33B33/28 - go to a casino and gambling

Yes, I have to admit that I never been in Casino before.. well I did twice, but that just for passing through.

So this time I went to Casino in Sentosa Island, Singapore and played $20 on jackpot machine.  This is still gambling, right?  Because I don't know how to play Poker or Black Jack or any other cards game.
Did I win?  Of course NOT but I did a sneaky shoot inside. Those hands in the picture wasn't mine, those are my aunt's. She got crazy over this machine, she made us came back to this casino twice more.

Obviously I really don't have mental of a gambler.  

33B33/4 - cut my hair really short (2nd attempt)

Hohoho.. been a while, right.  Nothing really actually happened all this time, it just I've been addicted with Instagram.  A Free application for iPhone where you upload and edit the photos with some awesome filters and of course make friends with people around the globe.  My eyesight is getting worse lately (seriously - I'm not lying) because I always check my news feed or people's feed every other second.  It gave me headache sometime.. sigh.

Anyway, just want to update the blog with what happen lately, with the first news... I went to Jakarta for a short visit last October before heading to Singapore for a while, I cut my hair again, this time really short.  Even my hairdresser had a very good time cutting my (almost long) hair.  And the result? Here is a snap using Earlybird filter from Instagram

I love the spiky hair but Mr Chai did comment that I look like a chicken and I shouldn't back home until my hair grow back (the second one was just a joke - I hope). 

33B33/26 - change my mobile phone

With very sad eyes, I post this news... I know that in one of my 33B33 list mentioned about changing my mobile phone, but I never thought the story will end like this. Just now I found Draco chewing up my dear and favourite mobile phone. No wonder he was so quiet sitting under the dining table, he found a new toy.

I bought this sony ericsson s500i end of 2007 with my mom in one of the mall in Jakarta, when I had my annual leave. I named it Midori - because she is so lovely and green. My friend, Munir, introduced me to this mobile.

I think it was so cool because it has animated theme screen saver that could change according to time (day and night), season and special date. i.e. It will play a firework on new year eve, change to pretty cherry red tree in chinese new year, floating pink hearts on Valentine's day and very nice twiggy branch with red and white balls in Christmas. It's a guarantee you will never get bored with this mobile! - you can read the review anyway..  PLUS! I saved all mr.Chai's sms since the 1st week we met (again) in Dec2007.

Midori, although you've had drown in a toilet, fell down thousand times, become mute for the last 1 year, almost lost in a Taxi and the last - lost your beautiful face over Draco, you'll irreplaceable..  I will always love you.
Oooohh the painnnnn and tears.  

33B33/17 - own a nice computer

I officially said goodbye to Mr Mac Jr on early May after almost inseparable for four years.  He was a good companion, he even sleep next to me on my bed every night and yes, we had our moment(s) too in the bathroom.
But I've been thinking to replace him since last year, just because simply he is not that junior anymore. I need to kick him up to get him and all the files back twice  - those were really tragic moments, the second time he came back like a total stranger.  My eldest brother adopted him and I think he is in better hand now. I haven't seen him since I moved to LLG.

So, now I have new partner, more mature and slightly bigger. His name is Mr Prostaffelees - after Mr Mistoffelees of Cats the Musical. I thought I named him after this magical character because I love Cats the Musical very much and of course, it's a cat's name, just trying to be consistent to Steve Jobs.

So far Mr Prostaffelees is doing great, we worked on some images and docs... but surely missing Mr Mac Jr, you cute white chubby lappie.. XOXO 

33B33/9 - be vegetarian for a month

Alright, the next challenge was a bit easy because once you live with a big-timer vegetarian, you will automatically dragged in to the same bowl.  My mom even once cooked my favourite meal - Kulat/Pelawan Mushroom exclusively only grown in my parent's hometown in Bangka - without any trace of meat at all and packed that specially for me.

