I woke up this morning on a beach resort, and started my day with a lovely thai massage. I flew back to the home I grew up in, and saw friends that I love – and time, just for a moment, seemed to have stood still.

Today I turn a decade older. Hmm. Not really a good thing. Or is it?

It just feels that I turned a decade older but age is really just a number. I am very suprisingly am still pretty much wrinkle-free. I don’t feel any different, and I even still wear my favourite army jacket that I bought 10 years ago in the states. So in many ways, nothing much had changed in life. I’m now sat on the bed I had since I was 14, staring at the apple-green walls of my room, decorated by posters that still scream ‘teenager’.

Oh, except I seemed to have acquired a husband along the way, lived in 3 different countries, partied like its 1999 ,collected many friends along the way and can now afford many things I could only dream of when I was a struggling student in 2000. I’ve lived well, made mistakes along the way, but I never ceased learning. I learnt to let go of the things I cannot change, learnt to love myself, learnt to never let go of dreams.

I look back to my 20′s, and in the words of Edif Piaf, je ne regrette rien. Its been a fabulous ride, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I would have been a pleasant suprise to my 20 year old self, no I’m not old and dowdy at 30, and I can now afford many nice things, including the travelling I’ve always dreamt of. And fabulous friends and a husband that loves me (most of the time ). And shockingly, a mortgage well within my means.

So yes, you did ok kid,you did ok. Have a happy birthday, with many more to come.

**NY posts will be back, I’ve been nursing a cold for the past two weeks **

Lately I’ve been thinking about my attitute towards food versus my general disposition. Blame it on too much reflection time during my daily commute. I had always refuse to let distance separate me from the food I love. If I can’t get to it, I’ll make it. Self sufficiency and all that…

This attitute is generally true with my personality as well. I refuse to let things get me down or prevent me from doing something, unless it’s a physical impossibility. If I can’t buy it, I’ll make it. Just because I’m miles from home it doesn’t stop me from sourcing what I want. I’m not too sure if this is a good attitute – I spend way too much time firstly imagining, and then coming up with hare-brained ideas of what to do to curb my yearnings.

So last weekend I made bah kwa – a traditional chinese sweetmeat/jerky that I had never known anyone to make at home before. It tasted very alike, and I promptly celebrated that fact by consuming most of it at one go. The weekend before last I made yee sang, a Chinese New Year salad ushering in prosperity and what nots.

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It does not stop with food from my childhood though. After one too many dissapointing ventures into pseudo-burrito bars, chain tex-mex restaurants and even indie mexican restaurants, I have decided that enough is enough. I will NOT settle for sub-standard mexican food any more – for some curious reason the UK’s defination of Mexican cuisine is thoroughly different from what it actually is. For example, I believe that burritos does not come with rice, unless its a San Franciscan Mission-styled burritos. However, ALL the burritos that I’ve had here contain rice – how very peculiar. And not alot of pico de gallo nor cilantro (coriander).

So yes, this weekend is mexican weekend chez moi. I am proud of my ability to not let barriers get in my way of food, and life.

This is a post-dated post (wrote it on the day before I left)…I would probably be somewhere in the land of the brave at the moment, possibly either in NY or NJ

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It’s been way too long since my departure from the land of the brave. I only lived there three years, but it was one of the three most dramatic and memorable years in my life. Part college life, part first time freedom, but I love the good ole US of A. I love the food, I love the cities, I love the climate (well, I DID live in California) and I love the people. Ever so polite with great customer service, many have tried to replicate by have sorely failed.

When I left so many years ago (2002 to be precise) I did not think that it would take me such a long time to return. I always had grand plans of returning to do my MBA, and possibly starting a career there. I was young, I was ideallistic and naive. Now I am not so young but still ideallistic and naive. I did not realise how difficult it was for me to return to the US of A as a tourist, not to mention as a resident. My Malaysian passport would be the major hindering factor. Bureaucratic red tape, low exchange rate and general lack of holidays whilst I was in Malaysia held me back like nails to a coffin.

Well, I’m back now. It might not be for good, but at least I’m back. It might not be home (California was), but it’s close enough.

Time had passed so quickly. It’s now been a week since the cat left us, a week since I started a bento competition…and now it’s time go leave for the land down under. I have definately been meaning to blog a lot more before leaving for Australia, but work is seriously snowing me under. It does sometimes seem pointless for me to make promises if my schedule keeps being rearranged. I do struggle – because I don’t think anyone has any idea the amount of crap I take at work and how much time it takes to get the stuff I seem to produce seamlessly. Just because I’m good at it doesn’t mean its easy you know!

aargh

Definately too much work aggro – and a well deserved break away from all this. Even my bento making adventures is going haywire, the FIRST time ever that I’m making a bento for someone other than me & bacon and what happens? I SCREW UP! It still looks pretty good though..

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Maybe its because I made two bentos instead of one – it’s me trying to do too much at one time. But I wanted to give the organisers something to munch on as she had to deliver the bento to the winner due to my bonkers work schedule:

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Alright, enough bento showing off (to see more, go here) – need to go off to sleep to prepare for another day of WAR at work before taking off! niteynites peeps, seeya in two weeks time!

tetley – a man’s best friend (??- 3rd Feb 2010)

the cat passed away yesterday night. One moment he was there, the next moment he was gasping for air. And then he was no more…We think it was a heart attack, and am as upset as hell. He was the first cat I ever liked (not a cat person) but has hit bacon very hard as he’s been with him for 11 years and is the first pet he had that died on him like that. We both spent a day at work dazed, confused and of no use to anyone….I could hardly eat whilst bacon had just scoffed food down his throat nonstop. We’ve wrapped him up in his favourite fleece and put him in a box (he likes boxes) – and had just buried him next to the cherry tree that he helped planted. More like distract us by sitting in the hole we dug. And then we went out and got fish & chips….his favourite food. As usual, I left some fish for him…but this time he wasn’t there to scoff it up….and it had to go into the bin.

likes: drinking fish-infused water, picking a fight with other cats, sleeping on the bed with us, afternoon naps with me, sleeping in the laundry basket (with clothes in it)wearing my hairband, a good tickling, being cuddled, freedom to go in and out whenever he likes, meowing when you’re on the phone, sitting under umbrellas, going into the toilet with you, following you everywhere you go and his favourite thing ever; come running when he sees you approaching home after a day at work.

fave foods: melon, edamame (soybean pods), ham, tuna, smoked salmon, roast, milk, spicy curry, pepperoni off the pizza, KFC, catfood in jelly, barbequed food, kebab,

hates: travelling by car, confined spaces (he was rescued from a locked garage), collar, snow, loud noises, too much sunshine, not being able to sleep with us, no human company, us being away on holiday, other male cats, alcohol (suprisingly, seeing that he’s named tetley).

I’m so sorry for all the times when I refused to share my KFC with you. Hope you are in KFC heaven. The house is too quiet without you. We will always miss you xxxx