Koay's Chicken Spaghetti.

I remembered that I was in the office, drafting an email to a client when he called out of a sudden. It's quite unusual cos you see, when we are at work, we don't usually call each other that often cos well, we are working right. Ain't nobody got time to talk. Kidding. 

Anyways, he called and he asked if my Saturday noon that week was going to be free, if I already have plans and stuff. Well, no because my Saturdays are usually spent at home while he's away at training. So, that Saturday no exception also.

Then he said that there will be no training that Saturday and they have like a pot-bless gathering at night and he needs to bring a dish. Initially he wants to bring his mom's all-time-yummiest-charbeehoon but someone else taking already so no choice but to decide on another dish.

Since he wanted to cook the dish by himself, he opted for spaghetti. Hah. Really the first option for noobs right. Heh. 

We went Tesco in the afternoon and came back home with all the ingredients, according to his own recipe. Apparently, I'm not allowed to give ideas or comment. My role is just as an assistant chef. 

"I ask you do what, you just do only, cannot say no."

The man is on fire I tell you. 

But I just do whatever he asked me to do lah (in the beginning only tho). At the end, he asked me to wash all the dishes and I have already washed so many, so I decided that he shall do the rest since he didn't do anything other than putting the ingredient into the pan and cooking them. Haha. Rebellious assistant chef is rebellious. 

So, let's see how he did with his first attempt on cooking spaghetti.

Ingredients needed according to Masterchef Koay:

Ready-made Tesco's tomato paste

Sausages

Diced tomatoes/carrots

Chopped onions/garlic

Spaghetti

Minced chicken meat

Once carrots are quite soft already, gently add the minced chicken meat in. You can use beef or pork or rabbit or horse or goat or any meat you would like to serve your guest :)) 

Then, add the Tesco ready-made tomato puree and the raw tomatoes and let it cook okay. Just remember to stire once in a while. We added fried sausages as well because suka hati Masterchef Koay jugak.

In the meantime, this is cooking on the next stove. We forgot to put salt into the water, and forgot to coat the spaghetti with olive oil after. 

 At the end of the whole cooking drama, (yes I gave my opinions in the end because it seems like I'm a bit more experienced than him here heh) he decided to mix the spaghetti and sauce together and he did it like a lasagna layer form. 

I would say that IT WAS REALLY YUMMY! For a first timer in attempting to cook spaghetti, it's 100% pass okay. To be honest, I expected it to be just okay-okay but turns out, it was really delicious. Must be his random thrown ins of herbs here and there. 

I think this cooking session kinda sparked that cooking interest in him because now whenever we can have the chance to use the kitchen, he would jump at it. I think next one we want to try carbonara or something. 

Looks like I've got myself my very own Masterchef :)

I was told that his spaghetti was the first dish to finish that night. Hmm. Must be because he only cook a small portion lah. HAHA.

:)

2D1N Hatyai, Thailand.

Oh my I have so many things that I want to talk about. I'm actually still trying to decide whether to put everything on a post or just break it up for the next few days. 

The remaining of August is so crazy. I have 3 major presentations (1 in KL and the other 2 at a global company in Penang), a week-long training in KL. Not to mention so many emails and conference calls in between. 

To be honest, I love being busy with work but this month is just definition of madness.

Anyways, we shall focus on the one thing now.

Few weeks back, I went to Hatyai over the weekends with the lover's colleagues and buddies. It was like a needed getaway since the madness at work was about to begin. Then again, everytime I go somewhere, it will always be labeled as 'needed'. Hah.

with Koay's colleagues and friends (11 of us in total)
on the 1-2 August 2015.

This part of Thailand is like our second home this year. We have been there so many times and if not mistaken, we have more plans to returning for short getaways. Although our value of money is decreasing, things are still cheaper there. No need to mention massages because it obviously is. 

Although it was not our first time there, it was our first time driving through the Malaysian Border. We parked our cars at the Duty-Free place before Thai Border.

We even know a couple who owns a song khiew and can take us around for quite a reasonable price. The man is from Penang but his mother was a Thai so he ended up staying in Hat Yai and married a Thai lady. We call him Ah Chai. He speaks Hokkien, actually both of them can speak in our comfort language. We got to know them many years ago when we first went to Hatyai together. We lost their contact number and what do we know, the next thing we know we met them at the exact same place as years ago. Heh.

