and the most popular book is....

okay this time i won't tag pple in case u all feel stressed. But join in if u can.

Look at the list and mark those you have ...

read.* = read it ,** = read it, remember it ,$$ = own it, haven't read yet
Can i add my own (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED = !!!!)

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien $$ (is there an option for abandon halfway?)
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling**!!!!
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee **
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell **
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë $$
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger**!!!!
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott $$
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling**!!!!
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling**!!!!
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling**!!!!
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl**!!!!
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell **!!!!
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett* (this was my first non-enid blyton book)
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl**
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden **
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens *
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton**!!!! (hey what happened to the other 2 books?)
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding**
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind**
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl*
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl**
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley**!!!!
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho **
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

I got 20 (not including $$). unlike gingerblossoms, i find penguin classics boring. i like magical/fantasy/ out of this world stuff.

but how come dan brown's Angels and Demons and Da Vinci code not on this? those were the last 2 books i couldn't put down. i know, i damn sad.

Our epok epok

I've always had this love for curry puffs. It all began with the 20cent "kalipok" sold at school tuckshops, i used to soak the skin through in chili sauce till it's soggy and mushy. I like all kinds of filling- sardine, potato, otah, crab. I think about Polar, A1, old changkee... i like them all. So since moving to China, alot of these simple treats i used to take for granted are no longer available.

The other thing i love is communal cooking. My grandma/aunts/mom used to invite us "kids" over to help them make pineapple tarts, bakzhang, dumplings, ondeh ondeh, bakwan etc etc.... i never knew how to prepare the ingredients, but i liked just sitting around, making a mess and eating it up afterwards.

So this weekend, i combined two of my loves and organised an epok epok making session at my place with the girls who live in the neighbourhood. 3 girls later brought their husbands and friends and at the end of the day i had about 8 adults and 1 kid in my house, wrapping and eating at the same time. it was great fun.

I made 2 types of fillings- Sardine and potato/chicken. This is the potato/chicken filling.

I must say that the girls were very hardworking. and very good at wrapping!!

Veron's epok epok- hers is longish... like banana.

Unfried currypuffs in all shapes and sizes. The sardine and the potato are wrapped differently so we can tell them apart. Ironically, the skinniest of us all makes the fattest curry puff! haha.

The "fruit" of our labour. this is the sardine puff. It's got onions and little green chili in them!

The Craving

this morning i had a thought. char bee hoon.

i went about my day pretending i wasn't thinking about cbh, i did my work, read my emails, talked to my friends... and then cbh kept on bothering me. i want, i crave, i need cbh.... so when the clock striked 12, i rushed out of the office, went to the supermarket, snapped up all the ingredients, rushed home to cook.

First i made sambal tumis (bottom left), then i made charbeehoon with fishcake and nuggets. I am satisfied.

It's even more satisfying watching mountain man gobble up his packed lunch in under 5 minutes. everybody happy... except my ahyi who may quit after discovering that i left the kitchen in a royal mess.

Happy Anniversary to us!

you may know that we got married on 3 may, but in actual fact, we were legalised on Feb 18. So we've been married for a year, technically speaking. How time flies!!! I was just looking through all the ROM pictures and boy did it bring back memories.

In Mood for Jiaozis

I've been wanting some homemade jiaozis for a while now. But i dread sitting there alone, going through the dough and the meat by myself. So i got myself a helper! Gingerblossom turns out to be a pretty good jiaozi wrapper, hers are very fat and full of filling, twice the size of mine.

Her nimble hands at work. We had to keep the production line going fast cos the husbands just kept on boiling and eating as we made.

in my place- coldplay

Mountain man reallly wanted to do this quiz with his ipod. haha. so here's his...(there will be no britney)

1. What would you say if someone were to say, "Is this o.k.?"
Let's Dance- David Bowie

2. What do you like in a guy / girl?
New Year's Day- U2

3. How do you feel today?
Amie- Damien Rice

4. What is your life's purpose?
Can't Get Enough- Suede

5. What is your motto?
A punch at a wedding (nononono)- Radiohead

6. What do your friends think of you?
On a plain- Nirvana

7. What do you think of your parents?
Angel- jimi hendrix

8. What do you often think about?
Exit Music (for a film)- Radiohead

9. What is 2 + 2?
Sympathy for the devil- Rolling stones

10. What do you think of your best friend?
You gonna make me lonesome when you go- Bob dylan

11. What do you think of the person you like?
Jack and Dianne- John Mellencamp

12. What is your life story?
Intimate Secretary - The raconteurs

13. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Beast of burden- Rolling stones

