The Early Bird

Hello peeps! I'm an early bird today and my day is looking good so far. I slept really early last night and got up early too so right now, I'm feeling totally rejuvenated and ready to face whatever comes my way! :)

I gotta say that waking up early does put me in a productive mood! It is a little after 2pm right now and I've already completed another new job this morning, prepared invoices to send out to my clients and even managed to finish an assignment I received last week.

I also FINALLY got down to some serious prize-packing and will be mailing out the prizes for my Where is Mariuca? contest tomorrow so YAY! As some of you might already know, I have been really busy these past few weeks, hence the delay in packing and mailing your prizes. I hope my winners can forgive my tardiness, otherwise here's Phoebe to beg forgiveness on my behalf!

"MEOW! Please forgive my Master for being so late. She's been very busy working hard so she can make more money and buy more kitty toys for my brothers and me!" Can you really say no to this adorable face? He he!

So I hope my winners will enjoy their little something from my Bandung trip. Hopefully everything reaches you in one piece so keep a look out for Mr. Postman okay? Till my next post, here's wishing everyone a great Tuesday and happy blogging! :)

It's August and I'm Loving It!

August has been my favourite month for as long as I can recall. Firstly, it's my birthday month so putting aside my fears and insecurities at the thought of turning a year older; it is nonetheless a day that I look forward to. It is the one day that I am ordered (by B) to forget work and every other worry or stress currently plaguing me. Instead, I am expected to do whatever takes my fancy, without being reprimanded or having to clean up later! We usually go for a short getaway on my birthday and this year is no exception. Location undisclosed until further notice! ;)

What I also love about August is that our country's Independence Day falls on August 31, two days after my birthday. And this year it falls on a Sunday, which means we automatically get Monday off too. So since my birthday falls on a Friday this year (obviously I will be on leave that day), that's like a 4-day long weekend for me to enjoy with B! August has indeed put me in a jolly good mood and what better way to spread that joy than by handing out some linky love to my wonderful friends and readers!

Let's start with a special shout out to my Virgo buddies DD, Tina and Sushi, who will also celebrate their birthdays soon. It's no wonder I get along so well with these three, they're just like me in more ways than one! A special early birthday hug also goes out to Issy, my baby niece, another Virgo who will celebrate her first birthday in September. :)

And of course, I couldn't possibly bid farewell to July without thanking my Top 10 Mariucans! It was a busy month for me, and I mean really hectic. I was totally immersed in a huge tedious project, which I am happy to say, is almost over. Just tying up a few loose ends before I can finally close this job. In the meantime, I am about to start work on two other new jobs that came in this week so I foresee more busy days and nights for me in August. Your comments and visits last month however, helped me get through the busy month of July with ease. Whenever I was stressed out from work, your light banter and insightful comments here gave me the time-out I needed to break away from my dreary routine. I was really happy to see my loyal Mariucans diligently leaving their comments here; making sure they remain in my Top 10 Mariucans list. THANK YOU so very much to everybody who left comments for Mariuca, and now...let's MAKE SOME NOISE for my Top 10 Mariucans! :)

Do stop by and say hello to my Top 10 Mariucans. Each blog is wonderfully unique, and all are authored by equally fantastic bloggers. Give them a visit and have fun making a new friend today! :)

Cooking With Mariuca

Hello and welcome to Mariuca's kitchen! Today I will be featuring one of my favourite dishes - Rojak. I hope there are some Rojak fans out there and for my international readers, maybe after this lesson, you'll know a little bit more about one of Malaysia's famous dishes.

Rojak means a mixture of many different things. A local favourite among Malaysians, Rojak is typically a spicy salad of fruits and vegetables mixed with sticky sweet savoury sauce. Rojak comes in many types - Malay Rojak, Fruit Rojak, Penang Rojak, Indian Rojak, Rojak with cuttlefish and so on. Whatever type of Rojak you choose, it is the sauce or paste that either makes or breaks this tasty delight. Rojak paste is made from prawn paste, mixed with some water, sugar and lime juice. For those who like it spicy, chilli paste is added to the paste when making Rojak. I prefer my Rojak sauce thick and gooey...and of course, the spicier, the better! :)

We recently discovered a stall at IKANO, which makes the best Fruit Rojak with Sotong (Cuttlefish) so I bought a pack to demonstrate right here in my kitchen, the simple way to make your own Rojak at home. ;)

Fresh pineapple, cucumber, sweet turnip, green mango, green guava cut into small pieces

Pour thick and tasty Rojak sauce over the cut fruits


Add in the chili paste. Remember, the spicier, the yummier! ;)

Okay next is my favourite part of the whole Rojak dish - the crunchy prawn crackers and tasty sotong! We usually ask for an extra pack of each. Go ahead and break those into the mixture as well. Lastly, add pounded roasted ground nuts and mix everything using a wooden spoon. Mix well until all the ingredients are covered with thick, sweet and spicy rojak sauce. Sprinkle some more nuts for garnishing and there you have it, a delicious plate of Fruit Rojak with Sotong. Suitable for a snack or a meal, Rojak is delicious any time of the day or night. Bon apetit! :)

The Heat Is On!

