Yay, it's weekend again. This means that I do not no need to work on my research for the next 2 days :D We attended a friend's wedding dinner on that night. Anyway, this is going to be a relatively short post since I don't have the mood for blogging, probably too much stress from work, and that altered my mood :O lol.

Anyway, here is the story.


Caption: arrived at the restaurant

At first, we thought we will be late. My dad's friend informed us by asking us to reach to the restaurant at 8:00 PM sharp and I think we reached there at 8:15 PM, lol. Damn, does this mean that we have missed the first dish? :( lol


Caption: dad's friend and my dad

When we reached to the restaurant, we saw him standing at the front of the entrance, giving us a very thankful smile. I think he is really happy to see us attending his wedding dinner :)


Caption: Liz at the staircase near the wedding ballroom of the restaurant

Surprisingly, the environment of the restaurant has changed significantly when compared to the first time visiting the restaurant for dinner. They include decorations everywhere to make it looks more like a wedding hall, but to me, it is still a restaurant afterall, lol.


Caption: the ladies taking picture with the bride

The first thing that we do when reaches the first floor of the restaurant is to sneak into the so called 'private room' for the bride. As usual, I am the camera-man whilst the ladies will stand beside the bride for picture shooting. The bride may look ill to you, but to the fact that she just gave birth to a baby boy in less than 3 weeks! So that is the main reason for looking so pale.


Caption: Enoch, the baby boy

Enoch is so cute! Poor Enoch for surrounded by at least 8 people in that room on that night. Let see, Enoch don't look alike both his mom and dad, he looks very different. Frankly speaking, he looks much cuter than his dad :O Lol.


Caption: the first table (groom and bride, and their family members)


Caption: the couple's friends

Glad we are not the last one to attend the wedding. There were at least 5 tables of people (approximately 50 people) not arrived yet. While waiting for other people, I start taking pictures everywhere. The number of people is not alot really, but I can predict those who have attended the dinner are the groom's best friends.


Caption: parent's friends

It has been a while since parents have been so happy chatting with their old friends. I am really glad their friends have really entertain both my parents well on that night.


Caption: the first dish

Okie, this is extremely important :O that is, the food lol. The first dish is the 'donno-what' four season dish. It consist of 4 different types of foods in a plate. Tastes really good. This is also the reason for not able to capture the foods in the dish entirely since I am busy eating, lol. Liz should be blamed for not reminding me, lol, just kidding.


Caption: the second dish


Caption: shark-fin soup

Yummy! The second dish is the shark-fin soup! It tastes really good.


Caption: the third dish

The third dish is the steamed fish. I think it don't look like a fish at all. The taste of this dish is just acceptable, which means they could have improved their method of steaming a fish. Plus, they splitted the fish into 2, making it looks bigger. Afterall, the portion of the fish is still little for 10 people, lol.


Caption: the groom singing

Out from no where, I heard some weird voice. Its from the groom. He was singing! 'We' (most of us who attended the wedding dinner on that night) could reluctantly accept his singing style on that night, where he received ample of critisizes from his friends lol. Sorry mate, looks like singing is not suitable for you, lol.


Caption: the forth dish

The taste of the prawn dish is special. The combination of sweet and sour juices, with garlic, ginger and onion, and maiyonnaise tastes really well, especially for people who really enjoy eating garlic, ginger and onion like me :)


Caption: the fifth dish

I would like to critisize a little on this chicken dish, because we did not eat the chicken entirely due to the level of rawness. Basically, the entire chicken is raw (raw is a level where the red blood around the chicken is still visible), lol. Yucks!


Caption: the sixth dish

This is basically a vegetarian dish. One of the aunty sitting on the same table as me is a vegetarian. So we just taste a little on this dish, and the remaining portion goes to her.


