anniversary

Mother’s Day: Haagen-Dazs ice cream cake, Garrett’s gourmet popcorn, Tiffany’s heart pendant

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Garrett Mix Popcorn

I wanted to get my better half something she’s never had before so I popped into Garrett’s to get some of their Chicago Mix (sweet Caramel Crisp with savory Cheese Corn) popcorn. I thought she’s never had it before but it turns out that I was wrong. -_-

Garrett Popcorn Malaysia

I got the new Mother’s Day Garrett Blossom Tin coz I knew my dear likes nice packaging (which she will repurpose). It’s a new tin that came out for the season, which I thought was pretty strange coz popcorn is not something I associate with Mother’s Day.

Garrett Mothers Day Popcorn Tin

Go figure.

Garrett Blossom Tin

Interesting fact: Garrett’s was sued over the usage of the term “Chicago Mix” so they call their 1/2 sweet caramel popcorn and 1/2 savory cheese popcorn Garrett Mix now. This took effect in the United States, but stores in Malaysia still uses Chicago Mix for this sweet/savory popcorn mix.

Tiffany Co KLCC

I also got her a pendant from Tiffany’s & Co.

Tiffany Pendants

I had called up in advance to reserve a double interlocking ring pendant. I had given her one almost 2 years ago and I wanted to present her with an updated version from the TIFFANY 1837 collection. I went to the Tiffany’s outlet in Suria KLCC and got the full VIP treatment, which was quite nice. smirk

Tiffanys VIP Treatment

I was seated and given a range of products to look at. However, the item I was interested in was a demo unit, which I didn’t want, so I looked at the other options before finally settling for the Elsa Peretti Open Heart Pendant.

Elsa Peretti Tiffany

This is a double heart design – one heart in sterling silver and the other heart in 18k rose gold. It’s RM 2,600 but money well spent coz she loved it! This actually happened during her birthday but I never got around to posting about that so I’m incorporating it into this post.

Tiffany Double Heart Pendant

Come to think of it, I haven’t had time to post about our monthsaries too, so I’ll do a round-up post soon – 8 things I did for the past 8 months or something like that. Haha.

Haagen-Dazs

Back to Mother’s Day, I also got her a Haagen-Dazs ice cream cake!

Haagen-Dazs Girls

They have a Mother’s Day promo which gave out a free minicup multipack (4 x cups in a box) with every order of a 1 kg ice cream cake so I ordered a Double Chocolate Royale.

Haagen-Dazs Reserved

It costs RM 149 for a 1 kg ice cream cake (pure ice cream only, none of that cake or sponge fingers nonsense) which makes Haagen-Dazs a little more expensive than Baskin-Robbins (you can get a HUGE 9″ cake with ice cream scoops on top for the same price) but I think the former is trying to brand itself as more exclusive.

Haagen-Dazs Custom Ice Cream

However, we always eat at Baskin-Robbins (in fact that was how we met) so I went for Haagen-Dazs for the Mother’s Day cake.

Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream Cake

I know she’s never had this before and had to book in advance to get the flavor we want (it’s usually Macadamia Nut otherwise) so it’s specially custom made.

Blurry Mothers Day Selfie

Here’s our blurry Mother’s Day selfie.

Double Chocolate Royale

The kids loved it and we had so much fun playing with the dry ice too!

Dry Ice Experiments

You can actually dump dry ice in a tub of water with some liquid soap and it’ll produce lotsa bubbles which pop with smoke (actually CO2) – the kids absolutely enjoyed that so it was a great Mother’s Day! <3

Our (potentially) free anniversary, trips and presents!

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Pandora Essence Bracelet

It’s our anniversary last week and I bought a new charm for my better half to add to her new Pandora Essence bracelet. This bracelet is a new one that I bought for her last month, the previous Pandora bracelet is full to capacity!