UPDATE - I WON!

OMG!!! It is getting really HOT over at Emila's blog! If you don't already know, Jean and I have been competing like mad to make it as Emila's Top Commentator this month. Why? Because we are trying our best to bring home this adorable Tee she is giving away to her Top Commentator this month, and right now both Jean and I are in the running to WIN! :)

It has been a tough fight between Jean and me! Both of us are fighting hard to win and we've been hanging out at Emila's a lot lately to comment, chat, have fun, laugh and cry, all the while trying our best to secure the top spot! If you read all the silly conversations that we have going on there, you'd be entertained too! I've been having a lot of fun with Emila and Jean in our chat sessions. I think all of us discovered new things about ourselves that we never knew until we were there every night, gossiping and chatting the night away, all the time trying to maintain our top spots, just so one of us could bring this tee home LOL! Love you ladies, thanks for such a great week of commenting! :)

And now the competition is ending, tomorrow midnight to be exact and it feels kind of sad. I am however, excited to see who will win tomorrow. Currently there's Jean, Dookie and me who are in the running to WIN this Tee. We are all thrilled at the thought of having a huge showdown tomorrow night! Don't forget to stop by Emila's Illustrated Blog tomorrow to catch Jean and me in action as we race the night away (until midnight!) to be the winner in Emila's Giveaway! I'm hoping it will be ME but I'd be happy if Jean or Dookie wins it too. Both of them have been such sporting competitors and they really mean business, that's for sure! When they want something, there's no stopping them!

So come over to Emila's blog tomorrow and show us some support! I'm all ready to fight this one till the end, fully armed with speedy connection (hopefully it'll remain speedy tomorrow) and the Magic Lamp for extra luck! Leave a comment or two for us to respond to at Emila's blog, that will really help get the comment chat going. Oh and wish me luck! ;)

Weekend in Bandung

When B told me that he had two tickets to Bandung and he was whisking me off for a shopping and dining vacation in exactly one week, I was more worried rather than happy! I was in the midst of a huge translation job, which was still ongoing at the time B surprised me with this trip. Despite working on it for the past two weeks, I was still nowhere near done, and with my client bugging me about it practically every day, I did not feel like it was the perfect vacation moment for me; I'd be too distracted thinking about unfinished business at home.

I was reluctant to leave my home office unattended but B assured me that a weekend of shopping and dining was exactly what we needed to get our mind of things after all that has happened to us this year. Moreover, he too needed to release some steam after working so hard himself and so, that was how we ended up in Bandung one fine weekend! We figured we'd turn it into a typical weekend of shopping and dining, which is how we usually spend our weekend here. The only difference was that we had to take a plane to get to our shopping destination! ;)

The day before our flight, I started feeling sick. I had a headache, my nose was acting up even worse than usual and I was feeling cold throughout the day, despite the sun shining brightly outside. The fact that I was working until the very last minute didn't help either. We still had to pack and send our kitties to the Pet Hotel so I got through the day by popping Panadols, which worked but was not enough to help me regain my strength fully. I didn't sleep the night before for fear of missing our flight which was at 9.50am so after I finally finished packing, I took an early shower at 6am and got ready for our trip!

It was my first Air Asia flight, so I was quite apprehensive at what to expect. Fortunately, everything turned out okay but I had a very uncomfortable flight due to my cold, and though it was a mere two hours to reach our destination, I felt like it was more than that. By the time we reached Bandung, I was feeling really sick and all I wanted to do was to get to our hotel and take a nice hot bath before I could even think of doing any exploring.

We got a cab at the airport to take us to the Grand Preanger Hotel and were told that it would cost us 40,000 Rupiah (Rp). I was glad to finally reach our hotel but had a complete change of mood when the cab driver shortchanged us of 5,000 Rp for this journey. Taking it as a one-off "oversight" by the cab driver, we decided not to make a fuss. I was also sneezing non-stop by then so there was no time to argue with the cab driver. Since we arrived at the hotel 1 1/2 hours before check-in time, we were told that we had to wait for our room, which did not bode well with me at all. I was already very grumpy (sorry love!) from my uncomfortable flight, my non-stop sneezing and from being cheated by the cab driver and was about to resign myself to a miserable wait when B told me that he somehow managed to get a room for us earlier and within 15 minutes we were escorted to our room.

