R U READY?

As I mentioned before, a lot of you have asked if we earn 7 figures each year to afford such a lavish lifestyle? My answer was we do not live a lavish lifestyle. We can only afford 2 – 3 holidays per annum and we usually spend less than RM 4,000 per person for one of those trips. Contrary to popular beliefs, we do not eat out every day for every single meals. Eat outs usually happens in the weekends, which we really enjoy doing so.

As much as we would like to have more holiday plans and lavish eat outs, the reality hits. We are working for someone else, and we do have BILLS to pay. To make the most out from our meagre income, the secret is to INVEST.

We have only 24 hours a day so there is a limit to how much we can do. That’s when investing comes into place; it’s all about putting your money to work so it earns you an additional income.. Find out more by clicking “LIKE” on the Prudential R U Ready’s Facebook Fanpage and read my article about INVESTING.

You can also sign up for the entrepreneurs workshop that will be held on the Feb 18th in PJ Live Arts, Jaya One. Participants will be getting insights from young entrepreneurs how to start a business and getting to mingle with like minded young people, etc.

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Why I Want to Attend The NAPBAS 2011

#1 The Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards (NAPBAS) gives everyone an excuse to doll up like a celebrity
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Or maybe it was prom, or a ball, or whatever it was, me and my partner in crime (Christine) got to get all dolled up and just enjoyed it. We had an excuse.

#2 To be a part of the glitz, and the glamour of the Nuffnang blogging community.
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The 2009 awards night was an evening ceremony that kept many on the edge of their seats as they waited for the action to kick off.
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The organizing committee has put in a lot of hearts and efforts for the big day. Even the door gift is so apt and well liked!

#3 To meet and make new friends
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Gosh! I can’t believe that it has been more than 2 years since I got to know Tammy and her bestie Cai Xiu Xiu. We met, for the very first time at the 2009 awards night and has been keeping in touch since then. <3

#4 To get up close and personal with celebrity bloggers
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We may read/stalk their blogs everyday, but have never meet or know them in person. Well only in NAPBAS we get to spot our favourite bloggers and even ask for a picture or two.
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Kenny Sia and the gorgeous ladies from Bonito Chico.
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Allan Wu, the charming and charismatic host of Amazing Race Asia; Ringo Tan from cheeserland.com; my favourite local food blogger, Meena and Joanne Peh, my favourite female artist from Media Corp.
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We have also met two very reputable food bloggers from the island republic – Dr. Leslie from ieatishootipost and Brad of ladyironchef fame.
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Not to forget some of the best bloggers around the Asia Pacific region who were being nominated for each respective categories.

#5 Get to know who’s behind Nuffnang
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Ever wonder who assigns campaigns to your blog? Who gives out free movie tickets? Or who is the finance lady/gentleman who disburses your payouts? Get to know them this coming December, at the 2011 Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards.

It was a truly magical event that we were honored to be a part of. Win your exclusive invites here and hope to see you at the NAPBAS 2011!

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Leaf Dessert 玉葉甜品 @ Central, Hong Kong

For our trip itinerary, please click here.
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Tucked away on the sloppy Elgin Street, Leaf Dessert is a 100 years old premise that serves traditional Chinese desserts. It is also one of the few dai pai dongs (only 28 left!) situated around the Hong Kong island and Kowloon.
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The dai pai dong which is now in its fourth generation is so well known among the locals and tourists that one needs to exercise some patience and wait!. We were there on a relatively quiet morning so the owner (I presume) instructed us to just grabbed a stool and sit down. Apart from their sweet specialties such as Red Bean Soup, Green Bean Soup, Seaweed with Green Beans, Black Sesame Soup, Sago with Coconut, and Glutinous Rice Balls with Sugar, Coconut and Sesame; we spotted the locals indulging in some other noodles dishes.
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We ordered the famous Rice Ball with Sugar Coconut Sesame (糖不甩 HK$8) which looks a lot like our mua chi. However, the rice balls were being served differently from mua chi – it was hot, soft and chewy with a generous amount of shredded coconut+sugar+sesame sprinkles. It’s a winning combination, just like apples simmered with cinnamons, or warm brownies with vanilla ice cream. Must try!
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The Green Bean Soup (HKD 8) too, is very different from our version. It is flavoured with stinky grass 臭草, a type of Chinese herb which despite the name is not stinky at all. It can release excessive toxic heat and clears up acnes. The soup is served together with barley and seaweed as well. Very refreshing, and healthy too!
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Not too far off from Leaf Dessert is where Sing Heung Yuen is situated. It is one of the most highly rated dai pai dong in HK that serves up simple and wholesome local fare such as beef noodles with tomato soup and toasts.
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However, the queue was so long that it will take at least an hour for us to get a seat. Maybe next time? :(

Leaf Dessert
2 Elgin Street, SOHO, Central
中環蘇豪伊利近街2號
Opens daily from 12:30pm – 00:30am
Tel: +852-2544 3795
Openrice Page here

Sing Heung Yuen
2 Mee Lun St (near Gough St), Central,
Opens daily from 8am-5:30pm.
Tel: +852 2544 8368
Openrice Page here

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Kin Shui Tei @ Tropicana Golf & Country Resort

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Since the damaging March 11 catastrophic that caused a tsunami and radiation leakage to devastate the Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures in Japan, a lof of us have deter from consuming Japanese food. The mass paranoia have cause a lot of Japanese restaurants to experience a slow down in business.