Pandora Essence Charms 2014

I chose the Intuition charm coz I like the backstory and text – it says “The wisdom of the soul/Follow its guide” and it’s priced at RM 633. It’s a little more expensive than regular Pandora Essence charms coz it’s made with 14k gold.

Pandora Intuition

I went very early in the morning and bought it with my credit card, hoping to get RM 300 off (more about that later) but unfortunately I was too late. Not to worry though, I use my Maybank credit card quite often so it’s just a matter of time!

Pandora Essence Intuition

I actually learned of the Maybank I <3 100% Cashback Every Day promotion when I bought a LEGO Movie set for my dear. I was surprised to see the promotional banner for it just inside the store. The kids are really into Lego nowadays and we just bought another LEGO CITY box originally priced at RM 179.90 for the kids when we went back to Sibu during the weekend.

Lego Cashback

The kids love exercising their creativity with LEGO and we have happily indulged them in this mind building investment – it’s better for them to build something than to be stuck to the iPad playing games the whole day and we are collecting the LEGO CITY series for them to create their very own city!

LEGO Maybank

I bought them three sets of LEGO since they’re so into it now. Yup, we got them all in Sibu as a present for them and we plan to give them one when I come back and leave the other two for Christmas.

KitKat Oreo

It’s always fun to spend with my Maybank credit card since there’s a chance I would get the item for FREE with the 100% cashback promotion. I also bought our flight tickets back to Sibu during the weekend and the return trip to KL using my credit card.

Krave Cereal

We went to Hat Yai last weekend and I used it to purchase some candy for ourselves and the kids at the grocery stores over there. It’s cheaper in Thailand and there’s no minimum spend! I travel so much that my credit card is authorized to go around the world anyway.

Panettone Cookies

Christmas and the festive season is coming very soon and it’s always good to get presents for friends and loved ones. We bought two boxes of panettone (an Italian sweet bread loaf eaten during Christmas and New Year) and a pack of holiday cookies made in Germany as gifts for my dad and our friend Arthur before we flew back to Sibu for the weekend.

Hokey Pokey Squiggles

You might want to begin using your Maybank credit card for the festive season for everything from presents to trips to dining, depending on your inclination coz there’s a chance you’ll get a 100% cashback – making your purchase free! There’s no minimum spend required and the campaign lasts until 31st January 2015.

Sarawak Sambal Laksa Paste

I even used it to buy Sarawak sambal laksa paste from Sibu to bring back to KL. 🙂

Flight Sibu

Don’t have a Maybank credit card? No worries, just apply for one and you just might get a free trip with the I <3 25,000 Bonus Air Miles campaign! Get more details about how to apply for the premium credit cards and the promotion at the I LOVE 25,000 Bonus Air Miles site.

DQ Blizzard Thailand

You can also win yourself a Polo Sedan with the I <3 5 Polo Sedan by just applying and spending with your new Maybank credit or charge cards! You will also get complimentary gifts from spending certain amounts and this campaign period is from now till 28th February 2015.

LEGO City

There’s just plenty of love to go around this festive season, whether you’re an existing or new premium or regular Maybank credit card owner. I’ve been with them exclusively since 2008 and I’ll be using my Maybank credit card for *everything* daily from petrol to dining to take advantage of the I LOVE 100% Cashback Every Day campaign!

A very LEGO x Pandora Essence anniversary

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Emmet

We just had our latest anniversary and I surprised my better half by going to the official LEGO shop in Malaysia and getting something for her. I wanted to get the Emmet figure from The LEGO Movie but you can’t get it now. You have to get it in one of the official LEGO movie sets.

lord business evil lair

I got the Lord Business Evil Lair (RM 349.90) from the end scene in the movie coz it has all the LEGO characters that she likes. We plan to build it together with the kids…and GLUE IT ALL UP WHEN IT’S DONE!

That’s a joke from the movie, BTW. Haha.

LEGO Minifigures Pack

I also got the collectible LEGO Minifigures (RM 14.90 each) which are all the rage now. I picked three – one for my dear and one each for the kids and let them choose. The big one managed to get the one that she wanted (a spaceman with spacesuit) and the little one got a cowboy. My better half got a princess with a dog frog.

