Dining With Jewelle

Did you watch Anita Sarawak’s Chef Diva cooking show that was aired a few years ago?

I saw a bit of her show then but what fascinated me was not cooking but her. She is simply mesmerizing, don’t you think?

Especially her face.

It’s not that I do not believe her claims, but have you ever noticed how smooth and taut her face is? It’s fascinating how she steadfastly denied having done any work on her face and expects everyone to believe it.

But who could blame her?

When she lived and worked in the States, I’m sure it’s expected that she maintained a certain standard of her appearance and with cosmetic surgery so easily available and widely practised, it would be hard to resist.

I wonder if she did her face in Las Vegas where she was based then or perhaps at Dr. Vitenas from a cosmetic surgery in Houston as he was proclaimed one of Houston’s top doctor and top USA plastic surgeon by various publications.

After all, I’m sure someone like her would only go for the best.

My friend Vee recently asked me if RM20K is enough for a 3 to 4 weeks trip to Canada and USA.

Not being a travel expert, I can only say maybe. We spent about that when we covered Vancouver, Rockies, Toronto, Ottawa and Charlottetown in 2002 and that was only Canada!

Talking about that, it was such a pity that travel blogs were not so well known then. There are times now when hubby and I would disagree on the places that we have actually went to, with no any written records or pictures. Although we did have a digital camera then, we didn’t make too much use of it.

It was such as pity because I think I had a great steak in Charlottetown but I just can’t remember how it looks like! And of course, how could we forget that prawn crackers masquerading as a Chinese “Chow Mein” at the Golden Wok Restaurant in Charlottetown? I wonder if this place still exist.

In fact, not only is the travel blogs from Real Travel such a good idea to keep memories of a trip, it is also useful for trip researchers to read about the experiences and tips of those who have actually went to a particular place.

The best thing is, it’s free to have travel blogs and it’s free to search for tips at the travel blogs at the Real Travel.

When I go for my New Zealand trip, you’ll be sure to have a blog from me there too!

When I upgraded my RAM (or was it memory…) - well, something in my laptop, the technician also installed some games for me.

I think I asked him for a scrabble game and he proceeded to install a software with a whole load of more than 30 games which I hardly every played because it’s mostly those tetris-like game.

I do enjoy the occasional Diner Dash and Pizza Frenzy. But since playing game is only an option if the net is down, nothing good on TV, hubby is not around and there’s no good book, I don’t actually indulge in this past time as much anymore.

Or maybe it’s just because the kind of games that I have installed are not quite the type that I like. Perhaps I should go to a free online games site like the YupGames and download games like the Capitalism or Chocolatier - both business related games.

In fact, I’m quite interested in their “The Apprentice : Los Angeles” and I might check this out, since it’s free!

But the thing is, these kind of games can’t be played in my odd half and hours free time! So obviously, although I sort of enjoy the game, I can’t play chess online too.

Looks like, I just have to stick to quick games like Sally’s Salon or Paradise Pet Salon then.

A relatively recent incident of the “Can I see your ID please?” request was when hubby and I were leaving the Hard Rock Cafe at Niagara Falls, which is besides the entrance to a casino.

It didn’t occurred to us then that the men thought we wanted to enter the casino, which was why they asked for my ID. Of course we didn’t and although the men apologized when they realized that we just wanted to leave, it made me realized that I will never feel comfortable about going to any casino with my face, ever!

Who wants to be asked for ID at the entrance and be embarrassed?

Even if I ever felt that I want to play poker, I’d rather do it online!

Besides, there are so many online poker sites and knowing which one is the better sites is made so much easier with Mac Poker which list and review many of the popular, trustworthy and reputable poker sites for Mac users.

In fact, if you’re really new to online poker, the MacPoker recommends that you check one of the pioneer to online poker called the Pacific Poker which remained popular even today especially with their no-download feature and their $50K guaranteed tournaments cash prizes!

For the graphic lover, MacPoker recommends the FullTilt Poker as this site features changeable backgrounds such as Vegas skyline, jungle and even outer space! It also features a cartoonish table and avatars that with a click of a button can appear happy, angry and confused! Sounds like the kind of place where the young would feel more at ease.

Of course, if you’re a regular poker player or a tournament pro, you would know of Poker Stars, the best online poker room with reputedly the largest number of tournament players during peak hours compared to other poker rooms!

The best thing about this site is that beginners can immediately find out the top sites as well as be informed of the current updates or the amount of poker bonus available for each of the sites!

Even if you prefer casinos rather than just poker, you could get the information of the best casino sites plus online casino bonuses that you can get from the recommended sites according to MacPoker.

