Chalk-ing up

You know what has gone obsolete these days? Apart from video player, walkman, tape recorder and the likes?

Chalk.

Yes that is correct. Lemme ask you when was the last time you even see it. If you are like me, the students in the 80's and before, you would have seen it everyday in class.

But today, finding chalk at the shops are like finding a needle in the shack. Colored ones especially. 

Even since I saw Man in love (korean show), I have been secretly wanting a cool blackboard too. Yes I know hubs wouldnt be exchanging notes or poems there ( one can always wish haha) , but its idea is cool nevertheless.

And having a whiteboard just isnt gonna cut it, cause there's something ol school about blackboard that isnt the same with other kinds.

So I found a nice blackboards in this cool shop selling french looking stuff in Paradigm Mall. That was easy. Finding a board wasnt difficult.

But trying to find chalk, is another matter. I had to go to quite a few shops before I found it. But only white ones.  Like these:

Cant seem to find colors anywhere, until, ikea. I was soooo happy. And you know where in Ikea? At the place where they sell the easels (kids section). So happens I was looking at it cos I was thinking of getting one for Lysya. Though it wasnt so obvious - there was nowhere in the packaging stating that they are chalks.

With those, I finally can have some colors and drawings

Still, I wasnt satisfied, because I thought the colors are a bit dull. Not like the ones I see in that bakery/cafe in Forum apartment where I frequented lunch

Theirs is like deep pink, so cheerful and bright. I was tempted to ask but of course I didnt.

Maybe I did somehow wish and God heard me, one day as I was queuing at Daiso IOI to pay i saw these. 

Again, I couldnt tell from the packaging what it was, though it does look like chalks. On the spur of moment, I just grabbed it since its already my turn to pay. I asked the counter boy and he said they are crayons. I was disappointed but I took it anyway and thought Lysya could use it regardless.

When I went home and opened it, I was sooo happy to discover that they are indeed chalks. And when I tried them, they are those same colorful bright ones. See the difference??

Finally I found what I wanted. After like gazillion months. 

When I went to Daiso today to get something today, i saw they have a different box there . I quickly scanned it and noticed that they have different colors like black. Again, not having time to deliberate I just added it to my pile. By the way it is placed near the cashier so thats why I had to think quickly.

Obviously I cant think well under pressure because, after a while ( after I bought it of course), only then I realised why on earth would i need a black chalk for a black board?? <sigh...> 

Facepalm!

Loving the little bugger

I was happy when I first managed to listen to my music (kept in my ipad) on the home audio system. It was so great because I have tons of songs and hubs's sound system is fantastic.

Soon after, I realised that it wasnt entirely ideal, because I also like to, in fact prefers to read my books from my ipad. And I cant do that, because I have to connect the ipad to the audio cable.

I started to look around if it was possible to use some sort of wireless thing ( thought of something like remote at first) to hook up and have the music played remotely.

After days of reading up about it, I came across two suggestions:

One - audioengine AW2. 

Two - AirPort.

Of the two, a lot of praises given to the audioengine AW2, for its simplicity and out-of-the-box setup. No configuration whatsoever, just hook it up and it will work. Because it comes in pair, one the receiver and the other the sender, and it creates its own wifi cloud without riding or hooking to the existing wifi network. I was sold on this one, and my only problem was that it is not readily available in MY. I found a  local authorised dealer but they are selling it based on the old price which is like RM360. I am not prepared to pay an overblown price since I know audioengine has knocked down the price to only USD49 nowadays.

I then started to look at the possibility of AirPort. A lot of the comments and reviews were not favorable. Mainly on the fact that it rides on existing wifi and some sites highlight incompatibility issues with Unifi. That, coupled with the fact that it requires certain setup - which reportedly not very straight forward held me back. Upon further reading, I came to realise that most of those issues are actually relating to using it as a router. Which is not what I intend to do. I then found out that I can actually use the AirPort as an extender or a client to an existing WLAN. Looks very promising, especially after I went for a hunting visit to the apple store in IOI mall and saw it retailing for RM249 for the 1st gen model. It is definitely closer to what I am willing to fork out. (Latest model 2nd gen retails at RM299).