I didn’t get one for myself since the big one has two Player 1 LEGO minifigures (you don’t know what is inside until you open it) so I’ll select one as my own avatar. smirk

LEGO Store Malaysia

I also got an official LEGO ice cube maker (RM 30) which makes the red brick sized LEGO ice cubes. I thought my dear would appreciate it in her overnight oats endeavours – I suggested freezing bricks of LEGO milk or using it as a mould to make see-through raspberries suspended in clear gelatin LEGO bricks as a food decoration.

Lego Shop

My better half has always been very thoughtful with her gifts and I love that she keeps me in her heart and always thinks of me in everything she does. She got me a very nice pair of flip flops coz my favorite pair I bought from Club Med Bali has literally been worn to rags. She also got me lots of imported chocolates!

ling food

She always keeps me fed with her delicious home cooked food and writes thoughtful and loving cards for me too.

one i love

I’ve been keeping our story with Pandora charms and the last one I got her was a Princess heart with zirconium and gold crown. I also wanted to get her a new Pandora bangle style bracelet last month since her bracelet is so full now that it’s impossible to fit any more charms!

pandora princess charm

I had casually asked her what she thought about the Pandora Essence line (which is a new line meant for a more mature audience) and I remember her telling me that it’s nice but it’s a bit unfortunate that it’s not compatible with the regular line.

pandora essence collection

Well, since her Pandora bracelet has already been filled to capacity (we’ve been together for almost two years) I thought I’ll bring her out and surprise her with a visit to Pandora to get her fitted with the new Pandora Essence bracelet!

love essence charm

I also got one Pandora Essence charm to go with the bracelet – these charms are not interchangeable with the regular line but it’s nice coz it won’t move around – there’s an inner coating of some kind which prevents it from shifting. The first charm I got to start is aptly called Love.

pandora essence

Pandora Essence has many different charms named after characteristics e.g. Caring, Determination etc and I thought it’ll be nice for her to wear a new bracelet while I get her old one cleaned since I can get that done free of charge (due to my almost monthly patronage of Pandora). I plan to build our stories on Pandora Essence for the time being and get *another* regular Pandora bracelet for her after it’s filled…

LEGO purchases

…so we can continue creating more new stories in the future on a brand new bracelet! <3

Our anniversary: Shark breakfast, Body Shop, iPad mini

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vday pandora

I know, some of you might be wondering why we have so many anniversaries. Haha! It’s coz we do the monthsary (monthly anniversary) thing that I think is a great way to show love, affection and keep the relationship exciting! I love the homemade crafts that my better half usually comes up with. I like to cook something special for her too!

ipad mini

Our actual anniversary is coming up though and my dear already gave me a wonderful present – it’s an iPad mini! I had an iPad 2 and was constantly gaming and reading ebooks on it until one day it *stopped working* and my loss didn’t escape the notice of my better half.

ipad 16gb

It’s one of my greatest pleasures to read ebooks on my iPad and I have been missing that coz I don’t like reading on dedicated ebook readers like Kindle, nook etc – I own one and hardly use it – the lack of back-light just didn’t do it for me since I mostly read in low-light conditions.

engraved ipad

She even got it engraved! <3 body shop cny special

I got her something from Body Shop. I saw the Chinese New Year special gift bags, and one was called Oriental Deluxe (RM 128) and featured all sorts of Japanese themed body shampoo and lotions – the cherry blossom (sakura). I thought that it would be nicer than the RM 88 one since we’re planning a trip to Japan!

ling poh

It also comes with a red loofah and it’s more meaningful to us coz of our upcoming Japan trip so I got that for her. I do think that the stuff there is slightly overpriced though – RM 20 for a hotel sized body shampoo bottle! It’s all good though! 🙂

pandora heart locket charm

Of course, tradition dictates that I give her a Pandora charm. It has become one of our anniversary staples and I want to keep it going since every charm tells a story of our relationship. She had made me this sweet vow exchange in a Pandora box during the previous anniversary – it’s two hearts, she wrote in one, telling me that she loves me and the other is empty for me to write.

