Stickywordsstick

Because I was told that's how they appeared in some feeds. :(

They look fine in the blog though and I don't know why.

See the thing is, that was my very first post using the new Blogger workspace.

And I'm not liking the fact that my words are sticking together.

Who say change is good?

Hmmph!

So let's see how this one goes.

Because I have a long post coming up soon.

The one Video Contest that You and I have a Better Chance of Winning than Mr Spielberg himself

Remember how I won myself some (seven) session of Free Antioxidant Hot Bed Therapy at Ecoparadise (which I have yet to use *sigh*) by doing what I love… BLOG! Well, the kool people at Koolred are having a contest once again. Although this time it’s not one of my many fortes but it’s definitely something some of you guys love to do. I personally know a handful of people who seem to live, eat and sleep camera. *eyeing PSP-san and Mr IdunTalkMuch* Okay, okay, it’s not exactly photography but it’s one of the many functions in the camera anyway.

VIDEO SHOOTING!

It’s a natural thing that we do when we travel aside from taking thousands of photos. There are just some things that a still photo can never capture, like the smiles and waves from the locals or the silly shrieks of excitement whenever we land at a foreign place. Come to think of it, I have a bunch of those in my folders. Maybe I should dig them out and join the contest myself. Hmm…

After all, the prizes are FREE HOTEL STAYS!

It’s like you take one holiday to earn yourself another.
How awesome is that?

If you have yet to discover this little growing community, well, I say it's a pretty kool 'place' to 'hang out' since there's members from all over the world who share their travel experiences well, all over the world.

The Koolred Team is also sneaky enough to keep us members excited by having random big and small contests from time to time. I'm not crazy enough to join every single one of them but that doesn't mean I can't share it with those who I believe will be more interested than me. Hmm… however, all these “Come on, let’s join and win this contest” talk are making me have second thoughts on this matter. I might just join the contest myself. After all I do have my travel videos sitting readily in my folders. Tempting. Very tempting.

Not to mention, I've done the necessary competitor analysis too
and my favourite entry at the moment would have to be this.

I just think it has truly captured the essence of what this contest is about which is to share a video that will make a tourist want to visit that destination. Winning entries are based on two main criteria, one is creativity and the second one is how 'Kool' is the video. Basically there's a 'Kool' button that works very much like the Facebook 'Like' button and the more 'Kool' your video is the better your chance of winning.

Anyway, will I be one of the competitors to beat is besides the point. Check out the contest and prizes here (you gotta hurry though since the contest ends in about a week's time, 17 November 2011 to be exact) or even if you’re not into the contest, check out Koolred’s website. It's a travel website after all, so you can roll around in lots of pretty pictures from all over the world and read up on useful information that can help you plan for your next travel, wherever that may be. ;)

I’m back from the land of smiles yo!

Were they all smiley over there? Not really. Were they grumpy? Not exactly. They’re just humans like you and me. LOL. My silly rhymes amuse no one except myself.

I might not blog about it since I did not take a lot of photos myself. There were at least four other cameras doing the job so I figure I just relax and pose for them.


So for now this is all you get!

Sawadika!

I still can't believe approximately twelve hours from now I will once again be in
a foreign land. Frankly, I am not too sure what to expect from this short trip.
It's only for a night's stay but the itinerary seems very interesting.
Hmm... if we are to do what we all set out to do. We'll see. We will see.

Anyway, trip starts 6 freaking am, so it's time to zzzz.

I’m very tempted to watch the fresh new episode of Vampire Diaries though.

On a side note, Happy Birthday Papa! Although we celebrated the big day a week earlier
but it's still the actual day today so...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!!

Ok. I really need to go now to speed through the episode. Grrr...

Rainforest Bakery: Rich Bread, Poor Manners (Part I)

As some of you might or might not know, I managed to get myself caught on the online coupon craze not too long ago. Bought myself one coupon after another and finally decided to stop at coupon number four, because all that coupons have not materialise to tangible or even edible items just yet. So I said to myself, "Hey hey! Slow down girl. Wait till you at least try to redeem one of them and see how it goes."

