Out of NC again

^_^ This time I am going to Georgia. 3 days 2 nights.

Lalala~~~ another green spot on my U.S. states map.

I'll tell you guys about the trip later when I get back on Sunday.

Tata~~~

p/s : March 30 is mom's birthday. Somehow, she mistakenly thought 29 was 30. Pity mom, kept thinking why none of her children remembered her birthday. Turned out she got a wrong calendar in her mind. LOL Of course we do remember mom!! WE LOVE YOU!! MUAK!!!!

Bloggers, please help her. ^_^

I received an email 2 days ago from an undergraduate student.

It sounds like this.


Hello..

My name is Nurbani, a student from Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang. I am now taking Bachelor of Science in Human Development in Faculty of Ecology.

(Delete 2nd paragraph)

This is my final semester and i am actually doing a research on bloggers for my project paper. So here, i attached a questionnaires for you to answer. Hope you could spend some time to complete the questionnaires and send it back to me. All information are strictly private and confidential and only for the research purpose.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION

So, dear bloggers, if you want to help her to graduate, please fill up this form and email it back to her. (Need to copy and paste to your word in order to answer the questions).

I say thank you on behalf of her.

p/s: Including 煮饭工程师先生, 闪亮晶晶小姐, 甜蜜奇迹小姐... Help her okay, I know you guys will. Muak!! ^_^

QUICK!! JAPANESE GOVERNMENT (MONBUKAGAKUSHO) SCHOLARSHIP 2008 application ends soon!!

Hello!

Here is a little announcement for those of you in Malaysia who are interested to study in Japan for FREE with nice amount of scholarship every month. More than enough for you to survive.

Apply for MONBUKAGAKUSHO!!

You can apply for UNDERGRADUATE (Bachelor) or POSTGRADUATE (Master and PhD) now!

However, your application form must reach the Embassy of Japan before 4:00 pm 30th March 2007 (Friday) to qualify.

Sorry for such late notification, was very busy with other things until forgot about it.

Still in time though if you act now.

I only knew about the scholarship 2 days before the due date and they received my application just 2 hours before the closing time. The result, I ended up in Japan for 5 years of priceless excitement. Read my blog to see what a great life I had in Japan.

^_^ Feel itchy in your heart now? Why not make it into a reality? It would be a great experience even with the application process.

I fought for my fortune. Now, it is your turn!

Good luck!

First Chinese Buffet in U.S.

Melissa flew from Japan to N.C. on last Wednesday. She was supposed to reach around 2.15pm, but some fuel tank problem caused her to be "locked" inside the flight for more than 2.5 hr before it finally departed to my city from Chicago.

I was so glad to receive her call eventually.

That night, we decided to have a Chinese Buffet after considered a few options. Melissa needed something soupy, something starchy and more oriental.

Although the place always full of cars especially during the weekends, I have never really attempted to go because of the bad comments from some of my friends. Also, not really any good chance for me to go.

Here is a little story behind this restaurant. I was doing my groceries in supermarket and greeted by one stranger hinting me to be his girlfriend a while ago. However, I lied that my boyfriend was picking me up soon. He was very disappointed and said he actually planned to bring me to this Chinese buffet.

"The foods there are really great!!! One of the best Chinese food for me." Ha! Little did he know I have heard bad reviews about the foods.

Anyway, back to my experience that night. When we went into the premise, we were greeted in a friendly way by a Chinese staff in English. Now, that was something different if compared to my Chinese foods experience in L.A.

Then, about 60-70 types of dishes were set in array for the customers.

Wooo~~~ *eyes blink blink*




My 1st plate, with one Chinese style roasted chicken drumstick.

I like the drumstick. It has been a long time I didn't eat a roasted drumstick. Of course the taste was nothing if compared to my favorite roasted drumstick in Malaysia, but better than nothing.

They even have chicken curry (quite watery type), Char Kuey Tiaw (lumpy and tasteless) and other surprising stuffs (more bad than good).




My 2nd plate. This time I had another drumstick. Roasted duck drumstick. Not bad too. ^_^ Two drumsticks in one meal. Ooooolala~~~ Somehow, these two drumsticks healed my homesickness although they only tasted ok.

