Relocation

Nope, it's not me. Just my blog.

I've decided to start afresh with a brand new blog. One of the reasons being I've reached the limit to upload my piccies on this address.

Go check out www.sugarlilies2.blogspot.com

Love you all!

Latest update (as of 16 Jan 2010): Please check out www.carriemcgorgeous.blogspot.com


xoxo~

Saree making

Alice's wedding is less than 2 months away. The 3 of us bridesmaids have to get our saree blouses tailor-made soon to avoid the pre-deepavali rush at the seamstress.

Since Christine, Sue-Ann and I have been travelling at various times, this is the only weekend where we can get our acts together.

We decided to yumcha at this nice HK dimsum place in DJ (i can never remember the name as it's very Chinese - but it's super easy to locate cos it's the corner shop, same row as Maybank).

After a hearty yumcha (coupled with loads of eggs tarts), we were ready to go check out this tailor recommended by Sue-Ann's friend.

We took a while trying to decide on a design we like and we had to communicate with our friendly tailor, Muthu what exactly we wanted. We also sought his professional advice on whether the material will suit what we had in mind.

I was the first to make up my mind cos I've done some research online and i sort of had an idea what i wanted. Anyway, there's no pix of me as my right eye was slightly swollen cos i woke up with a sty this morning. Hope it'll subside soon :(

Then it was Sue-Ann's turn to take her measurements.

Christine couldn't make up her mind whether to make a halter neck or a blouse with sleeves.

See? I told you Muthu is friendly. Look at that smile.

Sarees in different shades of pink

~*~*~*saree blouse designs*~*~*~

source: internet

These are some of the designs i found from the internet. Obviously, some were more sexy and daring than others..

I told Muthu I wanted to make this blouse design. I like how the cap sleeves looked, but I couldn't decide whether I should have the back hooked (like the cream blouse [picture below this picture]) or just have it tied like this blouse below. In the end, I decided to have it tied cos I already have 2 very traditional saree blouses like the cream one below.

Fingers crossed that the embellishment/beadings on my material will turn out okay on the sleeves.

Ooh..sexy back

Aathe Textiles
(2 shops' away from Sri Paandi)
43C, Jalan 11/4,
Petaling Jaya.
Tel:03-7960 0219

We're pretty excited about getting together next month to collect the blouses already :p

My favourite things..Part 1

McPingu and I both love to eat. I guess it's apparent from the piccies we took together. Well, for one most of them were food-related. :P Not that i minded at all..

Let's start from our 1st date..

We went to Hajime for Japanese ryori.

Camwhoring while waiting for our food to be served.

Hotate ninniku

We love love the scallops. They were fat and juicy and what's more..it was value for money at RM16 per plate.

We ordered 2 types of hotate (scallops) - hotate ninniku and hotate avocado - as i couldn't decide which one. I wasn't too impressed with the hotate avocado though (maybe it was because it was fried with garlic and i wasn't too keen with the garlicky aftertaste). It was maa maa desu (so so only).

Black spider maki and california cheese maki. Oishi desu ne!

Grilled wagyu beef

We were a tad bit disappointed with the foie gras maki. It was supposed to be a special maki but somehow the taste of the foie gras was overwhelmed by the other condiments. Pingu then told me he'd bring me to this French restaurant in Manila for 'to-die-for' foie gras. :)

Grilled saba. Pingu loves this fishy dish. Must be a penguin thing :P

Kurogama (black sesame) ice cream and pumpkin pudding

The dinner was pure decadent....Pure pure guilty pleasure :P

~*~*~*~*One week later....*~*~*~*~

I went to Manila during the Merdeka weekend. Yups, those of us having long distance relationships make the most of each and every long weekend we can get.

Prior to flying, I baked some cream puffs to bring over as a surprise for Pingu.

This is my very first attempt at baking cream puffs. Was kinda nervous they wouldn't turn out nicely.

Piped a couple of heart-shaped ones too as I was feeling kinda mengada creative :P

My very first batch of cream puffs. Not too bad eh?

*note to self: must brush tips to avoiding burning them.

~*~*~*Manila - Day 1*~*~*~

Bonifacio High Street

We had designer burgers at Brother's for lunch.






Love the juicilicious beef patty.




Pay close attention to the building behind me..