So I did!

I finally used my very first Groupon on my own!
(Note the keywords "on my own". My first was with my fellow colleagues

and I just tagged along for a pre-paid lunch.)

Head over to Rainforest Bakery at Chulia Street after dinner with the family and bought myself RM20 worth of b.r.e.a.d. I know. I know. Omg right? Hahaha. Before you go all out thinking this young lady must be crazy, let me justify that the deal was I got RM20 worth of bread for only RM10. Yup. A good deal especially since Rainforest Bakery is known for its really good but slightly pricey bread.

So I came home loaded. I even paid an extra RM3.60
for ummm.. 'overspending'. :P

Need a better look?


Here you go! So what did I get?

Two thick slices of Yogurt Limonata Cake for RM4.20 EACH. Told ya. A loaf of Mixed Grain Bread for RM5.40. A Foccasia for RM3.90 and a gigantic loaf of Poppy Seed Bloomer for RM5.20. Yup, you read it right. Poddy seeds.

These were not my initial choices but unfortunately I went late after dinner and all the other good stuff were already sold out. *sad face* Now here's where the story begins.

Obviously the bread is good. There's no denying about that. In fact, we had a wonderful lunch yesterday from all that. More details later okay? But first back to bread shopping shall we? Well, there was obviously a lack of choices when we were there and mom went on to ask if these were all there is and the below conservation took place.

Conversation 1:

Mom: Is this it? But there are so many choices on the flyer.
Guy: You came late. That's all there is. You want you come in the morning.

Gee. Felt like I just got slapped by the truth.
I admit what the guy said is true but it wouldn't hurt to be nice about it, no? Say maybe...
"Sorry 'mam. That's all there is since it's late already. We have more in the morning."

*shrugs*


*******


Conversation 2:
Mom spotted some stuff behind the counter near the baking area.

Mom: What are those? Are there more buns inside?
Guy: No no. That's not... *mumbles something.. I wasn't paying much attention at first till I heard...* Why would we want to keep anything. Of course we want to sell everything.

Alright. True. I accept that.


*******


Conversation 3:
Mom spotted a basket of little pre-packed strawberry jam
like those in hotels and restaurants served together with bread.

Mom: Is this free ah? *excuse the Manglish*
Guy: *gives mom a are-you-being-ridiculous-stare*
No no no. You have to pay. Everything here you have to pay.

Hear that?

Everything here you have to pay.

As much as I felt embarrassed about mom's typical aunty-like antics, I was also very not pleased with the man's poor social skills as a salesperson. Hello. Know the words 'Please, Sorry & Thank You'? Guess not. Since mom was being an aunty, the man was being a jerk,
I might as well be the bigger person. So I paid for my extra RM3.60, smiled and say my "thank you" and enjoyed seeing confusion swept through the man's face for an instant in not knowing how to react to some proper etiquette and finally muster out a little "thank you" in return.


Sigh. Took a young to teach the old. Not cool.


Now as for the bread, well...

Rainforest Bakery: Rich Bread, Poor Manners (Part II)

Now as for the bread. They were really gooood.

The Foccasia had a strong herb smell to it which may not suit the general taste buds.
Mom for one couldn't handle more than a slice. So I figured since its herbs, it should go delightfully well with some good old tomato soup. Dip dip. Yummy. Fortunately there was some tomato paste left from my last baked spirallini. So I added water to thin it out and simmered it with finely chopped onions and meat loafs. It's no surprise that Mr Tomato Man enjoyed his meal.


Then there's the Poppy Seed Bloomer covered with lots of happy seeds on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. Do you know that you can actually fail a drug test after consuming poppy seed bread? Hahaha. I read that up on the internet. It has low opiate level
but still enough to place you positive for drugs. Whoah! Anyway, for that, I worked up some scrambled eggs with onions and meat loafs. Same same ingredients, just different way
of preparation. :)

The verdict? The bread was so good, we almost finished the entire loaf in one sitting. There's only three miserable slices left. Hmm... maybe it's the poppy?

