Warm up the heart...

Carebear said "You know you will die right?"

Yessss... I know! That was for me skipping pump last night, after not doing pump for two weeks. Yeah, you can imagine my painful death when I went to pump just now. FI's class at LM, a replacement and I was glad I made it!

FI's opening was "today's class is going to be very tough". Okay, don't say he didn't warn us. So I had cut down my weights for chest track to 5kg. Actually, I've been doing 5kgs lately and have not been able to increase that. But other than that, I thought I might as well face my death sentence and maintained my usual weights. I missed 2 clean and presses (during the set of 6 clean and presses - missed the first and the fifth heh) and missed many biceps curl. And ouch... my abs hurts. Extreme muscle pain sounds like a great workout. Haha...

Two days of public holiday, I hope to catch some sleep. Besides that, need to catch up with a lot of work, part time work and more baking. Oh, we are going picnic on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the heart has been warmed up with a hug. :)

Raya Bake

Pineapple Tart

Cornflakes Cookies

Chocolate Brownies

Thanks for ordering KG :)

My New Time Keeper

Got this on the flight back from Hong Kong. Really cannot resist buying. First of all, it's a Olympic theme watch which I don't think I will ever be able to buy later since Olympic is actually over. Secondly, how often will I be flying to Hong Kong?

It's a pity that I had to have some section taken out because it's too loose for me. Anyways, love the colour and the green emerald stones crafted on it. :)

How Long?

When was the last time I blogged? Seems so long ago. Have been really busy. Came back from the trip and there have been loads of baking to fulfil orders. I did ALL my baking today, started 10am and ended after midnight. Okay... went out for a while to have lunch, and had dinner, other than that was baking. A BIG thank you to MC for helping me with the cornflakes cookies. No, I don't normally take cornflakes cookies orders, it's very tedious and I might just banish this from my baking list. This version of mine has to be individually crafted. Will blog this tomorrow. Hopefully, because I need to spend some time following up my HK project and there are some outstanding work from my proper work and if I don't clear that, deadlines cannot be met. I guess I will stay away from baking tomorrow.

It's also been so long I've not seen MFG. I'm sure he's enjoying his trip and how I wish I can join him. I wonder if he'd missed me occasionally.

I better go get some sleep. How long has it been since I had enough sleep?

Missing a piece of the puzzle

I'm back!

My flight was 3pm today and the coach came to pick me at 11am. So I thought, there will be plenty of time to perhaps update my blog, write up all the missing parts before I come back. There was internet access in the whole of HK airport, free, how convenient is that? And there were even terminals of computers accessible 24 hours for free usage. The fact that I had my laptop with me, I actually did an on-line self-check-in, then went to the express check-in counters which was 1/10 of the length of the normal queuing line. Thanks to MC and BIL for allowing me to take the laptop.

Okay, my plan to blog of course failed lah since I'm only typing this now. What happened was I underestimate the time needed to shop at the airport. Haha... If you saw me at arrival just now, you will conclude that I'm an extreme shopaholic. It's great to be able to shop less guilt free. Will update on purchase later.

I was actually really sleepy today. Only slept at 3am this morning because I only travelled back from Shenzen at 12.30am. Shopping at Shenzen was great, but not enough time. Went to a gigantic spa which I thought, did not fit my idea of a relaxing and indulging spa session. Will tell more later.

This morning woke up already worrying about not being able to sleep tonight because I will surely worry about going back to work tomorrow. I wish I'm wrong with my insomnia forecast. Trying to keep this post short so I go to bed soon.

I actually felt that I really missed home when I was waiting for my flight. I was longing for familiarity and comfort of my own bed. More so wishing for the company of friends and family. Been texting MFG but for some reason his text did not reach me most of the time. Now that I'm back in the comfort of home, I still feel that a piece is still missing from the big puzzle of my heart. It's still a long way ahead before I can see him. And there's not much foresight of the puzzle being completed in the future. Unless I change to another puzzle.