As I mentioned before we don't keep any meat at all in the fridge - except for those fake meat stuff.  I survived these first 2 months marriage with rice, noodles, vermicelli, pasta, veggie and cereal. Lots of eggs and milk (Naturally I can't live with that).

My cooking usually just combination between stir fried and a little bit soup. My signature dishes are Indonesian noodle soup with "chicken" and mushroom and Eggplant in lemon grass. but I learn lots of other cooking from my housemaid and mama chai.  What? Pempek sagu?? I still have a big issue with that.. I guess I'm not good with my hand making those tapioka bags and pouring egg in it.

So, what was the side effect? The obvious one was I lost about half of my brake outs on my face but in the same time I caught a flu in the second week.  Not that I want to loose any weight, but in case if anyone curious... Did I lost any weight? Apparently nop, since I eat more carbo  to replace meat; and my snacking habit didn't help a lot either.
I decided to keep on this "diet", but you know, I wouldn't say no to fish..    

33B33/4 - cut my hair really short

I think I cut my hair short every 3 years or something. As far as I remembered this was my 4th short hair cut - since high school.
I probably will have another cut soon or as soon as I get the OK from Mr Chai. 

33B33/16 - host a dinner

We had a little guest tonight. A young lady who live next door to my in law. Her name is Tina, a really chatty 10 YO girl. Her family own a grocery store where I usually get some eggs or small stuff from. Today she had a school day off and her dance class was reschedule to tomorrow. She's been hanging out with me the whole day, from attending the cooking class with Sico at Hotel Royal, helping me out washing and cleaning some vegies, sharing mango smoothies (which she loves) and she gave me a little tour to a local supermarket not far from her house.

Here are some photos from the cooking class this morning.

It was actually just a promo/commercial session. Not actually interested, but I had my eye on the noodle machine! I imagine it would be quite handy to make fresh pasta... and the good news is, my MIL already have it.

Just before Mr.Chai and I head off home, Tina came in to the store and said she had her parents permission to play at our house. Mr.Chai was quickly nod his head because he thinks Draco needs to be introduced to 'small people' as early as possible, so he will be more family friendly.  Suddenly I have to host a dinner LOL.
Tina is a really smart little chef. She shared a yummy sauce recipe that could go with any fruit salad.

Sweet Sugary Sauce for Fruit Salad ala Tina

Ingredients
- 3 tbs white sugar
- salty soya sauce

Method
Mix both sugar and small amount soya sauce together in a small bowl. The mix should not be wet, if it is wet means you put too much soya sauce there. But Tina said you could put it the fridge and leave it for a minute, then there.. you'll have some watery sugar mix.

Here she is, helping me cut and stir fried the vegies. Cute, right?! We had Indonesian fried rice and stir fried broccoli with vegetarian oyster sauce.  I promised her to make cookies together next time. 

33B33/5 - do family portrait with parents and brothers

My family seldom never dressing up for no reason. That's why when we had my engagement party in JKT - where we all dressed up (especially my mom), we asked the photographer to took our picture together. So, here they are.. (minus baby Andrea) Love them very much till my nails and toes..

33B33/2 - bake at least 1 cake

First of all, I need to tell you that I never made any cake or cookies or anything that involve beating, mixing and baking. So this is my first attempt to bake - as a housewife, I know it's not a real CAKE but it should do for now. I always wanted to make this type of cookies, especially the chocolate chip cookies!

Anyway, I borrowed all the tools from my in laws -make me think maybe this is the perfect timing to have my own stuff. Done these cookies in less than one hour. And this is how they look like, quite pale and mushy but they taste crunchy and yummy.. not bad for first attempt, right?