Another distinguishing feature is that you can read the reviews of all these sites in other languages; Danish, Spanish, French and a few others - just check out the flags on the right hand side of the site. So as the German would say it, “Poker für Mac” anyone?

In short, this site is really chokeful of information when it comes to online poker sites and if you play or want to play online poker, you’d be a fool NOT to check this place out first!

My parents replaced our old front gate at our Kota Kinabalu home with a monstrous sized gate in bright blue and gold about 5 years ago. To be honest, when I went back on holiday and saw the gate, I thought it was an eye sore and I was amused to know that they actually thought it looked very smart.

So I was hugely glad when they decided to repaint it recently and got my brothers and future brother in law to undertake the job - which took them half a day and left them with peeling skins and 3 shades darker!

It is now a stately black and gold and I know our house won’t be known in the neighbourhood as the house with that blue gate anymore!

Because our house is quite old, we could use a little renovation but I think we could still held our head high when it comes to our front gate now even if we compare ourselves to our nearest neighbours, two of whom have electric gates and one with a elegant swinging gate.

But if I have a say, I’d probably add a classic mailbox such as the Gaines mailboxes which have an impressive lines in their range of Keystones mailboxes.

Just look at some of their signature Keystone mailbox range here. Don’t they look very dignified?

The Gaines classic mailboxes also boast superior quality and you could personalized your chosen mailbox with many different kinds of finishing and brass lettering combinations that will complement your gate! If these tickles your fancy, you’d be interested to know that the company also sells matching curbside decors and address plaques and they ship for free.

The only problem with these mailboxes are, since the area outside our front gate is always very busy with cars reversing and parking, a Gaines pedestal mailbox like that will not last a week!

But if your house is free of that, why not give a classic mailbox a thought?

If all goes well, there is a bit of a renovations work which we’d like to do at home, basically to make more space for everyone as the kids grows bigger and especially to give each family some privacy.

Very important if you have more than one family living under one roof!

We plan to make a few more rooms and that would mean breaking some walls to make new windows or doors. When this idea was first brought up, the biggest concern everyone has was the disturbance made when the walls are hacked. How nice if I could get all the window frames replaced or at least to change all the tinted glasses to clear window glasses. Besides, we don’t have to worry about double glazing our windows so at least we could save on that. 

Speaking of double glazing windows, I remember one of hubby’s friend in Ottawa who resorted to putting sticky tapes around all their windows to prevent drafts from coming in during the winter. He should save himself the trouble and get some specially designed double glazed windows that is energy saving.

As for our own home improvement, I know that it’s better for us to engage professional contractors and I sure wish that there are companies such as the Anglian Home Improvements which has a comprehensive range of home improvements work from windows to driveways to garage and also kitchen.

Well, at least those of you in the UK know who to look for when you plan to do some work with your house!

I have a close friend who moved with her whole family to Perth earlier this year. Her hubby is doing his MBA and she is, according to her e-mail, enjoying herself as a stay at home mother to her brood.

As of today, they have been away for about 6 months. But it really didn’t feel that long ago when that we, together with a few other friends visited them for Christmas last year and talked about the excitement and opportunities of starting life anew in Australia.

In fact, in their enthusiasm that “mothers will get milk money allowances and they don’t have to work!” and rationale that “KK is a time bomb, better get out before it gets worse” did plant some seeds “what if” and “why not” in all our heads.

But however appealing and interesting moving abroad is, I don’t foresee hubby and myself seriously contemplating migrating elsewhere. Brunei, in my opinion is still a great place to live and bring up kids. Besides, if we ever get too bored with home, visiting them in Perth is a few hours flight away.

In fact, since it’s quite near to home, I don’t know why we have never thought of going over there! Hubby has some cousins in Perth and I have a few Sabahan friends who’ve also made Perth their home.

Perhaps, I should try to convince hubby to forgo all his motor show trips in exchange for a trip to Perth. February next year seemed like a good time with the Perth International Art Festival taking place from the 8 February - 2 March 2008.

Besides, sightseeing and catching up with friends and relatives, it would be fun to participate in this cultural festival and I’m sure the kids would enjoy the family oriented events, the circuses or dance performances.

But I’m more interested in the Aquarium of Western Australia where you can explore 12,000 km of Western Australian coastline from this place! We enjoyed the Sentosa Underwater World in Singapore and I’m sure we’ll enjoy this place just as much, if not more.

As for accommodation, I’m sure we’d be offered to stay at friends or relatives but even if we aren’t, hotels in Perth are quite reasonably priced too. My favorite hotel booking site states that a 3 star hotel in Perth starts from AUD60 (approximately B$75).

