I say a lil' prayer for you

I'm sure anyone with a heart has prolly already said at least a prayer for Japan and the people of Japan (the great ones are doing more than just saying a prayer) after hearing the news of the recent earthquake and tsunami. Mi Amor and I are on holiday at the moment (we first heard the news upon arriving in Madrid) and we have been tuning into CNN everyday from our hotel room TV (it's the first thing that's on in the morning and the last thing we watch before going to bed) for updates on the situation and just pray for at least some good news/news that give a glimmer of hope. I also can't help but have nothing but admiration for the people of Japan and how they are facing the situation, especially after reading this site. I don't know about other countries but I highly doubt that Malaysians can carry themselves/face this kind of devastating situation as well as the Japanese (no offense to my country, which I love btw, but if you've seen how we react during a traffic jam, you'd understand).


I don't know anyone in/from Japan but there seem to be a lot of Japanese tourists around where we are holidaying at the moment and every time I see one, I always feel like asking whether everything is all right with his/her family back home (though I'm assuming it must be or else he/she would be catching the first flight back home, no?).


Anyway, better catch some ZzZzz's now coz I'll be going out later tonight. Keeping my fingers crossed that when I wake up there might be some form of good news (like finding more survivors perhaps).


*UPDATE : Oh Oh, just as I was about to shut down the PC and doze off, CNN said they found a 60 year old man alive clinging onto the roof of his house which was swept away about 50 km or so. 

Just because....

Since Mi Amor is watching footie on TV at the moment and I'm freaking bored, I've decided to blog (about what exactly I have no idea!). Oh, I made Mi Amor something to snack on while watching the game :

Homemade potato wedges and dip (was having a sudden Martha  Stewart moment)

The good thing (for me that is, not for Mi Amor), is that he doesn't want dinner (even though I insist on cooking dinner for him) coz he wants to go on a diet :P
However, he substitutes dinner with snacks (chips and chocs.....yes, that is his idea of dieting!)

Dessert pot : Caramel, chocolate, vanilla and creme caramel

God I love that dessert pot! We bought it at the Nestle shop this evening (yeah, we haven't done our grocery shopping for this week but we've already stocked up on desserts....go figure!).

Part of the Nestle office building (It's freaking huge and goes all the way around!)

The Nestle shop outside the office building

Yes indeed! (see Mi Amor, I help promote your company...extra treats for me please!)

Rows and rows of Nestle products.....I wanted to get ice cream but Mi Amor says I''m crazy to eat ice-cream in this weather....BOO for him! :P

This is the chocolate aisle...since easter is coming soon, there was a special section on special edition easter chocs 

Anyway, for these past few days I've been watching videos of this really cute girl called Nina (yes, since I've got so much time on my hands, I often go through random videos on youtube) and got hooked on her cuteness. Her dad is American and her mum is Japanese (they live in Japan) and what is interesting is that her dad is trying to teach her to be bilingual so he speaks to her in English and her mum speaks to her in Japanese. According to her dad, he started making the videos of her to show his family back home in the States and he didn't expect her to have a lot of fans on youtube. She even has an fb fan page! I showed Mi Amor some videos of her and Mi Amor also finds her adorable (believe it or not at one point we even watched her videos over lunch!). We find her so cute that at one point Mi Amor actually suprised me when I told him I was having my period and he replied, "So no Nina of our own yet?" 

Nina should be around 4 yrs + now but my fav video of her is this one taken when she was about 2ish :




Mi Amor's fav video of her is more recent though. He says he likes it coz you can see her range of emotion....from happy to apprehensive to sad, etc.



Seriously there are so many freaking cute videos of her (if I could I'd put more here!) but that would just be video overload for a blog (that's what you tube is for anyway). Ok Mi Amor's footie game is over and he is whining that I'm not paying attention to him :P (guess I don't need a Nina when I have a big baby of my own to take care of anyway :P)

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt

Ok, so I know I've been slacking in blogging (why do you think I decided on The Lazy Blogger? heh) but I wasn't feeling well last week. Came down with a really bad sore throat and cold and almost came down with a fever. Mi Amor felt bad for me so last week he mostly had lunch at the cafeteria instead. Yupp, for the first time since I've been here, I did not hafta cook lunch !! (I only made pasta on Wednesday and we had the leftovers for lunch on Thursday). I mostly stayed on the couch resting while watching movies on TV as the internet connection was down most of the time (perhaps it wasn't feeling well, just like me :P). 