14. What comes to mind when you see the person you like?
I lost someone- cat power

15. What do your parents think of you?
I want you now - Depeche Mode

16. What will you dance to at your wedding?
Dude(looks like a lady)-aerosmith

17. What will they play at your funeral?
Ten Years Gone - Led Zep

18. What is your hobby / interest?
Black Betty0 Ram Jam

19. What do you think of your friends?
Go go gadget gospel- gnarls barkley

20. What is the worst that could happen?
Delicate- Damien rice

21. How will you die?
Soma- the strokes

22. What is the one thing you regret most?
Exit music (for a film)- Radiohead

23. What makes you laugh?
When your minds made up- Glan hansard

24. What makes you cry?
Ever Fallen in love- Buzzcocks

25. Will you ever get married?
Go your own way- fleetwood mac

26. What scares you the most?
Sunday bloody sunday- U2

27. Does anyone like you?
St Petersburg-supergrass

28. If you could go back in time, what would you change?
Redemption song- johnny cash

29. What hurts right now?
Lover you shd have come over- Jeff Buckley

30. What will you post this as?
In my place- coldplay

Ragdoll- Aerosmith

Tonight is by no means the best time to be doing this but i'm gonna say what the heck cos i've been tagged thks to hobomobo. Plus i'm in office waiting for decks to come in.


Wht u need to do....
1. Put your iTunes on "shuffle".
2. For each question, skip to the next song to get your answer. You must use the title of that song as your answer, no matter how silly it may sound.
3. Tag at least 10 friends who might enjoy doing this, as well as the person who tagged you.
4. Tag someone you think has good shit on iPod
5. Tag someone whose music you dunno about


1. What would you say if someone were to say, "Is this o.k.?"
Way to Fall- Starsailor (like issit OK of i fall like this?)

2. What do you like in a guy / girl?
Under my thumb- Rolling Stones (yeah baby)

3. How do you feel today?
Dancing Barefoot- Patti Smith (i do)

4. What is your life's purpose?
Fake Plastic Trees- Radiohead

5. What is your motto?
Remember You're a Girl - Kaiser Chiefs (as opposed to...??)

6. What do your friends think of you?
I love rock and roll - the Britney Spears version (which is true i think)

7. What do you think of your parents?
12:51- The Strokes (it just means tht my parent's don't make sense)

8. What do you often think about?
Talk her down - Starsailor (huh?)

9. What is 2 + 2?
Closer- Kings of Leon

10. What do you think of your best friend?
Why should I be sad- Britney

11. What do you think of the person you like?
Let's Dance- David Bowie (Mountain Man's hero)

12. What is your life story?
Piece of me- Britney spears again (woah, this is apt man, i think everyone wants a piece of me)

13. What do you want to be when you grow up?
100 years- Five for Fighting (haha, this is a good one)

14. What comes to mind when you see the person you like?
Bittersweet Symphony- The Verve (actually this is one of mountain man's favourite song... *blush*)

15. What do your parents think of you?
Missing- Everything but a girl (HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA)

16. What will you dance to at your wedding?
Brown Sugar- Rolling Stones (actually i don't think i did, i was hoping ACDC's Shook Me all Night Long wud come up cos it's my walk-in song)

17. What will they play at your funeral?
Let Go- Britney Spears again (it's quite a good one, and I AM NOT EMBARRASSED about britney coming up too many times)

18. What is your hobby / interest?
Baby one more time- Britney (STILL not embarrassed)

19. What do you think of your friends?
Girl, you'll be a woman soon- Neil Diamond (uh.....)

20. What is the worst that could happen?
Layla- Eric Clapton

21. How will you die?
Alcoholic- Starsailor (woah lau, i don't even drink)

22. What is the one thing you regret most?
Such Great Heights - Iron and Wine (NO WAY, this is like my favourite song ok, my other walk-in song)

23. What makes you laugh?
Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix

24. What makes you cry?
Poor Misguided Fool -Starsailor

25. Will you ever get married?
I believe in a thing called love- The Darkness (that's more like it)

26. What scares you the most?
Tie up my hands- Starsailor (it's so true, when i was a kid my brother used rafia string to tie my hands to the fridge and i'm still petrified today)