Caption: anchovies fried rice

I don't feel the fried rice is special, especially tasting some over-frying taste. Besides salty, it is just a simple fried rice. I am not being choosy, but the taste of this dish is really simple. I think the taste could have been improved by adding more garlic. Anyway, I won't comment much since I'm not an expert in cooking :)


Caption: the pouring champagne session


Caption: The groom and bride, and their family members on stage

Before the last dish, the groom and bride were invited to the stage for the 'pouring champagne session'. Then, his and her family members were asked to join them at the stage. This is also the moment when everyone will yell 'Yum Sing', a very exciting session in all wedding dinners.


Caption: the dessert

Before the wedding dinner ends, we were served with red bean soup and some pancake as dessert. Too sweet! Diabetes! I hope you understand what I mean by that term, lol. Overall, I would only rate the food as moderate (5/10). The next few post will be my uncle's wedding dinner that I have recently attended.

I totally lost my appetite in the past few days, so I don't even feel like eating for lunch although I am feeling extremely hungry. On that night, we went for buffet dinner in a restaurant. I was surprised when the hot and sour soup 'opened' my appetite to eat again! Impressive! So, I looked for a friend for receipe. I remember she boiled this soup for me before and it tastes really well.


Caption: hot and sour coup

Ingredient list: 1 piece of tofu, an ounces or two pork tenderloin, some bamboo shoots, some black fungus (slice 3-4 chinese mushrooms into small pieces), some dried lily buds or lotus petals.

You only need to spend approximately 45 minutes to boil this soup.

Firstly, slice the tofu into smaller size, and slice the pork tenderloin before marinading it (I would suggest to marinade the pork for half an hour). To do this, you need 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, half a teaspoon of sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. For two person, you need 6 cups of water. Pour them into a pot. Then, soak the sliced pork tenderloin and lily buds (or lotus petals, or both) into the water. You also need to add 1 can of Campbell's chicken broth's soup. Don't forget to include 1 teaspoon of salt, granulated sugar (add more if necessary) and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Okay, this is important. When boiling the soup for 10 minutes, add in 2 tablespoons of red rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of white rice vinegar (red wine vinegar is fine), and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. 5 minutes later (time elapsed: 15 minutes), add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch (please disolve the cornstarch in a 1/4 cup of water), along with a beaten egg, some finely chopped green onions. Add some white / brown pepper into the soup (make sure not more than 1 tablespoon) and some hot chili oil. She added: "However, the chili oil is optional". Remember to NOT boil the soup for more than 20 minutes.

Hot and sour soup is also very good at warming a person's body during the winter. Try it out and tell me how it tastes!

Been busy again, sigh! I think I have spend approximately one whole day, dealing with the template of the blog again. This time, I wanted something simple but nice. Therefore, I am quite satisfy with this template. Initially, I was planning to include something special into this blog, such as the shockwave / flash files to make this blog more interactive. Too bad, I have failed to do so :( Dealing with blog templates consume too much time. It is something very stressful. It is extremely annoying to sit in front of the computer to edit the HTML codings and uploading every image into Photobucket (Photobucket is an image hosting, video hosting, slideshow creation and photo sharing website, http://www.photobucket.com). Yet, the speed of the connection over here is terrific! Could you imagine to only upload 2 images within an hour? How would you feel? :(

Anyway, I have send another chapter to my supervisor for reviewing a week ago, and received a reply from him: "Dear Hung, your work is fairly comprehensive, though I would be inclined some sections ...." and therefore, I re-worked based on what he suggested, and resend the chapter to him again. This process has been simultaneously on-going for some time now :( Writting a PhD thesis is an extremely boring process. You have to sit down very quietly to read and write all the time *fatigue mind* Anyway, this is an extremely effective approach to deal with dissertation/thesis writting.


Caption: printed every chapter and edit it this way

It is weekend again. My brother-in-law took a day off from his company on that day and asked us to join him shopping. Coincidently, I am free on that day, so we went out together. As far as I concern, planning for a wedding is such a chaos. This may include wedding planner, wedding invitation, groom/brides outfits, wedding photographs, buying wedding ring etc. Firstly, we went to Midvalley (a hyper-shopping complex with 430 shops on five floors, located near Bangsar in Malaysia) to this jewel shop called "Wah Chan". They were having some big sale for up to 70% discount.


