Dancing shoes

Unworn dance shoes

A fractured structure of shredded soft lace,
Of fabric torn beyond comprehension;
Bloodied and stained in state of denial,
A smashed reflection of old broken dreams.

Of worn green glass no longer transparent,
Remnants of mottled phlegm upon its edge;
A past cascaded to lie in silence,
Upon the soles of unworn dancing shoes.

Confusion - a rampant player of dusk,
As darkness settles on mornings harsh loss;
And whispers converge into tortured hell,
Delicate hope crushed into nothingness.

Heated tears upon cheeks of disbelief;
Dark pit of loss, a labyrinth of regret.

~Lannet sept 5th 2006~


With this, I herewith bid the posh Latin dancing shoes adieu. May her past rest in peace upon her soles.....

And now, allow me to present the successor, the chic line dance boots

May u bring accomplishments and contentments throughout ur "tenure". Lead ur capacity well and thou shall be valued. Do not fail ur subject but lead her to greater heights...

Ye shalt deliver.

Buon Appetito!!

Today I’ve made a comparison between 3 brands of beef balls: imported, and locally produced from West and East Msia.

Kottbullar Swedish Meatballs (IKEA)
texture: chunky, rough
poached: √√
baked: √√√
price: RM15.90 (±500gms)

Marina Beef Balls (Bangi, Selangor)
texture: slightly rough
poached: √√√
baked: √√
price: RM6.29 (370gms/20pcs)

Beef Balls (Kudat, Sabah)
texture: smooth, springy
poached: √
baked: √
price: RM20 (≈61pcs)

The Swedish meatballs, which I was crazy over, turns out to be slightly dry when compare to the other brands if baked (then again, it could be becos of the quality of my oven, as tis is the recomm cooking method). However I do love the chunkiness as it feels real.
[Here's a trick tat I've learned: For baking by using the conventional oven, u could pour a little amount of water on the tray below ur cooking grill, or put into a little ovenproof bowl beneath ur cooking tray. This is too avoid the overdrying effect on the outer part of the food. Be mindful not to put too much water as it would create a steaming effect.]
My latest discovery is the Marina brand beef balls. To my delight, they are actually very good as the texture is just nice for both wet n dry cooking method. The beefy taste is still there, wat’s more – they are fairly priced. I suppose their qc is well maintained too as both the exact nett weight and quantity are printed on the packet, tho not tat I inspect all the product batches..
As for the beef balls from Kudat, I was somehow disappointed. I find it tad too salty. I always feel tat food tat is too spicy or salty usually kills the taste – and thus, no matter how good the food should taste, it’s simply disastrous. But for those who love ur meatballs to be springy, smooth and strongly flavoured then u would love tis product.
There is tis interesting recipe from the Martha Stewart show recently, which I've yet to try out...

To go with my meatballs, I love the Barilla spaghettini or the bavette, or perhaps Ronzoni’s. M not fond of Bella Italia, San Remo’s, nor Agnesi. They are rather soft and dun offer a good bite. On the contrary, Barilla’s perfect al dente.

Buon Appetito!!

My Heart Is Broken Too...

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and coming Monday mornings are strictly line dancing mornings, if am not working. Today we did Stand By Me Cha and Zjozzys Funk, a repeat. My recent favourites are My Heart Is Broken Too and A Gigolo. Great steps! The former is a great number and one would be so captivated by the mesmerizing song and'll just dance away, while the latter is a fast n fun one. Oh and plus, need the extra practising for the coming line dancing party...heheheh.....must nail the 45 listed songs....(pressure...pressure...)

For My Heart Is Broken Too:





For A Gigolo:




After the class, I did my usual rounds of light workout. M still working on building some body mass especially the upper body part...with a lil help from protein drinks..anyway, m taking it slow n steady while enjoying it - wouldn't want to overdo things...
It's really great - having to sweat it all out. I usually do abt 7mins (never more than 10 as start burning then) on the treadmill for warm up n cardio, n go on with the rest. Then i go for a sauna or steam bath, shower - and i'm ready to face the world! Of course, everything's good when it's done moderately.. n for sauna, do notice some people just do it for the sake of doing it. But if u r to do it, why not do it right?

The Big Fruit

Whenever I go to China or Taiwan during winter time, i'd buy their fruits. Eventho the fruits here are imported from those places, but probably becos of the transportation n the weather change, the fruits will taste differently. I love the cherries n lychees from Beijing - they're very juicy. Recently I just went to Kaohsiung n bought some fruits. Most of the fruits there are bigger in size. Look at the avocados! The fork is of common table fork size. You can either eat it with ice-cream, yogurt, sweetened condensed milk, toss it into ur salad or blend it up for an avocado milkshake. I prefer mine with the sweetened condensed milk. But this fruit prove to be too big for my greed, til I think, my avocado-craze is diminishing....

Eat your greens

Like to share this recipe. I dun reali like eating spinach nor broccoli straight n thus find tis recipe good as can't taste them at all.
Ingredients: 1 medium-sized chopped onion, 2 medium-sized potatoes, 1 head of broccoli cut into florets, 1 bunch of spinach (abt 250gms), 1 tbsp of butter (or 10g, those prepacked ones), abt 500ml of milk (uht packed ones, 2) n water - enough to cover all ingredients.
In a slow cooker, cook the above ingred except the spinach under high for abt 1 hour, then on low for abt 5 to 6 hours. Then you add in the spinach leaves n cont to simmer. When it's done, lift the lid and let the pot cool down. Next pour the soup into the blender, batch by batch, n blend them into smooth texture, say less than 10 sec each time.
After that, pour the blended soup back into the slow cooker, add salt to taste, n put under auto till dinner time. It serves abt 3 person, medium serving per pax as the cream soup is thick n shouldn't be taken too much. Serve it with toasts, or whole-grain breadrolls.

Another way of cooking chinese spinach, is by stir-frying it with chopped garlic before adding some tuna flakes, to make the white sauce for pasta meals. It may sound odd, but it's nice.

Stepping-up...

In today's world, in order to stay competent or to move up the ladder in the corporate world, many people feel that their job has taken too much of their sense of self, time and attention. Of course, this applies to people who does not believe in all work and no play, cos it'll only make Jack a dull boy. I guess this is why I just couldn't sit in my qb n face the pc screen the whole day- I might just die n rot there...which was one of the factors that brought me to my job today. Compare to my life now, then I could only do what I like during the weekends, which is about 6 days a month (those days, it was still a 6-day week on alternate weeks, n when u come in on a working sat, that's it - ur whole sat is gone by clearing the whole week's leftovers). And on sundays, u just have time to unwind n before u could really start to treasure that special day, mondays has rolled out.

Thus, the words "When work no longer works"..yes, we do need to work in order to pay the bills, for everyday's meals, for a roof over our heads, n in order to keep the world going. But surely, u can't devote ur life to the company u work for. If ur working time is 9-6 everyday, it takes up abt 1 third of ur day, not to mention the time going n coming back. N u work most of ur adult years til u're all dried up to give anymore. So u end up giving about 1 third of ur life away....
The golden question would be: wat gives u fulfillment, ur lil daily work accomplishment, or smtg tat is beyond tat.

"My life..My loves" will refer to the loves of my life, which i will go into step by step. Step Up Life will unfold what works - for me.