HAPPY MAMA'S DAY!

I know it's a day late but I know that I simply must have a blog post dedicated to my Momma (;

I'll keep it short and sweet for the internet however, as all my lovey-dovey stuff goes to the card I'm making her (:

Happy Mother's Day Mama! <3

Thank you for everything you have done, I am so blessed to have a mother like you who is so full of beauty and love. I truly appreciate every sacrifice you have made and all the strength you have always given me.

I love you.

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. ~Honoré de Balzac

April Fools!

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month!

As the saying goes, one is supposed to pinch someone, followed by a punch, whenever it's the first day of the month. But I don't even really understand it - I mean, is there a purpose? Is it for good luck? And it doesn't even rhyme in the first place!

But anyway - this first day of the month is 'special' because:

1) APRIL FOOLS DAY!

2) Officially April - the month before our final IB exams.

But let's not delve into school and IB just yet - my spring break isn't over! Hence, moving on, I had a thought today about the stuff that legends are made of. Personally I think they're downright awesome. I'm not much of a history buff but learning about legends and myths and its origins - it's a whirlwind of creativity, spookiness, and education! Or just entertaining, whichever.

So without further ado, the history of April Fool's Day in a nutshell:

(And loyal to my not-wanting-to-rewrite it nature, it is presented in the usual copy-and-paste format.)

"It has become tradition on the first of April to pull jokes of the harmless variety on those near and dear to us. We plot and we scheme, and often the yuks are funnier in our imaginings than how they play out in reality, but that doesn't stop us from sending the little kid in us out on a rampage. Even the most staid among us have been known to indulge in a practical joke or two, so beware of trusting anyone on that day.

How the custom of pranking on April 1 came about remains shrouded in mystery.

When the western world employed the Julian calendar, years began on March 25. Festivals marking the start of the New Year were celebrated on the first day of April because March 25 fell during the Holy Week. The adoption of the Gregorian calendar during the 1500s moved the New Year to January 1. According to the most widely-believed origin postulated for April Fool's Day, those who could be tricked into believing April 1 was still the proper day to celebrate the New Year earned the sobriquet of April fools. To this end, French peasants would unexpectedly drop in on neighbors on that day in an effort to confuse them into thinking they were receiving a New Year's call. Out of that one jape supposedly grew the tradition of testing the patience of family and friends.

But that's only one theory. Others are:

- The timing of this day of pranks seems to be related to the arrival of spring, when nature "fools" mankind with fickle weather, according to the Encyclopedia of Religion and the Encyclopedia Britannica.

- The Country Diary of Garden Lore, which chronicles the goings-on in an English garden, says that April Fool's Day "is thought to commemorate the fruitless mission of the rook (the European crow), who was sent out in search of land from Noah's flood-encircled ark."

- Others theorize it may have something to do with the Vernal Equinox.

- Some think to tie in with the Romans' end-of-winter celebration, Hilaria, and the end of the Celtic new year festival.

Wherever and whenever the custom began, it has since evolved its own lore and set of unofficial rules. Superstition has it that the pranking period expires at noon on the 1st of April and any jokes attempted after that time will call bad luck down onto the head of the perpetrator. Additionally, those who fail to respond with good humor to tricks played upon them are said to attract bad luck to themselves.

Not all superstitions about the day are negative, though - fellas fooled by a pretty girl are said to be fated to end up married to her, or at least enjoy a healthy friendship with the lass."

Taken from http://www.snopes.com/holidays/aprilfools/origins.asp

Oh and here's the top 100 april fool's jokes of all time, if you're interested!

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/

Happy Fooling! (:

Kuya's 27th Birthday!

For his 27th birthday on the 10th of August, my brother and Lavinia took my parents and I to this reallygreat place to eat.

He described it as, "Somewhere none of us have ever been before." And gosh, was he right.

In a good way, though! I actually have a big liking for Indian food. And I don't just mean mamak-at-three-in-the-morning kind of Indian food, but actual and authentic Indian cuisine. My dad, I think, is the same. He's willing to try a lot of new things, even though both of my parents are in the rut of going to the same restaurants (it's chinese or japanese food every weekend - but I'm not complaining!) And so my point is that my dad was open to the restaurant my brother took me too. My mom, on the other hand, isn't too fond of Indian food, sadly to say. But my brother, Lavinia, and my dad still think she had quite a good time. Who wouldn't, anyway? The food was so good!