I saw a few people taking a whole plate of prawns, like 20 prawns in one plate and finished the whole thing. Curiously, I took one.

-_-""" It was one of the worst tasting shrimp in my life. The texture was hard like rock. Man~~~ I tried the Japanese choices too, no good. Dried, tastless and worst, not fresh. For me, only freshly make sushi with fresh ingredient are good ones. Yah, I am very choosy when concerning sushi.

I enjoyed the sesame balls. It was a nice one. Not too much bean paste to make it too sweet and nice chewy texture of it.




My 4th plate. Desserts.

Enjoyed the fruit. The desserts were just under average.

So, did I enjoy my meal?

Yes, because of the great companion from Melissa. Bad foods turned better when with a nice eating buddy. ;)

Despite 75% of the food were quite under average, there were still about 10 of them that I actually like. The noodle was not bad too. They even have banana fritter vs scary looking banana with thick layer "RED" syrup.

For a US$9.95, I would say it was a very good deal. I even got a 1 dollar discount because of my working status. ^_^

One thing however, I must give a 2 thumbs up...

They have one of the best service I have ever had in a Chinese restaurant in U.S. Going to Chinese restaurants have been a painful experience for me in U.S. with my experiences in L.A. If I ever go again to this Chinese restaurant, their services are the main reason plus I am really craving for roasted drumsticks. LOL

However, one very bad impression I had, there was a hair in my food. Oh well, as a girl grown up in Kuching, I have experienced this many times. So, just moved the hair to aside and pretended I have never seen it. It is better than to see some creatures' leg inside. *shudder*

Did I have a diarrhea that night? Fortunately, NO.

All the way from Japan ;)

Oops! Sorry for not updating these 2 days.

I have a visitor from Japan. Staying with me for a few days now. ^_^ Gosh~~~ it is sure a fun time for us. It is so good to see her again.

That is why I was neglecting my blog a little bit. :P

She hand-carried something all the way from Japan for me. A special request by fish fish. ;)




I know this is not something new for those of you in Japan.

I have been missing this like crazy.

Man~~~ should see how high I get when I see it.




Dooolala~~~ Look at all those donuts!!!

Even though we went for a Chinese buffet that night with my stomach 120% filled, I was still able to take some of these after that. Heeeee...




Six types!

Just microwave for less than 10 seconds, they tasted surprisingly still good.

My workmates were very excited with it too. The Pon De Ring... they enjoyed it.

Pon De Ring was soooo...

ORGASMIC!!!

Tee hee hee...

You just have to try it to get what I mean. ;)

I won! I won! ^_^

Do you guys still remember this post?

Yesterday night, I received 2 official emails.

The 1st one written :

Congratulations! Your photo, 0553-Drizzling (雨中), has won the 1st award in Nature category.

The 2nd one written :

Congratulations! Your photo, 0551-A leisure meal (悠闲的午餐), has won the 3rd award in Culture category.

Whao! What a surprise. A very pleasant surprise indeed. ^_^

Both the voters and judges decided to give these 2 prizes to me.

I would not make it if not because of those of you who have taken time to vote for me.

*Bow in 90 degree* *Saying from the bottom of my heart*

MINASAMA, HONTONI DOMO ARIGATOU GOZAIMASHITA~~~

Fuchuk Beef Madras Curry

This is such a lazy weekend for me. I need to complete my work today, yet I still not even take a look at it. Just hope that I don't end up sleeping after 2.00am again. -_-""" Bad bad habit!

Looking at the very beautiful yet cold weather outside, I decided to drag myself to get some meat for my freezer.

My Brahim's Madras Curry has expired. :P Too good to throw away though.

So, with the combination of 1 pack of Fuchuk and 1 lb of beef...

After 1.5hr of slow cooking...




Tralala~~~ my plate of dinner for tonight.




Oolala~~~ look at the nicely charred surface of the beef. This time, I decided to add one boiled egg to cook with the curry. Just have to ignore those colesterol sometimes, especially when you know you are in your hormone-imbalance days.