pandora ang pow

The Valentine’s Day collection for Pandora is out and there’s a charm in there that’s shaped like two hearts! It’s actually a locket – it’s magnetic and opens up to show a red interior – one says Me and the other You. I thought it was like bringing the wonderful vow she gave me to life, and on a charm!

pandora valentines bag

I also know she’s a big fan of collecting nice ang pows and Pandora has a promotion where they gave out one pack of ang pows for a purchase of RM 888 on a single receipt. I didn’t qualify since the charm I got was RM 295 so I asked the nice staff at Pandora at TCM if they could make an exception.

pandora red packet

They had to call the Pandora Marketing Manager (Mandy? Wendy?) of Malaysia to get her approval and I explained over the phone how my girlfriend was a big fan (maybe it helped that I have a consistent purchase history too – at least once a month) and it would be much appreciated if she can make an exception and release one of coveted the Pandora ang pow packs.

pandora story

She was really nice about it and so was the staff at Pandora in TCM – cheers for that! I reckon this was the best “gift” of all, although I didn’t purchase it coz I had to do so much to get it. Pandora is quite strict about giving them out since it’s tied to the RM 888 promotion so thanks for giving a regular customer one! It totally made my better half’s day!

butter poached shark

I also cooked butter poached shark for breakfast! BTW, these are not the endangered species (contrary to popular belief, 70% of shark species are non-endangered, even according to the most conservative Sea Shepard type estimates and lots of people eat them nowadays in an effort to eliminate by-catch waste). I didn’t think it would be good but the shark surprised me! The meat was surprisingly tender and delicious and it was totally different from the shark meat that I’ve eaten before (either sandy or fermented like hakarl in Iceland).

pandora me you charm

I’ll post up my recipe tomorrow! I’ve got lots to write now that CNY is nearly here, just had my first pun choi session last night too! 😀

Our anniversary: Cardboard apartment, Christmas pudding, Murano glass charm

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godiva craft apartment

My dear gave me a really *wonderful* present during our anniversary. It so happens that our anniversary also falls on Christmas so I had two gifts! She made this apartment out of craft paper and cardboard on a Godiva chocolate box base I had given her.

vows exchange

The entire creation is very intricate – there’s a lot of detail to everything, including a vow exchange, appropriately put inside a recycled Pandora charm box. <3 mailbox

It’s very beautiful and creative, and the Godiva box used as a base is a bit of an inside thing. She had given me the *cover* the previous month and now it’s a set with the *base*. I had originally given it to her as a trilogy of premium chocolates. Haha!

cardboard apartment

The gift is actually a MasterChef Australia dinner @ the apartment. Geddit? She got 4 x RM 50 worth of vouchers from winning a contest – thus, the apartment inside a cardboard apartment. 😀 The questionable thing about the vouchers it that they state that each one can be used on a per table, per meal basis. I thought that was a bit dodgy – this was the first prize of the contest!

christmas present

She had already known about the set dinner, it’s something we both like since we watched Season 5 together. She was prepared to pay the rest of the balance and use just a RM 50 voucher due to the rules but it turns out that the supervisor accepted all the vouchers, so that’s good.

chocolate covered pretzels

I also got a box of chocolate pretzels as a Christmas gift! 😀

secret candy surprise

This is something that stems out of when she always used to cook for me. I’ll eat from her Tupperware boxes, wash them, and fill them with “secret candy surprises” so when she opens them, she’ll see her favorite candy as a gesture of thanks.

murano charm

I got her something that had always been missing from her Pandora bracelet, which is a Murano glass bead charm! She had originally mentioned that it seems a bit uncomfortable and clunky but I had seen her looking at it in the brochures so I got her a nice pink and purple one!