Caption: an extremely hectic day at Midvalley


Caption: Roy is measuring the size of his finger

Although the price is really attractive, but the shape of the rings are not really cool to me. I still think they should keep looking for rings in other jewel shops since they still have plenty of time till their wedding day. So we went to floor 2 of Midvalley to shop around. Surprisingly, they have this "Bridal fair" on that day, and will only last for 2 consecutive days. The bridal shops are selling their services at at a very significant discounted rate. A normal wedding package can be discounted for almost 50% from its actual price.


Caption: the entrance of the bridal fair (i)


Caption: the entrance of the bridal fair (ii)

As usual, a person's attention will usually "get hooked" by the first shop near the entrance. That is true. My sister and her husband went directly to the first bridal shop located near the entrance of the fair. What attracted us to the shop is the staffs attitude. They are extremely polite and friendly to their customers (probably this is very normal). My sister forces me to explain why I said they have selected the right bridal shop. My fault :( Well, I don't really know. Instinct? Anyway, I replied: "probably some girls working there are cute, lol?". I was just joking.


Caption: Bridal shop called "TOMS"


Caption: my sister was discussing with the manager in the shop

I don't usually promote something, unless that particular 'thing' deserves promoted. The TOMS bridal shop located at SS2 in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia offered very good services. Both their manager (Mr. Jimmy) and the make-up artist (Miss Quinnie) were both very capable and experience. I am not being judgemental but Miss Quinnie is seriously a very pleasant person. If you plan to get married soon, please look for Miss Quinnie at TOMS (the staff who always has a pleasant smile in her mouth). I think they were able to explain something extremely well. For instance, if you ask me to define an orange. A normal person will only tell you the orange is an orange-colored fruit in a round-form. Whilst an experienced person like Miss Quinnie will explain it more thoroughly, such as a round-shape fruit that is juicy, and at certain time, it is sour due to the nitric acid contained in the fruit. Do you see the differences between the two person?


Caption: lucky draw


Caption: prizes

Spending approximately 3 hours speaking to the staff, both of them finally signed up one wedding package (I do not know the actual amount they have paid since I do not really observe that). Finally we can leave home, yay, lol. Suddenly, Miss Quinnie suggests anyone who have paid a deposit of RM 500 may have a chance to win the lucky draw at 8:00 PM. But the contestants must stay at the hall at 8:00 PM sharp. So if you win a prize and you were not there to collect it, then their participation for that lucky draw is considered as forfeited. That sounds fair to me, but when I looked at the time. Eww, only 3:00 PM. How are we going to wait for the next 5 hours? :(


Caption: a free wedding biscuit

Anyway, we went home for 2 hours, and went back to Midvalley at 6:00 PM. Well, my sister was out of luck on that day. She did not win any prizes. Anyone who have signed up for a wedding package are entitled a free wedding biscuit. Not bad isn't it?


Caption: my sister and Roy at Poh Kong

Few days later, Roy asked us out again. I can see his intention is to get a wedding ring for my sister as soon as possible. Not bad. From my understanding, there are many guy friends out there who do not even bother to walk into the jewel shop with his gf. At least Roy is not such a person :)


Caption: the 2 wedding rings they bought

I will just jump to the conclusion. Roy bought a RM 1K wedding ring and a near to Rm 5K diamond ring for my sister. The 2 ring looks okay to me, acceptable :) I even tried on different ring myself and wonder, "when will it be my turn to buy a ring for my wife?". An immediate answer appeared in my mind, that is, "not soon at all", lol. Nevermind, not important since something is much more important than marriage for me. At the same time, my mom bought a gold necklace for my aunt for her wedding. She is having her wedding soon, in a week's time (I will post that very soon). I can't believe the price of gold increases significantly. For instance, a gold necklace worth RM 500 in the past 12 years can be sold for RM 1, 300 or more today. Girls, can you accept a silver ring for your wedding? This is highly beneficial for your husband okay? Lol.