After weighing all the pros and cons, in the end I decided to get the AirPort over the AW2. One main reason is that for the price, AirPort does have more functionality. If I cant use it as a medium to wirelessly play my music, I can still use it as something else. It is also an easier item to sell off should it not work for me at all. 

So tonight I coaxed hubs to go to IOI again so that I can buy the 'old' version of the AirPort. I was being very kiasu, as there were only one left and I dont want to have to pay the additional RM50 for the newer version. But as usual, when I got to the store i got sucked in to buy the newer version. But for good reasons, and when I got home I was glad I chose the newer model. The older model does not have an AC power cable, you need to plug in the AirPort to the plugpoint, which would have been difficult for the setup we have in the music room. Luckily I decided to be safe than sorry.

To top it off, contrary to what I was made to believe, the setup was actually very very easy and straightforward. It took less than 5 mins and it just worked like a charm.

So now uve guessed it, i am indeed writing this post while enjoying my music from hub's superb audio systems. 

Dont I just loved it when things work well :)

Char Kuey Teow

Dah lama nak try masak Char Kuey Teow ni but somehow never got around to it.

Dulu ada beli this fridge magnet with char kuey teow recipe and it has been there punya la lama, and each time bukak fridge I thought to myself, bila la nak buat ni...  Dah bertahun kot punya lama finally now baru nak buat, though tak ikut recipe dia cos macam too many ingredients (ni kes malas nak buat groceries shopping).

So I improvise (read cincai-ing) and ikut sesedap rasa instead:

1 packet of kuey teow (450 g)

1 tbl sp cili boh

Oil (abt 3 or 4 spoons)

Oystersauce 1 tblsp

A dash of light soy sauce

Abt 3 tblsp soy sauce (the likes of tamin/ habhal - i didnt hv dark soy sauce)

3 cloves garlic - crush

Taugeh - i like them a lit so i put in about 2 handful

Chives

6 large sized prawn

1 handful Cockles 

3 eggs

The method:

Note * make sure all ingredients are ready and handy cause u need to be fast because of the high heat. Which is why no picca as well, no time :p

Over absolute high heat, add in oil

When its hot, add in garlic

Stir, the add in almost immediately ciliboh

Add in oyster sauce, soy sauces

Add a bit of water if its too thick

Stir, then add in cockles, prawns

When prawn is half cooked add in the kuey teow

Toss it well so that the sauce is all even. I add in a bit of water to help it spread a bit

Once mixed well, add taugeh and chives

Add salt to taste

Lastly, put in the eggs 

Thats it!

Bon appettite

Korean Gaga

OK, I am not usually the biggest fan of Korean shows though once I watched a series I would usually got hooked.

My first introduction to Korean dramas were during the Winter Sonata era, which was like gazillion years ago. Masa tu blog pun belum ada ok. I cant remember how I came about it, since I hardly watch other channels on astro apart from Movies and Variety. What I remember was that (as usual), the theme song got my attention. I started watching because the theme song moved me. And starting from there I was watching it diligently every day. It was a good show, a sad story but a very very long show. I think it was the first time so I felt that it was so long and meleret2 but I enjoyed it nevertheless cause I so loved the OST.

Though after a while I started making jokes about the heroin crying at every single episodes. Like seriously, when she's happy she cries what more when she's sad.

Anyhow I didnt watch much Korean after that, mainly because it takes too much time. Its tiring to get to the finish line.

Every now and then however friends would tell me good shows that they watch and I watch them - but not so diligently. The thing is with these Korean shows you need to watch a few episodes before you get to the point where you would not be able to stop. They are good at stopping at places that made you eager to know whats happening next. Though most of the time its so anticlimax sebab turned out it wasnt anything. 

Then comes Maaduu. Team it with Unifi - you are in (korean) heaven. Which is the point of this entry.

I recently watched this show, and if you have not seen it, you really should. The translated title is When a man loves.

 By far I think its one of the best show Ive seen. I love the fact that the scenes are well defined and the jokes are real, unlike most others which usually very slapstick to the point that I want to smack their head. Of course there are the usual plot of memory loss after an accident - a favorite with Korean shows. Like honestly I think ALL the ones I watched have memory loss incidents. Dont know why.

