Moved

Dearies,

I have decided to moved to aikoakito.blogspot.com and might not be frequenting this blog that often. Somehow, I might be dropping by once in a while especially when the nostalgic moments sink in. I am missing my uni life, my friends especially. But one thing for sure, this blog will be kept soundly as my uni-hood series which plays a major role in my life and now, I am soon taking a new spin into the working era, where by journey will be deposited mostly in my new cyber home. See ya there.

Cheers!

Contemplation

I finally find the guts in me to make a baby step into my long-buried intention. I have been contemplating on whether I should, should not move my blog to a blogger or [dot]blogspot account. In fact, I have been owning this blogger site for some time back. For umpteen of times, I have been wishing, eventually buried my wish considering the fact that wordpress is my first and will last me for decades down the line. The cycle goes on and on. Yes, I am quite a sentimental person. Besides, wordpress had been a friendly and has never thrown its tantrum on me, ever since I started blogging in June 2009.

Despite so many complains on blogger of having hiccups now and then, but I cannot defy myself from having all sweet, pretty and customizable layouts they offer. My ONE and ONLY reason of moving, or perhaps owning a second blog was due to one mere reason. I fell in love with layouts blogger has offered, which is impossible for me to have with wordpress unless I am working on a wordpress.org =(.

I am still contemplating, whether I am going to retain both, albeit I abhor the idea ofjuggling over two blogs. I dont foresee myself to have that luxury of time too. I have attempted one post to-date, and the verdict is I am pretty happy with its outlook and very user-friendly feature it has to offer. Shall there be any suggestions or any ‘words of wisdom’, mind to share them with me? =) My new blog/replacement/second blog (only time will tell): aikoakito.blogspot.com. Hope to see you guys in my new cyber-home soon =) Till then, have a wonderful weekend. XOXO

Books Obsession and Nyonya House (娘惹屋)

25th April 2011

Right after our first paper, we sneaked out to 1B considering the fact that we have about 10 days gap (if my memory serves me right) before the next paper. While the rest were off for Fast 5, Joyce and I hop over to Harris. There was a big bang sale on certain selected books. However, that was more than enough to make us contemplate on which to choose! Brightly litted with strong air-cond, it was very pleasant to be spending time going through books. How I wished those were holidays that time =P. After a good time choosing, putting down and narrowing down our selections, we finally ended up with 4 books, 2 each. =)

Thereafter, we headed to Nyonya House (娘惹屋) which was located at Ground Floor for a late lunch. We practically had the restaurant all for ourselves, which also explained how we managed the pix below =P. We had our books neatly arranged on their display wall behind our seats, and snapping away with glee. Err, have I ever mentioned that I am not really an ardent reader? But I love owning books =P

Nyonya or also known as the Straits Chinese or Peranakan arewell known for the traditional cuisines and refinements. The ambience of this restaurant has the veritable feel of a Peranakan, at least for me who’s not being able to know a single authentic Nyonya friend, someone who have never seen how a real Peranakan residence may look like. It was all about my imagination that marvels with what Shirleen had mentioned to me before about her home town and being a less than a semi Nyonya. =)

Besides this reminded me of Little Nyonya series, which was really an eye opening to me personally towards Peranakan culture and food. Through the series also, I came to know about their whats, whens,hows and whatnots. Not letting slip, drooling over their delicacies all the time.

These are what the both of us shared for lunch that afternoon:

Grilled Stingray (Ikan pari) in BBQ Style

This is one of the must-order if I happen to drop by for the next visit. The fish was perfectly grilled. The flesh was very tender and not too dry but crunchy enough. Very well-balanced.=) I was relieved that they separate the sambal topping, instead of spreading it on top of the fish, which a little bit too spicy for my taste bud, but tasted very much to my liking.

Kang Kung stir-fried with sambal belacan

Don’t get deceived by its humble and bland looking. It tasted superb, spicy, has strong aromatic shrimp paste, enough wok-hei.