I stumbled upon Nuffnang's PH office :p Can you spot the Nuffnang logo?




It's the weekend, and you can see lots of ppl hanging out at High Street lepakking. Oh, I forgot, they have a term for it, it's widely known as 'Malling'.

At night, this is like the place for dog owners alike to bring their four-legged best friends out for a walk. I love it here.

Hmm..i wonder how I'm gonna be able to bring my 4 shihtzus out to play.. :P

Can anyone tell me what kinda orchids these are? These looked unreal :)

Bonifacio High St is like 5 minutes walk from Pingu's place. I love how convenient his pad is to most of the lovely hang out places. :)

Oh, have i told you that filipino's love to camwhore too? They do it everywhere and anywhere...anytime. When I arrived, I saw 2 pinoys camwhoring in the restroom at the airport upon arrival. Mind you, it was 5am at the time.

Next stop...Greenbelt

I've actually been to Greenbelt before. I was in Manila for a 2-week student exchange programme when I was 16. The programme was sponsored by both Rotary Club PJ and Rotary Club Makati West. Me and 4 other fellow Interactors had a swell time when we were here immersing in the culture and were being pampered like crazy by our gracious host parents.

Anyway, back to Greenbelt. The Greenbelt I went to at the time, was probably Greenbelt 1 and 2. They have now extended up to Greenbelt 5. So this place is huge now.


McPingu with his McGorgeous @ one of the more scenic walkways around Greenbelt.

Thought this was quite a nice picture of two girls prancing around playing to their hearts' content, without a care in the world. Their heads were bopping up and down and their hair were flying everywhere. So cute. :)

What a lovely gal. And she camwhored for me. awwwww.. :)

There's a lovely chapel in Greenbelt. It was time for mass and the chapel was overflowing with people. So, we hung out by the pond outside the chapel and I couldn't resist taking a picture of this lovely pair of ducks. They looked so in lurve, didn't they? (or issit just me?)

Dinner at this 'atas' French restaurant, Je Suis Gourmand

This is the place Pingu was raving about. The place for the to-die-for foie gras. Je Suis Gourmand is known for its delicious French cuisine and generous serving. Personally, i think each serving was big enough for more than 1 person.

I love how this place has an intimate setting and only has few tables inside and some outside (the smoking section). We were seated in a cosy corner that was not cosy enough to not hear what the other patrons were saying. Yeah i know, what an oxymoron. :P

This was taken using my lousy Casio Exilim

And this..using his canggih Canon SLR (fyi, i didn't do any photoshop here..mainly cos i dunno how)




Watch me operate his SLR. Dun play play :p




True to his words, this pan seared foie gras served on a bed of salad with reduced honey balsamic sauce was awesome! We ordered a serving to share and this was only my portion. Generous rite? Mmm..i am drooling again. I so miss this...

I had the cream based tomato shitake mushroom soup whereas Pingu had the white fish soup.

I wished I didn't order the soup though, cos i was stuffed after that. I couldn't eat when my main arrived.

Do penguins eat steak? I know one who does :P

My main. The prawns were perfect - so darn springy and chewy and ooh..let's not even get me started on the scallops. Yumm..

Only thing was, the pesto + buttery sauce made it very 'jelak-fying', i couldnt even finish a quarter of it.

For desserts, we had souffle with dark chocolate & grand marnier sauce.

I know i know, i told you i was stuffed, but i've got a totally different stomach for desserts :p. The souffle was superb i tell ya!

Je Suis Gourmand
G/F, Net One Center, Bonifacio Global City
Taguig City, Metro Manila
(02) 815-8801

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I shall post more later. Am having a tough time as blogger is pretty unstable/wonky at the moment. Just gonna post this and resume later. Till then take care, and stay tuned.

Happy weekend everyone! Muakisses ;)

xoxo
McGorgeous

I am McGorgeous

Before we started going out together, we were just chatting as two normal friends. And he started calling me 'gorgeous' one fine morning.

Yups, he sent me a text, something along the line of "Good morning gorgeous! Have an awesome day!".

And that's how he started calling me gorgeous and me, pingu. He uses the pingu as his msn avatar you see.

Digress a bit...I love love waking up to his sweet messages. I reckon it's a fantastic way to start an otherwise dull day. Yups, i am not a morning person at all.