This is a one star recipe, means even kiddies can do this. Here you go, recipe for cornflakes cookies - got it from taste.com.au

Preparation time
10 minutes

Cooking time

20 minutes

Ingredients (serve 20)

• 125g butter
• 140g (2/3 cup firmly packed) brown sugar - I couldn't find any so I used white sugar, I feel the cookies is a bit too sweet, maybe need to reduce the sugar a bit - or maybe because the sultanas adding the sweetness also.
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 275g (1 3/4 cups) self-raising flour
• 170g (1 cup) sultanas 
• 80g (1 1/2 cups) cornflakes, lightly crushed

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Use an electric beater to beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until pale and creamy.
2. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition until combined. Fold in flour and sultanas until combined.
3. Place the cornflakes on a plate. Use your hands to roll tablespoonfuls of the cookie mixture into balls, then roll in cornflakes to coat. Place the balls, about 3cm apart to allow room for spreading, on prepared trays.
4. Bake in preheated oven, swapping trays halfway through cooking, for 18-20 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven. Set aside on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. - mine looks quite pale, is it because I used white sugar? or is it because the oven not work properly?

My own notes: I pray that one day I could make cookies as good as Subway's cookies. Amen... 

33B33/1 -Getting married

Pssssttt have I told you that I've been married? After knowing Mr Chai for more than 10 years finally we tied the knot.

33B33/8 - finish my reading on The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear

Ok, I finished reading The book last week.

I don’t remember the exact date when I put my hand on this book. But what I remember was I was browsing around Borders at Rundle mall for a monthly book in 2006 . I went to “recommend” section located just behind the customer service desk. You probably well know how usually books are arranged in bookstore or even in you own library. The yellow thick sides cover (702 pages thick) with some curly font stroke my eyes. Once I opened it I saw some funny illustrations with big font, this was like reading kids book! Well it was actually a children book written for adults.
I read some of the pages and decided to buy it.

33B33/6 - do family portrait with mr.chai and draco

This is actually our first picture together. Not actually a 'proper' family pictures, but it'll do for now. I'll try to get a good one once I moving in to Draco's. 

33B33/22 - hang out with GF (first attempt)

Finally we actually had The Dinner, after rescheduling three times. This is my first attempt to hang out with the girls.
Yes, we are living in the same city but probably we are busy with our own family and jobs so we don't hang out much anymore. So this was a good thing to do, I hope we could do it more often.

Went out with the girls and their princesses, met with one of our uni friend - Freddy - and his family.
Grace, got her slim body back after 10 months. I met Nicole (10 months) for the first time, she so cute with her three teeth and big round eyes.
Pricil with her big baby bump looking fresh as usual. Keiko (almost 2) is taller now and getting prettier. Still has not talk yet but she's very good in mimicking any kind of sound and very adventurous.
Patsy still glowing very patiently talking with Giselle, the most well behaved princesses today in her pink outfit - her own choice.

Most of the time we were talking about their daughters, exchanged a little tips here and there about the baby food, took some cute pictures and just once talking about my wedding shoes. Yes, I'm still talking about shoes while they already talk about kindergarden or school. I need to catch up really quickly!  

33B33/25 - pin another country

I got a chance to join a very special tour to Taiwan last week. Took 5 hours flight from Jakarta to Taoyuan International Airport (CKS). And because this was suppose to be a Pilgrim tour, all served food were vegetarian food started in the plane - not very nice tho, steamed cabbage roll with mushroom and fake meat inside, vermicelli, and some cold salad. Most of the people politely made a small bite and pushed the tray aside while chatting or continue their sleep. 

After the long hour of waiting in the airport and sitting on the bus we finally get in to our hotel room - which was awesome! 3 beds for 2 people, and eat yummy dinner in a paper box.

33B33/29 - Quit my job

Yay, I just finished writing my resignation letter. Reason: for a personal reason, not really want to talk more about it, because I've never wrote anything related about my job before in this blog and wanted to keep it that way.

So, about this letter... Printed on a 100mg A4 bright white paper using black coloured Optima font, and ended with my lovely signature. Look a bit formal and simple, but not cheap. My friend helped me with the text and choice of words.

Will start enjoying a jobless life again next month.  

