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Today, I felt as if I was moving at 200km/h and my entire body slams into a thick slab of concrete. Again and again until there was nothing left.

When I read those words at work today, it hit me. As hard as I tried to think yesterday’s email was nothing, to put on a brave face – but together with those words today, everything collapsed around me. I could feel my heart beat quickening, I could feel my cheeks flush, my knuckles were white.

Waves of emotion tumbled on me. Anger, sadness. Memories suddenly appeared in my mind.

I wasn’t concentrating on my work anymore, I was staring at the screen blankly.

I could feel the tears about to well up.

The last 3 minutes before 6pm felt like forever.  I just wanted to get out.

The hints were there, but I didn’t notice them until today.

I am getting better, I am healing slowly. I am getting there, crossing the finish line. But it’s too fast, and there is nothing I can do about it. There’s no one to blame. There’s nothing I can do about it…

What is it about you that makes me so attached to you? So hard to forget?

Sorry, I don’t feel like writing anymore.

Putumayo Online Radio

I’ve been listening to Internet radio recently. While searching for a radio station to listen to, I stumbled across this website that has a good collection of radio stations with many genre of music. It’s called live365.com. Do check it out.

My favourite station is Putumayo World Music where you get to hear soothing Latin jazz tunes world music. Check it out here if Latin jazz world music is your cup of tea.

Edit: Heh, I thought it was just all Latin jazz. I’m listening to South African music now! 

New theme – Ocean Mist

I just updated the theme of my blog with this one, it’s called Ocean Mist. I like it! The previous one had a calendar that was pretty hard to see which date on the calendar had a post.

What do you think?

Edit: The theme doesn’t really go with the name of my blog, Burnished Summer, but ah, what the heck! 

BBQ – Part 2

Last night for dinner, my family and I had…BBQ again. My Mom invited my aunt and uncle whom I’ve not seen for a while, so it was pretty good to see them again.

Nothing much, just a simple homely BBQ. As usual my Mom went overboard with the food. This time however, it wasn’t so bad. We could still manage the leftovers.

I cooked the meats over our sad little BBQ thing and was busy passing cooked food over to the main dining table. Let’s see, what did we have? There was the usual chicken wings (that I always hopelessly make a mess of), beef (wagyu, ok!), pork sausages, chicken gizzard, lamb chops, sweet potatoes, fish, pork chops and pineapples. There was also a bowl of salad on the table. We had sparkling apple juice – F&N Zapple really and some Californian Delicious Red wine (tastes like Ribena to me at it had almost no tannins whatsoever and was very low in alcohol content, my Dad who had it as well was however turning red) that A’s Mom bought for us, 5 litres of it in a cardboard box.

I cooked my cut of wagyu beef medium done, and it was simply delicious! The rest of the food was ok too.

I was dead tired after cooking but it was good fun (for myself anyway). I always love cooking for people

*Burp!*

Gotta cut down on rich and meaty foods. Been having them for 3 dinners in a row!

Carnaval Churrascaria

Churrascaria means steakhouse in Portuguese and the BBQ style of cooking is called churrasco. It is a heaven for meat lovers! The waiters will bring out delicious BBQ meats in skewers and they’ll cut slices of the meat on your plate when you ask them to.

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure to dine at our usual churrascaria restaurant joint (my craving for it satisfied!), Carnaval, tucked away in Damansara Jaya. BY, LL, WL were the first to arrive and they were digging in already. Without hesitating I sat down and immediately asked for food on my plate. I think I did say hi to them as I sat. Or did I not? M arrived much later and she too immediately started eating. It was perfect, we were just chowing down on succulent BBQ meats!

I’m happy to say that the quality of the food hasn’t dropped at all. If anything, they have maintained the quality which is good because most the quality of food in most eateries often decline after a while. My favourite is the rump steak that was BBQ’ed *rare*. Delight, delight! Lamb is a close second. Ooh, the turkey ham was delightful as well!

Now vegetable lovers need not fear because the restaurant has a salad bar too. Many types to choose from. Fresh salads, picked mangoes, sauteed onions, pasta salads and much more! One can actually opt for the salad buffet and only pay half the price of the standard buffet. There’s something for everyone!

