided to treat my parents a meal for their birthdays. Initially we wanted to have the lunch buffet at Shogun, One Utama, however due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to have it at Shogun, Sunway Pyramid. That Shogun outlet is considered small as compared to the One Utama one, but oh well, we just had to roll with it. I've invited my grandparents to come along as well since they were free on that day.

 kick starting the buffet with a plate of sushi and sashimi

 Cold Soba noodles and raw oyster!! 

 a plate of food combination that doesn't make sense, but taste pretty good, especially the cod fish

 a bowl of edamame a day, keeps the sadness away haha, edamame is life

 dessert is essential, especially when you can custom make your own

 kimchi pizza and some sashimi again hehehe

what is a birthday treat without cake? so here's a small piece of chocolate hazelnut cake and a hokkaido cake

Majority people try to avoid having buffet meals due to many reasons of their own. I too, used to think the same last time. My reason being, buffet meal cause me to overeat and foods served are normally high in calories and unhealthy, which greatly affects my healthy diet. However, I have some tips and tricks for you to TRY to still eat healthy while indulging in delicious foods. 

Survival Guide when Having Buffet Meals:-

1. Walk around the whole store and check out on all the foods served first before hastily starting on a big plate of the food that you see once you enter the restaurant.

2. Select your food wisely. Try eating foods which are less oily. 

3. When you're at a Japanese restaurant, try having more sashimi compared to fried snacks or cheesy pastas. Sashimi are a great source of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and other nutrients including selenium, niacin, phosphorus, magnesium and vitamins B6 and B12. Most importantly, they will definitely fill you up!

4. Avoid drinking sugary drinks or carbonated drinks as they're loaded with sugar and contain high amount of calories. 

5. Eat more fruits and salads as they are all ready to be consumed without the need to peel, cut or wash.

6. Just take a small portion of all your favourite dishes so that you can try a variety of foods and prevent yourself from overeating. 

In a nutshell, I enjoyed my meal at Shogun. The foods served were pretty good, and the price was totally worth it. Do give Shogun a try if you're on a tight budget but still feel like having something special and different. I've yet visited the Shogun outlet in One Utama, however for the Sunway Pyramid outlet, I thought that the store was a little too small as there were lots of customers which cause movement a little difficult at times. So, guys, after reading my survival guide, don't feel bad anymore when going for any buffet meals! Treat yourself once in a while with your loved ones.

Have a great Monday, everyone!