Anyways, I need to bake tomorrow and Thursday for the Raya delivery on Friday. And weekend will be more baking. KG thanks for the Raya order and I've got you something from HK even though you've just been there.

So instead of The Baker's journey, it will be back to The Baker indulging in her baking. I really do hope I will be "indulging" during the next few days of baking.

Egg Tart Survey

MFG is on line! Missed him loads. Won't see him for another whole full week till he goes back to Malaysia. Sigh...

Woke up a bit later than planned this morning. Like an hour later. Quickly gotten ready remembering I wanted to go check out the egg tarts which I planned to get for MC. After going down two wrong streets, finally got my bearing correct and got to the shop my friend showed me the other night. Ordered an egg and a milk tea. Now to think of it, I don’t know why I didn’t order coffee instead. And think further, I didn’t have coffee yesterday!

So this, the traditional egg tart with crispy pastry, but not the fan-out type of butter pastry. It’s quite alright, crispy and warm, generous filling, but not sure if I would call this a fantastic egg tart. According to my friend, the type with fluffy pastry is actually the new age type. Perhaps I should get those. Right MC? But didn’t see a shop with that near the hotel. I thought this would be best eaten straight out from the oven. But after half a day of travelling from Hong Kong to Malaysia, I doubt that it will still taste nice. Lets see what I can discover during the next few days. And perhaps decide based on my hand carry space. Hehe…


And on my way back, my caffeine withdrawal syndrome drove me to this familiar shop. A shop that I’ve been passing by everyday since it’s just at the corner of the hotel.

What do you think? Any difference besides the mugs that says Hong Kong?

Got myself a tall vanilla latte which is HKD31 per mug over here in Hong Kong. Hmm... more expensive yes. But that familiar taste, which I'm sure comforts a lot of people also. I think a lot of us are really being “Starbucked”. I wish TeaRoom can be so successful, locally successful would be quite enough for me.

Not my usual weekend

Yes. Everyone over here is definitely using the same brand of perfume as MFG. Ether that, or I got so crazy that his scent is actually in my head.

Woke up after about 7 hours of sleep. Since I’m the type that cannot fall asleep easily, my first night sleep away from home was considered not too bad. Since my friend was not coming so early to pick me up, I’ve decided to have some local breakfast, at the coffee shops on the streets. Passed by one shop when a bunch of people with backpacks stepped out. Hmm… I thought that shop must be quite alright since that bunch of people looked like tourist led by a tour leader. But I could feel the heat from just standing outside so I decided to walk further down to explore. I should have gone into the first one because I think the heat was from the steamer at the entrance and not from inside the shop.

Anyways, settled into this typical local coffee shop. Very tiny and not that clean I had to say.



Order instant noodles – it’s a trend and quite common to have instant noodles for breakfast over here. But they are all plain soup and not like Maggi curry mee type. This was what I got “first” – char siew (BBQ pork) on instant noodle. Erm… didn’t look delicious, the char siew was completely NOT what I’d imagine when ordering. Just when I thought of settling in this, I found something “odd” sticking onto one of the pieces of char siew. Yucksssss!!! I think was a tiny erm… insects (which resemble cockroach).

Geezzz… But I was rather hungry. So don’t think I could survive with only a cup of milk tea. So I decided to ask for an exchange. And then I got another instant noodle, with a different topping. While waiting I got annoyed by this guy who stared at me when he walked passed me to get to the cashier to pay. When he later looked at me again, I was really tempted to give him a “killer” stare back. But ok, no, please control yourself TTB since you are at a foreign land. Sigh…

But I didn’t have much appetite lah of course after that. The other set breakfast I ordered came with friend eggs and toast, which I only managed to dig into a bit of the fried eggs.

And at the end, I got my breakfast free. Saved HKD20 but I’d rather pay (pay more) for a more delicious breakfast. Of course then I won’t recommend for you to go to this shop. Might be very isolated case, but still right?

