The Hague, Netherlands - May 2012 - Part II

Scheveningen

There's a beach near den Haag. So one fine day it was a holiday and it was sunny. We took the tram till end of it's line and came to the beach. It was overlooking the North Sea. Coolness. Literally. Sejuk ok, though the sun was out. Not many people as it was quite early. There's a long pier with interesting shops and eating places. We had an earlier lunch at a seafood joint. A lovely break from eating kebab... kebab and more kebab.

Madurodam

Another attraction here is a miniture park called Madurodam. It's a the next stop after my office if not mistaken. It has small scale of everything in Netherlands... from Schipol airport, to the duct, to the AJAX stadium. Kids would love this place. We sort of completed the whole place in like 30 minutes and dah penat. After making endless joke about being Godzilla around the miniture buildings, we were out of there. Hahah tak senonoh.

Cooking session with the team

One my 3rd day in the office, the team suggested that the whole bunch of us should go out and do something. The do something .. is going to this cooking place, where we are going to cook our own dinner. Exciting at first, the jet lagged just sets in. And I don't bloody trust myself with a knife or anything to do with fire! And bugger I thot I would be good at this, rupanya mcm terbanggang ok. We always see all those cooking show that seems so easy - aku pun boleh buat tu... Naah... not when you are with people you just met pastu ngantuk gila babi. Nak pecah telur pun malu2 kucing... (ok maybe that's just me). The menu looks doable (tapi ingredients all in english, some of it I have no idea what they are), so I ended up with goreng telur dadar aje. Hahahahahahahahahhahahahaha. They were all looking at me sideways... "I thot Malaysians all cook at home". (Not this Malaysian apparently). Turns out semua orang sangat terror. Even the guys! Malu akak yo! It was fun actually. We had  pumpkin soup, shrimp, lamb (i had tuna steak instead sbb lamb tak halal kan) pesto, guacamole, chocolate pudding (which I think had rum in it.... tapi aku tawakkal je la). We also had creme brulee. Aku sepantas kilat nak volunteer memblow torch the sugar! I'd put the pictures of everyone so engrossed in cooking, but nanti kang this will be traced back to me, so I put the picture of what I prepared je la.

The creme brulee (aku tolong pukul telur and heat the milk I think).. and burnt it to death

The disgusting looking turd... hahaha pesto in omelette by Moi 

Everytime You Go Away

Last week, me & my colleague discovered that some verses in this song indirectly represents exactly what we felt forthis particular bi-weekly meeting that everyone dreaded. Memang lawak. Either way it's a great song. I like the version in Rebound. How cute is that guy singing it at bedtime ;)

Everytime You Go Away - Hall&Oates, Paul Young and tah sape lagi

Hey
if we can't solve any problems
and why do we lose so many tears?

Oh
so you go again when the leading man appears.
Always the same theme
can't you see
We've got ev'rything going on and on and on.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.

Go on and go free
maybe you're too close to see.
I can feel your body move
does it mean that much to me.
I can't go on singing the same theme'cause can't you see
We've got ev'rything
baby
even though you know:
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.

Can't go on singing the same theme'cause baby
can't you see
We've got ev'rything going on and on and on.Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time you go away you take a piece of me with you.
Ev'ry time
ev'ry time you go away - but I don't care -
You take a piece of me with you. Ev'ry time you go away -
Ev'ry time you go away - don't leave me all alone

And breakin' up a piece of me. Ey'ry time you go away.

Surreal Gourmet @ 7atenine

My sister won an invite to an afternoon with Bob Blumer. The surreal chef, in the toastmobile. Or toaster van. It's the guy that cooks in the van that looks like a toaster in the show called Surreal Gourmet. Ok you get what I mean. Travel and Living channel was doing this event as part of the new season launch for the show. We were to watch Bob cook and get to taste it afterwards. I like it already.

And... it's being held at 7atenine.. supposedly one of the places to be seen at in KL (err.. but not anymore now that I've been there :P) It's at the lobby of Kirana and Ascott across the street from KLCC.

We were welcome with goody bags. An apron and a book by Bob. We try to ooze cosmopolitan vibe while trying to perch our big ass on the small, yet high and wobbly bar stool. Sipping Strawberry Fanta no less. Sungguh tak sesuai untuk rancangan memasak, ini tempat. We were at the lower level of the club which was open air. Meaning, no aircond and it's 3 pm. Ok panas... nasib ada kipas... and the flowing soft drink (by now I've switched to Pepsi pulak. This is a sure fire for a series of cirit birit later). Mana si Bob ni.

Finally this DJ guy came out with his make-believe-toungue-twisting-American accent. He'll be the MC of the day. Then Bob appeared. Yeay. We can finally eat. Oh not yet... Bob is going to demo/cook while telling us about, what is in store in the episodes of the new season. He broke some sort of a record for flipping pancakes, he almost die while diving for sea urchin? or was it pearl? and... Ok I have short attention span when 1) it's hot and 2) i'm hungry. Bob keeps on facing one after another technical problem... minyak tak panas... kuali pulak panas sangat sampai macam nak terbakar... udang kecik sangat.... Aku pulak risau... eh cukup ke untuk kita semua nak makan ni.....

