CNY 2019

This CNY, I did not really have the inclination to bake, until school closed on Friday. That afternoon, I baked cranberry cheese cookies, but it was only because I wanted to use up the mascarpone cheese I had in the freezer ...

Pineapple Nastar and Cranberry cheese cookies

I used this recipe from Little Duck. The cookies turned out alright, but they didn't really taste spectacular ... heh. I did help Mom to bake some Nastar Pineapple Rolls using my go-to recipe from Nasilemaklover.

Since Saturday, however, I tried to help Mom out in the kitchen so that she wouldn't be overburdened with the cooking over the festive period. I drew out a meal plan so that Mom wouldn't have a headache thinking about what to cook for every meal. With some planning, we even managed to cook laksa for the whole family during this busy period .....

 Laksa feast 

Yummy homecooked laksa 

I was glad that cooking for our reunion dinner seemed breezy. I had everything written down so that we would be more organised. All meats were prepared at one go, and only after that did we prep all the veggies. I also controlled the portions so that we would only be cooking enough .... if it was up to Mom, she tended to go overboard and we'd always end up with a lot of leftovers. 

Reunion dinner 2019

Gado gado

This was my contribution to the reunion dinner this year. I cooked the peanut gravy from scratch 2 days prior .... I used this recipe, and it turned out very yummy. The vegetables and other ingredients were easy to prepare. This dish was pretty well-received. Everyone enjoyed it! 

Basket of Deepfried Goodies ..

Our favourite was the deep fried prawn. Mom made the meat rolls while I made Gai Tod Nam Pla using the recipe from Hot Thai Kitchen. By itself, the chicken wings were a bit salty, but they were really good when paired with cold beer. 

Curried Cuttlefish with Peppers

Mixed vegetables 

Leek stirfry

Mutton curry masala

Fifth Aunt cooked both the leek and the mutton curry masala. 

Fish Maw Soup with Homemade Prawn Balls

Braised duck and pork 

Happy CNY 2019!

I'm Suffering From The Jin Woo Withdrawal Syndrome

In 2018, all the k-dramas that I'd watched weren't that engaging. Most of the dramas actually started out well. But somewhere along the line, the plot seemed to have faltered ... and I lost engagement before the drama ended. It was like that with Live - when they lingered on the rape storyline and turned the drama quite dark, and WWWSK - when it became all fluff from Episode 9 onwards. I did enjoy a bit of Familiar Wife ... but well, I hadn't been obsessed about any drama for a long time.

One of the dramas that received an enormous amount of interest last year was the Memories of the Alhambra (MOTA). It was pairing Hyun Bin and Park Shin Hye. Hyun Bin, though I hadn't watched him before (I know. How can, right??? Heh ...), was a big name in the K-entertainment industry and I knew he wasn't so famous for no reason. So that got me excited. Plus, I'd always have a soft spot for Park Shin Hye. She had this girl-next-door appeal and so far, what I'd watched of Park Shin Hye, I really liked. She was also known to be able to create chemistry with all of her co-stars. So I thought  that should be something to look forward to.

MOTA was said to be a sci-fi action thriller. Though sci-fi wasn't exactly my cup of tea, I thought I would try watching Episode 1 after I came back from my Eastern Europe trip. I told myself that I did not have to carry on with it if I did not like what I saw.

And guess what, Episode 1 DID engage me and I found myself asking, "What happened?" Heh. Little did I know it at that time. But literally, I had to ask that question after watching every episode. There were no answers absolutely .... even right up till it ended in Episode 16. Which was probably why this show sparked a lot of discussions online. Since the show did not explicitly let on the answers, people came up to theory after theory to seek the answers themselves. And I suspiciously think that it is also why, even now, a week after the show ended, people are still thinking about it, discussing it, because a lot of people cannot make sense of the story and are trying to find  a logical explanation to it.

Why got me hooked to MOTA?
1) The cast is certainly good-looking. Hyun Bin is really sexy and swoony, but most of all, his acting is just awesome. He'd successfully brought Jin Woo to life! Jin Woo who is smart, confident, driven, cunning juxtaposed with Jin Woo who is fearful and broken - I think Hyun Bin delivered the nuances of his complex character very well. I am hopeful that he will be awarded with at least one Daesang for his efforts. Park Shin Hye has matured into a beautiful lady, and though her role as Hee Joo is mostly passive, I believed it has served the purpose of the drama very well.