And this was only about breakfast. But don’t worry, this entry won’t be long because after breakfast was a full day of business discussion and I didn’t even take any pictures during lunch (it was rather business-like though everyone was very casual, so didn’t think I would look appropriate taking pictures of my “business partners”). However, I went for a quick shopping in between breakfast and departing the hotel for the discussion. I simply love this shop, and I think mainly because of the packing. The items they sell are mainly popular delicacies and most of them in mini sizes.

After this round of shopping, it left my bag with, well, not much space. But my actual shopping is only going to be on Monday at Shenzen. Whoops…

Dinner was great though. Had a good time gathering around ex-classmates whom I’ve known for arrr… 13 years at least. The faces are in Facebook, here are the food. A semi buffet (where the starters and desserts are on the buffet line and you order the main course – choose one main course) in Prince Marco Polo Hotel where one of my friends works. The bill came up to be HKD190 each and my other friend was surprised. Pleasantly surprised for the dinner to cost so little. Yeah little. It’s after 50% staff discount. I will consider paying RM90 for dinner quite a luxury and might only spend that kind of money if there’s a very special occasion. My dinner was sponsored.

His Scent

Very sleepy… I didn’t actually sleep during the flight, was rather hooked with the book. Yeah, I’m reading the book MC lends me “Srarbucked”. It’s a very interesting book.

By the way breakfast at the airport was really bad. Shall I say sucks, MC? Was really longing for a sausage and fried egg breakfast but can’t find a restaurant serving that near the check-in counters. Ended up having some very horrible tasting chicken pie. And then guess what? I had sausage and omelette on the plane. Haha…


Anyways, I met this couple on the coach from airport to the hotel who said that I am very “brave”. Hmm… is it a big thing for girls to travel alone? Anyways, my answer was “but I can speak Chinese, plus I’ve got friends around in Hong Kong”.


My hotel is just behind The Peninsular, a very expensive hotel in Hong Kong, they have got Tiffany & Co. as the frontage store. My room is very small, expected of rooms in Hong Kong I'm sure.


Having said that, today was actually my free and easy day to do my own shopping until meeting with friends for dinner. I haven’t seen them for more than 3 or 4 years. Today’s shopping wasn’t so fruitful, only managed to get two tops. My friend suggested that I get my clothes in Shenzhen, in fact, he said get everything in Shenzhen. Uhm… nothing to buy in Hong Kong then? Oh, I came across some interesting looking junk food in Seven Eleven, will be getting some for MC and BIL. Will also get some local (actually more of Japanese or Korean, it’s a trend now over here) instant noodles from the supermarket for MC and BIL too.

I realized I got quite a few people who gave me the stare. Hmm… could it be my dressing? I was wearing my black pants, strappy black top with a small short sleeve brown little top. Surely I blend into the crowd, besides, some Japanese looking passer-by looked even more over-the-top with their dressing than me. Oh, could it be my colour contact lens. My hazel colour lens. Anyways, since I didn't really have lunch and since it was quite late, I opted for something light -Steam egg. I'll definitely not miss this everytime I come to Hong Kong, not that I come her very so often of course... But this particular one is not that great. A bit hard and not that tasty.
This bowl costed me HKD14 (about RM7). A bit expensive right...

We had Japanese dinner tonight. It’s very delicious and the trend for Japanese food over here is BBQs. Here they are…






Apparently everywhere will be quite fully booked on Friday nights. Our booking was only available for 8.45pm and if you walk into a restaurant on Friday, chances to get a table is extremely slim.

Okay. I better catch some sleep. I’ve just been briefed of my schedule, seems like quite full.

Oh oh… by the way there is no internet access, I mean FREE internet access in the room. Humph… luckily there will be access tomorrow at the business meeting place. So blog stories are one day delayed. No blogging on Monday.

Even though I'm so far away from MFG, I have a feeling all the time that he's just beside me because I swear that it was his usual perfume scent...

I will...

I've checked-in and booked my seat on-line. I only need to arrive at the counter to exchange for my boarding pass 45 minutes before flight time instead of 2 hours. Nevertheless, I'll still going to be at the airport around 7.30am, 2 hours before my flight because MC is sending me off before she goes to work. She's due in at 8.30am and has a meeting at 9.00am. So looks like plenty of time for early morning shopping at the duty free.