Mmmmmm~~~~ sooooo good. The soft fuchuk absorbed the goodness of the curry gravy. It has been more than 9 months since I last tasted a curry fuchuk. My mom like to put some soysauce, I did the same. Oh~~~ just closed my eyes and I could imagine I was eating on my dining table at my Meow Meow's house.

I can't wait for my same plate of meal again for tomorrow's lunch and dinner.

*slurp~~~*

Ok, time for me to start my paperwork. Tata~~~

A Godiva-style Tuxedo

Yesterday's night, after off-line, my mood was good.

I decided to do something that I rarely do, especially in the middle of the night.




I pulled out my 2 bottles of Godiva Liqueur that I received last Christmas and made myself a glass of good drink. The black is Godiva Liqueur and the white is Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur.

From its recipes' website, I found one that was perfect to use these 2 to make a great drink.




Tralalala~~~

A lovely glass of Tuxedo! decorated with my favorite Dark Lindor.

Woolala~~~ my sweet Godiva with the kick from the alcohol.

Oh yah~~~ I was feeling high after that.

I slept for 9 hr after that. ^_^

I love Godiva.

So tired today...

...but I am very excited about one thing now. ^_^

Although worked for 14 hr today, back home like a half-dead fish around midnight, I am still in the mood to online now for one thing that I have been waiting for months.

Hehe...

Ok, want to Zzzzzz liao.

*yawn~~~*

Vote For Me Please, Pretty Please~~~

Updated Note : This post will remain on the top until March 16, Friday. Please view it with Internet Explorer as Firefox and Netscape will make it looks very weird. One more thing, if you want to help me by linking this post into your blog too, fish fish will No Teeth Also No Forget. ^_^



My sweetie friend voiced her "Please~~~". Coincidently, I am meowing my "Pretty Please~~~" too. *wink wink* *Meow~~~*

Please vote for both of us. Go to her blog for the detail on hers.

You see, I submitted 5 pictures for a photo competition in N.C.

The voting is now open until March 16, 2007.

Here is how you can vote. Simply write the number you want to vote to this email address

rtp.chinesephoto2007@gmail.com

You can vote 5 pictures for category Nature and 5 pictures for category Culture. Here is the link for the rules (in Mandarin). Here are the other photos in the competition.

To make your job much easier to vote for me, I have put the number on each photo that I submitted with the description to tell you what they are about. So, move your fingers now for me, please.

This is my 1st time doing such a request, so please move your fingers for me before the closing date. ^_^ Thank you~~~

Here are the pictures.

The first three were in the Nature category - N0553, N0554 and N0555.


N0553 - Drizzling

My first time saw a "full" rainbow. It was after my diving in Sematan, Kuching. Well, it was beyond word for this priceless moment of mine. The whole photo was a great composition for me. Twin colorful rainbow was connecting the lush green forest of the Borneo swamp land. Ray of golden sun at dusk and rolling dark cloud were harmonized by drizzling rain and flowing muddy water. Villagers were hiding from the rain in the old-time wooden boats, except a guy in blue with his blue umbrella was walking towards the jetty. Movement in the stillness.


N0554 - Dying Forest

My favorite shot when I went to Odaigahara, Japan. This was once a living forest but rain and typhoon slowly turning it into a dying land.



N0555 - Searching

A snowy morning in Kyoto, Japan. Heavy snow, dark sky and hidden sun. The flying eagles were searching for something in different direction.



The next 2 are in the Culture category - C0551 & C0552.


C0551 - A Leisure Meal

Early autumn along Uji River. A very nice windy day. A cruising boat was slowly moving across the river. Shoes were aligned nicely on both sides of the deck, leaving a small walking path in between. On the boat, a guy was gulping his tea with one hand and taking food with chopsticks with another. Meanwhile, the lady facing him was sipping her tea with both hands.

C0552 - Little Zen

Historical big buddhas and bright pinky little buddhas of new age shared the same water from the modern plastic cups.

The end.

I am depending on your votes!!!

THANKS!!! Muak~~~

It feels so good to be spring again ^_^

The weather was getting warmer since last weekends.




It was so nice that some tree flowers began to bloom.