Caption: I tried on one wedding ring


Caption: sister has been trying on different wedding rings


Caption: gold necklace for my aunty's wedding


Caption: 3 carat diamond earring

Finally, before leaving the jewel shop, I saw this 3 carat diamond earring (1.5 carat each). If you look clearly to the image in the above, that 3 carat diamond earring cost RM 293, 000. WoW! Carat (or Karat in US) is a unit for measuring the weight of jewels. A friend told me a 5.5 carat diamond ring will usually cost USD 1 - 2 Million.

Initially, I do have an intention to make this post since a month ago. However, this post would has some interrelation to a friend's illness at that time. I am worrying to attach some 'exaggerating' pictures related to such disease, since it can be really gross for someone who has such illness to look at those images. In addition, this post may cause her not able to perform well in her exams. Anyway, she has recovered.


Caption: my hand with minor rashes

I encountered the same illness approximately two months ago, when I start to struggle with student's coursework. The significance of stress causes all these, not only to my hand, but all over my body (except my face). Rashes commonly from the head and slowly spreading downwards. It is itchy! horrible! distracting! I know it could be worse if i scratch my body at that time, so i apply different medicine to stop the itch. *touch wood* you will not believe how terric it is to have rashes ALL OVER your body unless you experience it *touch wood*


Caption: the most ghastly rash due to plantation oil

I have been reading medical articles online, and perhaps, looking for Dr. Rui for discussion again (we always discuss something related to health when we are free). He believe this is some kind of skin disease called the Eczema. I tried to understand this illness in more detail, so I went for some articles. I found that eczema is a kind of skin disease. Well, in fact, there are lots of different skin disease. But eczema is definitely one of the most common type. Seriously, we can not undersand eczema (can only predict) entirely since skin disease is originally complicated. Plus, I am not a medical doctor, so I will try to understand based on what I read, listened and discussion with a doctor. Eczema will not spread from one person to another, so if you see a person with rashes all over his body, do not worry, it should not trasmit to you.


Caption: eczema

Eczema may caused from different symptoms. I heard eczema will most commonly inherit from your parents / grandparents genetically. We called that as atopy. Atopy represents family tendency to a variety of allergic conditions (i.e. asthma, fever, eczema etc). If that is the reason for you to have eczema, then there will be no cure. Well, most medical doctors may also tell their patient the same thing, that is, the form of eczema may appear on a person's body without a proper reason. Yes, no reason to cause rashes to appear on your body!

Eczema is a form of redness, swelling, itching and dryness, crusting, flaking, blistering, cracking, oozing, or bleeding. This may be due to some popular reasons, such as dryness and recurring skin rashes. Of course, there are different reasons which causes eczema. According to Dr. Rui, (1) the detergent/soup that we have used, (2) infection from different bacteria (we called that as germs or epiphyte) from the allergic of food, (3) the changes in hormone levels (affecting women's monthly period) may trigger eczema. From my understanding (from reading and personal opinion), the (4) environmental effect (i.e. the changes of weather, such as from cold to very warm) is one of the factor. I have observed plenty of cases related to rashes, and the environmental effect should definitely be included. Secondly, the (5) rose of stress level in a person is an additional factor. Other relevant factors may include irritations such a pollen and dust (this a very minimal cause to me).


Caption: atopic eczema in the hand


Caption: xerotic eczema in the leg


Caption: seborrhoeic dermatitis in the head

Dr. Rui explained to me in a more detail manner, telling me that there are several types of eczema; atopic (family disease based on hay fever and asthma), contract (wet allergic), xerotic (dry skin), seborrhoeic dermatitis (related to dandruff). I did not asked him in detail to explain when he told me eczema normally ONLY take place on the arm and leg. It will rarely occur on a person's body entirely. This makes me a little confuse. The rashes appearing on mine and my friends body entirely, and not only the 2 segments of our body.