I loved this show so much that I watched the ending and few of the episodes a few times, and have a writing board in my home as well. I thought it was sooo novel what they did :)

So peeps. If you havent watch it, maaduu it and I promise you, you wont regret it :)

Simple Chic

When I saw these throw pillows, I finally have a bit of idea what kind of look I want for the music room.

The 'Simple Chic' look.

I am thinking perhaps I can pair it with rugs like this:

And have some colorful paintings / pictures on the wall.

The only thing I cant figure out yet is the curtains. Few options I am considering:

1. Use similar/repeat pattern of one of the throw pillow. But it means Ive gotta choose a dominant color/ pattern

2. Custom made the curtains to combine the colors. Quite like this one though may not be ideal since i dont want  the window to be focal point

3. Go with the wall color. Most sensible one, but it will make the room looks bland. Too safe, not enough cheekiness.

The biggest challenge is to find it locally, without costing me arms and legs.

AND Not to mention, how do I keep it from hubs, cause he would say HECK NO for sure... Haha

Good luck to me.

  

Charm-me enough

Last night hubs wanted to buy me a Pandora charm and I pass up. 

It was nice of him, and totally unexpected too. But I guess enough is enough, I dont really need another charm, it is heavy as it is. 

Made me wonder though, perhaps I can re-sell my existing charm so that I can buy a different one. Any takers you think? 

Most expensive carwash ever!!

Last I checked I was still Malaysia, and not in some crazy expensive country like Norway. 

So imagine my shock when I was presented with this bill. 

Yeap, it wasnt a typo or anything, the car wash was indeed RM 50. Crazy!! 

So peeps if you are ever in Pavilion and thinking of giving your ride a jolly wash while you shop, just forget it. The Shine Shine located at level 1M, will suck you dry with a simple carwash costing 5 times more than the standard charge. To be fair - they did inform me that it was 'fifty' since I was not a member. And I agreed thinking he said 'fifteen'. Ye la sapa nak expect carwash would cost you RM50 kan. Off I went, not realising my car was being treated with the most expensive ever wash. Balik2 I gave the boy RM15 and the boy look at me expectantly (though I must say he looked guilty), and told me sheepishly that it is RM50 not RM15. 

Huh. 

Lesson learnt - always check the docket!!!

Samsung S3 for sale

Bought it for hubs, but after using it for couple of months he told me that he prefers his old nexus.

According to him, the Nexus was more responsive and had better calendar feature. One biggest difference is the position of the 'back' button which sits on the far right on S3, but it was on the far left on Nexus. Being a lefty, he had to stretch his thumb frequently and has started to experience pain on his thumb after a while.

Because I do not want an injured hub, I decided to just fix the broken Nexus screen (which costs RM 500 btw) and had him changed back to the nexus.

So now I am left with this S3, and no, I certainly am not swinging to android. I tried - but I find it too frilly with all sorts of animation that I honestly don't need nor want.  The only thing that I appreciate is the widget where I can see whole screen of calendars and what not. Though I find it strange that empty pages are still there though there is no widgets/icons on it (unlike iOS where I only see a new page if I have an icon).

Anyhow, if you want an S3 complete with the original box and the phone is still under warranty, just leave a message. Ta!

Note: Item sold on the day it went to mudah.my - twas sellin like a hot cake! 

Ikan kering goreng with chilli

 I am not sure if there is a proper name for this dish. Its basically just fermented fish, cooked with dried chillies and onions.

Very simple dish, and uses everyday ingredients.

What you need:

A handful ikan kering (sliced thin)

A handful dried chillies (cut about an inch)

Two onions (sliced)

2 cloves garlic

An inch of ginger (sliced thin)

Cooking oil (for frying)

1. To cook, first fry the ikan kering. Put aside. Should look something like this once fried.

2. Sautee the remaining ingredients except ginger. Sautee until the onions became brownish

3. Finally, add the ginger and the fried ikan kering. Mix well and serve.

Grilled Salmon with alfredo pasta

  

This is my first time trying alfredo pasta. Wasnt very successful, the sauce came out a bit curdled, maybe next time i should add a bit of water and simmer less.

The recipe was from:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/alfredo-sauce-2/?scale=2&ismetric=1

Ingredients:

+ butter

+ cream

+ parmesan cheese

+ parsley

+ crushed garlic

And  I added  a bit of salt and pepper as well.