So finally... the dishes are ready. Cekodok udang rupa macam lolipop cucuk dalam nenas, ayam bungkus macam wantan yang buruk, ada something involving watermelon..and something bebola... tapi ada wasabi ke apatah. To everyone's horror.. the dishes were whisked away by a bunch of people who need to take photographs of it. I think for some magazine or newspaper article.. I saw it it again in the papers. It look far better than it taste. The one with the wasabi was deemed 'sedap-lagi-clorox'.

To everyone's relief, the waiters came out from kitchen, with trays of the dishes. Ha melantak time. However, we had to play cat and mouse pulak with the waiter because the one yang lalu depan kitaorang asyik bawak yang tak sedap aje.

Next it was authograph session with Bob. Oh right... the book. We can also have a poloroid taken with Bob. How fun. Of course we were still eating while everyone starting to queue... Finally it's our turn. My sister went first. I was trying to come up with something clever to tell him. He told us earlier that at the begining of his career as a chef... he did a lot of faking... (berlakon-berlakon pandai masak).. well he said, just fake it till you make it. Eh sounds like me at the office aje...hehehehhe (cume aku tak make it je lagi..)

Ok, my turn now... so while he's signing my book... (I can't believe this came out from my mouth).."So, Bob, how long have you been faking it?"..... After the words floated out of me... I suddenly realize I might have implied something sexual instead. Bloody hellllll..... but keep smiling....He took a look at me, take a deep breath and force a laugh. I laughed as well... and quickly pose for the photo. I thanked him... and walk out from the place never looking back.

Accept when I swipe a pen from the registration counter.

Hahahahahahahahhahaha

2009 so far...

16 days and counting. What's been happening so far?

1. Canopy Walk at FRIM

In the spirit of nak lebih byk bersenam, me and my friend telah pergi FRIM in Kepong. On 1 Jan 2009. What a way to celebrate new year. All the party revellers still terbongkang atas katil, kitaorg dah out and about. Sepanjang zaman sekolah dulu, tak pernah pulak aku pergi sana. Such a fascinating place. Ingatkan mcm tak mencabar la jalan kat sana. I was so wrong! The jungle tracking memang seronok sebab tak panas sangat. But the climb towards the canopy walk, mmg kalau tak fit boleh nak tergolek. Which happen to me a few times. Masa naik canopy walk tu telah ketakutan, tetiba rasa macam nak nangis. Serious kepala lutut macam nak tercabut. What the heck were we thinking? Hahahahha. Oh well, next stop - attempting Batu Caves and rafting?!

2. Another Bangkok trip

Masa tengah fighting cardiac arrest while climbing the hills at FRIM, a friend smsed me ajak temankan dia to Bangkok. Well, she said the magic word - "aku belanja", so I said "boleh saje". Setelah menshuffle timetable aku kat office, I flew off with my friend to Bangkok. The airport is back normal. And yes, this time around dapat makan tomyam sebab ada orang bring us around. They were such great hostess. We even watched LadyBoy carbaret show. Sila la google sendiri to find out what that is. We also went to a hair salon nak cuci rambut, and came out berposing maut tepi jalan sebab perasan dengan rambut sendiri.

The whole Bangkok still thinks I'm a Thai. Maybe I should learn Thai one of these days. We stayed at a hotel called Rex Hotel. The room was newly refurbished and makes it looked grand despite that the hotel still looks like a Jefferi Zain movie setting circa 1970s. Our breakfast coupon are typed using.. an old school typewriter ok! They still call the tempat makan Coffee House! Tapi itu semua tak lawan the frickin huge glass that allows you to see through to the bedroom.. from the toilet! Nasib kitaorang berdua tak pengsan dan dan tu jugak. The potter was trying to calm us down in Thai (which doesn't help) when he saw the two of us nearly macam nak kena fit bila nampak cermin tu. Things calm down when we hear the word....BLINDERRR. Oh, the world is a better place again. Nasib ada blinder nak tutup cermin tu.

3. Wayne Bridge left the Bridge

I always like Wayne Bridge. There's always time that I think he's a better player than Ashley Cole. He transfered to Man City. A good move for him I would say. Goodbye Wayne and All the best!

4. Chelsea is down in the tong sampah

The last 5 matches were a load of rubbish. No imagination whatsoever. On top of that Joe Cole might be sidelined for a long time. I say do away with the coach and buy a few wingers. Though I temporarily declare myself teamless (football wise), I'm super happy that a friend bought me a Chelsea polo t-shirt from her recent trip to UK. I like!

5. Managed to catch up with friends.

This week managed to meet up with school mates and college mates. One of my friend from school celebrated her , ahem - 25th Birthday. Happy Birthday Kak! May this year be the year. Birthday celebration at Victoria Station. We discovered that the seatings slightly different and the waiter/waiteress are super attentive to the point of annoyance. They are short of feeding the food into your mouth.

Then the next day off to Sunway Michealanglo for italian. The food and price not bad, cuma sometimes.. ada yang masin. Lepas tu sempat plak minum hot chocolate at Tony Romas which cost RM0.50 aje! Ye, 50 sen. Hahahah member aku siap order satu lagi tu. Memang gila.

6. Jason Mraz n Rihanna n PGL

Yippeeeee! I've secured tickets to all the shows. Sanggup tadi nak beratur kat Sg Wang for early bird discounts for Jason Mraz. Tak sabar gila nak pergi tengok. Hopefully tiada aral melintang (oh so the rock melayu bunyinya). Cuti semua dah arranged dah :)

So skang nak pi hafal lagu :)

p/s: Eh esok Juara Lagu, banyak lagu best.