Nearing the weekend I was feeling much better and since I felt bad about Mi Amor not have home cooked lunch  (i.e rice and side dishes) during the week, I decided to go all out to make him a nice lunch on Saturday and Sunday

Saturday lunch menu : Nasi lemak, ayam goreng, kacang goreng, ikan bilis, sambal udang and telur goreng

Here you go Mujer, a close up pic of my ayam goreng

Seriously, the best sambal udang that I've made so far (and I'm quoting Mi Amor!)

Sunday lunch menu: White rice, sambal sotong, sayur campur  goreng, telur goreng and roast chicken with roast potatoes

My first attempt at making roast chicken....success!

Anyway, we didn't do much last weekend. We went along with Mi Amor's colleague to a few outlet places (can't remember the names) as she wanted to buy furniture for her new place. Not many choices  if you ask me though I did manage to get something..heh

Yupp, that is a new coat and handbag! :D

The weekend before last was way more eventful though. On Saturday we took the train to Lausanne and walked around the city centre (which is much more happening than Vevey) and even did our grocery shopping there. My highlight of Lausanne though was when we stopped by Laduree and bought some macarons (YES, FINALLY!!! :D) . All I can say is it was definitely worth the wait….I am no longer a macaron virgin (perhaps now a macaron addict?!?) and it's true what they say, that you will always remember your first (Ah, caramel with salted butter….Je t'aime!) 

Lausanne train station

Lausanne Cathedral

The main attraction in Lausanne in my opinion! :)

I'm so happy!!

Dare I say, " Screw the lil' blue box and gimme the lil pink box anyday! " :D

Happiness in a box. The flavours I chose : caramel with salted butter, pistachio, lemon, spice and soft fruits, chestnut, vanilla, raspberry, strawberry, chocolate, blackcurrent violet, praline and madagascar chocolate

Later that night we went out for dinner with Mi Amor's friends at a cosy restaurant in Bulle, Fribourg (about half an hour's drive from Vevey). There was some kind of party/celebration going on in Bulle because there were tents set up and people dressed in medieval costumes walking around while a marching band was playing. At one point it started raining heavily so the marching band moved indoors (i.e they came into the restaurant that we were in). Though it made the restaurant crowded, I don't think any of the patrons minded coz it just meant free entertainment for all of us! (albeit a bit hard for us to talk above the music).

We had reservations at 11pm for Go Karting at some entertainment centre in Fribourg so after dinner we made our way there. Since there were 9 of us, we had to split into 2 groups of 5 and 4. I was the only one who had never go karted before and Mi Amor kept asking me if I was sure I wanted to go kart coz everyone else will be going so fast and I'll just be getting in their way (not to mention I'll prolly crash a lot) :P  He though I should just watch from the side first before deciding whether I would like to give it a try. After giving Mi Amor that I don't care, I'm still doing this look he finally gave up trying to talk me out of it.

I can't hear you with this helmet on! Is it suppose to be this tight?!

On your marks, get set.....GO!!!

Since we had split into 2 groups, each group were given 3 rounds (10 minutes per round). All I can say is, go karting is much harder than it looks! The moment I got into the go kart, they had to adjust my seat because my short legs couldn't reach em' pedals ( Mi Amor laughed when he saw this). Then I had trouble going around corners because I couldn't turn my steering wheel properly (dammit, it's not power steering!). At first I thought perhaps I had a faulty steering wheel but it turns out it is suppose to be like that! (damn my weak upper body strength!!!). At one point, after getting knocked into so many times, my seat accidentally went back a lil' and my legs couldn't reach the pedal properly so I had to stretch my legs in order to reach the pedals. By the end of the first round, my arms, legs and ass were aching so bad I couldn't wait for the whole thing to be over (and I was dreading the fact that we had another 2 more rounds....ARGHHHhhh!!!). The fact that Mi Amor said everyone watching by the side was laughing at me didn't make me feel any better :P

Mi Amor in action

Part of the go kart track

You know how they say be careful what you wish for? Well, when it came to the other group's turn, halfway through their round, suddenly one of the girls crashed into the divider (nothing new there, I lost count how many times that happened to me) and started screaming!! Everyone else stopped their karts and rushed to her. One of Mi Amor's friend lifted her from her kart, carried her in his arms and brought her to the side. She was crying almost hysterically and that's when I saw the blood streaming down her hand.