2) The story was engaging. From Episode 1 onwards, we were with Jin Woo as he battled the Nasrid warriors in the AR game. We literally tagged along with Jin Woo in his game, rooting for him as he fought, cringing our teeth as he got injured ... and as the game turned nasty, we feared for his life. This was Jin Woo's story, and we journeyed along with him in his quest to find the answers. I felt very much a part of the story - it was as much my quest as it was Jin Woo's quest. I wanted to know the answers. What happened?

3) The drama was beautifully filmed. As a wanderlust myself, I appreciated the setting in Granada, Spain, and it made me want to go there and visit the Alhambra Palace one of these days. It's certainly something for me to look forward to.

At that point when I started watching MOTA, episodes 1 to 6 had already aired. So from then on, I waited weekly for new episodes to air ... and the wait was quite agonizing I would say. I scolded myself for starting an ongoing drama. Darn I should have only watched it after it ended.

Last Sunday, the show finally ended. And the ending was pretty abrupt. Huh? That's it? What happened? The ending seemed "open" ... so it certainly did not satisfy those who wanted to see a happy ending between Jin Woo and Hee Joo.

Me? I was very disappointed. Like millions of viewers out there, I was upset.
1) No happy ending?
2) No happy Jin Woo?
3) What happened to Jin Woo? His game alter ego Zinu turned to a pile of dust. But Jin Woo disappeared without a trace.
4) There was no Jin Woo for the two-thirds of the show. After his disappearance, the show focused on everyone else but Jin Woo. How can that be satisfactory for viewers who had been alongside Jin Woo right from Episode 1? Surely we deserved to know what exactly happened to Jin Woo? Surely we wanted to see our Jin Woo at peace after he'd finished his quest?
5) A silhoutte appeared for 20 seconds before the show ended - Zinu or Jin Woo?? No one was sure.
6) The game LOGIC seemed ILLOGICAL. The hows and the whys weren't explained.

Because of no. 4, I felt disappointed because it felt like Jin Woo had lost a good fight. I also felt pretty cheated because it felt like my journey had been in vain. Because even in the end, I could not get the answers I wanted.

But after I watched the finale for the second time, it dawned on me that I'd been seeking for answers that needed NO answers.

MAGIC was a central theme to this drama ... and how do you explain magic?
1) Magic was logic-defying ... and I think viewers could not come to term with the ending because they were trying to look for logical answers to explain the story. That actually marred their enjoyment of the drama in general.
2) In magic, what you see ... it it real or not real? The answer lies within each individual. How the ending is - whether the silhoutte was Zinu or Jin Woo - depends very much on each individual. If you believe in what you see, for instance, then for you, Jin Woo is very much alive and it is implied that he is going to meet up with Hee Joo.

The moment I realised that, I appreciated the finale more and was at peace with the ending, and I appreciated that the writer was consistent with her theme. Whether intentional or not, the writer had instigated such a furore amongst drama fans. Social media and forums came alive with people dissing the story and the writer. Heh. More came forward to propose alternative endings and even now, people are still in deep discussion about every aspect of the show. All these happened ONLY because of the deep engagement that people have with the drama - the story and its characters.

A happier Jin Woo in ep. 13 

Post-MOTA, I am rewatching my favourite parts of the drama, and I am still reading the various theories about the AR game, and the analysis people have upon the story and it makes me miss Jin Woo a lot. But still, I am happy to be part of this obsession. ;))

P/S: I did squeal in delight when I saw that the final scene was shot at the Seonggwak Park in Dongdaemun. I had visited this place only in June last year .... and it was certainly pleasing to know that it became a filming location for a show that I loved. :))

Final scene was shot here!! This was the park when I visited in June 2018... 

A Nasty Fall

Just last month, Fourth Aunt slipped and fell, and broke her knee cap while shopping at her local supermarket. She had her surgery done and is currently at the nursing home. I'd visited her whenever I was free, and happy to find out that she's recuperating well.

Yesterday, on the first day of my year-end break, I went for a walk at the park ... I was walking my usual track when I slipped and fell as I was going down a slope. I was trying to avoid bumping into an elderly uncle ... so I moved slightly to the left, but the ground proved slippery. I lost my balance and fell, my left knee scraping the floor.

"Be careful," the uncle said. Too late ... I had fallen.

I let out a little shriek, picked myself up, checked my knee and proceeded walking. The pain was bearable so I did not think it was serious ... until I saw blood flowing down my legs. Drat. I had no tissue. I walked to the toilet, wiped the blood with my hands and washed. I wiped and washed till the blood flow slowed ... and I drove home.

