Happy Birthday Yun! :)

28/04/2009: Today is the birthday of one of my best buddies, Ayun! :) Happy Birthday Yun!! I hope you have a great birthday. Sorry that I can't be there with you to celebrate your birthday. I'm sure you will have a good one this year. No pressies at the moment, tunggu ko balik tah saja haha.. hanya sekalung doa, semoga berjaya dalam studies dan may Allah bless you always.. Amin! :) I miss you! Hugs. :D

Butters ♥

It is Sunday and I am bored...

So what have I been doing to pass the time this afternoon? Play Pet Society! It can get so addictive once you get started playing, hehe. I've been playing through facebook. I am quite a newbie, just started playing for about a month. You get to create your own pet and you have a house to start with. The fun parts are that, you get to choose and buy your own furniture, buy anything at the shops to decorate and play with, visit your neighbours, compete at races at the stadium and so on. Macam promosi tah ku plang nah haha.

Butters at the neighbourhood

Infront of the house. The house gets bigger as your points accumulate, I think.

Butters's living room

Butters at home

at the cafe

Butters sleeping. How cute!! :)

Ani posting pun pasal pet society. Main tah, siuk tu. Bah, sambung main ku lagi haha. :)

More cupcakes ;)

I had some leftover ingredients and so I decided to make some chocolate chip vanilla cupcakes one afternoon. This time, I tried to make a smaller version using smaller paper cups like mom suggested. And, I tried using some colouring to make the cupcakes look cuter, hehehe. :p

Chocolate chip vanilla cupcake :)

And..... tadaaa! mini cupcakes in the fridge. Nyum :)

Ice-eating & Movie-going

Yesterday afternoon, I went to watch a movie at the Mall cineplex with Val, Rahmat and Nazmi. Before the movie, Val wanted to bring us to this new ice cream place in Gadong called Snow House. I think it's the place that Azim mentioned in his blog a few weeks ago. I tried the 'Kingdom of Gold' ice cream and it was super icy cool, delicious and melts in your mouth just like butter. Val said that there was actually a similar place in Sunnybank, in Brissy. The snow ice was served in a large stylish bowl rather generously.

Rahmat's 'Choco Light' snow ice

My 'Kingdom of Gold' snow ice. Milk flavoured ice, with mango syrup and fruit.

Val's Green tea snow ice which I forgot the name of, hehe

Nazmi's 'Brownies' snow ice

Nazmi and Rahmat

Me and Val

After snacking, we went to see 'He's Just Not That Into You' and I have to say that I love the movie! 8/10! It made me shed a few tears, sighhh.. Feeling yooo :P


Btw, I bought a laptop skin at the Mall expo. Tais liur ku kan cuba pakai, hehe. It was also sold at a discounted price, so bali tah, hehe. The one that I wanted abis tia, so bali yang sebuting ani tah saja. Saja kan menstailkan laptop, hehehe and it was quite easy to stick it on your own. Nanti ku cari lagi kalau ada design yang lebih lawa, hehe.

Cool eh.. :D

Dinner at Coffee Zone

Tonight, I went out with Tiyah, Rahmat and Nazmi for dinner at Coffee Zone at Centrepoint, Gadong. It has been a while since we last hung out and catch up, hehe. After dinner, we walked to the Mall, and played basketball and racing cars at the arcade, before making our way to kadai komunis to check out DVDs. Since it's Saturday night, there was traffic at Gadong and finding a parking spot took some time. Fortunately, we managed to find a spot near the cafe.