Apparently what happened was that her finger somehow made contact with the divider during the crash and a chunk from the tip of her finger got sliced off (at first we thought her whole finger got sliced off, with the amount of blood that we saw...yupp, that much blood!). One friend picked up the part of the finger that was sliced off and put it in a glass of ice. We called the ambulance and followed them to the hospital. Thank God out of the 9 of us, one could speak French (well, he's Swiss anyway) because the hospital people couldn't speak a word of English. After waiting for about slightly more than an hour, someone came out to update us on what was going on and informed us that they could not sew the sliced part back onto the finger but overtime it should heal. However there might be a possibility that she may or may not fully regain her senses in that part of the finger as the cut was quite deep. They gave her some pain killers for the time being and told her to go to a specialist hospital first thing on Monday. It was around 2ish in the morning by the time all of us left the hospital and we arrived home around 3am. Mi Amor couldn't sleep coz he felt so bad for his friend (not to mention he was still traumatized by the sight of all that blood!). 

Come Sunday, Mi Amor was still dwelling on what happened the night before so I decided to cheer him up by making pizza with loads of cheese! (well, it's my comfort food..heh). After lunch Mi Amor gave his friend a ring to check up on her and we were glad to hear that she was feeling much better (the fact that her family was coming down from Venezuela in a few days to visit her also helped).

Guess the gang won't be go karting for a while (though the go kart place called a few days later and said that we can come back for a free round of go karting). Here's hoping that Mi Amor's friend recovers soon!

The gym debutant

Thought of going to the gym today....but got lazy after skyping with Lil' Sis and Mi Madre :D

So lemme blog about yesterday's gym session instead.

I changed into my gym clothes at home (thought I'd save time by not having to change at the gym later), laced up my sport shoes (which has taken a beating over the years...from hiking to rafting, etc) and walked to the gym to meet the trainer (which turned out to be a she :< ....I was hoping it would be a cute guy coz Mi Amor said there's a cute trainer ). Anyway, she doesn't speak a word of English and I still can't speak/understand a word of French so when she showed me the changing room, she was saying something  to me which i didn't understand but had a feeling it had something to do with my shoes (well she kept pointing at em'). Luckily for me, there was a woman in the changing room who could kinda speak English (she's Brazilian and she can speak French also so she translated for me and told me that I can't wear my shoes to the gym (I was thinking "What? Are u guys THAT snooty that my ugly shoes aren't good enough for the gym?!?"). Turns out what she meant was that I have to change into my sport shoes at the gym itself ( i.e you're not allowed to use shoes that you've used outside at the gym...it's not hygienic). Ok, I admit I don't have much gym experience but from the few times I've been to the gym in Malaysia, no one told me that was part of the gym etiquette.

After apologizing and saying next time I won't wear my shoes straight from home, I was ready for my workout. After writing down my name (I have no idea if she understood that my name is Azareena and not Yahya :P) she asked me something in French and started using her fingers to emphasize, showing me 1 finger, 2 fingers, 3 fingers, 4 fingers, etc (I think she went all the way up to 20)... I thought she was asking me my age so I showed her 2 fingers (which she nodded) followed by 9 (which she gasped). Okayyyyyy....so she wasn't asking my age then :P My next guess was that maybe she was asking me how many times do I exercise or plan to exercise in a week so I held up 3-4 fingers, which was greeted with a Oui!