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So last week, we were both scrolling through his iPhone looking at the pix we took together, played some games together - which i lost :p, and we had nothing better to do than to rate some of the pick up lines from one those applications on his phone.

Well, most were really cheesy so to speak. But i found one which really caught my attention..

Carrie: Haha..so lame la the pick up line. Next.

Pingu: yeah, won't work.

Carrie: Oh..this one's quite cute. "If you were the new burger at McDonald's you would be the McGorgeous." Hun, I wanna be McGorgeous la! hehehe.

Pingu: You are McGorgeous.

Carrie: And you can be McPingu la then :P.

So yeah, I am McGorgeous and I read mags for a living. How do you do?

This blog is not dead...

Oh well, at least not yet... :P

Just wanted you to know that I'm alive and well. Just a tad too busy with the new job and the new beau.

I love love love the feeling of being in lurve.... Fyi, I am still floating on cloud 9 at the moment and I'm savouring every minute of it.

Yup, for those of you who think that u might get goosebumps all over cos i so sound disgustingly in love - and that you find it offensive - well, i guess you should stay away from my blog for a while cos i'm gonna be like this for some time i reckon :p. And yes, i'll still luv you. ;)

Latest update: He's gonna be coming back over the weekend....and I'm so excited.

*counting the days*

luv

Carrie

Brand new start

I guess it's apparent to most ppl how much i love fashion. Well, i got lucky and found myself a PR job in a local fashion house which carries an impressive range of international labels. :)

Today's my first day at work and it was made sweeter when i received a beautiful bouquet sent by Pingu.

The thing is, I was totally clueless about this (you know how we gals will always have an inkling about surprises when our beaus wanna do something special for us?). Well, i was totally caught off guard.

FYi, we're having a long distance r/ship at the moment. He's working in the Philippines, and me here in Msia. So when he asked for my new company's name and where it will be, i happily gave those information away without being aware of his intention.

What a sweet way to mark the beginning of a new career :)

*busy sprinkling love dusts everywhere*

xoxo

Deliriously so

i guess the fact that i've been missing in action for a while now is because i've been busy.

Yes, i've been busy burying myself in happiness.

In fact, i've been deliriously happy.

You know those feelings.....chatting on the phone for hours, butterflies in the stomach, having a silly grin plastered on my face wherever i go, feeling extremely awesome, etc...gosh, i feel like a teenager all over again, or something to that extent. :p

Sounds like i'm falling in love eh?

Oh well, i'm not gonna reveal too much.

I'm not gonna say his name even, well, let's just call him 'Pingu' <--that's our lil secret. :)

This is a cute lil pingu alrite ;)

Busy sprinkling some love around here.

xoxo

Carrie

Random wishlist

I've made a resolution to spend less, save up and clear the credit card bills. Thanks to Carmen for the motivation. :)

Therefore, I'm currently sticking to a shopping budget. Hence, I'm not allowing myself to shop impulsively anymore. *sigh*

I was out the other day and somehow got sucked into trying some star products at Benefit's counter. Oh gosh, unless you have a heart of steel, do not, i repeat, do not go near the counter. There's bound to be something to buy.

This is what I got...Dr. feelgood

In fact, i wanted to get the other 2 items as well. But my conscience got the better of me. Thank goodness or else the guilt trip would've be worse. :P

Gotta be... Gotta be..gotta be..disciplined.

dr. feelgood
Like its name, this VitC packed balm gives the complexion an even coverage with a feel-good finish - hello, the skin dr is here to make house calls! ;p
It mattifies and reduces shine, leaving skin silky to the touch. I love its lightweight texture.

Dr. feelgood can be worn alone, under or on top of makeup. Perfect for mid-day touch-ups. Oooh..what's more this small little balm magically reduces the appearance of fine lines and pores. Someone should have created this much earlier. :)

Okay, that one's done.
These are the 2 items that i've got on my wishlist.



#1 Posietint
What it is? It's a poppy-pink tinted lip & cheek stain.
Why i heart it? The colour looks fantastic on my cheek, giving it such a natural long lasting glow. And there's no touch-up required.
Con: It's a tad more pricey than the Paul & Joe ones I'm using. At RM145, I can almost get 2 blushers from Paul & Joe (approx. RM90 each).

some kind-a gorgeous
This foundation faker is perfect in every way! There's no more hassle to find a shade that matches your skin tone anymore, this wonderful product does it all for you. The translucent shade miraculously blends into your skin tone, giving a natural and even finishing.