Initially I wanted to cook the salmon as part of the alfredo, but changed my mind in case it doesnt turn out well. It was a good call, because Mr Fluff was making faces at my alfredo when he realised that there was cheese in it.

He said it was quite nice, but I dont think he enjoyed it very much. I guess this one is not going to be a repeat - since I am not exactly a fan of Alfredo either.

Miso soup

A friend bought me the Miso soup paste after hearing that I have been looking for it. Apparently a lot of the off the shelves miso paste contains non-halal ingredient. She got this one from a shop selling natural goods, and ingredients are all vegetarians and no achohol.

For the dashi stock, you will need (i got the konbu and bonito flakes from Isetan KLCC):

- 2 x 4 inches konbu ( some kind of dried seaweed)

- 1 x cup of bonito flakes (shaved dried fish flakes)

- 4 cups of water 

For the add ons, basically you can just add on anything u fancy, some have seaweeds, or those soft tofu, it really is up to you but I prefer these:

- dried tofu

- spring onions

And not forgetting the miso itself. Mine is a paste, but it also comes in powder.

I was making it based on the recipe from this site :

http://justhungry.com/2006/08/a_week_of_miso_soup_day_1_zucc.html

I am not gonna rewrite it since it was practically the same, so I'll just post the pix of what I did.

Step 1: 

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5:

Step 6: the miso, i found that I dont need to mix it with the stock beforehand, it is okay to just stir it after

Finally:

The final verdict -

Taste wise, its quite okay and not too bad for a first try.

However, would I be making it again? Maybe not. While its quite easy to make, its too time consuming ( because u need to let the konbu sits for a while) and the ingredients are not exactly cheap.  The ingredients costs nearly RM20, maybe more, while you can just have those at the Japanese restaurants for around RM2.50 per bowl. Doesnt really justifies it, but of course u will know for sure that it is halal and if you make the dashi stock in big batches, you can always skip the time consuming bit and have it ready in less than 10 mins.

aztech homeplug - network your home without using electricity

If you are like me, living in a two storey house and would like to have your cat5e cable on different location other than where your router is, and if you want to have a more stable and bigger than the 54mpbs of wifi, u should consider buying the homeplug.

Frankly I was sceptical at first, not sure if it would work out of the box like it says, especially after reading unsuccessful stories over the internet.

In the end, I am glad that I tried it anyway, cos it worked like a charm!

By the way, to state the obvious,  you will need purchase two units for it to work - though I reckon Aztech should have sold it in pairs cos buying just one unit doesnt make sense.

Unboxing the package you will get:

- the home plug

- cat5e cable ( a very short one though, I substituted it with my 3mtrs)

- a simple guide ( though its not exactly necessary, it was very simple to setup)

- the installer CD ( not sure what it was for because I had mine working without needing to install anything)

So first, you just plug in one unit on any plug point close to your router, in my case - upstairs at my TV room/area. As you can see, I actually just plugged it in on one of the power extension strip, and it was working okay. Then hook it with a cat5e cable which goes to the cable port on the homeplug on one end and the router on the other end.

  Next, plugged in the second unit in the same manner on a plugpoint which you want it to be, eg, downstairs. 

Its worth to mention that some people commented that it doesnt work if you have three phase wiring and if the two locations are in different phase. My house is a three phase, but it was working okay with one unit upstairs and one unit downstairs. Perhaps it so happens that the two locations were on the same phase, i dont know. Will update if it wont work elsewhere later.

As you can from the images above, there led indicators on the unit to indicate power, (dunno what the middle on is), and network. It goes green when it picked up signals, it goes amber when it doesnt. It took less than a minute for it turn green in my case, which surprised me at how easy and simple it is.

Overall I am very happy now that I can have a network downstairs without having to run long exposed cable.

The cost:

About RM200 - around RM100 each unit. Well worth the investment :)

More information can be found at http://www.aztech.com/prod_homeplug_hl112e.html

Below is copied from Aztech website to illustrate how it works:

Dinner is on me!

  

Just wanted to share with others who wants to get good sausages, I got those from Las Vacas. I usually go to the ones in Kelana Jaya because its the closest to me. Mr Fluff enjoyed his dinner very much. And I liked it too, its practically hassle free to prepare!