So she took a clipboard which had a piece of paper with the word programme on it and some tables to fill in (my guess is that was prolly suppose to be like a fitness chart/review or something) and brought me to the machines. She asked me what kind of exercise would I prefer (I said cardio) and which machine would I prefer to use so I chose the eleptical. She switched on the machine, keyed in my weight, set it for 10 minutes at level 4 (so maybe that's what she was asking me, my preferred intensity level ?!?) and left me to it. After 12 minutes (10 mins workout + 2 minutes of cooling down), the programme stopped. I didn't know what to do....was I suppose to just continue coz that was just a demonstration on how to set the machine? or am I suppose to wait for her to come back and get me?WHAT?!? So after waiting idle for about 2 minutes, I decided to turn the machine on again and started a new programme. 10 minutes into the new programme, she came over to check on me and was suprised that I had started a new programme. I sheepishly smiled and stopped the programme and we moved on to another machine. She asked me if I preferred to jog or walk and I said walk (baby steps ok?) so she showed me to a machine that looked like a treadmill but is used specifically for walking. Then she went ahead and set the programme and Voila! Let the walking begin!

I thought that maybe she had set the programme duration like how she set the eliptical, which is for 10 minutes but 10 minutes came and went and I thought ok, maybe not...maybe 20 minutes then. After 20 minutes came and went, I thought hmmm.....30 minutes? (all I can tell you is I saw 30 minutes come and go and I waved to 40 minutes as it passed by). I started to wonder if the trainer was gonna come back for me or whether I was really left to my own devices this time (not to mention when the hell is this programme suppose to end?!?). I didn't want to stop incase she came back for me and thought that I had given up and God forbid, am so unfit that I can't even complete the programme that she had set for me. Then I realized that there's this bar graph thingy on the machine that lights up as time goes by so I thought that perhaps once it lights up all the way, that means the programme has been completed.

Anyhow, after 1 hour and 12 minutes of being on the freaking machine I thought, Ok, this is just ridiculous, screw the programme, she's not coming to check on me is she? and turned the machine off. On the way to the changing room I bumped into the trainer who was busy talking to some other woman and she was all "Tres bien!" while patting my back and saying something else in French which I thought could either mean "I'm not done with you, I'll be with you in a moment" or "OK, that's the end of our session". I took it as the latter so I changed into my clothes, thanked her and waved goodbye.

Oh well, 1 hour and 22 minutes for my gym debut isn't too bad I guess. Hmmm... now to make myself a gym schedule :D

Unlike revenge, lunch is not best served cold

Normally I make sure lunch is ready by 12, latest 12.30 (coz Mi Amor tells me he'll be back by 12 for lunch everyday even though he never is on time). However today, an hour after I had prepared lunch, Mi Amor called to tell me that his morning meeting was still ongoing and that he'd be back late for lunch (that is if he even comes back for lunch!).....BOO!! Now the food will get cold :(  
If he does come back for lunch, I won't be around (am heading off to the gym in a bit.....yes, u read right..GYM...ughhhh) and I highly doubt he will be rajin enough to use the microwave to reheat the food.

Today's lunch menu: Nasi goreng padprik, sayur campur goreng, sotong goreng tepung

So why am I going to the gym? Coz I figured I might as well make it a habit to exercise while I'm here (to balance out my cheese and chocolate intake...I swear I'm beginning to look puffy and its only been 2 weeks!! :P). I asked Mi Amor to sign me up (spouses of Nestle employees can sign up to use the Nestle gym facilities...but only at certain hours) so today I have an appointment with the instructor. Apparently you must go through some introductory thingy with an instructor before you're allowed to use the gym facilities. Mi Amor says it's good coz besides teaching you how to use the machines, they will tell you what you should do/what machine to use/which programme is suitable in order to achieve your fitness goal.


Yeah, only problem is, the instructor that I'm suppose to meet does not speak English....GREAT! :P I foresee him giving up on asking me all these fitness questions and prolly just showing me how to switch the machine on and off. I also foresee that I will look out of place coz I'll prolly be the only one wearing t-shirt and sweat pants (coz I'm a dork like that...haha :P) while every other female is wearing sports bra/tank top and shorts (no wonder Mi Amor has taken up the habit of going to the gym!).