33 before 33

You I know you are I'm getting old when you I can't even complete your my "33 before 33" list. Gosh, I just feel like I'm so old coz the list are getting longer... 

Ok, here is the list that I'm still trying (noted: very hard) to make. I'm still stuck at number 24 now 

thanks to my patsy-friend who gave 1 point for me just now. 

1. getting married - this should be happened, can not be delayed. I'm 33 next year for God's sake!
2. bake at least 1 cake - uhmm never done this before. I did the instant one. You know the one packed in the box, you just add egg, milk and whatever icing after that. Not that one, I'm talking about the one that my mom did or most of you girls can do, the one that involve oven and multi-speed level mixer! Zuper-cheffffffff
3. grow 1 plant and keep it alive - I've tried to grow some plants, but they didn't survive. I blame the weather tho hahahahahahaha.. 
4. cut my hair really short - The shortest hair I ever had was a bob cut just right under my ear when I was in high school and that was a compulsion.  I've been looking for some pixie hair style lately, hopefully I got some guts to cut my hair short. 
5. do family portrait with parents and brothers - Haven't got a chance to do this. We did lots of pictures before but never did the 'official' one and my mom been whining since last year. She said we need to take one before she's is getting old old and older and olderrrrr
6. do family potrait with mr chai and draco - I thought this is going to be cute aswell.. 
7. laying the first stone of our house - aarrrggghhh.. been designing on paper for a year now but haven't seen any physical action. We are going to life in Draco's house once married. Gaaaaaaaa....
8. finish my reading on The 13 1⁄2 Lives of Captain Bluebear - as much as I like the story, deep inside my self I really don't want to finish this book. I always think that I should read this book together with my kid(s). Bought the book maybe in 2003(?) I can't remember...
9. be vegetarian for a month - channeling mr.chai's life style. 
10. diving or learn how to swim (again) - I admit I can't swim.. although I have 2 bikinis. There! so embarrassing.. 
11. do a painting - I like to sketch but never did any painting before.. I guess I am too perfectionist and just afraid of making mistakes.
12. visit my parents' hometown - Last visit was when I was maybe 6 years old (? - I cant remember). But that time my aunty's house didn't have a proper toilet. I have to walked in to pigsty and climb to a "toilet" in the middle of it. And that same night we had a roast pork! I didn't have any... 
13. make my own dress - my mom owned a tailor and she is a brilliant pattern maker. I did play with the sewing machine years ago and we made barbie dress that time. I had the skill (I think) but most of her machines are now replaced by full speed machine, even my mom can't operate them. So, I plan to buy a portable (cute one) sewing machine and going to make a simple dress, probably will end up as my PJ. 
14. watch every Ryan Reynolds movie - I don't have to explain this.. LOL
15. learn Mandarin - since I will be moving to Mr.Chai's home town next year, I'm planning to use my time by studying Mandarin from his monastery (if there is any)
16. host a dinner party - I figure Mr.Chai's home town will be very quite and the best way to make friends would be host a dinner, right?
17. own a nice computer - yes, mr mac jr, you need to resign someday.. 
18. kiss under the rain - this is a big challenge, not the rain part but at Mr.Chai's part.... will he do this with me??? This is like one of the episode in soap opera... 
19. do yoga/pilates once a week myself - trying to start this already... 
20. donate all my pig stuffed toys - I collected soft toys since high school and stopped when I went to Adelaide. Each of them have story.. sigh.. 
21. learn to make latte art - I love coffee and always wanted to learn to make that awesome latte flowers. Youtube might be a great teacher for this...  
22. hangout with girl friends at least twice a year - dunno why I always failed meeting with the gals this years. So hopefully next year can meet them and their babies!
23. organize my shoes - been planning to make boxes for them but never had a time to do that. 
24. buying my self fuji intax mini - polaroid is fun!
25. .... still thinking and will keep adding .... 

Anyone wants to add this.. pretty pleaseeeee