And we have his number now so when we need song khiew, we just need to call him. If not, then just take another song khiew, its everywhere. Its usually known as tuk-tuk but no, really its correct term is song khiew. Hah. You're very welcome :)

This time, I didn't really take a lot of photos. Lazy lah seriously. Why can't I just have like a photographer follow me whenever I travel? That would be nice. 

All the moments captured and I have nice photos to post here but yeah. One day lah when I have like gazillions of money. Heh.

Anyways, our itinerary very simple. Shop, eat, massage, eat again, show again and massage again. 

 

Considering that I bought so many things and ate so many times, RM500 is quite okay I guess or so I keep telling myself. Hah.

The hotel we stayed at is called Red Planet Hat Yai (used to be Tune Hotel), so someone genius bought over and re-named it Red Planet to save cost in re-painting the entire hotel. 

Standard Twin Room

If you ask me whether I will stay in this hotel again the next time I go Hat Yai, the answer is definitely yes. I prefer this over Lee Garden. Although Lee Garden is situated right in the middle of everything and they provide daily breakfast for all rooms, their room is very dark and is not as new as Red Planet Hat Yai.

Red Planet Hat Yai do not have daily breakfast and is not in the middle of the happenings BUT it's really clean and their room is so huge you can add at least another two roll-out beds AND they are not very far from Lee Garden, about 5 minutes of walking. So yes, Red Planet is now our favorite hotel at Hat Yai :)

I really enjoyed this trip. What made all trips different is the people you go with. I can go to the same place over and over again and still enjoy my time there because of the people you travel with. These people are a bunch of jokers okay. I laughed so much I probably burn all the extra fats in the belly. Kid you not. It gave me an opportunity to know his colleagues in a very fun way.

I really believe that it's through travel that friendships are quickly formed and on my own experience, it's always faster to know them through a travel-together-experience. So, if any of you would like to know me better, TRAVEL WITH ME :)

We reached Penang at about evening time and as much as we love Thai Food, we went straight to tapau nasi kandar for late dinner. SO THE VERY YUMS. Okay, now I'm thinking that's probably what I want to have tonight looking at the photo. Ahhh.

TOTAL MONEY SPENT for one (1) person

For 2 days and 1 night at Hatyai, Thailand

1-night stay at Red Planet Hat Yai (standard room) = RM50

Food + Shopping = RM250

1 full body massage + 1 foot massage = RM60

Transport (car/van/song khiew) = RM140

[Note: RM1 = 9 THB (as of 1 August 2015)]

RM500

Saturday Feels.

Sitting on my couch at 11:30am watching Pacific Rim with wet hair and empty stomach.

Such is my Saturday.

The boy called at 8:05am and thus, my plan to wake up at anytime later than 9 fails! The brain was awake since then and I just kinda forced my entire body to sleep on until I feel satisfied.

Needless to say, that also failed because now my body feels sore. It feels like I shouldn't have forced myself to stay on the bed till the sun rises.

I guess there is no changing into sleep patterns now that I wake up automatically at 8 every single morning! Heh.

In a while, I will be going to Tesco with the boy and he's going to try cooking for his floorball gathering tonight. Oh boy. I hope no one gets diarrhea after tonight. Hah. Okaylah, actually he's a very good cook. He's just that 'I-like-to-experiment-kind-of-cook' so sometimes his food will taste super good, sometimes it's just ermm disgusting! Haha. Love you lah okay.

On another news, I finished my 5gb of data already. Yeah, I know how you gonna react to that. How can anyone finish 5gb of data? I don't know lah. I've been watching Youtube on my phone because too lazy to use laptop. Oh and since I downloaded Periscope to follow other bloggers, it's been crazy usage wei. Its cray cray.

On another another news, it seems like I don't have enough annual leave to do the things that I really want to do this second half of the year. Boohoo. One thing I know is prayer works! Hah.

Okay now I'm feeling so hungry I think a whole pig will not be an issue. Where art thou, Mut?

I shall get going now. Thanks for reading this :)

Koay's Love Language #9.

#9
*While walking him to his car with an umbrella under the heavy rain*
Him: Do you know what happens to mosquitoes when it rains?
Me: Nope. Hami?
Him: They get to shower lah. Noob.
Me: WHATTTT! LITERALLY LAUGHED SO LONG!
Him: Is it that funny ah? Laugh till like that.
Me: I don't know if it really is but I really didn't expect such an answer. Walauuu.