This flower reminded me of the Sakura in Japan so much. Although this was smaller and not as huge bunch as sakura, it has similar soothing effect on me.




I decided to go to the US$1.50 Cinema to watch a nice movie. Only 20 min walking distance from my apartment. First time for me to watch movie alone in U.S.

It felt so good to be able to walk with light cloths on. ^_^ The sky was so blue. Everything just looked beautiful to me.




I watched Happy Feet. Great movie. Even cried because it touched my heart. :P (Yes, I have a "Tear" mole, and yes, I cry a lot) -_-"""

After the movie, it was still not yet 4.00pm. Since the time started tuned to be 1 hr earlier than winter on that day, I was still in time to watch a 2nd movie before the day turned dark.

I lined up again. :P Yes, I bought a 2nd ticket. This time, it was The Pursuit of Happyness. Another good movie. Cried again at the end although didn't cry as much as in the 1st one.

Hehe... it was really a great weekend for me to welcome my spring.

Gosh~~~ US$3 only for 2 awesome movies. I'll definitely do this again.

How did you welcome your spring?

Bumpy Bubba in Baltimore (7) - The Finale

After a simple breakfast at the hotel, I went to do some simple sight seeing with 2 other trip partners.




We went to see Baltimore's Washington Monument, the first to honor George Washington.




Beside the monument, there was a nice Methodist Church.




Lovely design.




However, among all, I liked this sculpture the most. Love the way how this lion stared at me.




Only about 30 min short visit, we have to go back to our hotel. It was time to depart.

Bye~~~ Baltimore. You are beautiful although too cold for me.




Time to get on the road. See this hill-like thing?

Saltsand!!

For?




Snow!

Yes, it was starting to snow when we left Baltimore. The trucks quickly spreaded those saltsand on the road to avoid the road from freezing.

It was a heavy snow.




Soon, the scenery outside our Bumpy Bubba started to get very white. Beautiful view.




However, it was a pain for our driver aka trip planner. Man~~~ she was great. Despite her 1st time on such a snowy highway with a big van of people, she was really calm and controlled her wheel well.

*applause!!*

We moved in a very slow speed.

It was indeed a very fresh experience for me. I have never encountered a heavy snow on highway. Another great memory for me during the Baltimore trip.




We stopped for fueling up our Bumpy Bubba.

In case if you wonder why there is no car plate number, the wasn't any.

Well, it is not a rule in N.C. So, basically, most of the car you see do not has a car plate in front.

I once asked a friend why...

"Police only chase you from behind." Geeee... what a point.




There were cars tailed behind us to wait for their turn for the gasoline.




G used the time to throw some snow balls to the Bumpy Bubba. -_-"""




While waiting for our turn for Small Number ( a local way in my hometown for saying PEE), the girls fully utilized the time take some pictures. ^_^

Oh ya, this were the 2 Japanese songs I introduced to them during the topic special in the van. The "In" song and the "Out" song. The whole van of people had a very good laugh. Yes, these 2 songs exist.

Our bumpy bubba was full. It was ours turn.




We went to Olive Garden.




It was my first time although I have heard about it a few times.

Lonely outside.




Warm inside. Feel so good.




Most of us ordered Zuppe Insalata which is a buffet style of Bread, Salad and Soup.




Look at those big bowls of salad!!




We also ordered 3 types of appetizers.




My favorite was this Bruschetta.




My plate of appetizer.




Mmmm~~~ I was so in love with it. Indeed a great finger food for party! Is it easy to make?




The soup was here. It was a fun way to see other members dipping their bread into the soup and enjoy the soupy bread. I didn't order this as I need rice and non-seafood stuff.




It was amazing how one of our member still able to order pasta with crab after 2 whole days of seafood. Yes, seafood was enough for me during the 2-day Baltimore.




My braised beef with risotto.

The beef was great. However, the risotto was too cheesy and salty for me. But then, I was in good health, so I finished the whole thing, till the last drop of the gravy. Woolala~~~~




Although everyone was quite full, we still ordered 3 desserts.

Yes, we finished all of them.

Gosh... we were so full then.

*Burp*

It was such a great trip. Thanks everybody!!

THE END.