Back home, I couldn't see the wound too clearly ... as it was caked with blood. I used cotton wool to clean as much as I could, and then I covered it up with cotton wool. Soon, the cotton wool was seeped with blood .... and I knew I needed professional attention.

I went to the nearest clinic to dress my wound. The nurse used hydrogen peroxide to clean the wound, the doctor came to check on it. He said it was quite deep ... gave me a tetanus jab and prescribed me antibiotics.

Today, I went back to the clinic to change my dressing. Today's nurse was a very experienced one, and she thought the younger nurse who attended to me yesterday did not do a good job. So she proceeded to scrub the wound (ouch!), cut away the dead skin, medicated it and then dressed it up again.

Jeez .... what a bad start to my holiday! Sigh. I really hope that I will heal quickly as I'll be travelling soon!

KLB Garden, Tebedu

Our journey started at 8.00 a.m. with breakfast at Poh Lok coffee shop at 7th mile ...

 Cucur was alright .... 

Laksa, RM6.00

Big bowl, but not very tasty ..... 

Then we drove out to the garden. KLB Garden is a 13-acre agro park and mini zoo, located at Tebedu. It opened late in June this year. KLB is the initials of the patriach of the Kueh family - the late Mr. Kueh Lai Boo, and the garden is built in his memroy. He was apparently a prominent businessman in Tebedu, a town near to the border of Indonesia.

According to its website, KLB was established to promote eco-tourism. It had a collection of animals and plants, a camping site, a water fountain, boating and cycling facilities.

Entrance was RM16 for adults and RM8 for children. The elderly could enter for free.

As soon as we entered the premises, there was a cafe on the left. 

 The cafe terrace

Wall feature

We looked down from the terrace and we could see .... 

The water fountain - there were some children playing  here ... the little animal figures surrounding the fountain were the 12 zodiacs animals, so this is the section of the garden called the Zodiac Playground. 

The camping ground in the distance, surrounded by greenery 

The thing is that the garden was just established and the plants are not fully grown yet ... I suppose if we were to visit later, perhaps the landscaping would be nicer as well.
 

Walking past the peacock aviary to get to the lake 

 

 KLB Lake .... it should be man-made .. 

 Man-made waterfall ... 

From here, we walked to the bird aviary to see their collection of colourful birds like canaries, conures, parrots, cockatoos. 

A photogenic owl ... heh .... 

I remember seeing otters, terrapins, tortoises .... 

Civet cat 

Mousedeers 

Dolly, the lonely horse .... 

There were goats, sheep, bulls, samba deers, porcupines, pangolins too .... 

Bicycle rental area 

Rabbits .... visitors can go in and play with the rabbits .... 

Apparently, strawberries are grown inside a special room

Pitcher plants were grown as well ... 

Pepper? 

There was a wishing well too! 

 Nope, not Disneyland ... 

The bicycle rental area, and a food and drinks station in the shade ...

I actually liked these old buses on display around the garden .... they were used as seating areas, for visitors to sit and enjoy their food .... 

Not sure what plant is this .... I thought the flower looked unique .... 

The Zodiac Playground entrance .... 

It was too hot to walk to the camping ground ... apparently there's another lake there and also a swimming pool at the far end where the camping ground was. I went back to the cafe to get away from the scorching sun .... and ended up surveying the menu. There were fried noodles, chicken rice, fried rice, curry chicken rice, nasi pattaya ... or one could order menu items from Sugar Bun. Apparently there's a Sugar Bun outlet nearby at Tebedu town and they would deliver to KLB Garden. There were also some drinks and ice-cream sold here. We ordered fresh sugarcane drink at RM4.00 per glass. It was sweet but refreshing. :)) 

 My wrist tag 

There were some merchandise on sale - souvenirs, and also red rice, barley, pepper and watermelon. But we did nor purchase anything. We drove to Siburan and had our favourite food at this small shop called Chung Chai Poh ...

Ted Shin's triangle chai kueh  

Yummy ABC with palm sugar ... huge bowl!! 

 Prawn fritters .... soft already since they're already cold ... they would be yum if they were freshly cooked .... 

Sour and spicy rojak .... so tangy and appetising!! Loved the plum and lime dressing  

Rojak 

I love, love the muah chee .... chewy and soft and coated with sweet peanut powder ....  

Mee suah with sayur manis .... 

Our tummies full, we drove back to Kuching. ;)) 

What Have I Been Up To?