I love how the oil-free, lightweight texture makes me feel and look oh-so-gorgeous. :)

If you havent already checked out Benefit, pls do. The stuff are fantastic :)

Today...I said 'thank you'

I never realised there are so many things I've taken for granted.

I never realised how blessed I am to have such loving parents.

I never realised at all.....

Yups, all these came to mind when I was having a shower just now. The conversation I had with a new staff during lunch came flashing in my head. She's a very nice girl who's just joined the company for a couple of weeks. You know the type - fresh grad, very sweet and timid.

Over lunch, she asked me all sorts of questions about my experiences and she was interested to pick up skills like networking, pr, public speaking, etc. She wanted to build up her confidence during this period.

Then it came to a part where she asked what my hobbies are. She also asked me if i played the piano. When i said 'yes', she got all excited and said, "Oh..then i'd love to go your house. I like pianos and i've always envied ppl who can play piano."

My reply was simple, "Oh, then don't you wanna learn?". And she said, "My mother never allowed us to learn".

For a while, I couldn't register that statement. It never occured to me that there are parents out there who do not allow their children to learn things they are interested in. And I realised how lucky i was.

When I was a kid, I never liked going for piano lessons, mainly because my teacher used to hit my hand with a ruler if I didn't cut my nails. I hated the constant drilling before a piano exam. I guess i hated the hours i had to spend practising and practising my pieces.

So, there was a time when dad and mum told me I could stop after sitting for my grade 1 theory and practical exams. And I was so thrilled.

Next thing I knew, I scored full marks for both exams. From then on, they managed to coax me into continuing. Believe me, I felt as if i was conned into it.

Now that I look back, I'm so glad they insisted on me continuing. I cannot imagine not having the skills to play songs i like when i feel like releasing my stress after a tiring day at work. I cannot imagine not being able to have my very own private time stroking the keys on my piano, singing my heart out.

I felt bad for thinking my parents forced me into something i didn't like at the time.

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During dinner with dad last night, I said thank you to him. He was surprised of course, and asked me why. I told him I'm thankful that he's always been so supportive and liberal in allowing us to do the things we like. I then told him about my colleague. He in return, gave me a warm smile which melted my heart.

It feels so good to express my feelings to him. Unfortunately in our conservative Asian culture, it's not everyday that we have heart-to-heart talks with our parents and tell them we love them. But i believe it can be done if we let down our emotional barriers. :)

So, have you told your loved ones how you feel today?

Sangkaya Sunday!

I love to chill on Sunday. :)

I'm happy to say that i managed to get quite a lot of things done today.

Lemme see....besides having spring cleaned my room, i managed to try out this recipe for my fave Thai dessert - Sangkaya.

For those of you who're not familiar, sangkaya is in actual fact coconut egg custard.

My sunday sweet ;)
Mum and dad like the sangkaya too.

I saved so much. The ones selling here cost RM3.6 per piece. We can practically eat our hearts out. :P

I've googled around for a few recipes and I came up with my own.


~*~*~*Sangkaya recipe*~*~*~

Ingredients

1 cup coconut cream - i used reduced fat coconut milk
3/4 to 1 cup gula melaka (palm sugar)

5 eggs

1 pandan leave

1 small pumpkin (about 6 inches in diameter and 5 inches in height)

Method

1) Slice off the top of the pumpkin. Remove the seeds and most of the pulp.

2) Cut the pandan leave into small pieces, put into blender with about half cup water, blend well. Then squeeze blended pandan leaves and strain pandan juice through a sieve cloth.
3) Heat the coconut milk and palm sugar in a pot just enough to dissolve the sugar, creating a smooth mixture. Allow to cool to room temperature.

4) Beat the eggs. Mix with the cooled, sweetened coconut cream.

5) Add 3 tablespoons of pandan leave juice.

6) Strain mixture through a sieve cloth. Spoon out any bubbles that may have formed over the top.

7) Pour mixture into the hollowed out pumpkin. Steam over medium heat until custard is set. This will take approximately 1 hour, depending on the size and thickeness of the pumpkin. Let cool.

8) Slice the pumpkin into wedges as you would a cake. Store the rest in the fridge.

Bon appetit!

=)