27. Does anyone like you?
Here, There and Everywhere - the Beatles (tht's a good sign)

28. If you could go back in time, what would you change?
I wish- Stevie wonder (hahahahha)

29. What hurts right now?
Love Buzz- Nirvana

30. What will you post this as?
Ragdoll- Aerosmith

Tagging... Yann, Heather, Gingerblossom, Karma Chameleon, SAF, Gabriel mendes

PS: Now I'm listening to Just Like Honey by Jesus and Mary Chain, which would have been a better number 30 but wht the heck. I'm surprised tht some of my favourite songs didn't turn up. Not a single death cab for cutie song even tho i have so many on the playlist.

So pampered!

I barely skipped physio therapy for 1 day and already my right shoulder was giving me problems. The entire small back is really stiff and incredibly uncomfortable. But I'm glad tht i currently don't have migraine anymore. And i wish it won't come back. The bad shoulders really affects the whole body "qi" (energy). I'm so afraid of using up all my energy that i've even quit watching TV. By quitting i mean not more than 2 hrs a day.

So back to my shoulders... i woke up feeling crappy again today. And then suddenly a really good idea came into my head! i shd get one of those Osim iPamper thing. So i jumped out of bed, ran to the living room to look for Mountain Man and told him of my brilliant plan. He didn't even "fight" me for wanting to spend more money, cos frankly i think he's had quite enough of massaging me and hearing me complain of my aches. In fact he said "get changed, let's go get u one of those".

Off we went to the shopping centre next door and got this baby for RMB 980.

I was enjoying it earlier, it really really helps. But it's quite heavy so u'll need to massage ur arms after u massage ur back. haha. thanks mountain man! mmmuuacck!

almost perfect gym day...

I've been on a 2 week medical leave starting 3 days ago. It's not a big deal, just a very bad neck and shoulder ache which resulted in a throbbing migraine that no painkillers can heal. Resting at home can be nice on the first day, sleep and eat and read. but after day 2 it becomes almost painful... it's quite boring sitting on the couch doing nothing.

So anyway, i thought to myself, why not head to the gym! of course nothing strenous tht'd worsen the neck and shoulders, just light cycling to give my energy a boost.

It was a nice day at the gym. i've never been there during the day. The sun shines in and i got a perfect view of the indoor pool at the stationary bikes area. There was this gorgeous pregnant women swimming in her bikini, with her not so nice angmoh husband, and i was reading my new trashy novel "Chasing Harry Winston". Everything was almost perfect.

UNTIL i heard this moaning and groaning behind me....

Gah, Aah, aah, Bah, Jiah, hoa, hoof.... And finally a gasp of Aaaaaah.......... it was really like, vulgarly loud. i turned my head and saw this overtrained middle-aged man who is short and very unattractive, muscular but he still obviously loves his food so there's fats piled on top of his muscles. eew.

And then he went to do every machine and repeated the same aah aah aah sound! my ears were painful by the time i got off my bike. *shudder*

I am forever grateful

Pardon my lack of posts recently. It seems that my life has just been turned upside down since 2009 began. It's not a bad thing, because it's made me realise God's existence all over again. I am not extremely religious, and i don't like people to make me out to be. Especially cos i know that there are so many flaws in me tht i dare not stand up for God. And I want that to change.

There were times when i doubted, could it be that all i learnt at church were man conjured literature that at one point in history was a political ploy to add structure and civil to life, i even considered Nietzche's position on how religion is man invented to "escape" from the real life, to "explain" our hardships, to "justify" our fears and failures. i don't know philisophy well. but i know that God is as real as you believe Him to be. and tht's the beauty of faith. So, i choose to believe, not because i'm a coward and fear to live the real human life, but because of my courage to take that leap of faith. It's done me pretty well so far. i am at peace.

Why issit that deep within my heart, i know i am hardwired to believe in something beyond. Don't we all? Our instincts to believe in higher powers is as strong as our instincts to lie. Our parent's didn't sit us on their laps to say... "today, i'll teach you how to lie successfully". It's one of those things u just know about.

So dear god, i know u're there and u've proven to me again and again that your plans for me are greater than my own, ur wisdom is beyond what my limited brain can comprehend, and thanks for eventually helping me understand the way things happen so i can count my blessings. I am forever grateful that u've never forsaken me.

Indonesia got talent!

click here.