Wendy's Cookery (Bread Pudding, Sarawak Laksa, Home Grilled Meat, Tang Yuan)

It's been quite some time, I've been busying.
With what you asked?
What do you do when you have some free time, extra mouth and food cravings?
Off to the kitchen we go!!
Of late I've been experimenting with different foods, so....
Yea, just have a look at it. :)

Of Bread Pudding
It all started with bread pudding.
I've tried some bread pudding at my school and I decided to try it out
After searching for some recipe... Voila!

Mix together bread, butter, sugar, milk and some nuts, oven it!

Make some yummy sauce to go with it

And there you have it!

Bread Pudding Babe!

Of Sarawak Laksa

So I brought back some Sarawak Laksa paste a few months ago and it was just sitting there in the cabinet, collecting dust. 

When mommy asked us 'What's for lunch', I replied 'hey, why not we cook Sarawak Laksa?'

And of course, I'll be the one cooking as I'm the one who came up with the idea...

Prep some ingredients: chicken breast (shredded), parsley, egg (fried and chopped), lemons and noodles

Cook the paste with some chicken and fishballs

Sarawak Laksa

Bon Appetite!

Of Home Grilled Meat
So I had Sheng over at my house a few weeks back and we decided to try out a recipe so generously shared by our friend, Sham.
Sham is the owner of Anjung Budi's Western Food in USM, he's a very nice guy and he told us the 'secret ingredients' he always add to mutton and beef (it's Rosemary and Thyme, shhhhhhh).
So we went to Tesco and bought everything.

Sheng marinating the meats

Beef, Mutton and Pork!

We kindda added a bunch of stuff in it, even some wine

Smelled nice! Ou-la-la

Here is Sheng grilling the meat later in the eve

Sweet and tasty beef with potato and tomato

Grilled to perfection!

Of Tang Yuan

Everybody's been posting photos of their tangyuan. 

Well, we've tried a few types of tangyuan before, including tangyuan with peanuts and tangyuan with chocolate. 

But this time, thanks to my cheeky brother Louis, we made tangyuan which was in square shape.

Square tangyuan
Yup, tasted nice!

So all in all, that's what I did for my November and December. 

Eat my way to heaven!

Haha. 

Have a nice day everyone!

Signing off, 

JCG

Sudden Struck of Certainty -- How I KNOW what I want to be

It was a normal day, me having Business Writing class at night time 8-10pm. Ughhh
What I thought to be a boring lecture actually turned into a life changing event!
It started off as a normal resume writing exercise.
With the hectic assignments and exams due weekly, it wasn't actually a big surprise for me.
BUT, what the lecturer said had inspired my thoughts.
"Resume writing in your General English class and resume writing in my class is totally different. My resume writing class would be more in depth, preparing you guys for the real world of working."

I was instantly dumbfound, stumped and a sudden small panicky feeling creep into my lil heart.
Remembering the wise old cracking of my fellow colleague from my past intern place, he stated jokingly, "Half a year till grad? Better start applying for jobs already..."
I went back to my hostel and rang my boyfriend.
"I think we should start sending in our resumes to companies. Look at how many uni students are without jobs, I want to have a job right after uni, I hope you'll consider it too."
He was calm as usual (charming he is), and he solemnly agreed that it was only logical.
Then I started sharing lots of stuff I know about works and how we must go about it.
After I was off the phone with him, back came my roommate...

Being that hothead I am, I told her about my 'big discovery/came through'.
She was nodding her head all along, agreeing with me in a spirited way (yea, she was a hothead too); so both of us were indulged into our own thoughts about our future.
Unable to shake that feeling away, I went to search online for StarJobs.
Yes, I have that habit of googling everything...
Out came the Career Quiz, and out came again, my results.
"Creative Type --You like to express yourself"
I was like --WHUUUTTT is this...
I did not think of myself as the creative type, I am no good with coming out with new ideas or concepts, being innovative and such. No, that's just not me...
Or is it...

I was there, still mind numbingly staring at my laptop for tomorrow's exam, and..
IT HIT ME
I HAD A DREAM!!!
Yes, it was Martin-Luther-King dramatic!
Remembering the old days when I was in secondary school, I would read columns after columns of articles on lifestyle, health care and beauty, articles about relationships and articles about life and philosophies...
I, sub-consciously, collected magazine from 2006 up till now, because I loved them.
They were too precious for me to throw away.
I love to read about the majesty of travel places, the art of communicating, the sounds of nature, and facts of life.
I love to read about the cute and warm moments in a relationship, the serene peace of relaxation tips, the gossip of the day and the stories, oh the beautiful stories...
Stories about life, stories about love, stories about nature, stories about motivation, and I'm an adult now, I'm not afraid to say it, stories about sex. (it's not about the actual act okay, it's about sex in a healthy way, how it improves your relationships, ass outta brains please)

I want to be a columnist.
And I am sure, so sure that the sheer power of it made me wrote this blogpost in the midst of studying for my exam tomorrow, so sure that I know I will do it or die trying, so sure that my mind is now turning with beautiful ideas and spinning at warp speed in planning for my future...

Inspirations do come in bad times.
(suddenly proud of myself for writing a blogpost on 'exam is the time for inspiration' years ago)
But I'm gonna call my mom first thing tomorrow morning to tell her the news!
Hmm, resume ideas...

Resume:
- I keep magazines from 2006 to now
- I wrote an award winning story
- I had a blog since Form 4
- I am sucker for beautifully written pieces
- The StarJob said I am a creative type of person
- You better hire me or else I'm telling mah mom...