If so, eczema is not the case.


Caption: dermatitis

Therefore, Dr. Rui suggest a different possibility of skin infection, that is the dermatitis. Dermatitis is originally a general term for skin disease. In other words, Skin disease > Dermatitis > eczema. It looks like eczema is one of the cause of dermatitis. Confuse isn't it? Dermatitis is a wider range of skin disease than the eczema. Therefore, both eczema and dermatitis share different concept, whcih means they are similar but NOT the same. According to Dr. Rui, eczema will usually only affect our knee and the front of our elbow. It may 'sometimes' affect our chest, face and neck (but I think only at one section), but that possibility is just too minimal if that relates to our situation. This means, if a person's body is affected entirely, that must be an extremely serious problem. It could not be eczema in that case.

Both dermatitis and eczema (or other related skin disease) could not be cure since there is no cure originally for skin diseases. So doctor may only prescribe medicines to control the symptom from spreading to a wider range in your body or treating the patient to feel better, and thats about it. Dr. Rui suggest that the current medicines that we have in this world may only cure clarified diseases. This means that other minor diseases such as flu, coughing etc., or perhaps more harmful diseases such as AIDS, cancer (tumor) etc. may only be treated and / or control since up-to-date, these diseases could not be cured entirely. This is also a reason for many ongoing researches trying to explore cure for many diseases in the medical field.

We may reduce the irritation of eczema with different medication approach.

Mild steroid cream and emollients suppose to be effective IF YOU get advice from the doctor and / or pharmacist before using them. I heard those two may produce some serious side effect (i.e. your skin may become thin and fragile, or worstly, when your body significantly absorb the steroid, it may lead to a different type of skin infection - that would be worst), so be extremely precautios and seek for a doctor before using them. If those two will not help at all to reduce the rashes on your body, then try going for a strong steroid creams that your doctor can prescribe (again, make sure you get advice from doctor before using it).


Caption: some antibiotics to reduce the impact of rashes

Using antibiotics is an alternative to steroids, and may seem to be safer to use (I have been using them to reduce the itch and irritation of skin when i have rashes all over my body). First aid antibiotic ointment such as flucloxacillin or erythromycin, or the one that I have been using (combination of Neosporin - antibiotic, and Mobiko - to reduce the itch) seem to be extremely effective for me. However, you may only get "Neosporin" in the US and not other countries whilst the Mobiko only from "Malaysia"? I am not 100% sure though. Some anti-itch drug cream may also help to reduce itch (i.e antihistamine).


Caption: chinese medicines

Chinese medicines may also help. But sometimes, the measurement of chinese herbs exceeds the amount that your body may accumulate will produce side effects to a person's liver or possibly damaging it. This has been reported in some medical articles. If the rashes are due to environmental effects, then you should try avoiding dry skin. To do so, try using some moisturizing cream since it is one of the most effective self-healing treatment to prevent dried skin.

If you are too stressful, make sure you relax, drink plenty of plain and warm water, and try consuming more vitamin B suppliments (B complex consist a spectrum of vitamin B that a person's body may require, such as B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12, and additional such as B13 - B22 , Bh, Bm, Bp - each produces different function) if you dont usually consume foods that contain all the vitamin B. I heard vitamin B complex will improve a person's nervous system. If so, vitamin B complex should be quite effective in the reduction of stress. Sometimes, the sleep deprivation effect may also cause the increase of a person stress level (I will write a post related to stress and ways to optimise stress in the next few posts). I will also suggest to consume some 'warm' milk before sleeping. I have tried it myself and it sometime helps!


Caption: the outcome from scratching eczema / dermatitis

One major reason of consuming those suppliments, and perhaps going through mediciation processes (i.e. as mentioned in the above, or going to meet the doctor in a hospital, in the dermatology department) may ONLY help to reduce the itchness of the skin disease. Remember to not scatch itch red patches (rashes) if it is visible at anywhere on your body, else it may worsen the condition since rashes will normally expand its range when a person start scratching it.