Babbling...

It has been a pretty happening week for me.

Broke one of my toenail and couldn't walk properly for the past few days. Feel so good to be able to walk fast again. Gosh~~~ one thing for sure, my clumsiness in real life never change. -_-"""

Want to hit the gym tomorrow!

Busy with paperwork. Worked until 3.00am last night. Got to get back all my sleep this weekends.

Good thing did happen though.




Ate an appreciation brunch yesterday. It was the staff appreciation day in my workplace. ^_^




Homesick. Should be more correct that I missed my mom's homecook so much yesterday's night. So, made some Hakka stuffed tofu with a ground beef and prawn. :P

Nothing if compared to mom's, but I liked it. Just that the tofu texture was too tough and I only used a bit of salt.

Tomorrow will be a more relaxing day for me. Looking forward to welcoming my weekends.

Ok. Will get back to my final Baltimore's post when I gain my energy again.

Need to cook my tomorrow's meal now. Muak! *yawn*

Bumpy Bubba in Baltimore (6) - National Aquarium

One of the great place we went was the National Aquarium in Baltimore.




^_^ My trip partners for this time. Only one green leaves with all the red roses. :P




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Holy cold. Look how gracefully this bird was using its Self Alevation Kung Fu walking on the frozen sea. Yes, Baltimore was that cold.




We were there at 10.00 am. 15 minutes before the premise was opened.

Yap, we got the ticket for a dolphin show too. Y^_^Y




The aquarium has different zones showing creatures from around the region. One of my favorite was this Tidal Coast. It looked quite different from the other zone.




Well, the fish and sea creatures not a big attraction to me as I have seen much more in Kaiyukan (my personal experiences here and here) and the real underwater (Example here, here, here and here). However, this is a wonderful place for family to spend a good time. Great place for little children to have a real 1st time experience with their underwater friends.

Instead of the living creatures in those big aquarium, I was more fascinated with other stuffs.




My favorite wall. ^_^ I tried to figure out the owners of these body parts, but still my knowledge was very limited for me to know all of them. :P




Did it look like a stone? Hehe... that's why it is named Stonefish.




Now I know what were these. It was actually part of the kelp!! Cool~~~ One of my wish lists is to be able to dive in a kelp forest someday.




I have a love hate feeling towards this fish.

This was actually a piranha's skull. Wow! Very different from the normal fish, isn't it?




My very familiar kind of environment, the rainforest. I miss spending my time just walking in those paths and inhaling the most wonderful fresh air.




This red bird flew up to the twig and gave its feather a good comb with its beak.




Next, I joined this huge crowd.




Tralala~~~ for the 2 adorable dolphins to show off their talents.




^_^ Oh yes, these 2 cuties sure won themselves a lot of great applause.

The dolphin show was over. Enjoyable moment.

However, my greatest fun for the day, have to credit to these amphibians.




*Rabbit~~~* May I present you... THE FROGS!!

Ok, these two were the normal looking frogs. Get ready for the coming pictures...




Yellow!




Green!!




Errr... horny?




Ewww~~~ so slimy.




Among all, my favorite for the day. These blue frogs. The color just looked too fake to be real. But, they were real for good.

In general, colorful frogs are venomous. The animals kingdom know that. Therefore, some smart frog decided to evolve and turn into one of these colourful bad frogs to camouflage themselves.

"Hey, I am very poisonous, get out of my way!"




Oolala~~~ thanks to this frog, I have a chance to see the underneath of a frog. :P

We ended our aquarium visiting after the frog exhibition.




Oh yes baby... Time for lunch! We were so hungry that we just wanted to rock ourselves until the restaurant. ^_^

*Lunch~ lunch~ lunch~*




However, the road to the lunch was not an easy one. Very cold~~~~ grrrrrr....

Even the snow didn't get a chance to totally melted away. They were as hard as ice rock.




Here was A showed you how to make use of a tall guy to block the cold wind. Tee hee hee...




Baltimore is definitely a beautiful city. I wish I has more time to appreciate the artistic side of it. February was really cold for a good visiting. I bet this place will be great for summer vacations.

Adios Baltimore, see you!