Ok then, gotta get ready....maybe I should look up some french phrases like, "Hi, My name is Azareena. I don't speak French and my goal is to lose weight. If I can tone my arms and ass along the way that would be great. Please help me. Thank you".

I Personally Believe.......

.......that she prolly just freaked out and her mind drew a blank, leading to verbal diarrhoea. What's impressive though is that Mario Lopez managed to keep a fairly straight face :D

Rainy Sunday and Raclette

I thought that yesterday would be a lazy Sunday in (since it was raining plus Mi Amor worked till 7pm the day before) so I cooked lunch and Mi Amor and I decided to spend the day curled up on the sofa watching movies.  However after lunch Mi Amor suddenly remembered that we had some Nestle Malaysia employees gathering thingy to attend (actually it was a post CNY lunch get together hosted by one of the colleagues). Wish he had remembered earlier so I could have saved those 4 pieces of chicken cordon bleu for next time! :P


So we attended the lunch get together and though I was freaking full, I stuffed my face silly since there was Raclette (cheese is my Kryptonite). I've only had Raclette 4 times in my life (and 2 of those times have been here in Vevey). I keep teling Mi Amor that we should get a Raclette set so that we can have Raclette on days when I'm too lazy to cook but Mi Amor isn't really a huge fan of cheese (but you're still gonna take me out for fondue right Mi Amor?). While everyone else was busy enjoying the Yee Sang and Mee Kari, it was raclette all the way for me! (seriously, there is no Malaysian food that I'm missing at the moment....either it's too early for that or I'm just not a big fan of our local food). 


At one point everyone started talking about each other's house warming and Mi Amor mentioned that he would inform everyone of our house warming soon. That totally killed my appetite (Housewarming?!? Easy for him to say, he doesn't even hafta cook! What the heck are we gonna serve people? As it is I've just started learning to cook for 2....now I hafta cook for a whole bunch of people? I don't even know how to make hot drinks!). It doesn't help that Mi Amor's colleagues are also good cooks. Arghhhhhh!!!!!!! (see Mi Amor, this is why we need a raclette set...then we don't hafta worry about cooking when we invite people over!)


When we got back home around 6pm, we decided to play Guitar Hero. Since it was the first time setting up/playing the GH game on the PS3, we had to calibrate the game but it just didn't seem to work. At first Mi Amor thought I just suck at GH and he didn't believe me when I said the guitar/console was not reading/sensing properly so he told me to play Easy mode (I've always played Medium) which I found insulting! :P and when I couldn't even hit notes in the Easy mode, then only did he finally believed me
( coz he's smart enuff to know that though his wife may not be great at GH, she doesn't suck THAT BAD.....though he did try to get me to play Beginner mode....how dare he! >:(  )


After an hour of unsuccessfully trying to calibrate GH, we gave up and ended up watching TV instead till we both fell asleep.

Mi Amor's colleague's apartment 

Balcony stretches all the way to the side

View from the front part of the balcony

I love the view of the houses up in the hill....I can only imagine how it must look like covered in snow

The Xmas/ CNY tree

Mi Amor mastering the Raclette

Yes, I like to put cheese on everything!

It seems so unfair that a baby should have such long eyelashes....I'm jealous :<

Mi Amor unhappy with the GH

*** Oh I just had to add this as a side note:  Remember how I stumbled across my anniversary surprise from Mi Amor while cleaning the cupboard? Well, since then he has requested that I leave the top shelf of the cupboard alone and that it should be his personal space to store things. He even made me PROMISE that I will not touch the shelf or so much as look at it (he said he could even hide a girl in there if he wanted to coz it's his prerogative). Whatever  :P (as long as there are some more good surprises in store for me on that shelf!). Then yesterday while I was about to enter the room, I saw Mi Amor standing in front of the cupboard rummaging around his shelf.....and this is what he pulled out:

A box of white chocolate bars with praline filling

HAHAHAHAHA.......so he's been hiding food there!! Food which he doesn't want to share with me....giler buruk perangai! Like seriously Mi Amor, you think I would actually steal your food?!? :P (though I must say, the chocolate bars are YUMMY so I don't blame you).