We adjourned to StarBucks for a cuppa and were there till late. Had my usual cafe latte (was greedy, went Grande for size instead of the usual Tall size), yum yum!

It was such a fun night and it was definitely good catching up with the rest. I drove home stuffed with food from dinner and coffee!

Magnificent Shiny Disc Hero – Astro

Have you watched it? It’s absolutely hilarious! It’s a promo ad for Astro’s new On-Demand serial delivery service. I love the Hero’s facial expressions.

“Hello friend!!!”

“Tai jor lor!”

The Attic

After dinner at Opus Bistro, we found ourselves in The Attic for some drinks and music. It was Friday Funk night. The Attic is the only place I know that serves Grey Goose vodka! It’s the best

It was fun, we were talking about a certain oily character from work and poking fun at RL’s soon to be married life. The drinks were great and the music was wonderful.

There was a pianist and electric cello playing music. I forgot their names! (I meant to take photos of their name written on a blackboard with chalk, but I forgot). They played many favourite numbers. Many times, RL wanted to leave after the end of a song, but we kept insisting that we’d all leave after one more song. 3 songs later that night we were still there. If i remember the third song was “Stand By Me” and I told RL that was a perfect song to end the night.

When we really wanted to leave, the pianist upped the tempo for the night and began playing Flight of the Bumblebee. It was really cool because it became a full on 6-10 minutes medley! They totally mixed it up and had their own tunes woven into the song. The duo even managed to incorporate MJ’s Smooth Criminal into the medley! The cello player was really into it and he really “goreng” the session.

Now I’m kicking myself for not remembering their names! *Kick, kick!*

After seeing off Lamb, HL (who joined us later), babycarrot and the star of the night RL, A, SW and I decided to have one last round of drinks before calling it a night.

It was a fun night and it was much needed.

I hung the little teddy-bear that RL gave me on the wiper stick in my car and drove home.

More on The Attic here.

A Farewell at Opus Bistro

Last night, we (babycarrot, AL, SW, Lamb, RL) had dinner at Opus Bistro for RL’s farewell. 5 years in the Bank!

Our party trickled in because of work commitment and the traffic jam. When I arrived at the restaurant (the same time with Lamb) there was a sizable crowd dining already. I sat down and ordered cranberry juice and began going through the menu. I don’t think they changed much of their menu since my last visit about a year ago. Even the decor inside remains the same. They did maintain the place better this time. Previously during my last visit, there was visible cracks on the walls and the tables were not in very good condition anymore.

While waiting for the rest to arrive, Lamb and I ordered a bruschetta platter with the following toppings – grilled eggplant, grilled mushrooms and chicken liver pate. AL and SW each ordered mushroom soup.

White Water Rafting at KKB

A few weeks ago, a trip for white water rafting to Kuala Kubu Bharu was organised by my department. I’m not really a fan of eco adventure activities but I did tell myself I should try these things at least once before I die. So I signed up and paid the fee for the trip.

2 Saturdays ago, I had to wake up early to pick babycarrot before meeting the rest of my colleagues at the bank by 7:00am. It was quite difficult to wake up at 5:45am after coming back from late from drinks the night before.

I arrived at the meet up point half awake

Spiced tea

It was raining the whole day of yesterday. When I opened my eyes from my sleep till I retired for the day it was still raining. I didn’t find it miserable for I was feeling nice in the comfort of my own room. If I were stuck somewhere because of the rain, that would be a different story.

After a quick lunch, I decided the cool and damp day was perfect for something warm to drink. I rummaged through the fridge and found a packet of cinnamon bark and another packet of cardamom.

15 minutes later in the kitchen, my pot of spiced tea was ready! I poured myself a mug and another for my dad.  The taste was delish!

Here’s how I prepared it.

All you really need are some tea bags, string discarded. I recommend 2 teabags for 3 mugs. Depending on how strong you like your tea,  you may however prepare it by adding 1 teabag per mug instead. A piece of cinnamon bark, some cardamom (2 pinches) and you’re ready to go.

Fill a pot with water and let boil. Throw in everything and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Soon you’ll be able to pick up the light aromatic fragrance from the cinnamon and cardamom – that means it’s done. Pour tea into mugs and add 2 little teaspoons of condensed milk into each mug, stir and serve hot!

Enjoy!