Tags: Harris, Nyonya, Nyonya House, Peranakan, Straits Chinese, 娘惹屋

Last Bit of School

13th April 2011

T.W.E.N.T.Y years of formal education all done. *Gulp* This is indeed what I have been looking forward for when I first stepped into the uni, when I see all unfamiliar faces, when I find everything to be so new. Four years down the line, the day has finally arrived but I find it hard to bid good bye. I secretly hoping that time could move a little slower.

The end of university chapter is not not near. It’s here. I think I am among the last person on Earth talking about our class’ farewell parties. It all started with an unexpected choc moist cake on the table, courtesy of Dr Mannan. =)

Yummylicious Chocolate Moist Cake

With Dr. Mannan, during Project Design’s last lecture

 

The huge pack in Prof Rao’s Foundation Design’s class

So I must admit that the whole “big, new, crazy chapter of my life”  is hitting me very, very soon. As clueless as I am always, I am clueless on where to head, what to expect seriously. I think being a worrywart is already my part time job =(

Letting Go

Apparently, I am spotlighting some rubbish this round. However, as much as I wanted (or have) to discard them, they did bring sentimental value to me. I am letting go something I once feel exited about, very much anxious, worried more, energy draining (and financially too), and the list goes on. Those cartons of empty bottles have been sitting indolently in our car porch for one year now. The plastic bottles are what my mom kept for me to store my glass powders (yes, powder, you hear me right) with the aid from the ‘home-made’ funnels as you can see above.

About one year back, when I was still having my internship training, I came to know the title of my final year project. Despite being oblivious of anything related to the topic, I was certainly sure that bottle hunting shall be my first move, thus it was. Now, when almost one year has lapsed, I contributed to global warming, I have to find a way to discard what I have been ardently hunting before (here and here) but most importantly, FYP is now over. =)

Updates: We have given them away to an uncle. He came and collect it from us, selling them off thereafter. We have our car porch cleared and I hope he can earn some RMs of out them. Can I call it mutual benefits? =) Just for my personal record sake, I bought colored glass for RM1 per carton and clear glass for RM0.20 per bottle. =)

Tags: cartons, empty glass bottles, glass powder, used plastic bottles

An Ice Cream Date @ Karamell Almondo

10th May 2011

Karamell Almondo humblely opened the doors to their 3rd location in Kota Kinabalu City, located at 1borneo Hypermall, the largest and successful shopping mall in Sabah. Karamell Almondo @ 1borneo is the largest kiosk comparing with the other two kiosk, with 600 sq feets, offering dining area for customer to enjoy their ice cream. Sourced from here.

I have been looking forward to pay this kiosk at least a visit before my friends take off for good. It is not likely that I can never come back or pay the visit on my own, but I have been wanting to squeeze in more quality times, something worth remembering, something we can go wee(s) and wah(s) about when time bring us back, someday even on something as trivial as ice cream. It was considered a well planned trip to the one stone’s throw away hypermall.

Right after the viva presentation, we hop into Mr. Keat’s Little Red and scouted for the kiosk upon arrival =P. He was the one who first initiated the ice cream treat mission and ‘poisoned’ me with his alluring photo of the summer cone with chocolate rice topping. And I think I was ‘spelled’ and addicted to it since =P. To date, I have been visiting 1B kiosk for twice and once at CP. There are several mix and match toppings which can be matched with their home made soft vanilla flavored ice cream, perfect for the young, the once-young, and the in-betweens among us!

These are what we had: Strawberry 21. Perfect for once 21 like us =P

Karamell Almondo, showered with german caramel syrup with almond and corn flakes topping.

Mega Mango (pardon me for being a little slow for this pix =P)

Note: Photos herein below are all courtesy of mr. keat Joyce had her summer cone with chocolate rice topping. I had a bite of it and fell in love with the waffle cone at that very moment =).

The proud owner of summer cone with choc rice topping =)

Kuo with her Mega Mango. The mango was rather sour but blends so well with the not too sweet ice cream. Likey =)

Digging in his Strawberry 21 =)

Poor Danbo, the only one left out =)

How to resist from sinking your teeth into all of these when they looked so inviting at the first sight, tasted heavenly. Sheer bliss, indeed!