I'm so tired and probably should catch more sleep tonight. Anyways, I have 4 hours on the flight and minus eating and watching movie time, probably I can nap for one hour or so.

I planned to come home early to pack but was really tied up at work. Besides delegating tasks to my junior, I also need to get my boss to look into some follow-ups because he's also going on a business trip and won't be around next week to attend to matters. I just managed to pack everything into my luggage and BIL said I could have used a smaller bag. Well, I've got another half of the luggage space for shopping. And Cathay Pacific offers 10kg extra baggage weight free on my return journey. One way to encourage shopping in Hong Kong eh... Very smart. And so useful.

It was already quite late, almost 8.00pm just now but I actually didn't feel like leaving MFG. But I really had to come back, as I said, to pack and to spend a little bit more time with mum before I fly off. MFG is also travelling this Saturday and won't be around for one whole week.

MFG: You better go home or your mum might be upset.
TTB: Yeah, I better. You have a safe trip.
MFG: Enjoy your trip too.
TTB: Can I give you a hug before I go...

While MFG gave me a big warm hug.

TTB: I will miss you...
MFG: Me too...
(I think that's what I heard :) )

xxx
MC: DON'T get addicted (to the hug)!

Humph...

I will miss MC too. And everyone else. Stay tuned, I'll have my laptop with me so I might blog. FB friends check out pictures in there too.

So near yet so far

It's just like the movies... he's perhaps the guy who sits next to you in class; or he's the guy whom you bumped into everyday on the bus; maybe your best friend whom you go out with all the time. Yet... he's just a stranger, or well, just a friend despite the closeness.

I will be spending half a day travelling to a foreign land, far away from home. Coming Monday, I will be stepping on the same foreign land with him. But he will still be so far away from me. I wonder if the hearts can feel the closeness.

Sometimes, I can miss him even though he's just in front of me. I miss him when I receive a message from him. I'll definitely miss him loads while I am away, while both of us are away.

Of course I miss you all too. Hehe... and I'm sure MC will miss me, especially. Heh.

I still haven't packed yet. I've put aside some attire but have no inspiration of what sort of fashion to do. My attire planning got even more challenging when I don't have enough trendy attire to start with. Sigh... A good reason to shop during my trip!

And I bought a pair of Crocs, which cost me RM169. I know... so expensive, I don't know what I was thinking when I paid for the shoes. But I'm quite confident that it will delivery the promised comfort. I need a pair of comfortable walking shoes if I want to survive walking a lot during the trip. Sore legs shouldn't come in between me and shopping. Haha...

Oh ya, I've packed my swimming attire too, very ambitious. Well, actually I'm not even sure if this four star hotel has a swimming pool even IF I can find time. I must not neglect workout right?

Okay. I think tomorrow is going to be extremely hectic and busy. It always happens just before annual leave. It's like I will be gone forever or I won't come back to see the company or something like that. Humph...

A bit lost

Most of the time I've got clear direction in my career, my life and my dreams. But sometimes I'm a bit lost.

When I'm inspired, I am convinced that I will do anything to achieve my dreams. But at times when I'm in a bad mood (like now) I am a bit lost, as in I lose myself. I think to myself: Shall I just stay in my comfort zone?

Sigh...

Today I got really irritated at work and I ridiculously thought that the boss was being unreasonable. Or maybe he was being unreasonable. I spoke to my overseas friend who's self-employed, he me all bosses are like that and they are worse in Hong Kong. Well... maybe those bosses in the large corporate companies I came from were not like that (Except for the Devil ex-boss). So, is self-employ the solution for me?

I think I'm just tired. I will pick myself up tomorrow and continue to pursue my dreams.

When cupcakes are more "serious"

Have been making really cute cupcakes, I'd to say. These would be the more "adult" version.

Chocolate coated coffee beans for MFG. Drizzled with dark chocolate sauce.

Marshmallows drizzled with dark chocolate sauce.