Juice recipe books

Now that I've got my juicer, I've been tirelessly making different kinds of fruit juices. OK, not many kind. Just apple juice and tomato juice so far. So off I went to MPH Great Eastern Mall, looking for juice & smoothies recipe books.

Found 3 recipe books: Food Lovers Smoothies & Juices (RM12.90), Miracle Juices (RM24.90) and Juices, Smoothies & Shakes (RM11.90). All three books showed pictures of mouthwatering juices and I can't decide which one to buy so I bought all three.



I also bought a bunch of fruits at Cold Storage...starfruit, tomatoes, apples, kiwi...you name it. I've got all the species of fruits covered.

For the past two days I've been drinking a lot of apple and tomato juice. If my skin doesn't glow and all the bad toxins are still in my body, then I don't know what else to say.

My engagement dress in the making!

Today I'm on leave so I went to the tailor's to make my engagement dress!

Initially I wanted to make a kebaya, but the tailor said that chiffon is not suitable for kebaya. She suggested that I made a baju kurung moden instead. At first I thought that a baju kurung moden will be too simple, but then my dress will be covered with beads and that will make it stands out, so I agreed. So, baju kurung moden it is for me then.

The top will be lined with chiffon and the bottom will just be plain satin. It's hard to picture how it will look like so I can't wait for my dress to be ready! Total cost of the tailoring is RM170. My dress will be ready by the end of April. So excited!

Then I made an appointment with my hantaran-decorator and cake-maker, aka my neighbour, Aunty L.

A few months ago, my grandma had given me a bright purple songket mat to place all my hantaran on. So just now, Aunty L was having a hard time thinking about the colour scheme of my hantaran deco. Since the theme for my engagement is lilac and that songket mat is purple, Aunty L said that my hantaran will not stand out. So she suggested of using fresh white/off-white flowers to make my hantaran decoration stands out on the purple mat.

I showed her the fabric for my dress to be worn during the reception. She said that the pattern is nice but the colour is too dark. My mum and I turned a deaf ear towards her comments because we like the fabric so much.

Anyway, Aunty L suggested the following in order to balance out the "darkness" of my dress:

1) I have to wear an off-white veil with gold trimmings.

2) I have to carry an off-white bunch of flowers.

3) I have to wear off-white shoes with gold trimmings.

4) Mr.Y has to wear an off-white sampin with gold trimmings OR a sampin that matches the colour of the red flowers on my dress.

I also called the makeup artist, Kak A, and made an appointment with her on 9th April.

By the way, since my engagement is in June and the Big Day will just be 9 months away, I need Mr.Y's help to remind me these things:

1) Never try any new skincare or makeup products.

2) Never consume a supplement which I've never tried before.

Phillips Juicer HR1810

Mr.Y bought me this Phillips juicer...

So today I decided to give it a try. I tried making apple juice. Since this is a compact juicer and the feeder is small, I had to cut the fruits into tiny pieces. But nevermind, a compact juicer is easy to store.

After I finished making a glass of apple juice, I wanted to clean the juicer. However, I had a hard time figuring out how to detach parts of the juicer. The instruction manual just show a few small diagrams (I'm not a visual person!). So there I was in the kitchen, cursing and trying real hard to remove the pulp container and all that. Then I took a deep breath, mengucap kejap, and re-read the instruction manual.

And that's when I saw it...an extremely TINY arrow in one of the diagrams, telling me to TWIST the compartment to detach it.

After I managed to successfully detach the juicer parts and washed it clean, I finally drank my apple juice. It had turned a ghastly shade of brown.

After that, I made another glass of juice...tomato juice.

Now I'm addicted to making juices and next I'm gonna make starfruit juice. And then maybe I can experiment and combine a number of fruits together. And thennn...maybe I can quit my job and open up a business, something like Juice Works, but much much better! Haha, berangan.

Now my stomach is bloated from drinking all my homemade juices.

By the way, thank you, Mr.Y!

Fabric for the dress to be worn during reception

Went to Semua House with my mum to look for door gifts (I know it's too early for that, but we're so bored at home).

I ended up buying the fabric for my wedding dress (to be worn during reception) at Maya Silk. There was a promotion going on. So the them colour for my wedding reception will be...GOLD!

Initially, I wanted to go for peach, but a neighbour (who specializes in wedding cakes & hantaran) said that peach is so common these days. She said my friends who are getting married soon ordered wedding cakes from her and asked her to decorate their hantaran. Most of them opted for peach theme. So gold for me, then.


Gold tulle lace with matching gold satin...


Tried this fabric on at the shop and fortunately it does not make my skin look sallow. In fact, it enhances my complexion. I likeee!

I also bought a matching gold satin fabric for Mr.Y's baju Melayu.

Ogre

Picture source: Google

An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a large, cruel, monstrous and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature. In art, ogres are often depicted with a large head, abundant hair and beard, a voracious appetite, and a strong body. The term is often applied in a metaphorical sense to disgusting persons who exploit, brutalize or devour their victims. Closely related is the troll figure, although these are sometimes not as malevolent.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Birth order traits

Since my friend FT has written about the characteristics of the eldest child, I'm going to write about the characteristics of an only child (I lack creative ideas these days. I tend to 'copy' other people's blogs. Haha)

TRAITS OF AN ONLY CHILD...