Tiyah and me at Coffee Zone

Nazmi and Rahmat at Coffee Zone

Basketball at the arcade. The guys defeated the girls with a huge score difference haha. Oh well. :p

Mister Ice cream man

We have an unofficial ice cream man in our Kampung. He comes every now and then, but he is a regular on friday afternoons. His uniform usually consists a white shirt, black pants and a white kopiah. He is a nice Indian man and rather generous. So most friday afternoons, he would come, riding on his bicycle and ringing his bell to announce his presence. We would excitedly shout, "es krem! eskrem!" when we heard his familiar bell as he passes us by, hehehe. The ice cream is cheap too, 50 cents for one ice cream on a cone :)

Mr Ice cream man :)

Delicious ice cream hehe, specialty of our beloved Mr ice cream man :)

More ambuk sightings

Now, what did I tell you before?

Memang sah! Ambuk di sini makin belabih! makin gauk!

Just a few minutes ago, a grey very very naughty monkey can be seen carefully snooping around the opened kitchen window. I was sitting in front of my laptop and the kitchen window was visible from where I was sitting. I noticed a sudden movement at the corner of my eye. When I turned my head to look, I let out another surprised yell. Yes, yes, I know.., you would think that after the first 2-3 times that happened, I would have gotten used to it by now hahaha.

Why do they keep coming back?? My mom's theory is that, the monkeys keep coming back to see me, since after her first encounter a few weeks ago, it was me who has had the honour of meeting the little terrors for 2-3 times now.. hehehe

Barang kali kan bawa main kali... dapat jua sama-sama begaru mencek kutu, hahaha.. tapi nda ku bekutu eh.. jauh palis haha..

As usual, after my cries, the monkeys flee with practiced ease and grabbed the leftover rice that we usually put outside for the birds to eat. I think the main reason why they keep coming back is probably to check if there are more leftover rice inside or maybe, they just like the thrill of getting caught. Who knows how their brains work? We don't mind them eating the rice, sedakah lah, but kalau sampai masuk ke rumah, nda tau cemana nanti hahaha.

Monkeys hanging out on the railing at the back of the house

Dua ekong ambuk makan nasi

Down the memory lane: Korean experience

Shepherd's Pie ala jannah hehehe :p

Made Shepherd's Pie late afternoon. And it's my first time too, hehe. I noticed that I've been posting more on food lately. That's how unexciting my life is lately. Oh well..

My mom was telling me just now that applications for joining in "Kapal Belia" is now open. With the lack of excitement in my life right now, I am actually considering of maayybbeee applying. Seems interesting. It could be fun. And the experience would be good. I had a previous experience of something similar to this.

In 2001, I was selected to join in a youth exchange programme in South Korea, with 9 other Bruneians, where we got the chance to meet other youth representatives from ASEAN countries as well as the host, Korea. I was in Form 4 back then. I remembered that we had to make several preparations before flying sometime in August. We had to practice our traditional dance performance months in advance, prepare presentations, survey and buy traditional food and other equipments required, make new dress and jackets and so on. It was my first time going abroad on my own without my family. We had to transit in S'pore before boarding on the Korean Airline plane, heading to Incheon airport. We were greeted warmly by the Korean participants at the airport and were then transported to our first hotel in Seoul. Korea is a beautiful and modern country.

I did some digging of my old photo album and scanned a few photos that I would like to share with you guys hehe.

The Brunei representatives at Brunei airport, 2001 :)

A younger, chubbier me haha, in front of Olympia Hotel in Seoul :)

The first day, ice breaking session at the hotel ball room. I believe this was the Brunei group with some Indonesian participants :)

This was during the introductory session where we have to wear each countries' national costumes.

After the opening ceremony of the Korea-ASEAN youth exchange project 2001

If I can remember correctly, this was in Daejon, South Korea. We stayed for a few days in Seoul before travelling to Daejon next. This was at the Science Park, where each country had to set up their own booths for the exhibition. We displayed Brunei traditional dry food, some souvenirs, books, booklets, posters and so on, for the public to see. I remember that we managed to sell Bruneian food and then the money that we earned, we donated to the charity box that was available there.