christmas anniversary

I also got a cute, red box to keep the charm inside. I found it while browsing through the Christmas stuff aisles and thought it would be nice to hide the charm in since I always seem to give her the same thing each anniversary. Heh. I also bought a tiny card to write a message to her.

christmas mini pudding

Pandora also sent me a RM 50 voucher for being a Pandora Club Member. Unfortunately, I had listed that I wanted to cash it in at Paradigm Mall instead of TCM and it expired on the 31st December 2013 so I didn’t get to use it at all!

pandora murano charm

I also got her another charm as a Christmas present – thus, this is the anniversary where she got two charms instead of one! I got her a Christmas tree charm so she’ll remember that this is our anniversary which coincided with Christmas! smirk

boiling christmas pudding

It was quite late when we did our gift exchange and I had bought a small Christmas pudding just for this dual-celebration.

christmas pudding

The mini pudding is quite nifty, you just need to dump the entire packaging into boiling water for 20 minutes! The wrapper is heatproof and it warms up the Christmas pudding nicely. It tastes good – there’s lots of brandy inside (thus the Tidak Halal sticker) and just the right portion for two.

loving

We had it with a scoop of ice cream to end the night with. I’m lucky to have you dear! Thanks for the thoughtful and loving MasterChef dinner anniversary gift and the house which you built. *hugs*

Our November pine cone anniversary

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november anniversary

It’s our November anniversary! 🙂 That’s one month from the end of the year and I remember how we started in Melbourne in February – one year from the start of the year. I wrote about How I Met Your Mother in Melbourne when we went to Australia for a trip earlier this year. I wanted to get her something to remind her of that.

raw kangaroo roast

I cooked her a kangaroo roast while staying at Citadines on Bourke, a serviced apartment that’s the second most expensive hotel we stayed in while we were there. The most expensive was Rydges on Swanston where we spent our second night there coz all the rooms were booked out – it was Formula One finals in Melbourne, and I didn’t know – the basic room cost AUD 680 per night (RM 2,100).

gordon ramsey duck

Anyway, we both cooked for each other this anniversary – I made Gordon Ramsey’s Pan Fried Duck with Parsnip Purée and Madeira Jus and she made a wonderful rosemary Chicken Maryland for me.

rosemary maryland chicken

She said it was the best dish I’ve ever cooked, counting the Poached chicken breast with beetroot and nectarine purée so I probably need to replace that in Best of sixthseal.com. Haha!

chef

I’ll write how I made the duck later. It was the most technical thing I’ve done to date…or according to my better half, the least technical, but the most delicious!

cone

Anyway, back to Melbourne, she really liked a pine cone that we found on Phillip Island but unfortunately we couldn’t bring it back.

pandora christmas 2013

Pine cones are everywhere back when I was in university. I started this blog in April 2002, back when I was still studying in Melbourne. I know that Customs might give us a hard time if we attempted to bring it back (they’re quite strict on plants and eggs which can introduce blight into the country) so I said I’ll get her one next time…

pandora pinecone

…and so I did. smirk

hair ring

I tried to tell her I didn’t get her anything and gave her a complimentary hair ring that was in the Fullerton Bay Hotel, Singapore room toiletries (quite a nice hotel). I don’t think she believed me though, coz I always say that each anniversary.

pinecone

This is from the Pandora Christmas 2013 Collection. It’s a pine cone with red accents and I got it for her as an anniversary gift and also an ode to our first vacation together.

pandora our story

I got a bit OCD and wanted the heart to face inwards so I fiddled with her charm bracelet a bit. Heh. It really does tell our story together. I’m lucky to have her in my life and I’m glad that we’re together.

Happy anniversary to us in the month of MOREvember! 😀

Buttered King Grouper with White Wine Reduction in Bouchees Poissons

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fish inside fish

This is a dish that I made for my better half during our anniversary. It’s basically fish inside a fish pastry case! 🙂 Bouchee is a small flaky pastry shell and the word poissons means “fish” in French. There’s apparently only one manufacturer who makes bouchees poissons from a Google Image search.