Presenting... PASSAGE THRU INDIA.
*sorry for the blurry photos!*



Authentic Indian cuisine!

When you walk in, (or even simply see the restaurant's entrance) you are immediately engulfed in beautiful art bragging off of the walls, beautiful mauve and luscious red-toned cloths draping from the sides, soothing music, ornaments and lamps glowing a smooth beige light, and the smell of good newly-cooked food.

My brother and Lavinia already ordered for us, while my parents and I were settling in our seats. You really do feel like you're in India when you're inside - except for all the chinese or mixed people sitting at the back. (Yes there's a wide variety of people who eat at that restaurant! And it's even been presented in a few of the newspapers - proudly framed and shown off on the walls.) But as we were getting settled, we got into a comfortable discussion about - what was it again?

I forgot the majority of it because I was so focused on the food..

But this was what we ordered - we had mango lassi (is that how you spell it?) but kept adding ice because it was just that sweet! And we shared three different types of naan (again, please forgive my spelling) as well as lamb with this nice mint sauce, butter chicken with this rich sauce, beef covered with yet another rich sauce, a nice mix of rice and some vegetables... and wow, I was so full by the end of it.

But then in the end, I discovered something new! At the end of some meals, indian restaurants (or restaurants in india as a better way to perhaps describe it) have this little - what is it, herb? - as a sort of mint to finish off the meal. Due to my bad memory, I forgot the name.. but it was a good experience! It tasted pretty sweet with a crunchy feel to it - at the same time, feeling cold but tangy. Not like any mint i've ever had! But I enjoyed everything that night. (:

Happy 27th Birthday, Kuya.

I love you very much brudda!

A Tribute to Friends

SUMMER 2009
...finally. (:
The time is here for sunshine, late nights out, waking up in the afternoon, and doing just about anything you want.
It's quite unreal actually - this is probably the last official summer vacation for my high school. And the majority of it will be spent working or finishing up extended essays, world literature essays, CAS logging and reflections, and internal assessments. But let's scratch all that for now. (: For now, it's all about summer vacation. Relaxation, spending time with friends and family, travelling, experiencing new things... I mean, exams just ended for goodness sake!
Well, for some of us anyway. (Hahaha HISTORY DORKS. I pity you...)
):

But not to worry. Tomorrow's the last day. And then it'll be SUMMER SUMMER SUMMER. FREEDOM, BABEEEHHH!!!!
It's time for beaches, tans, adventures at 2 in the morning...
that high feeling of adrenaline, that taste for freedom...
That feeling of not having to worry about homework or exams (at least not that short-term worrying)
and just that absolute feeling of happiness.

Let's make this summer one of our best, guys. Regardless of the work we have to do - We know we'll have plenty of time to enjoy ourselves.

Kristi - i'm sorry you couldn't go to Japan. (Well now recently you just told me you might be going but agghhh confusing much ahaha.) But if you don't go I promise you that you'll have a lot of fun here in good ol' Malaysia, okay? Your best friends are here for you. (: We're going to have a blast - and yes, we'll take care of you when you *get drunk* get too high hehehe. Besides, a special indian will be here too eh? (: Much love sweety.

Onnella - YOUR BIRTHDAY THIS MONTH YO! We're going to have soo much fun. Ah - we better enjoy this one. 17 years old! Our little girl is growing up so fast... :O At least you're not going to sri lanka right..? Well that's good cause we don't have much time. We better hang out lots okay? Condo neighbours (:

Jan Jan! - (I made your colour black 'cause you're so emo hahaha) ahh don't worry about a certain someone leaving ): your friends are here for you. We love you, and just know we're here for you okay? This summer will still be awesome. <3>

Liyana, Denise, and any other awesome girlfriends of mine.. - you may be staying here or going pretty far away.. But I hope that we DO get to spend some time over the summer before our final senior year :O. Wherever you guys may go, however, please please be happy and have a blast. I want you to be happy!