Kin Shui Tei Japanese Restaurant stands out when they started to implement a double checking step for radiation on all their imported ingredients using a radiation detector. Do you know that they are the first restaurant in Malaysia that uses the radiation detector to do the daily food scanning? The little device costs a whopping RM7,000 and there are no ready stocks in Malaysia at the moment.
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Kampachi – radiation reading: 64
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Pickles – radiation reading: 78
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Gas mantle – radiation reading: 4665!

Gas mantle, widely used in kerosene or liquified petroleum gas flame has a higher reading because the mantle emits radiation when lit to generate bright white light.

Some fact about radiations: Radiation is all around us, all the time. The energy spectrum has included microwaves, radiowaves, infrared radiation, UV radiation, X-ray, etc. At high attitudes airlines fly, passenger and crews are exposed to higher-than-normal radiation levels of between 3 and 9 microsieverts per hour too. (1 sievert = 1000 millisieverts (mSv), 1mSv = 1000 microsieverts).

Radiation exposure around the Fukushima nuclear power plant reach levels of 400mSv per hour. A single dosage of 1000mSv could cause radiation sickness but not death. A single dosage of 5000mSv could cause death to those who were exposed to it within a month and a 1000mSv reading could cause fatals within week. You get the drift.

more readings: http://www.world-nuclear.org/education/ral.htm
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So the conclusion is not to worry too much all Japanese imports have undergone vigorous inspection by the Japanese and Malaysian Ministry of Health.
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If the worry persists, it’s ok because Kin Shui Tei has chosen to stop using Japanese products all together and seek alternatives from other countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Norway and Alaska while others continue to use selected ingredients from the southern part of the country.
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Let’s do some light reading after such a heavy discussion, shall we?
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Thanks to the invitation from Kin Shu Tei, we got to sample chef Ikuo Tanabe’s master piece once again.  The little education session put us at ease; we enjoyed our food thoroughly without any worries.
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Kin Shu Tei’s interior is simple and the colours of the whole restaurant is easy on the eye and rather classy.
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Special Hokkaido chirashi sushi – RM98
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I must say the food presentation was expertly done and the raw ingredients were so fresh that it is a lot like tasting the ocean. We really liked the rice imported from USA; somehow it just tastes better compared to Japanese rice. :p
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Seasonal Anago Tempura – RM30
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The crispy sea eel tempura was a great combination with the special dipping sauce – chef’s special sweet sour sauce with spring onions.
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Smoked Ayu – RM55

The moist, flaky fish with a delicate smoke flavor was really good. Highly recommended!
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Beef tofu Katsu don – RM38
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On the surface, it’s a seemingly simple dish, but there is so much going on – a delicate layer of tofu wrapped with beef roll and coated in a crispy bread crumb batter. This tops my list as well.
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Lamb rib steak – RM50. Lean and juicy, the lamb rib steak was grilled to perfection. The thick sauce looks appetizing and tasted great at the same time. Special mention must be made regarding the potato salad; so creamy and so delicious!
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We had an early birthday celebration for KampungBoy courtesy of Debbie and the restaurant manager.
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The make shift “cake” is so pretty! Kudos to the sous chef for such an innovative master piece.

It was my third time to Kin Shu Tei and we have never been disappointed. It is one of the long standing Japanese restaurants in town, partly attributable to Chef Ikuo Tanabe’s dedication and strict standard applied. He is such a perfectionist, and we have seen it with our own eyes.

Kin Shui Tei
C/o Tropicana Golf & Country Resort,
Jalan Kelab Tropicana,
47410 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: 03-78042079 / 03-78804437 ext 315

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Blogging Break

I am taking a little break from blogging till 6th of June. It is time for me to start preparing for my so called “professional paper” in full steam. Unfortunately, there are only so many hours in the day so I need to leave this lovely blog aside (for a short while). So till then CHEERS!

Love,
Citygal

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Smartphones: Changing Our Daily Lives

In this day and age, smartphones have changed the way we live our daily lives. How we navigate, how we organize our daily events, how we spend our time and how we connect with people is all undergoing a dramatic change. For me, the best thing about smartphones is the sheer fact that it helps us in managing our long distance relationship. KampungBoy is out of the country most of the time but we stay connected via emails, whatsapp, ping talk and talk box.

some of the pictures that we share with each other recently:

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KampungBoy’s current location – Wuhan, China

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