This is my interpretation of Bouchee a la Reine – a French pastry dish but without the bechamel.

bouchees poissons

I bought a 250 gram piece of King Grouper at RM 80 / kg. It cost me slightly over RM 20 and I like this fish due to the relative lack of bones. You will need:

  • Fillet of grouper
  • Dry white wine
  • Fish pastry shells
  • Lemons
  • Arugula
  • Applemint
  • Butter
  • Salt and pepper to taste

king grouper

I pan fried the King Grouper with lots of butter to produce a nice sear before removing it from the pan.

dry white wine

The next thing I did was to break down the fillet of King Grouper into smaller pieces so it’ll fit into the fish pastry shells.

arugula puree

I decided to play with my food processor and make an arugula and applemint puree. I had read up on it and blanched the arugula in hot water quickly before removing it and adding lemon juice so it retains that *bright green* color.

blancing arugula

However, the arugula and applemint puree turned out to be a bit of a disaster. There was just too little of the wild rocket leaves. 80 grams got processed into barely two tablespoons of watery “puree”. It did taste good though – the acidity from the lemons and the addition of applemint really makes it pop.

Sorry if that oft-repeated pretentious term made you cringe. It made me laugh while typing it too. smirk

arugula applemint puree

I had the impromptu idea of removing the insides of the bouchees poissons to the white wine reduction sauce and small pieces of King Grouper so there’s pieces of flaky pastry to soak up the liquid.

white wine reduction

This has the added benefit of heating up the fish before serving.

bouchee a la reine

I also plucked a bit of basil from our herb garden and added it to the fish pastry shells stuffed with buttered King Grouper. It was so good we finished all four (4) of the bouchees poissons – which has a net weight of 120 grams in addition to the fish! 🙂

Him: Ramen Burger Dinner / Her: Expensive handbag

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pink handmade handbag

I have often joked with my better half that I won’t be able to buy her an expensive designer label handbag for at least for a couple of years. It’s a bit of an inside joke, she doesn’t want it from me but it has become a running gag for quite a while…so I decided to give her one on our anniversary.

It cost me all of RM 5.90. smirk

I saw this pink 3M corrugated board (it’s not cardboard) at Borders and decided to make an “expensive handbag” for her. It’s in her favorite color too! Haha!

3m pink corrugated board

I wrote:

VERY!!! EXPENSIVE (& big) HANDBAG

on the front and cut a 1” strip from the corrugated board to make a “handle”. I had to use multiple industrial grade staples and some 3M surgical tape to seal it too, it isn’t an easy material to work with. Inscribed on the other side is:

WARNING:

  • Sharp Edges Can Cut
  • Won’t Last Long
  • Very Flimsy

with arrows pointing to the top

expensive handbag

and:

SOUNDS BAD, BUT LOOK INSIDE DEAR!

with a crudely drawn quasi-logo and our anniversary date.

bag inside bag

It’s actually a bag inside a bag inside a bag!

pandora club member

It’s like those Russian nesting dolls that goes into each other. The first bag is my handmade one, the second is a Pandora paper bag, and inside that is their latest Autumn 2013 handbag charm! 🙂

pandora handbag

I have thought about doing this since last month and hope she didn’t notice the charm in the catalog. I am a Pandora Club member, which I hear will have benefits along the lines of 30% off later next year. I was told membership is automatic upon the purchase of RM 3,000 (didn’t even know I had amassed that much) and I have a feeling that a lot of the club members are not females but their boyfriends or husbands who gets it for them. I wonder what their marketing would make of that.

ling gift

My dear on the other hand laboriously made me a menu which is also about how we tend to celebrate our anniversary. It’s like a menu from one of those gourmet burger bars that’s all around but hers has an intriguing option:

ramen burger
Ramen noodle patties!

custom menu

I chose that along with the pork patty (menu says highly recommended and asked me to think thrice about ordering the beef patty haha). I also have toppings, sauces, drinks and dessert!

anniversary menu

She gave me a yellow smiley sticker to put on the handmade burger menu that she made to indicate what I wanted and she cooked me a very delicious dinner the next day!

pandora bag charm

I love my dear coz she’s always very thoughtful and I know that I’m very lucky to have her.

loving us

It was a great anniversary as always! You’re the best dear! *hugs*

Summer truffles, our own garden and chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches!

