A little bit of here, there and everywhere

Shame on me
It's already February and this is my first post for the year.


Was suppose to blog about the Christmas party
Was suppose to blog about Angela and Serene's visit to Sunderland
Was suppose to thank Birkie for her generous giveaway
Was suppose to blog about my first Graze box
Was suppose to blog about my new Uni term
and the list goes on and on......

I was suppose to blog about so many things, but didn't
Why?
I was busy
Busy again..... I've been typing this word out so many times that I myself finds it annoying
I think it has already become an excuse rather than being really tied up
Or a reflection of bad time management


I think it's too late to share about Christmas and my friends' new year eve visit to Sunderland.
I'll give a little update of things I really want to share.



First and foremost, I want to give a big thank you shout out to Birkie of BirkinBagBeauty.
Birkie had a Pink Giveaway for the new year, and it was really a surprise to me that I've won.
I'm not the lucky type that wins lucky draws or contests, so I'm really excited about it - my first ever giveway prize. Birkie was very generous, she added in few extra things that wasn't listed in the giveaway. Thank you gal for the sweet giveaway!

Hurray!
I've got my first graze box
It's FOC, thanks to Alison who gave me the code for a free graze box
What is a graze box?
The graze website describe it as "healthy eating by post"
It's a box packed with all things healthy - nuts, dry fruits and fresh fruits, sufficient to help you to fulfill your 5-a-day portion.
It costs GBP 2.99 (incl. postage) per box, which I think it's worth it.
It's delivered weekly, but you can set your own settings.
For me, it's a monthly order.

For my first box, I've got:
Cheeky monkey (banana, cranberry and walnut)
Whole hazelnuts
Himalayas and beyond (pineapples, macadamian nuts, and goji berries)
Cajun seed mix

These were send to me according to my ratings of the selections available on the website.

I was surprised that I didn't like the dry bananas (I eat fresh bananas on a daily basis)
But liked the dry pineapples (which I'm not so fond of)
Ha ha... so I had to went back to reset my ratings for some of the selections.


As for Uni life,
Well, no pictures of it. lol
Been doing a lot of things - society activities (designed posters and menu for the up coming Chinese New Year Party), the usual lectures, seminars and assignments.
5 more months and I'll be graduating, seem surreal but it's the truth.
After 4 years of studies, I'll be joining the pharmacist work force soon.
Wish me luck :)

O~mochi O~sushi <3

Oh my, oh my.....
I never knew that savoury mochi tasted so nice :)

I was craving for some snack in the afternoon, so I flipped through my Japanese cooking book and saw this recipe for savoury mochi.
Instructions:
Grilled the mochi, slit it into half and sandwich it with Cheddar cheese, then wrapped it up with nori sheets. Easy, rite?
The grilled mochi will forms a crispy outer shell, while the inner part is soft and chewy.... yum!
The nori sheets is optional, but it does add some aroma to the snack.

As for dinner,Tadaa~~~~~
Smoked salmon and tamago sushi, and spinach miso soup.

Ha ha....
I'm eating well here in UK, rite?
Daddy, you can't tempt me with your sushi picture :)

Shogun..

It's been a tradition in my family, that for each family member's birthday, there'll be a birthday cake and dinner. My birthday passed by 3 months ago, while I was in UK, so I missed out in my birthday cake, but my birthday dinner still stands.
My request this year is Japanese buffet, so Dad took me to Shogun in Sunway Pyramid.

The place looks really nice.

Great wall art beside our table.

The food was good, and there were a huge selection of cooked Japanese food, soups, tempura, shashimi, and various types of shushi. After tucking in till our bellies are full, we helped ourselves to the cakes, fruits and ice cream available. My sis, Sarah adores the chocolate fountain, and the green tea ice cream. For me, I tried all the shashimi available, tuna belly, swordfish, and snapper, but my favorite is still salmon :)

Look at the pretty colors.

Chilled cha-soba.

The hot pot, filled with seafood.

Sarah enjoying her chilled zaru-soba.

Damage done, RM50++ per person, not bad at all.

Oreo

On Wednesday, I went down to town to buy potatoes and vegetables for dinner. At the supermarket entrance, I saw some yellow signs with the words "many item: buy one free one" written in big, bold and black ink.
'Hmm.... that's interesting, must look out for what's on offer,' I thought.
As I enter the supermarket, I grabbed a basket and instinctively walk to the vegetable section, but then, something caught my attention.
I saw an elderly couple holding a long blue packet, with white block words on. It spelled O.R.E.O..... o hang on, did I see it correctly?
O.R.E.O = Oreo, Oreo, Oreo..........
It's Oreo!!!
After living 2 years in Sunderland, this is my first time seeing it!
Price: 75pences a pack, 165grams. Neat, same price as other regular biscuits and cheaper than a whole lot of others.
Here comes the best part, it was under the 'buy one free one' section. ^^
That means, 75pences for 2.
So, if you convert it to Malaysian Ringgits, it will be just a little more expensive compare to those sold in Malaysia.
Without hesitation, I grabbed 6 packs into my basket and continue on with my grocery.
Instead of just buying potatoes and vegetables, I went home with Oreo, Sensation crackers, Cadbury chocolate and milkshakes - they were all on offer. ^^
Well, many will think the reason the items were on offer because the supermarket wanted to clear off near expire goods. But that's not the case, I've checked each expiry date before purchasing and they are not going to expire anytime near within a year, except for the milkshake - it's impossible that fresh milk last more than a month.

My Oreos......

Get ready to attack!

Munch, munch, munch...

1/3 gone..

I told Alison (Oreo fan) the delightful news that day, and she went to town to buy them today. Unfortunately, she came home empty handed - I guess that the Oreo were sold out within 2 days.

January's Yummies....

I love dessert, I love chocolate, I love yogurt <3<3
And I ate loads of them this month...
Let me introduce them to you:

#1 Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Yup, you didn't read it wrongly, it's a triple chocolate cheesecake. Rich chocolate cheesecake, with generous chocolate chips topping(milk choc, dark choc, and white choc.), and chocolate ganache swirls. Found this beauty on promotional price, and just couldn't resist it. It made me very happy in the morning, as I had it for my breakfast. A slice a day, keeps the moodiness away.

#2 Fresh blueberries + yogurt Surprise, surprise.... Alison and I saw the fruit store selling blueberries when it's suppose to be out of season. What's more interesting is that they were selling it really cheap, 99 pence for a full box. I grabbed the bargain, washed the fruit thoroughly when I got home and threw them into my pot of plain yogurt. I took a spoonful and it tasted heavenly, the sweetness of the blueberries was just right, not too sweet, to accompany the creamy taste of the yogurt. Now, I'm thinking of adding fresh cherries to my yogurt next.

#3 Tiramisu
This Tiramisu is simply gorgeous. It's made of mascarphone cheese, coffee liqueur, sponge and Marsala wine, all this for just cost 1.82pounds. Unlike the Tiramisu that I've tasted in certain well known cake shops in Malaysia (which was just awful), it has a light creamy texture, with hint of the coffee liqueur. I rank it 2nd best, next to my mom's homemade Tiramisu.