.: asylum for the sane :.

Number 3 of Training Wheel Projects accomplished. One more to go.

The last one will be chocolate pieces, hehe. And then, I’m off to the real world of felt projects.

This one was pretty easy to make, just that I thought I got stuck. I did a running stitch for the tart base and tried to pull them to make the ridges in the base. But every time I did it, the thread snapped and I was scared half to death that I would cut my finger.

So I stopped for a few days. And today I looked into it again. And realised that for that particular step, I should have used 2 strands of thread instead of just one.

No wonder the thread kept snapping!

Anyways, I really love this piece – the strawberry looks so pretty with the green leaf on top of it, and the wafer is just the right touch this tart needs.

<3!

We went to Malacca and was blown away by the culture that runs so deep in the city’s blood. I’ve been to Malacca many times in the past but I didn’t really explore the city as Malacca was usually a pit stop on the way to Kuala Lumpur.

So this was the first time I actually explored Malacca, albeit not fully because it was already almost evening time when we arrived in Malacca. But still, better than nothing.

We went up many, many steps to Bukit Saint Paul (I think this is the correct name) to discover really beautiful architecture. It’s basically a memorial for dutch soldiers who died in Malacca (I’m sorry I don’t have the exact facts) but there was a Dutch graveyard and many tablets that have tribute messages carved in them.

I really wanted to go through these gates and walk through the graveyard but it was almost closing time and I seriously did not want to be trapped inside overnight. Not a good idea when there might be Dutch zombies walking around looking for brains to eat for dinner.

I really love the structure of this.. fort? memorial? building? castle? It makes you feel like a princess and it’s great for photoshoots. Oh look, I have a stalker.

And I become part of a “group picture”, lol.

A very lovely photo of Saint Paul

And this is the base of Bukit Saint Paul:

After sightseeing, we headed on to Jonker Street for some flea market kind of shopping. By this time, I felt so hot that I tied up my hair into a ponytail and was then forced to take tourist-like photos:

I kept referring to Jonker Street as Jongkong Street. No idea why.

Jonker Street in the day:

Jonker Street by night:

Didnt really shop much there, bought a few magnets tho.

Other random snapshots in Malacca:

This is an actual fighter plane back in the days. Thanks to the movie Pearl Harbour (and Josh Hartnett), I adore old fighter planes. Simply love this shot, hehe.

Just like the fighter plane, this train was a real train once upon a time. It was a donation from KTM (if I got my facts right) and as usual Sha likes to action away. Please ignore the pink slippers, thank you.

I wanted to go and explore this exhibition. Not because I am a sadist, but because I love the medieval times. This was an exhibit to showcase torture methods in the medieval period. But we didn’t go in

Malacca is a museum heaven which I’d gladly spend days in just walking and being amazed by exhibits but it was such a pity that by the time we got there, they are all closed for the day

Oh well, next time then.

Malacca by night, along the river overseeing the Eye of Malaysia.

The river by day.

This was taken inside a dessert shop (selling Malacca goodies). It looks like one of those ancient china taverns. And I look like a tired cow

One more photo to round of this trip:

Okay the story here was that we were all supposed to go to a restaurant that serves chicken rice balls. This simply means that it is normal chicken rice, just that the rice is shaped like balls. It was supposed to be very yummy chicken rice. But when we got there, the shop was closed.

So we compromised and ate at the food court, which also had chicken rice balls (which is as above).

Verdict: Not nice at all.

Lesson learn: Don’t ever compromise.

I’ve never been to Batu Pahat, and now that I’ve been there, I fell in love with the charming little town. It’s a town that proves that life can be sweet at 3 miles per hour. The slow pace of life was such a huge relief to me, the change I needed from the hustle and bustle of city life. And it has simple pleasures too.

Like this cup of black coffee. For those of you who don’t know, I love my coffee black with a bit of sugar. I like my coffee bittersweet. And this cup of coffee was magical and certainly one of the best cups of black coffees I’ve ever had.

And it’s making me want more, even though for every morning that we were there, I had a cup of black Batu Pahat coffee.

I love how vintage everything is in Batu Pahat. Just look at this unpretentious price list. When was the last time you saw a sign like this? Fantastic stuff at such cheap prices.

Nothing fancy, nothing over the top..

Everything is old school and simple..

Some simple yummy pleasures that I had:

This gem right here is just bread and kaya. But you wouldn’t expect such a simple serving can be magical, especially if you dip it in the magical black coffee mentioned earlier. It was yummy, omg.

This was something different altogether. Never before have I seen lontong being served with a fried egg. And to be honest, I don’t really like lontong even though I will eat it if there’s no other choice. So for me to love this dish is something big. And wow an egg to go along! It was absolutely delicious

And lastly:

Yummy, yummy mee rebus! Just add coffee to make it a wonderful breakfast.

There you go, hehe.

I have a funny story which revolves around this picture:

Does this look like a well to you? Well it totally looked like a well to me.

So as we got out of the car and I saw it, I excitedly exclaimed, “EH LOOK! A WELL!!!” -> exactly like this.

The rest of them just stared at me for a second and burst out laughing. It turned out that it wasnt a well. It was a place that the Chinese use to burn hell notes and other things for praying.