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tuber aestivum

This is what I got my better half for our anniversary! It’s summer truffles or Tuber aestivum. It’s not as good as white truffles or black truffles but it’s something I can afford without breaking the bank – a small chunk of Perigord black truffle the size of a snail can cost RM 2,000 – if you can find it!

white truffle aroma

I’ve never found truffles for sale here. I’ve seen olive oil infused with white truffle flavor (which usually costs around RM 100 for 200 ml) but that’s a very different thing. White truffle flavor isn’t white truffle, it’s synthetic, but it’ll make a good condiment (some people call it the mediocre chef’s crutch ;)). It tastes good and that’s what you get when you order thick cut truffle fries.

black truffle aroma

But there are actually no real truffles inside that bottle of olive oil. It’s just chemicals for flavor. One step up would be the 1% truffle oil infusions where you do get a few small shavings of truffles (equivalent to 5% fresh truffle) but is also rounded up with artificial truffle flavor and aroma.

truffle oil

This would usually set you back around RM 200 or so for a 200 ml bottle. I wanted to get this one actually since it has that distinctive truffle aroma I wanted my dear to taste.

However, I saw real summer truffles from Italy! It’s just 35 grams (50 grams if you include the water) and it comes in a tiny bottle that I thought would be perfect for a present!

summer truffles

I’ve wanted to get her some truffles since she’s never had them before. This is just about what I can afford right about now and I thought it’s nice to get real truffles for that price!

herb garden

My dear got me this! It’s a living garden – or rather a herb garden that she made and stuck with all sorts of notes. I love it!

(and also a toothbrush and hand washing liquid – she has a very practical side that I love)

I’ve been taking care of it ever since! I water it a little every day and give it some sun (recently started putting it outside at night so it’ll get some dew too). I thought it’s a perfect present, she’s always so thoughtful. We can now harvest our own herbs from our own garden! 😀

pandora autumn 2013

I also got her a Pandora charm from the new Autumn 2013 collection.

pandora charm

I thought this one was quite relevant and she said something that I felt quite happy about – the charm bracelet has our own story! I’m glad she liked it.

food processor

I also made dinner for her (more about that soon). It was a working day so I had to rush here and there, running about like a madman trying to get everything I needed.

cookie ice cream

It was a very nice anniversary that we rounded up with a nice chocolate chip cookie sandwich filled with ice cream from Good Humor.

hb ling 7th

I’m glad to have her in my life, it has brightened it much and I’m all the better for that! <3 pandora 2013

I love you dear! *hugs my dear*

Our wonderful anniversary: Burgers, durian mooncakes and home made gifts!

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sixth anniversary

It’s our anniversary today! 🙂

I had told my better half that I totally forgot about it, thinking it was Monday. I think I managed to really convince her I dropped the ball (all the better for my surprise) for once. Haha!

fat boy burgers

We have traditionally celebrated it the night before leading up to midnight. Last night, both of us were craving for burgers so we headed down to Publika. S.wine was booked 14 tables in so we headed to old faithful – Fat Boy’s.

This place has special significance to us and the burgers are good so since it was a special occasion, we custom-made our own burgers instead of getting one off the menu.

I had:

hb burger

Honey Oat Bun (RM 2)
Lamb Patty (RM 14)
Guacamole (RM 3)
Bacon (RM 3)
Fried Egg (RM 2.50)
Beetroot (RM 2.50)
BBQ Sauce (RM 1)

Total: RM 28 (with 4 add-ons!)