Hari Raya At The Beach.

It's almost two weeks already since Malaysia celebrates Hari Raya this year and now only I wanna upload the photos. Photos that I didn't take. Heh.

It was that day that I decided to not use my phone to take any photos. I usually do that on occasions for blogging purposes but I thought since my cousin is gonna be taking the photos, I might as well just take from her. Hah. 

The owner of the picnic place that our family goes to since we were young decided to not rent that area out anymore. They don't own the beach but their house is located right at the beach so I guess you can say that they have full control on who uses that beach (sort of) and their toilets and stuff. Did I also mention that they were really rude? Their mother (a very old lady) moved to KL so these young people decided to just be rude and shut us off. 

Manners maketh man, yes?

So, we searched nearby for places that we could use and found one at the other end of where we used to be. It was other people's property too but the family of the place went somewhere else for Raya, so we called them and used the place.

Got shower place, tables and canopies for us to use so not bad lah.

Go inside water, come up, eat, go inside water again and repeat hundred times correct already.

It was a very needed break. Actually any kind of getaway/holiday is very much needed lah. Who doesn't need holiday wor?

Gotta love the sun, all-day err-day.

Globally Stressed Out.

I do not ever want to leave this space empty for days. It's my comfort place okay.

The thing is work has been crazy lately. 

I'm starting to handle global accounts so I have a lot of conference calls with the U.S. team and stuff.

I'm still so new in this global thing because it's so huge and serious and crazy. It's giving me so much stress that pimples are popping out like popcorns and I get nightmares about them. Heh.

I'm thankful for the opportunities given though. 

It's just everytime I get home, I'll be so worn out to even wanna update anything. I don't even want to look at the laptop's screen to be honest. AFTER OFFICE MEANS SEE PEOPLE FACE NOT COMPUTER. Bleh.

Not to mention that Koay and I have a wedding to plan! No, not ours. Hah.

This wedding plan is kinda like both our first major project together and as stressful as it will be, we are actually enjoying the working-together-thing. 

Oh wells.

Here's to 3 more months before the wedding.

and SEVEN MORE DAYS TO QUICK GETAWAY TO THAILAND!

:)

Blessed Two-Five, Adrian Koay.

Since the boy is at a futsal game and I have nothing else better to do at home, I thought I shall just update something here.

Okay, just a quick and short one for the boy who celebrates being twenty-five today.

You have shown me so many things through your life and seeing your journey from someone who was once upon a time so sure that Jesus was just another person/story to someone who has encountered Him and walking this path with Him being in the center of your life wows me. 

Your kindness is mind-blowing and your humility teaches me to be one every day. 

I'm thankful that I get to spend many more birthdays with you and my prayer for you is that you will never give up on going after Him and fulfilling His will in your life.

Thank you for always being that bigger person okay. Thank you for always trying to make me smile when that's the last thing I want to do. Thank you for not being afraid to be yourself when you're with me. Thank you for letting me be part of your humble life.

Lastly, thank you for loving me with all my imperfections and weaknesses.

I hope you had a great time today and I love you :)

Blessed two-five, Adrian Koay :)

The Perfect Proposal Ring.

Apparently, no other watch shops can fix a broken Swatch. 

What do to ah.

Make a trip all the way to Queensbay Mall lo, knowing for sure 100% it'll be fixed since the shop is there what. The only thing that was broken was its latch thing. I thought quite easy to be replaced no? Anyways, they said no cannot. Only got 2 options. One is to change the entire handle and two is get a new Swatch. Bleh.

The price to change the handle is RM138. Too expensive seriously.

We looked around in the shop and found one that I like. The question is should I be spending RM210 for a watch now. My previous one costs about RM300 so this is actually still okay in comparison. 

I just don't know if now is a good time for me to spend this money although I do really need a watch badly. I can always get the really cheap ones first? Hmm. Dilemma.

Okay. So we were walking from one end of the mall to the other end, searching for Cosway (only to find out that they relocated to the outside shoplots) when Koay said this.

"Let's go see rings!"

My instant reaction on that split second was HARH! After that, I was like, "Can also. We wouldn't want you buying a ring that I don't like!" HAHAHA.