So what have I been up to? Well, life has been mundane. Since I came back from my trips, I'd been in Kuching all the time. 

I got a new car! 

At the end of April before the election, I drove to Perodua one afternoon, test drove the new Myvi and booked it. Heh. It was a rather impromptu decision. It made me feel reckless, lol. People said the wait for the new car would take a long time since demand for it was great. Well, I merely waited a month for mine. The car arrived on 30 May .... but since I was away, I only collected it on 21 June. Post election, there was no GST and I got a rebate of more than RM3K .... I thought it was a good buy overall. I'd been enjoying my new car thus far. It's only a Myvi and not some imported expensive car, but it had everything I needed at a good price. I loved the reverse camera and also the media player of course. 

One day, my friends and I did drive out to Gunung Gading National Park in Lundu, just to see Rafflesia. It's the very first time I'd seen the flower, and so I thought it was a precious experience. 

 Rafflesia 

Wilted ones too!  

We also dropped by this resort .... 

Union Yes Retreat and Training Centre, Lundu

Quite pretty, eh? 

 The beach was beautiful as well .... 

We normally had lunch before driving back to Kuching. My favourite restaurant was Fung Ling which sold decent dishes at decent prices. 

Having good food with friends ..... 

Must drink their lime juice! It's VERY yummy! 

My parents were away in July. They went away to Melbourne and I was home alone. It was pretty nice to be home alone for a change. I loved that freedom .... and I loved cooking my own food and it did not matter that I was eating more or less the same things all over. 

My attempt at a Korean bapsang ... heh .... 

I made bulgogi with pork, and I thought it was pretty yummy. The meat was marinated with a blend of apple, onions, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil. A quick stirfry and it was ready to eat. I served with some greens, Korean laver and kimchi which I had brought home all the way from Seoul. 

I was surprised when my friend W contacted me. She was in Kuching and wanted to meet up! She's just retired now at 60! Gosh, how time really flew by. I remembered celebrating her 50th in Miri and it seemed like it had not been that long ago! Had it really been 10 years??? Goodness! Really glad to meet up with dear W and wish I could see her more often. 

Bing's Coffee Latte .... pleasantly surprised to see so many people there on a Sunday afternoon! 

For a large part of August, I was busy with work - marking especially, because it was exams season. For about 2 weeks, I'd buried my head in exam papers, marking and processing marks and writing reports .... everything was only finished a few days ago. So much so that this year, I did not even go to the Kuching Festival. Another reason why I did not go was the weather .... the heat was rather unbearable. Well, I did attempt to go one evening ... then it rained so I changed my mind. Heh. 

I'd also been obsessed with Korean drama, needless to say. 

The hottest Korean actor now is probably Park Seo Joon. He was on the television a lot - in commercials especially - when I was there in South Korea. Plus, the re-run of Youn's Kitchen Season 2 was being broadcasted at the time. So every time I turned on the television, I would see Park Seo Joon on screen.

His latest drama, "What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?" had been a hit. I did watch it, and personally, I felt that the story was good from Ep. 1 - 8. After that, I found the plot to be only fluff. Much as I enjoyed Park Seo Joon as the handsome and narcissistic hero, Lee Young Joon, I did not care much for his leading lady. I did not think she was pretty, and I did not like the way she said her lines. People said their onscreen chemistry sizzled ... but how come I did not feel the sparkle? Hmn ....

Park Seo Joon on WWWSK on UnifiTV

I couldn't remember how I first knew of Park Seo Joon. Was it through Running Man? Hmn .... I wasn't sure. I recalled watching his interviews on Youtube .... but funny I did not think he was good looking at first. I did watch Hwarang last year, and in that production, while Park Seo Joon was the lead, I somehow preferred actors Park Hyung-sik and Choi Min Ho. 

I did also watch his movie with Kang Haneul called Midnight Runners - and well,  it was pretty enjoyable! The story and acting were both solid. But still, I wasn't too crazy about Park Seo Joon at that point. I wasn't even that excited when I read that he was casted by PD Na Young Suk in Youn's Kitchen Season 2. 

Now, Youn's Kitchen was a show that I actually enjoyed. I watched all episodes in Season 1 when the cast operated a restaurant in Gili Trawangan near Lombok. While I was excited about a second season, at that point in time, Park Seo Joon's potential appearance in the show did not really thrill me at all. 