But in my defense, it did look like a well ok? And I got weird stares from the locals when I took this photo. They must have been thinking, “stupid city girl”. LOL.

And oh ya, I love this pic below. Loved the foliage that we found, and I love the tshirt i was wearing

Can I be a Threadless model? hahaha

A silly pic to end this post

image taken from Sirextra.

Remember how devastated I was when I lost my Oakleys somewhere along the Malaysian North-South Highway?

Well, I’m glad to say that I have gotten yet another pair of the limited Greg Lutzka Edition of the Oakley Frogskins.

FP had a terribly hard time looking for it everywhere, despite me telling him it’s really not about getting another pair. I thought he stopped looking for it after awhile because he didn’t mention anything about it anymore. But the fact was, he never brought it up again simply because he has found it.

He wanted to give it to me as our anniversary gift in April, but since it was Valentine’s Day yesterday, he decided to bring forward the gift giving. And it was so unexpected, really.

This pair of Greg Lutzka shades is not a brand new pair, unlike the first one that I had. It has a few scratches that need fixing, but these are minor flaws. I hardly noticed them. It doesn’t matter that it’s not a perfect pair.

The fact that FP managed to find the same pair of this limited edition piece is just.. amazing. And I am so lucky to have someone who does that for me. And who else has 2 of the same pair of a limited edition Oakleys in one lifetime?

ME.

Thank you, thank you, thank you FP! xoxo, <3!

My second attempt at felt projects, using pre-cut felt pieces. I’m still on practice mode as far as felt projects go.

This one was pretty simple and took a very short time to complete.

When I saw the sample picture of this project, I thought I had to do plenty of french knots for the “sprinkles” on the colourful donut. But when I opened the package, I found out that those were seed beads. And I had to sew the beads on to the felt. Nice!

I love the donut with sprinkles. Simply because in real life, I would have chosen it rather than the other one because it’s prettier and doesnt have nuts.

The only thing that bothered me abt these donuts is how thin they are. Donuts are supposed to be thick and puffy. These look more like cookies, lol.

But the thing is, everything was pre-cut and there’s only so much cotton i can stuff in.

So perhaps it’s supposed to look like this after all.

Can’t wait to get off these “training wheels” (read: the pre-cut felt project kits) and move on to proper felt projects

Gotta start using all those craft books I splurged on, you know?

I finally went to Fig & Olive a few weeks back, after years of wanting to try it out.

There’s always a small fear that the something new that you are trying out will not be to your liking, and so I deferred trying out this restaurant for the longest time.

But I’m glad I finally came around. Now I wish I had tried it long ago!

This was FP’s Maghribi Chicken with yellow rice (this is not the exact name – i only remember the Maghribi part) It was delicious, tho I only had a bite off it. Yummy Yummy!

We also ordered a smoked salmon salad (also not exact name. the exact name is deep blue something). Interesting how the smoked salmon here is not salty like the one at coffee club.

Also interesting to note was that there were figs AND olives in the salad! Ah how apt! I found it so amusing – we were eating figs and olives at figs and olives. okay, nevermind.

Too bad I dont eat figs. Not like that anyway.

This salad was delicious too, with little or no dressing. Healthy and yummy, whats not to like?

And this was my marinara (who has pasta at a Mediterranean restaurant? only me.)

What I liked about it: the generous servings of seafood inside the marina, which made it a delight to have.

What I don’t like about it: it was too tomato-ey. ease up on the tomato sauce pple! i’d rather have it spicy than tomato-ey, even tho tomatoes are one of my favourite vegetable-fruit.

Just that I eat my tomatoes RAW.

Also, I don’t like it that this dish isn’t really photogenic like the other two, lol.

There was a dessert in the menu that I wanted to try. Something called Apricot Turkish Delight. As some of you may know, I’m a big fan of Turkish Delight – the candy and confection from Turkey (lol). I almost hyperventilate when I tried REAL Turkish Delight that my boss brought back from Turkey.

So back to topic. I wanted to try it because I thought its turkish delight mashed up with apricot, mixed with ice cream. But the waitress told us it was apricot + ice cream (or something like that). So I didn’t try it.

Mainly because we were still unsure of the quality of the food. Now that we know that it is absolutely yummy, I’m going back there to try the Apricot Turkish Delight.

Fig and Olive is a wonderful restaurant which I will recommend to everyone to try. Go to the one at Vivocity in the evening, pick out the seats outside facing the sea

Today I spent $80 on 5 craft books for felt food projects.

It’s like so irresistible when you sort of know how to do it, and you get excited when you recognize something you have learnt how to do. (“ohhh i know how to do this part! it’s using reverse stitching!” – looking at books that are purely in Chinese/Japanese.)

Just that the difference between the projects in these books (adorable much, but no spoilers mainly because I’m lazy to flip and shoot photos) and the fruit tart I made yesterday is that I have to get my own felt and cut them out, based on templates.

But should be lotsa fun! So much to explore, and so many adorable food to create, hehe.

But before I get to that stage, I shall practice more on projects with pre-cut pieces and english instruction. I reckon 4 more of such projects should get me prepped up for the next level.

I really cant wait to make them! Especially the one with the strawberry and chocolate wafer on it. Adorabable much?

It feels damn nice to have a hobby so enjoyable. Too bad you cant have the cake and eat it too!