1) Close to parents
Err...of course la. You have no siblings to communicate with.

2) Self control
I do have a good self control over myself, except when it comes to food. HA HA.

3) Leader
Hmm...during my uni days there were a number of times when I've been leaders for group projects.

4) Mature
A lot of people told me this. In fact, when I was in primary school, my teachers said that I'm too mature for my age.

5) Dependable

6) Demanding

7) Unforgiving
Very true. I forgive easily, but it's really hard for me to forget.

8) Private
Oh yesss...I'm a very private person. During my uni days, I was a lone ranger and didn't mingle around much.

9) Sensitive
Veryyy! Like I've told FT many times, if someone decline my meeting request or left out my name in a calendar call, I will feel hurt. Haha.

OK, next is the characteristics of a middle child (Mr.Y)...

TRAITS OF A MIDDLE CHILD...

1) Flexible

2) Easy going
Yes. He gets along well with people. OK, now I'm worried.

3) Social
Yes. He has lots of friends. Uh-oh.

4) Peacemaker
He hates it when we argue and will try his best to make peace.

5) Independent
He is. He's living on his own, far away from hsi family.

6) Secretive
OK, this is not good.

7) May feel life is unfair
He's always complaining about being assigned to work in Kluang, while some of his friends are working in KL.

8) Strong negotiator

9) Generous
He's generous WHEN HE HAS THE MONEY. That's when he'll offer to buy things for me.

Source: thecutekid.com

Alas dulang hantaran

Today my mum, my aunt and cousins went to a relative's house to get the fabric for the dulang hantaran. The relative specializes in hantaran decoration. She's unable to decorate my hantaran due to her hectic schedule but she let me borrow the fabric to decorate the dulang hantaran.

The purple satin lining is too dark but when matched with the tulle lace, it becomes a nice lilac shade which matches my dress :-)

Material for my wedding dress

Today Mr. Y and me bought the material to make my wedding dress and his baju Melayu for the solemnization ceremony! The fabrics will be part of the gifts for our engagement in June.

Instead of boring old white, I decided to get married wearing CREME.Bought 4m of creme-coloured French crepe with 4m of tulle lace. I estimated that the fabric for my wedding dress would cost RM500, but this one costs RM600. Oops, slightly over budget. But Mr.Y is OK paying for it.

The material for his baju Melayu costs me only RM100 (4m of creme French crepe similar to mine).
I'm planning to make a boat-neck baju kurung moden.

My future mother-in-law loves this fabric very much! She said the beads are like diamonds. Hehe.

Shopping for engagement hantaran

Today I looked at Mr. Y and I can't believe that 5 years ago we went on our first date at the Mines, and now we're already shopping for our engagement hantaran!

I bought the material to make a kebaya that I'll be wearing during the engagement ceremony. Mum told me to buy something that costs approximately RM30 per metre and she also told me to buy the material at Gulati's because of the quality.So off we went to Gulati's (the one near Mydin Mall). Guess what? I couldn't find anything decent for RM30 per metre! I wanted to buy lace with satin lining but lace is so expensive! I didn't know that lace cost THAT much! But lace is beautiful though, especially the tulle lace (beaded lace). I think for my wedding dress, I'm gonna buy the tulle lace so that I won't have to ask the tailor to sew beads (which will incur extra cost). The cheapest tulle lace I could find was RM99 per metre.In the end I settled for a lilac satin and matching lilac beaded chiffon.

This picture doesn't do the beaded chiffon any justice! At the shop, under the lighting and all, the beaded chiffon looked AMAZING and it goes on well with the lilac satin (which will be the lining).

I bought 4m of satin and 2m of chiffon. I wanted to buy 4m of chiffon so that my kebaya will be fully beaded but they only have 2m of the lilac chiffon. So I think only my kebaya top will be covered with beads. Ahh nevermind I can tell the tailor to add some beads to the lower part of kain.

I estimated that I'd spend around RM150 on the materials, but ended up spending RM222 (the satin costs RM16.90 per metre and the chiffon is RM78 per metre). Thank God for credit card!I can't wait to send these fabrics to the tailor and see how it turns out to be!Oh by the way, Mr.Y also bought matching lilac satin. Not sure if he'll make it into a baju Melayu teluk belanga or cekak musang. After shopping at Gulati's, we went to Mydin Mall to buy some of our hantaran. Oh my God, Mydin Mall sells almost EVERYTHING at very low price. I likeee!

Mr. Y bought my telekung.

How I love the pink and purple flowers embroidery!

And prayer mat for me...

I bought a prayer mat for him...

...and blue hardcover Quran for him.

I'm now addicted to hantaran-shopping! Next week I'm going to get his ties and shirt!

Reasons to stay with my current job

1. I need the $$$

2. Travelling priviledges

3. Medical & dental benefits

4. If I stay at home I'll be very bored

5. If I don't work people will look down on me

6. If I quit my job because of someone, it shows that I admit defeat to that person! No way!

7. My expensive education will be a waste if I don't work

8. People with 1 year of working experience will be considered as fresh entry when applying for jobs

9. I hate attending interviews.

10. I doubt that I can easily get another job.

11. I have 3 amazing friends at the office. FTMB, FR and NKR. Tulis initial je sebab diorang takut kena Google. You know who you are! ;-)

12. I tried so hard to get this job.