JCG

My Trip to Kuching Sarawak - Day 3

I know it's waaaaaaaaaay long overdue, but yea, here it is!!
Places of interest: Bako National Park & Top Spot

Woke up in the beautiful treetop, ready to check out

Bai Bai treetop lodge!

Waiting for our charted driver

We are fortunate to be brought by two friendly angmos to Bako jetty

Registering ourselves at Bako reception

Bako National Park is famous for their many jungle treks

Aaand off we go! By Boat!

Beautiful scenery...

Yea, like I said, beautiful scenery... X)

Once we reach the place, there were tall wave beaten stones

Here we are! Bako National Park:

Famous for Proboscis Monkeys & Wild Boar

We didn't manage to see the monkeys cause it was rainy...

and it was lunch time (according to Sheng..) haha.

So there! Wild boar at the entrance!

This is mua at the entrance into the jungle treks 

So we hiked into the first trek, one of the most popular one. 

Sadly, besides the wild boar, the only wildlife we saw are the tourists 0.o

Lots of beautiful shrooms

One of the friendly angmo tourist guide friend told us that the place used to be a sea bed. 

So the big ass rocks used to be corals of some sort, immersed in the sea for thousands of years. 

Until the sea level decrease and the place turned into a jungle/mangroove

We reached the place after 1 hour plus, finally! 

On our way back, more shrooms!

Passing through a narrow way between rocks

We went for another hike, called the Ulu Assam View Point, which was much more challenging then the one before. 

But it was fun, eerie kindda. 

Cause we were the only 2 people in the whole trek. 

After we went back, we decided to makan malam at the town area.

Meow Meow at Kuching

Here's the place we decided to have dinner. 

It's one of the most famous place in Kuching for seafood -- Top Spot!

We tried the Miding, which was fern of some sort. 

Really nice and crunchy! 

I wonder why it was not sold in Penang...

Awesome black pepper crab. 

Nestum Prawn. 

Great recommendation by Aubrey

Speaking of him...

So after we went back to our hostel, we are kipnapped by Aubrey to a local bar

It's called the Ruai, which means the hall place in Iban.

We had a TsingTao beer and some Tuak.

WHICH WAS FREAKIN AWESOME!

The place was beautifully designed, very authentic

Chillin here

That's how we do it. 

Beer & shots

Hopefully I got to post Day 4 soon! 

Cheers beautiful peoplessss!

JCG

Change is coming!

I know the next post should be my trip to Swak day 3, but I am having some stressful days.
I feel that I have so many to do, but I don't know where to start.
Update: New sem had started, more work to come, more network to build.
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going right?

I believe I can do it.
It's only a matter of time before I can grow up n lead the life I want.
I am so sure that I will & can achieve my goals.
I need to success.
I need to be better.
I want it so badly it makes me stress, but in a good way.

I hope God (whichever religion you may be from) can give me the strength,
the strength to carry on,
the strength to work harder,
the strength to make things just work!

It's not hard, but it's not easy.
I will find my way, and when I do, nobody's going to stop me.
For...
I am a warrior,
I can do it,
I will achieve it!

JCG

My Trip to Kuching Sarawak - Day 2

Day 2 is when the adventure really begin, where Sheng & I traveled to Santubong for Sarawak Cultural Village & Permai Rainforest Resort

We started our day off with yummy food!

Pork Porridge with You Char Koay

and Sarawak Laksa!

(it does taste as good as it looks)

I've notice that the taogeh there is longer than what we are accustomed to in PG

OOTD - haha..

First stop: Sarawak Cultural Village!

BTW, it is also the place for the rainforest world music festival

where people from all over the world come together to make music!

Mr.Sheng 

Ms.Wendy

There are a total of 7 types of houses available there:

Cina, Melayu, Melanau, Orang Ulu, Iban, Penan and Bidayuh

Entrance

Rumah Cina is our first stop, mainly it is similar to our ancestor's house, very nice decoration tho

We learn how they pick and process pepper and birds nest

Then we went to Rumah Melayu, with traditional Malay song playing at the background

Rumah Melanau was REALLY HIGH

Most of the house is connected by wooden stairs like this.

The stepping area is really small, so we have to be really careful when walking.

Imagine, the handles are only built for tourist, in real Melanau or other tribe's house they don't have railings to support them, people would just walk up that piece of log!

We then went to the Panggung Budaya to enjoy the performance.

The performance was really entertaining & informative.

Different tribes were introduced through traditional dances.

There's even handsome Orang Ulus entertaining us with their funny stunts and audience participation!

A definite Must-See!

We continued to Rumah Orang Ulu, where one of the friendly Orang Ulu showed us how they make Parang for the HeadHunters.

Scary, but fun!

Walking along the bamboo bridge

Rumah Iban and Bidayuh is longer and much stable cause they would usually stay longer, up to months before they move. 

Traditional paintings outside of the house

This would make a great profile pic right? XD

We finished off Penan in a rush as it was getting hot.

Then we walked to our resting place for the night, Permai Rainforest Resort!!!

We are sweating and tired when we arrived there. 

But excited as this is the place where many netizens had recommended,

Staying on the Treetop!

Met a friendly (hopefully not poisonous) snake on the way to our tree top

Aaaaaaaaaand there it is! 

Treetop No.8!

Beautiful view on top

Bed nicely done

Place nicely lit

Whassup you asked?

Just chillin outside with Mother Nature

I'd say it's a very romantic place for couples and for family to stay at. 

We later went to swim at the Jungle pool, which I thought was a genius idea!

But good thing there's no blood sucking leeches there. 

We also went to Beach no 2 situated right after the Jungle pool

And that's how we spend our day 2!

Jump to that

Signing off

JCG