OK, those who'd like to get meat products its located at

No.23, Jalan SS5A/11 Kelana Jaya, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

03-7874 0711

Money MATTERS. period.

Has the value of our money decreased?? 

I dont know about you, but in the past whenever I withdrew money from the ATM I never get the RM100 bill. Its always either the fifties or the tens. 

The thing is, I had always prefered the RM100 note - because I can spend more.. haha no lah, its because I have a small wallet. I can only put as many notes before it starts to look like a overfed goldfish,and hence my preference on the bigger nomination (besides the obvious advantages :D) 

Previously, whenever I see hubs or grandma with RM100 - I always want to tukar duit with them. For some reason, their bank dispenses the 100 nominations. 

Anyway, of late I noticed that I am no longer getting RM50 and RM10 from my ATM. Instead, I am getting RM100 and RM20 instead as well. The first time I got it, I was happy. But nowadays, I am not too sure anymore. I share the same sentiment as hubs - I think its troublesome because now its a hassle especially when I need to make small expense. Satu hal pulak nak tukar duit. 

Anyway, the point I am trying to make - does that mean the value of our RM has decreased? 

If dulu, RM100 can buy me a whole lot of things. But nowadays, not so. 

The RM20 has become what RM10 used to be. AND RM100 has become what RM50 used to be. 

I wonder what will happen 10 years from now. RM10 are like the RM1?? I sure hope not! 

Fly Malaysia Airlines

Flowers collections

All About Flowers

12 Feb 2013. Taman Tasik Permaisuri

Jack Reaper

At first I actually thought this movie was a remake of those jack reaper movies.

Its not, and it was surprisingly good. 

Its centers adound a killing spree by an ex-army who had history of similar killings, only that it is not what it is. Here comes Jack Reaper who was also in the army - the very person who investigate his previous case and through the evidences knew that he couldnt have done it. 

The movie slowly unfolds each evidences to finally reveals that the motive behind the killings.

My rating: 8/10

Installing HDD to Dune HD media player

This is going to be a basic guide, mainly to give an oversight of whats inside the hood & quick overview of configuring the system storage. Hopefully it'll help you people who were confused like me , to decide if this dune is for you or not. 

Before i start - i should say you basically dont need to do the steps i'm about to explain in this post, the dune hd media player will run out of the box, if you are looking for a simple plug and play device.

I however opted to install an internal HDD for several reasons:

1. I dont have enough storage elsewhere to host the kind of volume these movies and videos are going to accumulate

2. I hated how uncool the dangling external HDD looked on my shelves - kinda defeats the purpose having a small media player

3. When you disconnect and reconnect the external HDD, it doesnt always remember the same volume name. Which is not an issue if you dont intend to use a collection application like zappiti or dune movie. In my case- going through movie titles without some kind of visuals is just not gonna cut it for me

4. Without an internal HDD, I will need to stick an empty USB stick permanently there to store the system storage files ( again, if u intend to use zappiti, u'll need this).

What you will need is just a 2.5" HDD - maximum 2 TB, according to the documentations. I bought a 1TB, so I cant tell you  what will happen if u stick a higher capacity disk. It is also recommended to buy the green version so that you can keep temp lower, and also keep the rpm low. Apparently there will be issues if you use higher rpms like 7200.  Note: You should also know that the Dune gets a bit heaty when left even at standby mode. 

Ok. Now, here are images i captured and basic steps just to show whats inside the hood n installing the hdd.

- unscrew the two tiny screws at the sides, and lift the cover (the sides with the writings like below)

- the inside is quite easy to guess. So just mount the HDD with the M3 sized screws provided at the cover's back. There is plastic film there presumably to protect the HDD's backside. 

- connect the SATA and power cables and fit it back in

Once the HDD installed, you will automatically see it on the screen

Will continue tomorrow with part 2 - to configure the HDD, and installing system storage. Stay tuned.

BMI calculator

Okay peeps ..time to get healthy. Calculate your bmi here!

bmi calculator

Bye bye AFC

After a series of failures in baking - I decided that I am just not meant to be Bree Van Dekamp, and channeled my energy towards what I love best - IT. So folks on my next few posts, you'll see more reviews on gadgets and stuff rather than the kitchen department. So long AFC, welcome Lowyat.net. :D