Tags: 1 Borneo, almond flakes, chocolate rice, corn flakes, Danbo, german caramel syrup, ice cream topping, Karamell Almondo, Mega Mango, Strawberry 21, summer cone

My Messy Dorm

This morning when the boss asked me what am going to do, I promptly answer “I am going to talk about my uni’s dorm, do you have any suggestions for the title?” With no doubt and teasing me as usual, he said “My Messy Dorm” Lol, thus the title. I myself hardly believe that I am taking this as blogging material, thanks to a friend whom I have promised earlier to come out with this, which explains the mojo and some love-your-school spirit in me.

This is the balcony heading to our house, which is located at the end corner lot.

Snippet into the house. A house has its own living hall with a ceiling fan, connecting to three rooms and a washroom.

The gigantic billboard in the living hall.

One ‘storage’ corner next to the doorway at the living hall.

Our room. It was a privilege for final year students to get a room of two. Yesteryears, we used to stay 4 in a room, on two bunkbeds.

Keys for the main door, room’s door and cupboard’s locker.

One thing I am glad staying in this house was its clean toilets and washroom.

Albeit the fact that I have to spend 5, sometimes 6 days in a row staying at the dorm, but I personally enjoying it. I can sleep really late in the wee mornings, without needing to wake up early the next day. I love the idea popping out my head through the windows when I am tired of sitting down (I have grilled windows at home. Lol), I enjoy cooking sessions with my rummie. Now, I finally understand why the boss had been emphasizing ‘savor your uni life’ without fail whenever I started complaining. =)

Tags: hostel, retro, uni's dorm

Goodbyes are Hard to Bid

Farewell my friends,

What else I can say?

How I wished that there were time machine,

How I wished that I could rewind to those good old days,

How I wished that I could detain your stay,

But how could I ever do that,

When I consciously know that you took off for good,

A better good.

Thanks for the laugher,

Thanks for the good times,

Thanks for the shoulder,

Thanks for lending an extra pair of hand,

Thanks for the company,

In the starry night, when morning calls,

Thanks for being there thick and thin,

I found completion through it,

Thank you for making all things wonderful.

I fondly believe,

that farewells aren’t meant forever

I know we will meet again.

Let’s keep the ship sailing

For a lifetime basis =)

Tags: farewell, goodbyes

Update: Barbie Frenzy

This is the continuation of the earlier part here. This is the glam and sassy collectible from the Barbie’s Fashionistas Sassy range. It came in a mini set with an electric guitar. The latter one with purple dress  the cutey and girly Barbie I owned since 20 years back.

It is still in a very good hand except for the fact that I have lost every single of its  accessories from the huge vanity and wardrobe set, consisting a dressing table, wardrobe, an oval standing mirror, few glamorous dinner dresses, few pair of heels, tiny electrical appliances such as hairdryer and so. That is all I can remember. In case you happen to own the same set as mine and still keeping the accessories, can I be your friend? How I wished that I could give my Barbie a facelift with them, will have  to try my luck digging up some old stuffs again.

Till then, have a wonderful weekend, peeps =)

Tags: Barbie, Barbie Fashionistas Sassy

Old School SLR

I still remember vividly that my dad used to own one old-school Nikon SLR ever since I was in my kindergarten age. Unfortunately, it was stolen when our old home were broken in, more than 14 years ago. Ever since then, technology has evolved and we started to get our hands on bulky digital camera with very small LCD screen, followed by larger LCD and finally a DSLR. But, a compact PNS is equally important for someone like me who carries a bag bigger than herself on daily basis =).

Here’s an old school analog SLR I stumbled upon at a photo shop, where we developed the church seminar’s group photo. My bro and I asked for a permission from the lady to allow us to ‘feel’ the camera. My bro, being the youngest in the family who had never  had his hands on an old school camera goes gaga with the classic Yashica =P.

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Tags: analog SLR, DSLR, FX-3 Super, old school slr, Yashica, Yashica lens