Fabulous 30: I'm ranking at 1304!

I did my first 10km last Sunday. 

It was my first marathon, surprisingly, it wasn't as hard as I thought it was, but its not something I would say "a piece of cake". 

The whole idea about participating in a marathon was partly peer (and husband) pressure and partly my own interest. Am not sure whether this is a good traits but when I get interested in something, I am like a dog chasing the bone. I will read about it, get ready for it and shop for anything related to it. I was like this before with my first job; my churchie projects; my cakes baking and my recent Korean Drama craze. Spending hours doing the same thing is not an issue as my mind will be completely obsessed about it. 

And that's happened with my running as well. I made a promise to myself early this year that I would do my first marathon before 30 years old. Since then, I have been training religiously day after day, for months. Although there have been those lazy days, but I was able to finish 100km within 3 months. With that being said, I was never a good runner. My stamina is bad and I'm easily feeling short of breath. In fact throughout my training, the maximum I can run continuously without stopping is 5.5km. 

The day before the actual run itself, I was down with flu and was not in my top condition. So there was a lot of uncertainty whether I can really finish the run. Luckily I made it! and the satisfaction is great. It doesnt matter whether I finish it within the first hundred or thousand. But the fact that I managed to finished it within the qualifying time is a reward on its own. 

In fact, sometimes I think our life is like a run. Everyone is running their own race, some has a higher goal of 42km, some maybe just aiming for a 5km. We prepared our best for this race, but sometimes unexpected turns up and we are force to slow down. We may pick up the pace again if we are determined enough, but there is no guarantee that we are going to finish it. But like Jenny says :"Run Forest run!". Keep pressing on and I'm sure the finishing line is in sight.

Its all about cafe

I haven't blog much about food and baking for quite sometimes. Unfortunately just like blogging, baking has taken a back seat ever since I've made the transition into a new job. I know the passion is there and I just to make time for it. Probably if there is a demand (who wants cakes??), I will be more eager to re-ignite this old passion. Usually, its really difficult for Peter and I to finish up a whole cake by ourselves, of course there is a concern with the amount of cab and calories as well. ;) 

On the other hand, good food was never lacking no matter how busy I am. Today I am just gonna share with you some of the nice cafe that I love to visit during those lazy weekends. 

1. Miss Ellie Tea House @Taman Melawati  (ww.missellieteahouse.com)

This cafe is a hidden gem. Located deep in Melawati, it only takes me 7 mins of jog to reach the cafe from my home. The cafe was owned by Peter ex-secondary school mate, who happens to be a pastry chef. The place is quite serene and the whole ambiance spells homey. The menu is simple and straightforward, but the highlight is definitely the great range of freshly baked cakes and dessert. We had both lunch and high tea at the place before, while the lunch were pretty much standard, the deserts were to die for.

 Pictures taken from Miss Ellie Tea house's facebook 

Bangers & mash - grilled chicken sausage, caramelized onion gravy, buttered mash & house salad

Australian beef casserole, buttered mash, vegetables & fresh bread roll

 Panna cotta, creme brule, chocolate fudge cupcakes

And the English Scones, comes with spread of  strawberry jam and fresh cream, which is super good!

2.  That Latte Place@Ampang Hilir

That Latte Place is a modest cafe with the simplest setting yet offers one of the best coffee in town. The al-fresco style cafe is just 10 mins away from KLCC, yet its well shielded from the hustle and bustle of the city. Surrounded by the greens, this is the place where I have discovered my favourite drink - Hazzelnut Milk. 

The open kitchen, where you can see the chefs busy in action 

Cafe latte, hazelnut milk (foamy and yummy!)

We had the egg benedict and the big breakfast the last time we were there. The big breakfast was alright, but the egg benedict is perfect! perfect soft bun, perfect poached eggs and perfect hollandaise sauce. I love to see how the runny egg yolk oozing into the bread, and subsequent into my mouth. ;)

3. Coffee Societe @ Publika, Solaris Dutamas

Peter and I stumbled across this place quite sometimes ago after a scrumptious dinner at Publika. We were walking around looking for a place for a cup of coffee before ending the night, with its hefty looking wooden benches, tables and even wall, coffee Societe looks absolutely welcoming at night. 

We didnt have the chance to try out other stuff on the menu as both time we were there after dinner. The coffee was pretty good, rich and flavourful. One good thing for the coffee lovers is that Coffee Sociate is serving free flow coffee (anything from espresso, mocha to latte) every Friday and Saturday from 6pm to late for only RM 10. But again, there is only so much you can take before coffee overdoes.

Cappuccino with the perfect latte art

Anyway, any coffee lover like to join me for a cuppa?

Are you Chinese enough?

Peter asked me the other day, what's the story behind the mid autumn festival. 

I was kinda caught off guard by his question, but in order to show him that I am a true Chinese of substance, I started to tell him bit and pieces of whatever mid autumn folktales I can dig from my Chinese root. I told him about the sky was once filled 10 suns, the archer Hou Yi went and shoot down the 9 suns in order to save the people from suffering, but for some reason his wife travels to the moon and got stuck there. But there was another story about the origin of mooncakes, whereby the villagers planted the message in the mooncakes so that everyone was called to rebel against the ruling government on the mid autumn day. 

Anyway, Peter looked kinda lost after listened to my disoriented story.

 *embarrassed*

I have to admit that I felt kinda embarrassed. The whole conversation started in the first place because I invited Peter to my friend's place for the mid-autumn customary 'moon-gazing' and moon-cake eating. It's kinda ironic that I couldn't explain to my non-Chinese husband what's mid autumn festival is all about when we Chinese are so gung ho about celebrating it. To make it worse, none of my Chinese friends knew about the full story of mid autumn festival either. 

Frankly speaking, in general, Malaysian Chinese aren't really that "chinese" as we claimed ourselves to be. I can't speak for others, but if I take myself as an example,  I don't know much about the Chinese philosophy like Confucius's春秋; I am least Chinese when it comes to observe the tradition. To make it worse, I don't even look like a Chinese, as many have mistaken me for the Sarawak's natives as I don't have the Chinese stapled slit eyes (mata sepet) and fair skin. In a way, I think we are more Malaysian than Chinese in many ways. This is not really a surprise considering for Chinese of my generation, we live our whole life in the country which basically a melting pot of different cultures and ethnics.    

However, with that being said, I do appreciate my heritage and my root as a Chinese. I was raised in as a Chinese and can never be less of a Chinese no matter how much the surroundings change and what the circumstances are. My understanding towards the Chinese history and teaching may not be all that great, but at least I do see the beauty of the Chinese values such as the importance of the family; the cultivation of morality and the emphasis on hard work and achievement. 

Anyway, happy mid autumn festival folks!

Lantern decoration @mid autumn festival, 2013