So if you're looking for good old traditional bread, Rainforest Bakery is as good as it gets. Just beware of the 'unfriendly' man. Ignore him, get your bread and you'll be fine.


Rainforest Bakery & Pastry
300 Chulia Street,
10200 Georgetown, Penang
Tel: 04-2614641

FREE Delivery
Delivery time: Monday - Saturday
(2pm onwards)

[L.E.P.A.K series: Paris] Chap 13: An Afternoon in Paris

Our next itinerary for the day was a walk down Champs-Elysees. Now we could have begun our walk right from Notre Dame Cathedral but decided we had a long day ahead of us. So we opt to cut our walking time short by riding the RER to Invalides stop.

This time we got a ride on a double decker train instead!
It was a first for Cik Anai as she merrily took multiple shots of the train. I myself have came across such trains during my travels in Japan. However, I still shared the same excitement in riding it. You see, even though I saw these trains in Japan, I did not had a chance in riding them.

So naturally, we camwhore like nobody's business. There were not many commuters on the train anyway as seen in the photo above. I guess it's because we were there on a weekday and most people were already at work during these hours.

While on the train, our stomach growled and we were reminded of our lack food since our 'junkie' breakfast. So upon arrival, we attempted to make our first purchase in Paris sans French.

We stared at all the yummy looking pastries and was drooling over the Pain au chocolat except we had no idea how to go about with our order. You see as much as we read and knew about it, we had no idea how to pronounce it correctly in French. Was 'Pain' pain? *frowns* We were all set to offend the bread lady with our ignorance when a helpful
Mr Black who was making his own purchase beside us, kindly asked us
"What do you girls want?"

OUR LIFESAVER!!

We promptly pointed the pastry of our choice and he ordered them for us. A very short conversation ensued as bread lady wrapped our pastries. Turned out he's not a local himself and is studying in Paris. We thanked him for his help and he wished us an enjoyable holiday as he went his merry own way. We on the other hand, proceeded to move ourselves to a corner to....

...take a photo of our yummy pastry!!
Hahaha. Cute right? The two choco dots made the pastry looked like
some funny muppet character.


As we climbed up the stairs and stepped out into the open,
we were surprised to find ourselves right under Pont Alexandre III.


Our photo-taking mode started to kick in. With one hand already pre-occupied with our dear pastry, we tried our best to take some good shots of the luxurious looking bridge.


And then we looked up the flight of stairs...
Wow! One more shot. :D

That's me and my yummy Pain au chocolat at Pont Alexandre III.

And that's Cik Anai with her yummy Pain au chocolat
already nicely tucked away in her stomach. Hehe.

We passed by lots of beautiful architecture along the way. From the modest statue of General La Fayette to a not very Grand Palais to what seemed to be a more lavished Petit Palais. It's not hard to guess which of the three is the one behind me.

Not to mention, very very scenic views one after another.

And another! Heh.

Tham-Chiak Girl in action!

Because let's face it. It's a little crepe stall. C.R.E.P.E. It's another must-have in Paris except it was probably not the best crepe in town. I wouldn't know since it's the only crepe I had that day but it was still an awesome experience standing there waiting for my crepe to be done. =P

Now how did we order our crepe this time without helpful Mr Black?

Well, lookie! An Asian girl helping out. Yay!
Except she doesn't speak a word Chinese and she seemed reluctant to even speak English. Woot?!? Not exactly what I called friendly but we managed to place our order nonetheless.
I had no idea how we concluded in chestnut flavour though. Hmm..

A happy me with our crepe.

The crepe was shared between us since we were still filled with our Pain au chocolat. The crepe was good in the sense that it was filled with warmth and was simply lovely to enjoy on a chilly afternoon. The chestnut though reminded me of sweet Azuki (Japanese red bean paste) which I do not exactly fancy. I love nuts. I adore peas. But I do not fancy beans. =P

Wow! This post is loooong and we're not even there yet!
Alright, it's break time!