Grand Preanger Hotel

We didn't do much on our first day in Bandung. After we freshened up in our hotel room, we had our welcome drink at the hotel lounge before taking a cab from the hotel to visit several factory outlets. I was excited to see just how much shopping I'd end up with but was surprised to find myself not shopping till I drop! Perhaps it was my cold and the lack of sleep, but I was in no mood for shopping that first day.

Bandung weather was surprisingly cooler compared to KL so walking the streets of Bandung was a delight. I didn't have much appetite to eat however, and though B got a taste of the durian ice-cream which seemed to be in abundance everywhere, my blocked nose did not permit me to really savour the yummy ice-cream! :(

Durian ice-cream

Paintings sold on the streets of Bandung

Factory Outlets we visited on Day 1

We returned to our hotel early and after a simple dinner, fell asleep at 6.30pm! I guess all the traveling and my lack of sleep days before the trip finally took its toll on me. This actually turned out great, because the next day I was up and dressed for breakfast by 8am, a major accomplishment for me. I was feeling much better than yesterday and though still feverish, I was not going to let my cold keep me back from rocking the streets of Bandung! ;)

The early bird all ready for breakfast!

A little chess before we head out shopping

Finally, we're good to go...waiting for our ride to take us on our shopping spree!

Our ride for the day

We decided to hire a driver to take us to all the places we wanted to go. It cost us 50,000 Rp to get to our first destination and following that, we would be charged an hourly rate. Our driver was friendly and extremely polite. He took us to wherever we wanted to go and suggested famous local attractions to visit. Our first stop was a Batik boutique but we did not buy anything much there as the prices were rather high in this particular home boutique he took us to. Plus, both B and I are not huge batik fans.

The rest of the day was spent shopping at the remaining Factory Outlets on our list, while our driver waited for us outside. He'd pounce on us as soon as he sees us coming out, immediately taking our shopping bags from us to put inside the car. At one of our stops, he had to wait for almost 2 hours in the hot sun while we did our shopping! He was paid handsomely for his services though and by the time he sent us back to the hotel he was 450,000 Rp richer! :)

Told ya I didn't shop much!

Stocking up on the famous Bandung Brownies

Later, B and I both agreed that our favourite shopping spot in Bandung was the Cihampalas Walk and Rumah Mode. I think I did most of my shopping there where I found several favourite brands like Esprit, Zara, Calvin Klein and Guess at great low prices. I was however, disappointed that I did not find any Victoria's Secret items for sale in any of the Factory Outlets we visited. Before my trip, I had made a mental note to myself to check out Farah's Bandung post to find out where she got her Victoria's Secret stuff from, but it was a hectic week for me and in my haste, completely forgot to do so. I remembered Farah mentioning that she had a blast grabbing all the VS stuff she could find in her size but unfortunately, there was no grabbing for me that day! :(

Restaurants and shops at Cihampalas Walk

Soto Madura, a Bandung speciality

Taking a break after shopping at Rumah Mode

On our last night in Bandung we had a relaxing cosy buffet dinner in the hotel, served al fresco on the terrace, with a band for entertainment. Though her vocal prowess did not impress me much, the singer did sing some of my favourite Indonesian songs so that was cool. The food was just okay but once again, I have to blame my lack of appetite in Bandung on my not being 100% well!

Dinner on our last night in Bandung

Our last cab ride back to the airport was smooth and speedy but we were upset once again when the cab driver demanded 100,000 Rp for the ride instead of the 40,000 Rp initially quoted. It was a good thing we still had some Rupiah with us and since we didn't want to leave on a bad note, we paid the driver and proceeded to check-in our luggage, where we discovered we had to pay more service charge. By the time we paid all the stuff needed paying, we were down to about 75,000 Rp. While discussing what to do with the remaining cash, an air stewardess came running up to us, asking if we'd prefer to sit in the Executive Lounge while waiting for our flight. It would cost us 30,000 Rp per person but we would be seated in a comfy room with free food and drinks to snack on instead of being stuck in the noisy, crowded airport. You could also get a foot massage if you like, for an additional cost of course! It sounded like a pretty good deal so that's where we were until boarding time. :)

Despite my cold while in Bandung, we tried to make the best of our trip. Though exhausted from our shopping weekend, we were nonetheless happy that we got to experience the better part of Bandung before we flew back home. To my Bandung friends Trinity and MXY, I'm sorry our paths did not cross during this vacation, but I am sure there will be another opportunity for us to visit Bandung again. Until then, thank you for having us in your lovely city. I had a blast and Mariuca will definitely be back! :)