But it was exactly through this show that I grew to like Park Seo Joon. In variety shows, an actor portrays much of himself as the person that he is. In Youn's Kitchen Season 2, Park Seo Joon was casted as a part-time worker ... and I saw how earnest he was in his role, and how helpful he was to his colleagues, and how well he functioned in and out of the kitchen, and just how his presence led to the success of the restaurant in Spain. I could see how nice he was as a person  

So then I got excited when "What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?" was airing .... but too bad that I only enjoyed episodes 1 - 8. So I back tracked and watched his 2017 drama with actress Kim Ji Won, called "Fight For My Way". This drama engaged me right from the moment I started watching it .... the pace of the story was good, the story itself was meaningful and I liked his leading lady too. Their chemistry rocked and I was really glad they won awards for their effort.

These two were really cute in Fight For My Way :)) 

Kim Ji Won - I first saw her in Running Man and I thought she was so beautiful. That was post-DOTS (The drama Descendents of the Sun was a phenomenon in 2016) and she garnered a lot of love and attention through the drama. I did try to watch DOTS at that time, but I just couldn't get past the first nine minutes of episode 1 when the lead and second lead actors were in a military operation scene. The scene was dark and there was fighting and ... sigh .... so I put DOTS aside first.

Then I also realised Kim Ji Won was in Heirs .... she'd looked different there - perhaps she was younger and her hair longer and she had fringe. So I did not recognise her. I'd watch Heirs and re-watched it many times, but did not like her role as a rich and haughty heiress. Still, she was a rather good actress that made you sympathise with her when things did not go her way.  

This time around, after watching Kim Ji Won in Fight For My Way, I back tracked again and watched DOTS (minus the first 9 minutes, of course). And well, I was pretty hooked on the second lead couple - where Kim Ji Won played the role of a strong-headed but beautiful army surgeon, First Lieutenant Yoon Myung Ju; she knew what she wanted and had her sights set on one man only, and was shameless and forward in actions to get him. Some critics found her role to be too angsty ... well, I thought she was too. She was prickly but not to the point that made her off-putting. I kind of sympathised with her predicament instead of being turned off by her.

Her love interest was a Staff Sergeant Seo Dae Young - a role portrayed really well by veteran actor Jin Gu - who was the strong and silent type. He was lowly-ranked in the army, but he was an assertive and well-respected leader to his men. In love, he was an innocent man with deep and unwavering love for his girl. He constantly ran away from her because he loved her, and thought it was best that she forget him. Noble idiot? Heh ...  Thank goodness she had sense to pursue him relentlessly, disallowing him to give up on her, on them, on love.

While his scenes with YMJ was always filled with tension, one could always sense their profound and steadfast love for each other under currents.They were both genuine. Love was their constant.

My favourite scene where he was on the phone but spoke with his eyes ... 

He never said a word, but his silence spoke volumes; his love and longing for her were so clearly expressed in his eyes ...

And that intensity blew me away. Now, there weren't many scenes of these two in the entire show, but when they were, their short moments together always exuded much emotions. One could not help but to root for this two. It took genius script-writing and stellar acting to portray an understated yet magnetic love story like that of those two.

 Another favourite scene where he recited his will - his last letter to her before he went on a dangerous mission; he did not come back from the mission, and she refused to acknowledge his death and hence did not read his will ... 

Its contents really melted her .... and I supposed it melted everyone else ... heh;

In his will, he thanked her for loving him even though he was cowardly; he wished her a good life without him; and that he loved her with all his heart no matter he was dead or alive. 

I also liked the "third" couple. Heh. This was the bromance between Captain Yoo Shi Jin - Staff Sergeant Seo Dae Young. These two had really great interaction between them, and one could feel their sincere friendship, and their mutual respect for each other. They were really good friends, good brothers, good colleagues. Love them!!

The second and "third" lead couples aside, I could understand why DOTS was huge in 2016 - the plot was rather fast-moving, the main characters were very well-written and well-portrayed by actors Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Gyo (I tried to watch Kill Me Heal Me ... I stopped at episode 1 because I could not stand the lead actress' prolonged screaming in her shrill voice ... ugh .... so off-putting!); there was plenty of humour cutting through, the drama itself was beautifully shot, episodes 7 and 8 were particularly moving and humane. Lots of good points for this drama, and I'm glad I watched it though I watched it pretty late. 

Right now though, I'm not watching anything in particular .... I'm watching a bit of Familiar Wife on tvN - I quite like the two leads, and .... hmn ... just enjoying my short break from work at home. So that was what I'd been up to these past two months. :))