Getting ready for our traditional dance performance in the Science Park. It was so much fun! and a bit nerve wrecking too since we were performing in front of the Korean public as well as our ASEAN friends, hehe. The dance went smoothly without a hitch and we received warm applause from the public. What a great feeling! :D In this photo: Monica, Ann, Fau and Nahidah.

Another day. Planting trees ceremony :) In this photo: me with Ramli and Mahfuz also from Brunei

Using tiles to make each countries' flags. And this is the finished product! :)

Participating in Korean tea ceremony

In Kimchi making class, hehe. This was where I tasted my first Kimchi, which is one of Korea's traditional dishes. It was rather spicy and I had to gulp down a few cups of tea to reduce the hotness haha.

The vase that I made with my own hands during korean pottery class! :D Even decorated it hehe. It was a bit sloppy at first, but the instructor helped to make it look much better, heeehee. It was later 'cooked' and then given to us as a souvenir before heading back home.

Midnight food craving. There was a convenience store next to our hotel, so Eun-Joo brought us there to sample my first ever ramen; vegetable ramen that is hehe. There was hot water available, so we ate on the counter provided, hehe.

In Anmyun Island. From Daejon, we travelled to Anmyun Island, where we stayed at a beach resort with gorgeous views of the sea. We had several activities there, including a Bonfire at night. Back L-R: Monica, Fau, Ann, Nahidah and me. Front L-R: Mahfuz, Arrifin, Amir, Shardy and a korean guy, whose name I don't remember, hehe

Preparing and cooking for the ASEAN food festival in the hotel.

With Hoai Dung from Vietnam, one of my room mates in the hotel at the island. I remember sharing a large apartment-like hotel room with 4 others there. We had to change 3 or 4 hotels during the trip, and I think I didn't really bother unpacking much since we have to move a lot, hehe

On the train with friends from S'pore, Thailand and Korea hehe

Back in Seoul, we had a day off, in which we spent the time shopping. Monica and I went out with our three Korean friends. The fun thing was that, we taught our korean friends on how to say expensive and cheap in Malay. So if we were interested in buying something, they would say it's 'mahal' (expensive) or 'murah' (cheap), haha. We didnt really have much time to shop, so we used whatever time we could to do so. There was also another time where we had the chance to shop at a multi-storeyed superstore that we were told to open past midnight into early hours of the morning.

Lunch at a fast food restaurant after shopping. I remember that I ordered fish burger and fries. The good thing was that they knew that we can't eat beef or chicken or any non-halal food stuff there. Since it's difficult to find halal restaurants, so I have to resort to seafood. In this photo: Monica with Mi-ran. Me with Himmie and Kuei-Bang. :)

Hanging out in one of the hotel rooms. I think this was our last night in Korea. During the last night, we had an official closing ceremony, where we were presented with certificates. We also exchanged gifts or souvenirs with the friends that we have made.

With Mulan, another friend from Korea.

Last day at the hotel, before going to the airport.

It was certainly a memorable experience of my young life. There were a lot of bittersweet memories. Lots of activities, talks and lectures and meeting new friends. I still have lots more photos of the activities that we did, but it would take a while to scan. Well, back then, digital cameras were not popular yet, hehe. It would have been much easier. :D So there you go, a little look into my experience in korea in 2001. :)

C.O.O.K.I.E.S

Yes, yes, I was again in a baking mode today. So I went to Giant late this afternoon to get a few ingredients and then also ended up buying some KFC spicy chicken since I was passing through the fast food outlet and couldn't resist the tempting smell, hehehe. For me, Giant is quite a huge store and I always find myself taking my time browsing and usually spent almost an hour or so in the store just to kill time. I don't know why, hehe. So back at home, I ended up baking some chocolate chip cookies for munching during tv time. Well, KFC and chocolates couldn't go wrong in my book. :D

Chocolate chip cookie dough.

Uneven round cookies hehe. I was lazy to shape them properly. Personally, I think they look a lot like the Indian henna paste or 'pacar', haha.

Chocolate chip cookies freshly baked! :D