Hubby has a few cousins over at Melbourne and what better way to explore the Australian scenery if not by their train service which has a direct line that links Perth and Adelaide. Having to stop in Adelaide is much welcomed too because I read that there is a place called Hahndorf, which has a chocolate factory and strawberry farm, two things that I’m sure my kids will enjoy.

The hotels in Adelaide is slightly pricier than from Perth, a 3 stars hotels starts from AUD69 (approx. B$86) but since we’ll probably be here on a quick stop over it won’t cut too much into our budget.

In Melbourne, accommodations are not a problem at all as hotels in Melbourne are relatively much cheaper than Perth and Adelaide, where a 3 stars hotels starts from a mere AUD50 (approx. B$63). So we could stay here longer and explore the Melbourne Zoo and Luna Park.

So you see, although as of this very moment, we have no plans whatsoever to visit Australia, I already have a general itinerary and we could go there tomorrow and I’d know what to do.

Now you know why I just love hotel booking sites and travel sites - never mind that I don’t even travel that much!

Someone in hubby’s work circle used to be posted in Aberdeen (Scotland) for a few months and I think he didn’t quite enjoy it there because he declined an extension and asked to be back to the home office as soon as his tenure was over!

Perhaps Aberdeen was a bit too cold for him.

Given a choice, I think I’d prefer Edinburgh as I visited this city a few times and it’s a charming city. J.K Rowlings obviously found Edinburgh very inspirational too because she wrote her first book in an Edinburgh cafe, did you know that?

Maybe I should nudge hubby to find a job in Edinburgh if only for a few years. Who knows, there is a JK Rowling-esque quality in me that simply needed the Edinburgh air to come out!

But realistically, there really are a LOT of Edinburgh jobs right now according to sites like the GumTree Classified. In fact, there are more than 30 vacancies for engineers in Edinburgh from June until now.

That’s plenty of jobs. Economy sure looks good there.

So a charming city with plenty jobs to choose from and potential bestsellers inspirations….not bad reasons to consider looking for jobs in Edinburgh, don’t you think?

There was a time when a friend and I plotted to convince our car mad other halves for a trip to Europe using the Geneva Motor Show as a bait. Unfortunately for us, hubby is not a fan of Continental cars while things didn’t work out between my friend and her then partner.

Nevertheless, Vienna, Berlin and Geneva are still a few of the destinations on my list of must-visit places around the world (after Prince Edward Island and Christchurch, that is!).

Perhaps when the Air Asia X is fully operational, I could argue on the point that “it’s so cheap to fly there now!”. After all, I know there are some really good deal when it comes to hotels in Vienna or hotels in Berlin when you use sites such as the Cheaper Than Hotel.

In fact, to prove this point, these are the current hotel rates (plus its approximate equivalent in Brunei Dollars) that one could get :

As for travelling within Europe, there are a few airlines such as Air Berlin, GermanWings, Sky Europe as well as the more well known Lufthansa which has various good deals, one being their special web only deals as well as their biddable “happy hour” seats.

But if we have the time, I would love to travel by train!

So really, since accommodations are not that expensive, the only stumbling block right now is just how to get to Europe without going broke!

Maybe with the recent 20% stakes purchase in Air Asia by the Virgin Group, the Air Asia X cheap flights to Europe (Berlin being one of the city considered) will really materialize soon. I read that the rates for this route will start from US$80 (B$122) to US$450 (B$690) and don’t they sound tempting!

You can find out more about Hotels in Berlin and Hotels in Vienna in the German language too.

Both my dad and hubby are avid photographers. They each owned some kind of a Nikon SLR but since the advent of affordable digital cameras, both their cameras had been relegated to gathering thick dusts in the cabinets somewhere, sadly forgotten.

Nowadays however, hubby makes it a “hobby” to collect digital cameras, no DSLR yet, although I am the one who used them more! I love the sharpness of images when I used the FujiFilm S5000 but I like the fast response of the FujiFilm Finepix too. You guessed it, I usually carry both!

One of these days, I will get another digital cameras that fulfil my need as the super-amateur-but-no-interest-to-learn photographer : take night shots using auto mode (none of this nonsense about setting shutter/aperture/etc!) without the use of flash!

Hubby said no camera can give me that. I hope he’s not right.

Besides I think we need to start looking at other brands since all our digital cameras are FujiFilms! I’m not sure why hubby is so loyal to FujiFilm! They are good but perhaps there are other brands which can serve my (special) need without me having to crack my brain trying to learn the techniques.

Maybe I should convince hubby to look into one of the Nikon’s compact camera. This looks very nice, don’t you think?