Mark - Firstly, sorry for the bad picture; I just find it so funny (: And.. it's a pity that you're going to be so far away for most of the summer. But we did promise each other - sunshine, windy drives, beaches, resorts, and [hopefully!] just the time of our lives. This'll be a great one for us. Until then, enjoy germany and langkawi you lucky fool. Don't forget about me (;

Keshy - I absolutely can't wait for you to get back here. It's gonna be soo much fun agghhh we'll hang out okay? I still have to visit your [huggee and luxurious] house. (: We'll hang out and be all awesome and iris + nikesh again. And make fun of kristi :P

Rick - (hey i just realised it's your birthday this month too! must celebrate!) ahh, Rick, you'll be off scaling the mountains or something with the family (haha so adventurous) but be sure to spend some time with your girlyfriends okay! Not just noviiaa! We all promised, a great night of getting 'high' for us. [We gotta take care of kristijones especially eh heh heh.)

Here's to the start of an incredible summer.
I love you all. We'll make this one to remember.

Happy 28th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Momee and Papee!

Well, it was actually yesterday - May 30, 2009 - but today was the day we as a whole family celebrated it. (Haha yes, my parents had their 'own celebration' by staying at a really awesome resort...) (;

But today we celebrated their 28 years of marriage - and i'm so ridiculously happy for them.
I mean, TWENTY EIGHT YEARS. THAT'S A LONG TIME!

Their love is truly inspiring. I mean, they say that after that initial high of being overwhelmingly, ecstatically in love, that sort of 'euphoria' that comes with a new love, they say that it goes away after, perhaps two years? And so, according to Captain Corelli's Mandolin, (as well as probably millions of other people) love is really not just that initial euphoria, but the way you feel after that high and obsession has gone.
In other words, the reason that you remain together for so long is because of real, true, and undying love.

And with the case of my parents, that's exactly right.

But what's amazing is that they seem to still be in that euphoria and 'high-on-love' sort of stage. Their hands still find each other and hold on, they still look into each others eyes and smile, my mom will still cuddle up to my dad on the sofa...
Even after 28 years of marriage, and several more from dating.
I guess what I wanted to say was that you're both truly inspiring. And I couldn't have asked for better role models to show me what true love really is. You've both been through so much together, and I just know that both of you were truly meant to be together. (Otherwise, my siblings and I wouldn't have been born!) But not just that though. We really can see that love is present and real, and that it can last between two people.
No matter what, Mama and Papa, you're the hope and guiding star, enabling me to always believe that real love exists.

Thank you for that.

I love you both so much.

________________________________________

But, just how did we celebrate today?

By eating JAPANESE BUFFET!

Finally, I get to start an eating section in my 'Eat, Pray, Love' categories. (:

But yes that's right! My family and I, we're major japanese-food fanatics. Every weekend we'll eat either japanese or chinese cuisine per se, but it doesn't mean we don't have variety! We'll eat other cuisines like italian, vietnamese, korean, filipino (obviously) and just many others. You'll see.

But moving on - we ate at TENJI Japanese Buffet - a restaurant in Solaris, Mont'Kiara.

And it was soooo good - I'm pregnant with a food baby.

Here are some photos:

The sign outside the entrance. I love how they added, 'gourmet sensation'.

Pictures of the interior.

Quite nice actually - Tenji is known to have great ambiance.

My parents with my brother.

A close-up of their card.

An after-meal-shot. We're all full and satisfied. (:

Some pictures of the food.

I didn't take that many - sorry. I'll be taking plenty more when I put up more posts about other restaurants/gastronomical adventures.

Haagen Dazs' Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream is so delicious.

My brother and I took just one bite and immediately said, 'Oh. My. Gawd.'

Just a little bit of the sashimi + sushi they had to offer.

Coconut drinks (:

They had these really adorable ice-blended lemon juices/dragonfruit juices.

It was fun to take pictures of them...

So that ends the first of many more celebrations on my blog, as well as the first of many food-adoration posts.

It really was quite a good day!

It ALMOST made me forget about the terror that keeps looming over my head...

Exams.