Girls out there, do you all have this kind of thought ah? Like what if when your boyfriend proposes to you and you realize that he got you a ring that you don't like? Or you expected bigger diamond or a clear diamond and he got you a colored one or something? I don't know. I know I am very concerned because I don't trust his taste in women-related-fashion-or-whatsoever. HAHA. 

Then again, when your boyfriend proposes to you, the ring doesn't really play a big role lah. You'll probably be so into that moment at that time. Maybe when you go home and actually take a closer look only realize that the proposal ring doesn't look like one bit of how you've imagined it. HAHA! 

Anyways, we went to a few shops and they are all really sparkly oh goodness. No need to mention the ringgits okay. Good thing is I'm not a really big fan of diamonds, but I do want a diamond ring lah if he can afford it. If not, then no need also okaylah. 

BUT SERIOUSLY WHY IS IT SO EXPENSIVE TO OWN A DIAMOND RING? DOES IT EVEN MAKE SENSE TO SPEND FEW THOUSANDS ON A RING THAT ONLY THE GIRL WEARS? SHOULDN'T THE WEDDING BAND BE MORE WORTH TO SPEND MORE MONEY ON? 

I think when it comes to settling down, Adrian has always been the one to not really wanna talk about it yet because he is still young but that conversation was few years ago. So, for him to pull me (literally!) into one shop after another last night, asking me if every diamond ring that he points to is nice, that gave me such a warm feeling in my tummy. 

The smaller the diamond the better. The happiness of our union is not based on how many carats that diamond is. Nope. Even if can afford bigger diamond, better use the $$$ for travelling. Heh.

If can get a diamond ring at a price that makes the boy feels like he has accomplished something and the girl loves it, that's the perfect proposal ring. 

I guess I'm that kind of girlfriend who doesn't quietly expects a lot of things from the boy and when he didn't do it, I'll be heartbroken and give 'I'm okay' kind of silent treatment . In fact, we know that expectations in the quiet often breaks a relationship. So, we made sure that we share with each other expectations like these. We love THINKING OUT LOUD. Heh. Our favorite song BTW. 

I think that's how we get stronger than when we first started. We're both very different and yet the same in other ways. So, the best way is to communicate it out even when we know that it will disappoint the other person at that moment. 

For example, there was once when he told me that if I don't control on my spending, especially on travels, we will never be able to own a house and start a family. At first, it felt like he was saying that I'm the main 'cause' that we couldn't get a house (of course that wasn't what he meant). Well, most of my travels are paid for by my company so I don't really spend a lot but I do tend to want to spend on travels more than anything else.

When he laid down the numbers, it hit me hard and it took me a while to realize that this money thing is giving him more stress than it should be and I HATED how he became so unhappy at one point (could be quarter life crisis too). So, we sat down one day and decided to change things a bit of how we will work this out as a couple. 

Afterall, we do really want to start a family together. So my money is his, and his money is mine. Heh. 

Our solution to this money-issue?

Everytime when either one of us want to spend on something extra, we will need to ask. I will ask him. He will ask me. And if at that very moment, one of us (lets just use him as example) says no to spending on that particular thing, I will have drop the idea. BUT WHAT IF I REALLY WANT IT? 

Then, I can ask again and maybe this time, give gazillions of reasons or prepare a powerpoint slideshows of why I think it should be a go. We only have up to 3 times. So, if its all a no, then no matter what, we gotta drop it.

So far, it has been working out alright. He told me to go ahead and get that Swatch! Hmm.

I don't know if this is something that couples do nowadays but shopping for the proposal ring together kinda helps a lot in managing the expectations, stress because of money. Money will always not be enough, so we work around whatever budget we have lah. Heh.

Oh wells. We didn't buy any ring in the end if you all want to know. I told him to come back and shop with my sisters since my sisters know best of what kind of ring I would like. Heh. Yes, I don't want to know how my proposal ring looks like because I still would like that little hint of surprise. 

And yes, I obviously know that he might be proposing soon so this is not like the kind of post where the girl posts to give hints to her better half. Haha. I'm not that desperate! Haha! 

I'M SORRY THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE A LOVEY-DOVEY KIND OF POST! It's actually not really lovey-dovey also. Hah.

I just really wanted to share this here, with myself and you guys who read my blog because if you are reading this, you're somehow part of our life, our story. HAHAHA SO CHEESY I CANNOT. 

Have a great week you all :D