She had:

ling burger

Sesame Bun (RM 2)
Pork Patty (RM 11)
Coleslaw (RM 1.50)
Mozzarella Cheese (RM 1.50)

Total: RM 16 with just 1 add-on (she didn’t even want sauce!)

custom burger

It’s a stark contrast to our personalities – my burger was so large and messy it was more like eating a sloppy Joe. Yup, I always believe in eating burgers with the hands – it’s just a burger joint, it ain’t fine dining. I think a lot of the people here think Caucasians eat burgers with knifes and forks (and pizzas too for that matter – never fails to makes me chuckle). Burgers are meant to be grabbed with our hands so a huge bite can be take out of it! 😀

alcohol milkshakes

It’s a special day so I also ordered an “spiked milkshake” (contains alcohol) to share, which this place excels in. Burgers and milkshakes go together like cigarettes and lung cancer. smirk It’s just meant to be consumed together. I had previously enjoyed their Chocolate Malt Stout (combination of chocolate ice cream, malt, and stout for RM 18) but opted for the Bourbon Street today.

bourbon street

It’s a New Orleans style boozy shake with vanilla ice cream, malt, Nutella and bourbon for RM 23. We’ve always shared a drink together when we go out – the beverage I mean, we don’t drink alcohol much. Her policy (which I found rather charming) is to order one drink only and share that. It’s a good thing they have complimentary ice water here though. The milkshakes here are really thick – they’re generous with the ice cream – and full of malt!

bon odori

There was a Bon Odori festival going on and my dear wanted to check it out so that’s what we did after dinner. We bought a durian mooncake home. It’s RM 5.50 and about the size of a X-mini speaker. It’s tiny and it’s meant for our anniversary cake! 😀

brownie crush chips

We headed back after that and settled down to eat the durian mooncake with some good California chocolate ice cream and Seth Greenberg’s Authentic New York Brownie Crunch Toffee Chips. The latter is a wonderful concept – just the crispy edges of brownies, complete with endearing story of how the daughter only ate the edges, leading to the product’s inception – and costs RM 18.70 for a 113 gram bag. It’s a good topping for ice cream and fun to eat on it’s own too. We both thought the durian mooncake was mediocre though – tastes too much like dodol (durian paste) to me.

durian mooncake

My gf had wanted to book tickets to watch a movie but there’s nothing good going on that we haven’t seen so we went back to snuggle down and watch a movie at home. She handed me my anniversary gift at 11 pm.

It’s a beautiful hand made photo frame documenting our moments together! The “photo frame” started out life as a Godiva chocolate box and she even put a ribbon on top (for hanging) and an adhesive backed hanging clip! I really appreciate the time and effort she took to make this – it means much more to me than something you buy. Thanks for the awesome gift dear! <3 godiva photo frame

I said I’ll go and take a photo of it in the kitchen (where it’s brighter) and then sneaked back with a Naraya bag filled with gifts. I told her I haven’t forgot after all. Haha!

pandora heart charm

I don’t think I can pull this off much longer though. 😉

heart pandora charm

I got her a Pandora charm! I’ve been meaning to get her one for ages but I just bought an iPhone 5 for her so I had to save up for it. It’s a heart with a gold arrow going though it. I’ve been looking around for a meaningful one and I’m glad she liked it! It’s better than truffle oil, I hear. smirk

hand made card

I also made her a card, which used up 3 sticker packs and massive amount of double sided tape (one of the sticker packs wasn’t self-adhesive). She loved it, and I’m glad I can hand made (kinda) something for her, even though it’s not as awesome as the one she always makes for me.

half anniversary

Despite the apparent simplicity, it’s one of our best anniversaries! We had lots of fun together, enjoying each other’s company. Love each other and appreciate what you have in life. It’s something we both believe in! I’m lucky to have you dear! *hugs*

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